[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 3]
[House]
[Page 3292]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 NO GOVERNMENT TAKEOVER OF HEALTH CARE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from North Carolina (Ms. Foxx) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, Republicans have been talking for over 3 years 
about the problem of the debt and deficit facing our Nation. We, as 
well as average Americans, have realized that these problems are a 
threat to our existence as the greatest and freest Nation on Earth. But 
what the Democrats are proposing to do in passing a health care bill 
that Americans do not want is an even more immediate threat to the 
future of this Nation. Let me explain just a little bit about that.
  What the Democrats are proposing to do is a government takeover of 
health care that the American people do not want. Because they have a 
political problem, because there is no support for this bill among 
Americans, they are going to use a procedural mechanism to avoid an up-
or-down vote on the bill that the Senate passed on Christmas Eve. They 
are going to create a reconciliation bill that meets the Senate test 
for reconciliation. As the majority leader said out here a few minutes 
ago, we are not the Senate. We don't have reconciliation rules. He kept 
making that point over and over again. But they are going to create a 
mechanism to pass a bill in the House to match reconciliation rules 
over in the Senate.
  What they want to do is to develop mechanics to hide a vote on the 
Senate bill and create a scheme to pass a bill in the House that will 
then pass muster in the Senate. It is a cram-down; and despite what the 
majority leader keeps saying about the fact that we have seen the bill, 
we know what is in the bill, we have not. Bills have to be developed in 
bill language, and we have to see specifically what it is we are going 
to vote on.
  The President has never presented a bill to the American people. What 
the President did present about 3 weeks ago was an 11-page proposal. 
That is exactly what it is called on the President's Web site: The 
President's proposal, February 22, 2010. It is really 10 pages with one 
line on page 11. It has general language. It makes insurance more 
affordable. It sets up competitive health insurance markets, ends 
discrimination against Americans with preexisting conditions, and it 
says that it bridges the gap between the House and Senate bills and 
includes new provisions to crack down on waste, fraud, and abuse. This 
is not legislative language. We cannot vote on something like this.
  In addition, one of my colleagues just pointed out to me that there 
is a 19-page summary of the 11-page proposal on the White House Web 
site. You know, if you haven't read ``1984,'' I ask you, read it. If it 
has been a long time since you've read it, read it again.
  Now let me give you an example of specific legislative language. This 
is a page out of the Senate bill that passed. I don't know the section 
before, but this starts out with (1). It is page 35.
  ``(1) Requirement to provide value for premium payments. A health 
insurance issuer offering group or individual health insurance coverage 
shall, with respect to each plan year, provide an annual rebate to each 
enrollee under such coverage, on a pro rata basis, in an amount that is 
equal to the amount by which premium revenue expended by the issuer on 
activities described in subsection (a)(3) exceeds,'' and then it has an 
(A) and a (B) and a (2). That is specific language that is used in 
bills that we pass here every day.
  What the President has proposed is not legislative language. What 
they want to do is use something called the ``Slaughter sleight of 
hand,'' and the American people don't want it.

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