[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 19]
[House]
[Page 26217]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              HEALTH CARE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Schauer). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentlewoman from North Carolina (Ms. Foxx) is recognized for 
5 minutes.
  Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, my good friend and colleague from Michigan, 
Congressman Thaddeus McCotter, is known here for his extremely subtle 
wit, his use of metaphors that challenge the most intelligent among us, 
and for incredible insight into issues. He talks a lot about freedom, 
and he published a piece today from the Republican Policy Committee 
that I would like to use as the basis of my comments tonight.
  The title of it is ``Leeches vs. Laser Surgery: The Contemporary Crux 
of Health Care Reform.''
  He goes on to say that ``Contrary to `conventional wisdom,' on the 
issue of health care reform (and all others) the Democrats are the 
party of the past. We Republicans are the party of the present and the 
future.
  ``Bluntly, Democrats are fighting against the times. Their stale, 
government-run health deform proposals are as outdated and unsuited to 
contemporary life as a leaching is to laser surgery.''
  No one can quite put things in perspective like Thaddeus McCotter.
  But when I read that today, I wanted to share that with the American 
public, because I think it is a very, very good analogy.
  Everywhere I go, I talk to people in my district and they say they 
are scared to death with what is happening in our country. And I talk 
to other people who travel all around the country, and they say they 
hear that, too.
  What are people scared to death of? What they are scared of is losing 
their freedoms. We have people all over the world fighting to protect 
the freedoms that have been so dearly won in this country and to help 
other countries gather their freedoms and to get the freedom that they 
deserve.
  Yet the biggest threat to our freedom in this country right now isn't 
anywhere else in the world; it's right here in this Capitol, right here 
in this room and in the Senate Chamber across the hall. That's the 
greatest threat to our freedom.
  Republicans, though, have alternatives, and I want to talk a little 
bit about those alternatives. We should be looking at reforming medical 
liability laws, ending exclusions for preexisting conditions, expanding 
health savings accounts, providing tax credits for purchasing private 
health insurance, allowing association health plans, permitting health 
insurance purchases across State lines, encouraging individuals to 
ensure against changes in health status, giving incentives for 
preventive health care, and applying information technology to enhance 
transparency and increase efficiencies. All that can be achieved 
without trillions in new spending. In fact, most of it can be done for 
absolutely no cost.
  Instead, what we have offered to us by the Democrats is an erosion of 
our freedom. It's a government takeover of the best health care system 
in the world.
  I want to quote again from Thaddeus:
  ``Unfortunately, trapped in the past of a big government ideology and 
purblind to the people empowering wondering powers of our globalized 
world, the President and his Democratic majority cavalierly dismiss 
such sensible, affordable approach and determinedly toil behind closed 
doors to impose their radical health distribution scheme on unwilling 
Americans. If the Democrats prevail, their health redistribution will 
impel higher costs, lower quality, fewer choices and lost jobs during 
this painful recession. There is a better way, the Republican way: 
patient-centered wellness for our people powered world.''
  This should not happen in the greatest country in the world. We must 
do everything that we can to stop this, and we will do everything we 
can to stop it.

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