[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 18]
[House]
[Pages 25015-25021]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         THE PROGRESSIVE CAUCUS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 6, 2009, the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Ellison) is 
recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.
  Mr. ELLISON. Mr. Speaker, my name is Keith Ellison, and I'm a 
Congressman from the great State of Minnesota, and I'm honored to claim 
this Special Order, this 1 hour, for the Progressive Caucus to talk 
about the values of Progressive ideals, the values associated with a 
progressive America in which people are included and which we believe 
in generosity, where we believe in valuing people, where we believe in 
civil rights, care for the Earth and creation, where we care about 
living in a world in which middle class people, working people, the 
hardworking people of America and the world can have a prosperous life 
and where people can do well.
  The Progressive Caucus, designed and approved and coming together to 
signal to the American people that in Congress there is a body of 
Members of the Congress who are willing to stand up for the values that 
have made America great, values such as workers' rights, such as the 
weekend, such as the 5-day week, such as work and safety laws, such as 
worker's compensation, such as Social Security.

                              {time}  1745

  These are all progressive steps forward, such as civil rights, 
women's rights, gay rights, such as the respect for all religious 
groups and religious tolerance in our country.
  Recently, Mr. Speaker, our focus has been on health care because 
health care is such an essential component of what it means to be a 
middle class American trying to put food on the table for your family. 
Health care, if we can correct health care, the disparities in health 
care, the cost increases in health care, if we can correct health care 
60 years in the making, we can improve the quality of life for all 
Americans and thereby enact a piece of legislation that is on the order 
of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the 1965 Voting Rights Act, the passage 
of the Medicare bill, which helped millions of seniors all around our 
country live a life

[[Page 25016]]

of quality, and ended seniors who lived a life of poverty and of 
insecurity.
  This bill, which is right within our grasp at this time, we are so 
happy to be able to step forward. And I just want to let you know, Mr. 
Speaker, that it's an honor to be joined by such a courageous 
Congressperson as Congresswoman Diane Watson from the great State of 
California, who for years and years has been sticking up for 
progressive values, never backing down, always there for the American 
middle class and working class people.
  So we are going to talk a little health care tonight. I am going to 
yield to the gentlelady to make a few introductory remarks, and then 
maybe she and I can have a little colloquy as we move on in the 
evening.
  I yield to the gentlelady from California, Diane Watson.
  Ms. WATSON. I thank you very much, Congressman Ellison, for yielding 
to me. You are doing a marvelous job. I watch you every evening as you 
take the mic on the floor of the House to explain to the general public 
what a benefit health care reform is to all Americans.
  And I want to say that we speak to all Americans and we say to them, 
we are presenting to you a reform of health care as you have known it 
in the past. Because in my own State of California, if you have 
insurance, your fees are going to go up somewhere around $1,800 for a 
family of four annually. People are going without coverage because they 
cannot afford it.
  We had an assembly outside of Blessed Sacrament in Hollywood several 
weeks ago, and there was a man who came up with a heavy Spanish accent. 
And he said, I am an American, I work four jobs. My 2-year-old daughter 
got sick. I could not even afford health insurance and she eventually 
died.
  I do hope that our House bill, H.R. 3200, will be recognized as a way 
to help reform health care because what we want to do is bring to you 
in your own community accessible health care. We want it to be 
affordable; we want it to cover preexisting conditions; and we want to 
say to you, if you get sick and you can't work--and that's happening 
very frequently with H1N1, people are getting sick, they have no sick 
leave, and it could really bankrupt most families. And so we say to 
you, even if you don't have a job, you will be covered.
  We are now just dickering around the edges of a reform. We are going 
to get one now because it's the right thing to do, Mr. Ellison. And I 
am so glad that you are bringing information to the people every 
evening.
  I want to say that I know in my own district there are a lot of 
people who cannot afford health care, but this one family could. And if 
we don't reform health care, a lot of people will have to endure weeks 
of illness and eventually death.
  I'd like to bring to your attention the death of Marybell Bakewell, 
who was born on April 10, 1925 and died October 7, 2009 in Los Angeles. 
Her son is Danny Bakewell, who is now Chair of the Black Publishers 
Association. Mr. Bakewell, who lives in the southern California area, 
could pay for health care, but he could not save his own mother, Mrs. 
Bakewell; and she suffered a massive stroke from which she never 
recovered.
  Marbee, as she was affectionately known by her entire family, was 
always the life of the family. She preached ``family first,'' and 
anyone who knew her immediately fell in love with her glowing 
personality. She was full of life, love and laughter, and was also an 
activist.
  Marybell Bakewell was a native of New Orleans and lived there 79 
years of her 84 years of life. She finally left her beloved city after 
it was completely devastated by Hurricane Katrina. While living in New 
Orleans, she was a life member of St. Peter Claver Catholic Church as 
well as a member of the Sisters of the Holy Family.
  Mrs. Bakewell belonged to one of four generations of women and family 
who attended St. Mary's Catholic School. Her grandmother, Mary Winier; 
her mother, Camille Brazile; Marybell Bakewell and her daughter, Pamela 
Bakewell, all were graduates of this esteemed institution of higher 
learning dating back to the turn of the century.
  Mrs. Bakewell was a diehard New Orleans Saints fan. She loved to play 
cards and board games, especially with her main road warrior, Brenda 
Marsh-Mitchell.
  Marybell Bakewell is survived by her two children, Danny J. Bakewell, 
Sr. and Pamela Bakewell, both prominent in Los Angeles civic affairs; 
her daughter-in-law, Aline Bakewell; eight grandchildren--Danny J. 
Bakewell, Jr., Brandi Bakewell, Sabrina Bakewell, deceased, Donny 
Brooks, Jamie Brooks, Brandon Brooks, Fatima Elswify, Amira Elswify; 
six great grandchildren--Taelor Bakewell, Danny J. Bakewell, III, Devyn 
Bakewell, Bryce Bakewell, Donny Brooks, Jr., Adrian ``AJ'' Brooks; 
sister-in-law, Delores Brazile; her nephew, Eric Brazile; as well as a 
host of cousins, family and friends.
  This courageous matriarch will be missed by the Los Angeles 
community, her family and friends, and especially by me, Mr. Speaker. I 
had a grandmother who was born in New Orleans, grew up in a convent for 
13 years, obviously left, but her sister became Sister Philomena. And 
so I have a great affection for the city and for her.
  My point in bringing her obituary here is that, yes, this family 
could afford health care; but I'm telling you there are thousands of 
others, not only in my district in the State of California but across 
this country, something like 38 million, who need the government to 
help them survive when they have a condition or when they are declared 
terminal.
  So I am hoping that in this Congress we will do the right thing and 
we will see that before the year ends, we have Medicare reform as a 
program for all Americans.
  I want to thank you, Mr. Ellison, for your insight, your 
intelligence, your knowledge. And I want you on this floor every 
evening. You are bringing to the American people the important facts 
about what our reform will do.
  So thank you very much, Madam Speaker. Thank you very much for the 
time. Continue to educate Americans.
  Mr. ELLISON. While the gentlelady yields back, let me thank her as 
well. The fact is that by bringing this important story about the 
Bakewell family--well known throughout the country, particularly in Los 
Angeles, but really all over--it shows that health care reform is 
something that everybody needs. It is not something that some people 
have to worry about and some people don't; it's something that all 
Americans have to focus on because none of us are immune.
  If you don't have health care, then you are among those 59 million 
Americans who are just going to bed every night hoping and praying that 
you don't get sick; and if you do, you know you're going to be in for a 
very difficult time.
  And you may be among those 250 million Americans who have either 
employer-based health care or have health care through either Medicare 
or Medicaid or VA or something like that, a government-run program. In 
that case, you know that your employer-based health care has seen 
premiums double in the last 10 years and are likely to double in the 
next 10 years. So no matter whether you're among the uninsured who need 
change or the insured who need change, we all need change. And so it's 
critically important that we bang the gong and keep it up and don't 
back down on this important issue.
  If I may--and I invite the gentlelady to ask me to yield at any time, 
but I just want to make a quick point before we do.
  We have been joined by the gentlelady from Maryland, Donna Edwards, 
who is a clear voice on this issue, who has been creative, who has been 
consistent. And we just want to let the gentlelady from Maryland make 
some remarks as we begin this hour so that we can sort of get into our 
colloquy.
  Ms. WATSON. Would you yield just a few seconds?
  Mr. ELLISON. Certainly.
  Ms. WATSON. About 3 weeks ago, I was up in the Hollywood Hills at a 
reception, and there was a young man who was taking pictures of all of 
us. When I finished making a presentation

[[Page 25017]]

about our health care reform, he came up to me and he said, thank you. 
He said, I am on a medication--now get this--that costs $74,000 a 
month. I said repeat that figure. He said $74,000 a month. He told me 
that he had a very unique condition, that when he was born, his 
muscular system, his skeletal system as well as his vital organs 
started to deteriorate. Each one of the medications he takes monthly 
costs over $6,000. He does a copayment of about $696 a month. He said, 
I could not afford that without the insurance that I have, and I pay a 
high price for that insurance. I told you what the copayment was.
  So here is a person who makes a good income and pays a great amount 
of his income on a monthly basis just to stay alive. Why can't we have 
a program that will keep others alive regardless of their income?
  And thank you, Congresswoman, for coming forth with your factual 
statements. I listen to you also very intently. And as an attorney, you 
bring the truth and you speak it to power. And I thank you very much.
  I yield back.
  Ms. EDWARDS of Maryland. Well, I thank the gentlelady from 
California. And to the gentleman from Minnesota, thank you so much for 
your leadership. It is really important.
  We are almost there. I describe this--if we were playing a football 
game, you know, we would call it ``crunch time.'' We're in crunch time 
right now when it comes to health care reform for the American people.
  I don't know what struck others this week, but what struck me was the 
release of a so-called ``independent report'' from the American Health 
Insurance Plans lobby. It struck me because in that report was so much 
misinformation. And it was done by PricewaterhouseCoopers. Now, they 
thought that they were just evaluating a little bit of the plan and 
giving some data. They didn't realize that it would be completely 
misconstrued by the health insurance plans in order to prove a point 
that's not really a point. And so I wanted to call attention to that.
  I think another thing that struck me this week, as we unmask the 
health insurance industry, as we see them for who they are, they're 
interested in profits, that's their motive. It's not health care; it's 
not reform. It's profit. And I decided that I would take a little 
peruse around the Internet and I looked up the lobbying disclosure 
reports for America's Health Insurance Plans, the same group that 
released that bogus report.

                              {time}  1800

  Here is what I found: For all of 2008, this group that has so-called 
been very interested in health care reform spent $7.54 million lobbying 
against health care reform, and that was just for 2008. Then we turn 
just to the first----
  Mr. ELLISON. Would the gentlelady yield?
  What was that number again?
  Ms. EDWARDS of Maryland. $7.54 million lobbying against health care 
reform in 2008. That's before we even had a bill.
  Now we've gotten our bill here in 2009 with our new President, who 
really is serious about reforming the health care system. We find that 
in the first two quarters of 2009--that's this year--America's Health 
Insurance Plans, according to their lobbying reports, which are 
available to the public at [email protected], and anybody 
can go and look this up, America's Health Insurance Plans actually 
spent for the first quarter of 2009 $2,030,000. That's in the first 
quarter. That's from January to March.
  Then in the second quarter, from April 1 to June 30, they actually 
spent another $1.87 million. That's the total for just the first 2 
quarters of this year.
  This is while people were having their health insurance revoked and 
while 14,000 people a day were losing their health insurance. While all 
across this country people are losing jobs, America's Health Insurance 
Plans decide that it would be a great idea to spend almost $4 million 
in the first two quarters of this year lobbying against health care 
reform. That just proves that the industry is so much more interested 
in its profits and in protecting its profits than it is in health care 
or in reform.
  Now, I decided that I would keep looking at those lobbying disclosure 
reports and I would advise people all across this country to go to 
[email protected]. They need to look it up for themselves 
because we're not making this up. It's right there, filed by their own 
general counsel. I looked. I said, Well, how many lobbyists does it 
take in one quarter to spend $1.8 million? How many lobbyists does it 
take to spend $2 million? How many lobbyists does it take to spend $7 
million just in 2008?
  I'm going to just tell you: They spent that money. Gary Bacher, he 
was lobbying for them; Carmella Bocchino; Elizabeth Brooks; Jill 
Dowell; Paul Eiding; Baron Foster; Lindy Hinman; Karen Ignatti, the 
woman whom we've seen all across the television screens of the country, 
talking about how health insurance was going to send premiums and 
deductibles and copayments skyrocketing; and Alethea Jackson. That's 
one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine lobbyists spending 
millions of dollars across Capitol Hill--at the House and the Senate--
and over at the White House. They're lobbying against health care 
reform.
  So those are the numbers right there, apart from what all of the 
other industries have spent, which includes the pharmaceutical industry 
and others in the health insurance industry, to try to defeat reform.
  Do you know what really surprises me in all of this? For all of their 
advertising and their lobbying, they have beaten and beaten and beaten 
the public health insurance option. Guess what? A majority of the 
American public actually knows that competition is good for the system. 
They know that it's important to have a public plan to provide 
accountability, and they know that we need transparency and that we 
have to lower costs. So the public is actually not fooled.
  You would think, if there were some good marketing people over with 
the health insurance plans that they actually wouldn't be spending so 
much money, because they haven't managed to convince a majority of the 
American public that a public health insurance option is against their 
interests. So I'm actually grateful for the American public for being 
so smart, for seeing through the health insurance industry, and now for 
the industry itself, for actually exposing what they're trying to do to 
America.
  I know people are calling your office, the Congressman from 
Minnesota, and I know they're calling my office, and they're saying, 
You know what? I just got a letter in the mail saying my health 
insurance premium is going up 10 percent. My health insurance premium 
is going up 12 percent. They haven't even used their health insurance 
this year, and their insurance premiums are going up.
  So we see what the industry is doing. We know that we are inching our 
way to reform and that we are going to get there and that we will have 
a bill for the President of the United States to sign into law and that 
we are closer than we've ever been before. So the insurance industry, 
true to form, is living out their promise in that bogus report that 
they released. They're living out their promise by already starting to 
jack up insurance rates just to beat the clock--to beat the bell--to 
reform, but they're not going to get away with it.
  So I would say to those--what did I count, 9 or 10 lobbyists?
  Mr. ELLISON. Nine.
  Ms. EDWARDS of Maryland. Those nine lobbyists already this year have 
spent about $4 million lobbying against reform and $7 million in 2008 
lobbying against reform. I'll tell you what. If you add that up, by the 
time they finish this year, I'm guessing that they probably will spend 
something in the neighborhood--over the course of the last 2 years--
about $15 million lobbying against health care reform.
  I would dare say that the American public could take that $15 million 
and divide up what it would cost to provide a reasonable premium, say, 
under Medicare or a public health insurance

[[Page 25018]]

option, and we would be insuring just dozens and dozens and dozens of 
families across America for what this industry has spent to fight 
reform. So we're not going to be fooled, and we're not going to be 
deterred, and we know, as the public knows, that a robust public health 
insurance option will be the best option to provide competition, to 
provide accountability and to make sure that we lower costs for all 
Americans.
  So the insurance industry, just before Halloween, has been completely 
unmasked. They've revealed themselves, and we want to say to them, You 
know what? We're on to you. We know what you're about, and we're not 
going to believe any more of your bogus reports, and we're going to 
trust the fact that you wouldn't spend this money lobbying against 
something if you didn't want to defeat it. So we're going to bring that 
health care reform package to the House of Representatives through the 
Senate, on to the President and then deliver it to the American people.
  With that, I would yield.
  Mr. ELLISON. Well, the gentlelady is in rare form tonight. I really 
appreciate everything you laid out. Excellent.
  I just want to add to your observation about the AHIP report, which 
is an acronym for America's Health Insurance Plans. Here is what the 
people who really study the stuff had to say about this particular 
industry report.
  AARP had this to say: The report is ``fundamentally dishonest'' and 
``not worth the paper it's written on.'' Those are the words of John 
Rother of AARP, executive vice president of policy and strategy.
  You mentioned PricewaterhouseCoopers, which participated in preparing 
the report. They're running from the report. They're like, Hey, we 
didn't know. I don't blame them, because it is deceptive.
  Also, PricewaterhouseCoopers said Monday, AHIP, the report that we've 
been referring to, that industry report, had instructed it to focus on 
only some features of the bill while not taking into account other 
major features, such as the effect of subsidies for those buying 
insurance. So they didn't even tell their preparer the right 
information to consider.
  Why would they not fully disclose and be transparent about that? The 
report threatened that if the bill became law it would result in an 
increase in premiums for an average family of four by about $4,000 a 
year. Now, this begs the question: Who would be increasing these 
premiums? The very people who issued the report saying the premiums are 
going up.
  Furthermore, the report says that the cost of private health 
insurance would rise by 111 percent over the next decade. Who would be 
increasing these premiums by 111 percent? The fact is the very people 
who are saying the prices will increase for buying health care 
insurance are the ones who are in charge and who are in control of 
raising these prices.
  Reid Cherlin, the White House spokesman, said ``this is a distorted 
and flawed report from the insurance industry and cannot be taken 
seriously. This so-called analysis appears on the eve of a vote that 
may eat into some of the insurance industry's profits. It conveniently 
ignores policies that will lower costs for those who have insurance, 
expand coverage and provide affordable insurance options to millions of 
Americans.''
  I'm not done quite yet.
  Nancy-Ann DeParle, director of White House Health Reform, says that 
she was surprised by the report because she had just met Mrs. Ignatti, 
the one who has been doing a lot of the selling of this on TV, and she 
vowed to work together. So that may be regarded as somewhat misleading. 
It's important to remember that virtually every wild, erroneous claim 
made regarding health care reform has been debunked as false.
  Let's go on back to the summer. I ask the gentlelady to take a walk 
back to August. You'll recall, Madam Speaker, that we were talking 
about death panels. This was all the rage--death panels. We were 
talking ``death panels.'' Yet, when you look at the bill, it's simply 
Medicare saying we will compensate doctors to talk about end-of-life 
decisions, which is a good thing and a wise decision. It's about 
dignity. Everyone wants that for their loved ones when they're in their 
final days of their lives.
  Also, we then heard about illegals. It's going to be all about 
illegals. We debunked that myth.
  Then we heard about a government takeover until somebody said, Wait a 
minute. Doesn't government already administer Medicare? They're doing 
pretty good. Ninety-six percent of respondents say they like Medicare, 
so maybe government knows a little bit about administering health care. 
Doesn't government already play a significant--not just administering 
the VA, they actually hire the doctors and provide the care. That is 
truly a single-payer system. That's government-run health care if there 
ever was, and you'd better not try to take health care away from our 
veterans, because they won't tolerate that. So then they had to move 
away from that.
  Then we heard that it is only about the uninsured. Wait a minute. We 
find out premiums have been doubling over the last 10 years and are 
expected to double again. So now the insured, the people who have 
employer-based health care, say, wait a minute. We need reform, too. We 
have to have reform, and we cannot tolerate being rejected and excluded 
for preexisting conditions and tolerate discrimination, which will 
affect young women the most.
  So Americans have been peeling back the onion of falsehood time and 
time again. As the gentlelady from Maryland pointed out, the public 
option still is standing stronger than ever. It's almost as if, the 
more they attack it, the stronger it gets.
  I just wanted to point out: Who wants the public option? Well, 
doctors want a public option. Nurses want a public option. The majority 
of Congress wants a public option. Faith communities want a public 
option. President Obama prefers a public option, and the American 
people do.
  If you look at what doctors want, most doctors support the public 
option. Sixty-three percent of doctors say both the public and private 
options are what they would prefer. Sixty-three percent reported that 
they would like both public and private options. That's what the House 
bill is calling for. You have another 10 percent who said just a public 
option. That's all we want. So, if you add the 63 and the 10, you end 
up with a full three-quarters of doctors who say they would like the 
public option.
  So I guess my question to the gentlelady from Maryland is: Why does 
the public option keep coming up strong despite these relentless 
attacks--the $4 million this year and the $7 million last year? What 
explains this?
  I yield to the gentlelady from Maryland.
  Ms. EDWARDS of Maryland. I thank the gentleman for yielding.
  It's a pretty simple explanation. The American people are smart. They 
know it takes competition to bring down cost. They haven't been able to 
trust their health insurers. Even though they may like their health 
insurers and may want to keep their insurance, they know that they 
actually can't trust them to keep down premium costs and deductibles 
and co-pays. So, like most issues, the American public is way ahead of 
even Congress, and they are definitely ahead of the health insurance 
industry.
  I go back to these lobbying reports because one of the things that I 
noticed, if the gentleman would indulge me for just a minute, is that 
the health insurance industry knows that they've had to cover all 
facets in order to debunk the need for reform, and so they didn't just 
stop at lobbying the United States House of Representatives. They 
lobbied the United States Senate. They lobbied the executive office of 
the President. They lobbied the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, 
Health and Human Services, the Department of Labor, the Department of 
the Treasury, the Federal Trade Commission, the Office of Personnel 
Management, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, and even 
the Internal

[[Page 25019]]

Revenue Service. They are leaving no stone unturned in order to defeat 
health care reform.
  So the American people are very smart, and they have said three 
things: We want quality care. We want competition. We want to lower 
costs. They know that, in order to achieve those things, there must be 
a public option component as part of the array of choices. It's like a 
marketplace, the array of choices that are available to them.

                              {time}  1815

  So they want to be able to stack up each one of these plans, private 
plan X, Y, and Z, and the public option and see which one works for 
their family and then make that choice. And I think that the American 
public should actually have that choice. I actually believe in real 
choice even in health care. And the problem with the system that we 
have now is that in most States, there is no competition; one or two 
insurers have a monopoly or duopoly on all of the health care coverage 
in that State.
  And what does that mean? What does that mean for our small 
businesses? It means, if you're a small business, you can't compete at 
all. You have no leverage whatsoever. You have no bargaining power, and 
you are at the mercy of the health insurance industry. And it means 
that they can charge you whatever they want for you to be able to 
provide health care for your employees.
  And the poor small businesses, they're sitting out there saying, I 
want to provide health insurance for my employees, but I can't afford 
it any more. It's too expensive for me. I can't take it when my 
insurance costs are going up 10 percent one year, 15 percent the next 
year, sometimes as much as 20 percent in one year just to cover their 
employees.
  So if people really believe in the free market--and I do--if you 
really believe in the free market, then let it be free and let there be 
competition. And the way to do that in health care and get quality, 
affordable, accessible health care for all Americans is to make sure 
the public has the ability to choose from an array of the private 
insurers and the public plan. It's like going to a marketplace, 
stacking up everything you want to choose, and making a selection.
  By the way, if the gentleman would yield just a minute more, people 
are ready to make that choice, and now they're counting on us in the 
United States Congress to come down to the hard decisionmaking and to 
make the choices that we know are right for the American people.
  And so what I say is, with the kind of support that you demonstrate 
among doctors, as much as 73 percent of doctors, two-thirds of doctors 
saying they want at least a public plan and private options; with 62 to 
65 percent of the public saying we want the choice of a public plan and 
private options; with people all across this country, our small 
businesses, saying, You know what? We need that in order to be able to 
provide affordable care for our employees because it's the right thing 
to do and it's what we want to do, so we want to take the burden off of 
our businesses. We want to ensure that we have greater competition, 
competitiveness in the global economy. And the way to do that is to 
make sure that we reform our health care plan.
  Now, I know that the health insurance industry is going to go kicking 
and screaming to reform. And you know what I say to that, Madam 
Speaker? I say let them. Let them kick, let them scream, and we're 
going to go to health care reform anyway.
  Mr. ELLISON. I thank the gentlelady for yielding, but the gentlelady 
should know that when you're hot, we've got to give you the ball, and 
you were. So thank you.
  Just a few points.
  I would like to point out that people have contacted us in the 
Progressive Caucus and different Members individually and let their 
views be known about how people feel. And I just want to point out that 
historically--and I think that there was a perception that the 
Progressive Caucus may have stood up for good values, may have fought 
the good fight, may have talked about inclusion of everybody, a society 
based on generosity, the beloved community, middle class prosperity, 
all of the good things, but when it came down to really sticking to the 
guns and saying, You know what? We're going to stand up for what we 
believe in, there was some doubt that that was the case.
  And I just want to say that the Progressive Caucus has dug in for the 
American people. I am proud of what the Progressive Caucus has done. I 
am proud of the leadership that we've seen from the Progressive Chairs, 
Ms. Woolsey and Mr. Grijalva, because this perception that Progressives 
are going to cave has been dissipating because Progressives have been 
holding firm. This is the Progressive message. This is a Special Order 
of the Progressive hour.
  And I just want to say that the Progressive Caucus has made it clear, 
the leadership has made it clear to the White House, made it clear on 
all fronts, that if you want our votes, you're going to have to do 
what's right by the American people; and that is to include the public 
option which doctors want, which the public wants, which everyone 
wants. It was not simply a simple temper tantrum. It was not saying we 
want it because we want it. It was because the American people needed a 
public option. So the Progressive Caucus stuck to it and didn't back 
down. I think it's important to make this point. Because the 
Progressive Caucus really is a caucus that's unified not by culture, 
not by color, not by faith, not by gender, but by values. And these 
values are really being reflected in the advocacy around the public 
option, around true health care reform.
  I just want to make that point clear to the folks who are tuned in 
tonight, Madam Speaker, because I think that it's important that folks 
know that there are people in Congress that are fighting for them. This 
is not the time for cynicism. This is not the time to say, well, you 
know, the industry is going to get their way again. No, they're not, 
because there are people here in the Congress who are hearing the call 
of the public interest.
  I'll yield to the gentlelady on that note.
  Ms. EDWARDS of Maryland. Thank you for yielding.
  And as the gentleman from Minnesota points out, this isn't about what 
any individual Member wants or not. It's about what the American people 
want, and it's about what the right thing is for so many of our 
communities: people who have health insurance now but who are afraid of 
losing it or afraid of the costs to their families, and, of course, the 
millions of people out across America who don't have health insurance.
  And this isn't also about fighting the good fight--there are a lot of 
good fights out there--but we have been able to unify our Progressive 
Caucus standing up for health care reform that's going to work for all 
of us, ensuring that we get rid of the practice of excluding people for 
preexisting conditions; that we get rid of the practice of insurance 
companies, once you've taken advantage of your insurance, then cutting 
you off; that we invest in preventative care, because we know that 
early investment in preventative care really saves dollars in the long 
run, whether or not we can attach a number to that.
  We also are fighting for a public option because it's important that 
with the health insurance reforms that we also have choice for 
patients, a choice for our doctors.
  And so we are on the right track here. And I have to say that because 
of the leadership of the Progressive Caucus also working with our 
leadership in the United States Congress--and my hat's off to our 
Speaker because our Speaker has been out there in the front, at the 
forefront actually fighting with us for a strong, robust public health 
insurance option, and I am glad we're where we are today.
  We know that there is still work to be done. We're counting on the 
American people actually to stand up, you know, to call their 
Representatives, to call their Senators, to make sure to put out the 
plea across this country for

[[Page 25020]]

health insurance reform that the President of the United States can 
sign into law that will actually make a difference in people's lives, 
not just because it feels good, but because it will make a difference 
in people's lives and the long-term health and competitiveness of this 
country.
  So I am a proud Progressive. I'm not afraid to say that at all. What 
I do know is that it's important to stand up to the people and not on 
the side of the lobbyist and the naysayers who want to do anything to 
stand in the way of reform. And we cannot let that happen. This is too 
great an opportunity for us to fail at this point.
  So I am actually counting on success. And if we were on a football 
field--and I love football, so I will talk about it. So if we were on 
the football field, we're inside the 10.
  Mr. ELLISON. The red zone.
  Ms. EDWARDS of Maryland. We are in the red zone. We are approaching 
the goal line, and now it's time to make the tough decisions and take 
the ball across the line.
  And I am ready to do that with our leadership in the Progressive 
Caucus. I am ready to do that with our leadership here in Congress and 
give the American people--not an individual Member of Congress, not a 
health insurance company, not an individual hospital or a doctor, but 
to give the American people the kind of reform that will lower their 
costs, provide competition, and give them quality care.
  And so I think that we're right there. We're ready to go with this, 
and it's time for us to do justice for the American people and actually 
to deliver on a promise that all of us made to them in 2008 to deliver 
health care reform.
  So I am going to go out and talk about health care reform some more, 
and we can spend some time. And I want the American people to actually 
spend some time doing a little research themselves. Don't just trust us 
here in Congress. Go find the information for yourself. Go to lobbying 
disclosure at house.gov so that you can see for yourself what the 
health insurance industry is spending to defeat reform. And then when 
you hear their lobbyists, you will know to set that aside and stay on 
the side of patients, on consumers, doctors, and all of us who want 
true health care reform.
  Mr. ELLISON. If the gentlelady will yield, I just want to say, as the 
gentlelady is offering her observations, it's reminding me that we are 
at a propitious moment in history. The fact is we are at a moment of 
history. We are hearing the call of history.
  I wonder if the Speaker knows--do you know that it was Roosevelt, 
President Roosevelt, Franklin Delano Roosevelt who first said we need 
universal health care? It was Truman who repeated the call. It was 
Nixon, even, who talked about health care reform; although, he did some 
things to undermine it. And it was, again, President Clinton who really 
worked hard to try to get health care reform.
  This fight is decades in the making, and we are closer than we have 
ever been. We have reported out five bills in the Congress, so we're 
almost there. We're not far away. And so it's important that the 
American people hang in there, that they continue to be hopeful and 
expect success and that it's important to understand that success 
breeds success.
  And as we pass health care, we will be able to really implement more 
policies that help working Americans, help the working class, the 
middle class Americans, help the environment, help us be a Nation that 
is at peace with the rest of the world, help us promote civil rights 
for all Americans and to leave no one out, to exclude no one, to stop 
policies of fear, of demonization, of exclusion. And this is something 
that offers very, very great promise for our Nation.
  As I begin to wind down, I just want to make a few other observations 
that I think are very, very important, because I think it's so critical 
that we keep our focus on where it really should be.
  And I am one who, you know, believes that when a group of 
constituents vote a Member to this auspicious body, that that person 
has something to offer. But I also want to say that elections have 
consequences. When you cast a vote and you send one party or the other 
to represent you, you have the right to expect that that party is going 
to deliver. And the Democratic Party, led by progressives, is 
delivering at this time.
  I want to also say that new policies clearly underscore that the 
congressional party opposite is not in touch with the American people 
around health care reform. A new poll from Quinnipiac just released 
today further illustrates how Republican leaders of Congress are out of 
touch with the American people.
  Just this morning, a leader in the party opposite said the public 
option has been resoundingly rejected by the American people, but look 
at the numbers that are coming out regarding the public option. On the 
wrong side of history. I recommend the rank and file come join the 
Democrats in passing health care reform. But as this new poll and 
others in recent weeks have all shown, Americans support a public 
insurance option in health insurance and in reform legislation.
  This new Quinnipiac poll I mentioned said that 61 percent of 
Americans support a public option. The Wall Street Journal/NBC says 73 
percent of the population supports a public option. The New York Times/
CBS says 65 percent of the American public supports a public option. 
The Kaiser Family Foundation says 58 percent of the American people 
support a public option.
  Other findings of the Quinnipiac poll say that Americans trust 
President Obama more than Congressional Republicans to handle health 
care reform, 47-31 percent; 64 percent of those surveyed disapproved of 
the way congressional Republicans are doing their job, including 42 
percent of Republican voters. And it's important for Republican voters 
to know that they have a choice and that they should vote 
effectiveness: the people who are getting it done, not the people who 
had the White House and the House of Representatives and the Senate 
from the year 2000 to 2006 and didn't do anything other than veto the 
State Children's Health Insurance Program, that's what they did; but 
people who, within a few months, are already within the grasp of true 
health care reform.

                              {time}  1830

  The fact is, Madam Speaker, that this moment in time is important. It 
is as important as any other piece of historic legislation that we have 
seen.
  It's clear that the health care industry is in the final throes, 
final throes, and it is demonstrating a level of desperation by issuing 
this industry report which clearly is fundamentally flawed and clearly 
shows that it's dishonest and deceptive. And even the drafters, 
PricewaterhouseCoopers, don't want to claim it. Experts say that it's 
wrong.
  So we've heard about the death panels. False. We've heard about the 
school sex clinics. False. We've heard about government-run health care 
and accusations of socialism. False again. We've heard about immigrants 
taking over health care. False. And now the truth is really, really 
standing clear. Truth crashed to the Earth will rise up. That is what 
has happened.
  It's important for Americans to take heart, to take hope, to help 
support the passage of true health care reform and to understand that 
if we can pass health care reform, if we can win this 60-plus-year-old 
battle to get health care reform, then there are other battles to be 
fought and other mountains to be climbed and greater things that this 
wonderful people can produce for the American people, that America can 
live out its progressive value system and can say that we are going to 
expand opportunity for more Americans. We're not going to demonize and 
vilify Americans who happen to be of a particular racial group or 
happen to be not born in the United States or we're not going to turn 
them into somehow ``the other,'' we're going to continue to embrace 
more people as this great country has done progressively over its 
history.
  We're going to say that we're going to live in harmony with creation 
and

[[Page 25021]]

not just use it as just a fungible commodity to be burned and polluting 
the air and destroying the seas and acidifying the ocean. Big things 
await the American people, but it's important that we get over this 
last piece of true reform to get this momentum moving.
  Madam Speaker, I will yield back at this time and close out the 
progressive message. Thank you very much.

                          ____________________