[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 3]
[House]
[Page 3541]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           HEALTH CARE REFORM

  (Mr. THORNBERRY asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Mr. THORNBERRY. Madam Speaker, the Founding Fathers established this 
Congress so that individuals would be elected from all over the 
country, come here with different points of view, discuss those views, 
yes, but ultimately take a vote on the issues of the day. And then the 
people who sent them here--the voters--could hold them accountable for 
the votes they cast here in this Chamber and in the other body across 
the way.
  It would be inconceivable to them that this House would deem a bill 
passed without taking a direct vote up-or-down on the substance of the 
matter so that the voters back home could hold them accountable, and 
yet that is exactly the direction that this leadership tries to take 
the House today.
  The American people already do not trust this institution. They do 
not believe that we are in touch with them and listening to them. The 
intentions of the leadership of this House will only carry those 
suspicions further and further betray the trust that American people 
should have in their elected representatives.
  We should start over and do it again.

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