[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 3]
[House]
[Pages 3691-3696]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    CONTINUING EXTENSION ACT OF 2010

  Mr. McDERMOTT. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass 
the bill (H.R. 4851) to provide a temporary extension of certain 
programs, and for other purposes, as amended.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                               H.R. 4851

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Continuing Extension Act of 
     2010''.

     SEC. 2. EXTENSION OF UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE PROVISIONS.

       (a) In General.--(1) Section 4007 of the Supplemental 
     Appropriations Act, 2008 (Public Law 110-252; 26 U.S.C. 3304 
     note) is amended--
       (A) by striking ``April 5, 2010'' each place it appears and 
     inserting ``May 5, 2010'';
       (B) in the heading for subsection (b)(2), by striking 
     ``april 5, 2010'' and inserting ``may 5, 2010''; and
       (C) in subsection (b)(3), by striking ``September 4, 2010'' 
     and inserting ``October 2, 2010''.
       (2) Section 2002(e) of the Assistance for Unemployed 
     Workers and Struggling Families Act, as contained in Public 
     Law 111-5 (26 U.S.C. 3304 note; 123 Stat. 438), is amended--
       (A) in paragraph (1)(B), by striking ``April 5, 2010'' and 
     inserting ``May 5, 2010'';
       (B) in the heading for paragraph (2), by striking ``april 
     5, 2010'' and inserting ``may 5, 2010''; and
       (C) in paragraph (3), by striking ``October 5, 2010'' and 
     inserting ``November 5, 2010''.
       (3) Section 2005 of the Assistance for Unemployed Workers 
     and Struggling Families Act, as contained in Public Law 111-5 
     (26 U.S.C. 3304 note; 123 Stat. 444), is amended--
       (A) by striking ``April 5, 2010'' each place it appears and 
     inserting ``May 5, 2010''; and
       (B) in subsection (c), by striking ``September 4, 2010'' 
     and inserting ``October 2, 2010''.
       (4) Section 5 of the Unemployment Compensation Extension 
     Act of 2008 (Public Law 110-449; 26 U.S.C. 3304 note) is 
     amended by striking ``September 4, 2010'' and inserting 
     ``October 2, 2010''.
       (b) Funding.--Section 4004(e)(1) of the Supplemental 
     Appropriations Act, 2008 (Public Law 110-252; 26 U.S.C. 3304 
     note) is amended--
       (1) in subparagraph (C), by striking ``and'' at the end;
       (2) by inserting after subparagraph (D) the following new 
     subparagraph:
       ``(E) the amendments made by section 2(a)(1) of the 
     Continuing Extension Act of 2010; and''.
       (c) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section 
     shall take effect as if included in the amendments made by 
     section 2 of the Temporary Extension Act of 2010 (Public Law 
     111-144).

     SEC. 3. EXTENSION AND IMPROVEMENT OF PREMIUM ASSISTANCE FOR 
                   COBRA BENEFITS.

       Subsection (a)(3)(A) of section 3001 of division B of the 
     American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 
     111-5), as amended by section 3(a) of the Temporary Extension 
     Act of 2010 (Public Law 111-144), is amended by striking 
     ``March 31, 2010'' and inserting ``April 30, 2010''.

     SEC. 4. INCREASE IN THE MEDICARE PHYSICIAN PAYMENT UPDATE.

       Paragraph (10) of section 1848(d) of the Social Security 
     Act, as added by section 1011(a) of the Department of Defense 
     Appropriations Act, 2010 (Public Law 111-118) and as amended 
     by section 5 of the Temporary Extension Act of 2010 (Public 
     Law 111-144), is amended--
       (1) in subparagraph (A), by striking ``March 31, 2010'' and 
     inserting ``April 30, 2010''; and
       (2) in subparagraph (B), by striking ``April 1, 2010'' and 
     inserting ``May 1, 2010''.

     SEC. 5. EXTENSION OF MEDICARE THERAPY CAPS EXCEPTIONS 
                   PROCESS.

       Section 1833(g)(5) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 
     1395l(g)(5)), as amended by section 6 of the Temporary 
     Extension Act of 2010 (Public Law 111-144), is amended by 
     striking ``March 31, 2009'' and inserting ``April 30, 2010''.

     SEC. 6. EHR CLARIFICATION.

       (a) Qualification for Clinic-based Physicians.--
       (1) Medicare.--Section 1848(o)(1)(C)(ii) of the Social 
     Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395w-4(o)(1)(C)(ii)) is amended by 
     striking ``setting (whether inpatient or outpatient)'' and 
     inserting ``inpatient or emergency room setting''.
       (2) Medicaid.--Section 1903(t)(3)(D) of the Social Security 
     Act (42 U.S.C. 1396b(t)(3)(D)) is amended by striking 
     ``setting (whether inpatient or outpatient)'' and inserting 
     ``inpatient or emergency room setting''.
       (b) Effective Date.--The amendments made by subsection (a) 
     shall be effective as if included in the enactment of the 
     HITECH Act (included in the American Recovery and 
     Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5)).
       (c) Implementation.--Notwithstanding any other provision of 
     law, the Secretary of Health and Human Services may implement 
     the amendments made by this section by program instruction or 
     otherwise.

     SEC. 7. EXTENSION OF USE OF 2009 POVERTY GUIDELINES.

       Section 1012 of the Department of Defense Appropriations 
     Act, 2010 (Public Law 111-118), as amended by section 7 of 
     the Temporary Extension Act of 2010 (Public Law 111-144), is 
     amended by striking ``March 31, 2010'' and inserting ``April 
     30, 2010''.

     SEC. 8. EXTENSION OF NATIONAL FLOOD INSURANCE PROGRAM.

       (a) Extension.--Section 129 of the Continuing 
     Appropriations Resolution, 2010 (Public Law 111-68), as 
     amended by section 8 of Public Law 111-144, is amended by 
     striking ``by substituting'' and all that follows through the 
     period at the end and inserting ``by substituting April 30, 
     2010, for the date specified in each such section.''.
       (b) Effective Date.--The amendments made by subsection (a) 
     shall be considered to have taken effect on February 28, 
     2010.

     SEC. 9. SATELLITE TELEVISION EXTENSION.

       (a) Amendments to Section 119 of Title 17, United States 
     Code.--
       (1) In general.--Section 119 of title 17, United States 
     Code, is amended--
       (A) in subsection (c)(1)(E), by striking ``March 28, 2010'' 
     and inserting ``April 30, 2010''; and
       (B) in subsection (e), by striking ``March 28, 2010'' and 
     inserting ``April 30, 2010''.
       (2) Termination of license.--Section 1003(a)(2)(A) of 
     Public Law 111-118 is amended by striking ``March 28, 2010'', 
     and inserting ``April 30, 2010''.
       (b) Amendments to Communications Act of 1934.--Section 
     325(b) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 325(b)) 
     is amended--
       (1) in paragraph (2)(C), by striking ``March 28, 2010'' and 
     inserting ``April 30, 2010''; and
       (2) in paragraph (3)(C), by striking ``March 29, 2010'' 
     each place it appears in clauses (ii) and (iii) and inserting 
     ``May 1, 2010''.

     SEC. 10. COMPENSATION AND RATIFICATION OF AUTHORITY RELATED 
                   TO LAPSE IN HIGHWAY PROGRAMS.

       (a) Compensation for Federal Employees.--Any Federal 
     employees furloughed as a result of the lapse in expenditure 
     authority from the Highway Trust Fund after 11:59 p.m. on 
     February 28, 2010, through March 2, 2010, shall be 
     compensated for the period of that lapse at their standard 
     rates of compensation, as determined under policies 
     established by the Secretary of Transportation.
       (b) Ratification of Essential Actions.--All actions taken 
     by Federal employees, contractors, and grantees for the 
     purposes of maintaining the essential level of Government 
     operations, services, and activities to protect life and 
     property and to bring about orderly termination of Government 
     functions during the lapse in expenditure authority from the 
     Highway Trust Fund after 11:59 p.m. on February 28, 2010, 
     through March 2, 2010, are hereby ratified and approved if 
     otherwise in accord with the provisions of the Continuing 
     Appropriations Resolution, 2010 (division B of Public Law 
     111-68).
       (c) Funding.--Funds used by the Secretary to compensate 
     employees described in subsection (a) shall be derived from 
     funds previously authorized out of the Highway Trust Fund and 
     made available or limited to the Department of Transportation 
     by the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2010 (Public Law 111-
     117) and shall be subject to the obligation limitations 
     established in such Act.
       (d) Expenditures From Highway Trust Fund.--To permit 
     expenditures from the Highway Trust Fund to effectuate the 
     purposes of this section, this section shall be deemed to be 
     a section of the Continuing Appropriations Resolution, 2010 
     (division B of Public Law 111-68), as in effect on the date 
     of the enactment of the last amendment to such Resolution.

     SEC. 11. DETERMINATION OF BUDGETARY EFFECTS.

       (a) In General.--The budgetary effects of this Act, for the 
     purpose of complying with the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go-Act of 
     2010, shall be determined by reference to the latest 
     statement titled ``Budgetary Effects of

[[Page 3692]]

     PAYGO Legislation'' for this Act, submitted for printing in 
     the Congressional Record by the Chairman of the Committee on 
     the Budget of the House of Representatives, provided that 
     such statement has been submitted prior to the vote on 
     passage.
       (b) Emergency Designation for Congressional Enforcement.--
     This Act, with the exception of section 4, is designated as 
     an emergency for purposes of pay-as-you-go principles. In the 
     Senate, this Act is designated as an emergency requirement 
     pursuant to section 403(a) of S. Con. Res. 13 (111th 
     Congress), the concurrent resolution on the budget for fiscal 
     year 2010.
       (c) Emergency Designation for Statutory PAYGO.--This Act, 
     with the exception of section 4, is designated as an 
     emergency requirement pursuant to section 4(g) of the 
     Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010 (Public Law 111-139; 2 
     U.S.C. 933(g)).

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Washington (Mr. McDermott) and the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Davis) 
each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Washington.


                             General Leave

  Mr. McDERMOTT. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that Members 
have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Washington?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. McDERMOTT. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that Mrs. Capps 
be allowed to control 10 minutes of the time allocated to me and be 
allowed to yield time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Washington?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. McDERMOTT. Madam Speaker, I yield myself as much time as I may 
consume.
  This bill, Madam Speaker, provides another short-term extension for a 
number of programs that are expiring at the end of the month. If we 
fail to act on this bill, Americans around the country will begin 
running out of unemployment benefits by the beginning of the next 
month. We've been here before. By the end of April, over 1 million 
Americans will exhaust their unemployment benefits.
  This bill would merely continue the existing Federal unemployment 
programs for 1 month, as Congress works toward a longer extension. It 
does not increase the number of weeks of benefits provided by these 
programs.
  Now, I know many of my colleagues are as frustrated as I am that we 
have to keep extending these programs every month, as opposed to 
continuing them to the end of the year.
  Jobless Americans shouldn't have to wait until the last minute to 
know whether their economic lifeline will continue. We need a long-term 
extension of these programs, a goal I very much hope we will achieve 
before the end of the next month.
  In the meantime, I'm urging my colleagues to join me in supporting 
this critical stopgap legislation to extend unemployment benefits, as 
well as other critical assistance, including help for paying for 
continuing health coverage under COBRA.
  Before I close, let me say that I hope we don't see a repeat 
performance from last month when a single Republican Senator blocked 
these vital benefits for so many Americans. He complained about the 
cost of these benefits for unemployed workers. Where were those 
concerns when we embarked on two wars without paying for one cent of 
them?
  Where were the cries of outrage about the budget deficit when two tax 
cuts for our wealthiest citizens were enacted with no offsets 
whatsoever?
  Where were my colleagues on the other side of the aisle when 
President Bush turned the biggest budget surplus in our Nation's 
history into the biggest deficit in our history and brought on the 
unemployment which is now facing us?
  When Republicans complain about the deficit, it's like an arsonist 
complaining about a fire. He lit the match, but takes no responsibility 
for the resulting blaze.
  The truth is, there is no better use of Federal resources than 
helping Americans who are struggling to find work. Workers today are 
facing a situation where there are six people looking for every 
available job in this country. It is a bad situation. So I hope my 
friends on the other side of the aisle will join me in supporting this 
bill.
  I reserve the balance of my time.

                              {time}  1500

  Mr. DAVIS of Kentucky. Madam Speaker, before I begin my remarks, I 
would like to thank the gentleman from Washington for his magnanimous 
comments and the bipartisan spirit of this bill as we come to the floor 
right now. At least it is not as much animus as we find in the United 
States Senate.
  I rise today in support of this legislation to extend important 
benefits that help long-term unemployed workers, including unemployment 
insurance and health coverage assistance through COBRA. In addition, 
H.R. 4851 postpones the drastic cuts to Medicare physician payment 
rates, a critical factor for our health care providers, as well as a 
number of other important provisions that expire at the end of the 
month or sooner.
  While I support this assistance, the American people should be under 
no illusion that this will create jobs. It does no such thing. In spite 
of claims last year that the Democrats' stimulus package would keep 
unemployment from rising above 8 percent, it has risen from 5.5 to 9.7 
percent nationwide and 10.7 percent in Kentucky. Just yesterday, senior 
administration officials testified they don't expect to see much 
improvement in the job market this year. We have already spent almost 
$100 billion on unemployment benefits, with another $50 billion in the 
pipeline through 2010.
  I am disappointed that the majority has again chosen to subvert their 
so-called PAYGO rules by not paying for this short-term extension. 
Again, 83 percent of the Federal budget is exempt from the PAYGO 
legislation that was supposed to pay-as-you-go. While the bill before 
us today is necessary, it is not a long-term solution. It is 
inefficient, and it buys us time to actually fix the root causes.
  Instead of creating 3.7 million jobs as promised, the Democrats' 
stimulus bill was followed by more than 3 million additional job 
losses. A record 16 million are now unemployed. A significant number 
are underemployed. And all Americans are asking one simple question 
that I hear all the time at home, and all of my colleagues do, Where 
are the jobs? Record numbers are collecting unemployment benefits 
instead of paychecks.
  The need to pass this bill today reflects the failure of the 
Democrats' stimulus bill and subsequent efforts to create the jobs they 
promised. For this failure we will spend another $6 billion next month 
on Federal unemployment benefits, borrowing that money from our 
children and our grandchildren. Millions will soon exhaust these 
benefits and wonder what comes next.
  What Americans want are jobs, not handouts. To really help unemployed 
workers, we need to craft policies that will actually create jobs so 
unemployed workers can get back to work, so capital will be invested, 
so companies will invest in machines and development and growth, so the 
market will come back and they will hire people who will in fact become 
taxpayers to contribute to the economy and to meet their own needs.
  Doing so requires ending the massive tax, spend, and borrow plans of 
the Democrat Congress and administration. These policies have created 
severe uncertainty among American workers and businesses that leads to 
economic stagnation and discourages hiring.
  If you want to look at the full fruit of such policies, all we need 
to do is look at Eastern Europe in the 1960s, the 1970s, and the 1980s 
that led to the collapse of the Soviet empire. We could eliminate all 
of the uncertainty that we have today economically and get the private 
sector American job creation engine humming again by immediately 
providing real tax relief to businesses and families across the Nation. 
In addition, we should scrap plans for a government takeover of health 
care and focus on reform that actually reduces cost; reengineer the 
government system that wastes almost $200 billion a year on overhead 
that never

[[Page 3693]]

sees the way to senior citizen health benefits; and do the private 
market reforms and bring about meaningful medical liability reform that 
will end defensive medicine costs that cost almost one-third of all 
medical costs.
  We should rescind unspent funds from the failed stimulus bill and the 
Troubled Asset Relief Program, the so-called TARP bill, and apply all 
of these funds to one thing, which is reducing our deficit, which I 
believe the gentleman from Kentucky, the United States Senator, tried 
to do 2 weeks ago and was disparaged by people in the Democratic Party 
in the House and the Senate and in the administration for simply saying 
let's pay for something with money that we already have available.
  Businesses can't thrive in an economy falsely buoyed by temporary 
stimulus funds and taxpayer-funded bailouts. In order to create jobs, 
we have got to empower the people to make their own choices. We need to 
craft legislation in Congress that won't cause additional harm to our 
economy but will instead give Americans the flexibility they need to 
grow their businesses.
  With that, Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. McDERMOTT. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from 
Minnesota (Mr. Oberstar).
  Mr. OBERSTAR. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Washington 
for yielding time.
  There is a very important provision of this bill that we are hoping 
to pass for a second time to send back to the other body, and that is 
to correct the lapse in payment to 1,913 employees of the Federal 
Highway Administration, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety 
Administration, and the Research and Innovative Technology 
Administration because the authority for the Federal highway program 
lapsed due to the objections of the Senator, the Representative in the 
other body, who held up the bill and then delayed the whole process, 
and through no fault of their own, these hardworking career employees 
were shortchanged.
  A long-term secretary of the Federal Highway Administration office in 
Seattle, who would normally net $1,548, lost $390 because of that 
furlough. That is unreasonable. An entry-level program analyst in 
Chicago of the Federal Highway Administration normally would take home 
$1,200, but would take a $300 cut for doing his job. Well, that is 
unreasonable. The bill we have before us will reinstate these funds.
  And I just want to restate what I said just a couple weeks ago, the 
Congressional Budget Office, nonpartisan arbiter of the cost of 
legislation, determined that H.R. 4786 will not require any new Federal 
funding and will not increase outlays. It will draw on administrative 
funding that has already been authorized and appropriated for the 
department. It will not cost the Federal Government a single dollar 
beyond amounts already provided. The Secretary of Transportation has 
already moved, is prepared to move these dollars as soon as we give him 
that authority. We ought to do that now.
  Mr. DAVIS of Kentucky. Madam Speaker, I yield 10 minutes to the 
distinguished ranking member of the Energy and Commerce Committee, the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Barton).
  Mr. BARTON of Texas. I recognize myself for 1 minute, Madam Speaker.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman has been yielded time, but he 
does not control that time.
  Mr. DAVIS of Kentucky. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that 
the distinguished gentleman from Texas control his 10 minutes.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Kentucky?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. BARTON of Texas. I appreciate the Chair insisting on regular 
order. It's nice that we have that. That's a good thing, not a bad 
thing.
  I am going to yield myself, Madam Speaker, 1 minute.
  We are here today because sometime this morning the majority decided, 
or at least they decided to inform the minority, to extend a number of 
bills, several of which are primary jurisdictional to the Energy and 
Commerce Committee, of which I am the ranking member. Probably the most 
important of the bills in terms of economic impact in the short term is 
the physician reimbursement fix, the DRG fix. If I understand this bill 
correctly, it has been extended for another month.
  We also have the Satellite Home Viewer Reauthorization Act, which is 
totally within the jurisdiction of the Energy and Commerce Committee. 
And it is also being extended for 1 month.
  Madam Speaker, we don't have to do this kind of thing. If we could 
really get to regular order, we could bring these bills up, we could 
work in a bipartisan fashion, and we could find permanent or at least 
annual solutions to these bills. We don't have to hully gully this type 
of thing.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentleman has expired.
  Mr. BARTON. I yield myself an additional 15 seconds.
  And to be told at 10 o'clock this morning about this bill, which is a 
compilation of several bills, is just a disservice to the American 
people.
  With that, I would like to yield 2 minutes to the distinguished 
ranking member of the Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on 
Telecommunications and the Internet, Mr. Cliff Stearns of Florida.
  Mr. STEARNS. I thank the distinguished ranking member, and I have to 
say I like his term ``hully gully.'' That is probably a good 
description of what has happened here. I am sure a lot of Members don't 
even know about this extension. So I think it is a credit to the 
majority that they brought this up, because I think all of us want to 
see this important medical correction for doctors.
  Under the current SGR formula, doctors face a 21 percent cut in their 
Medicare reimbursement. This fix would delay those cuts until April 30. 
Because the majority has not properly addressed real Medicare reform, 
we continue in the House to apply these short-term patches rather than 
provide doctors with a permanent solution to the reimbursement formula. 
We have known about this for a long time. There is no reason we have to 
bring this up, as the ranking member says, hully gully.
  Although this correction, fix, extension is important, also important 
in this bill is the Satellite Home Viewers Act, which is extended 
through April 30. I am glad that this extension is included, but I am 
hoping we can move the 5-year extension that passed this body 
overwhelmingly, bipartisan support, by a large margin, but now my 
colleagues have bogged down in the United States Senate. This temporary 
extension that we are voting on today includes the section 119 licenses 
which actually govern the transmission of distant and local television 
signals by cable and satellite television operators as well as 
provisions of the Communications Act of 1934 concerning the 
retransmission of broadcast station signals. As you can see, this is 
very important to get this full 5-year extension.
  My colleagues, in December 2009 the House passed the Satellite Home 
Viewer Reauthorization Act by 394-11. And yet here we are, we can't 
seem to shake the bill loose in the Senate, although the Senate 
Commerce, Science and Transportation and the Senate Judiciary 
Committees have all reported this measure out of their committees.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentleman has expired.
  Mr. BARTON of Texas. Madam Speaker, I yield the gentleman an 
additional 15 seconds.
  Mr. STEARNS. I am glad we are extending this important law 
temporarily, but I am hopeful it will move forward on a permanent 
basis, a 5-year extension. And obviously, I am very glad the current 
SGR formula is being fixed, corrected today, and at least we have a 30-
day hiatus.
  Mrs. CAPPS. Madam Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 4851.
  This bill takes the necessary steps to extend crucial health care 
provisions in law that would otherwise expire soon. Although there is a 
sense of deja vu in voting to prevent an impending 21 percent cut to 
Medicare and TRICARE reimbursements, we must take action to

[[Page 3694]]

prevent those cuts from going into effect. I am sure all of my 
colleagues are well aware of what such cuts would mean to the health 
providers in their own districts and the restricted access to patients 
if the cuts happen.
  The House can be proud of passing H.R. 3961 this last fall to 
permanently solve the annual Sustainable Growth Rate, or the SGR, 
program. But our friends in the other Chamber have failed thus far to 
act. And until they do, we must ensure that the cuts do not go into 
effect.
  H.R. 4851 also provides a crucial extension to the current arbitrary 
Medicare beneficiary therapy caps. When outpatient therapy is 
considered medically necessary for a patient, we should never put an 
arbitrary limit on the dollar amount that can be spent to provide this 
important care. And I support the provisions of this bill to allow 
Medicare beneficiaries to continue receiving the outpatient therapy 
care that they need.
  Finally, I applaud the inclusion of a provision in this bill to 
correct an inadvertent error regarding electronic health records and 
incentive payments for physicians who implement them. Through our 
technical correction in this legislation, we will ensure that 
physicians who work in outpatient clinics that are owned by hospitals 
will be eligible for these important incentive payments. Encouraging 
the adoption of health information technology in all health care 
settings is a priority shared by my colleagues on both sides of the 
aisle. I am pleased that we will further improve adoption of electronic 
health records with this fix.
  I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 4851 and the important health 
care provisions included in this bill.
  I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. BARTON of Texas. Madam Speaker, I yield myself 5 minutes.
  It may have been explained before I got on the floor, so if I am 
repeating something that has already been said, I want to apologize in 
advance. But I do want the American people to know what this bill does. 
It is a bill that takes eight existing laws, and as I understand it, 
extends them for 1 month. It takes the unemployment insurance fund, 
extends it for a month; the COBRA premium assistance fund, extends it 
for a month; the Medicare physician freeze, it prohibits that for 
another month--or the cut to physician reimbursement under Medicare. An 
extension of Medicare therapy caps, extension for a month. A very 
unusual situation where we are going to use 2009 poverty numbers 
instead of 2010 poverty numbers, because apparently in 2010 the poverty 
level in the United States went down, so the majority wants to use 2009 
numbers so that there will be larger payments for some of the poverty 
programs, which is interesting given that the deficit is over a 
trillion dollars this year.

                              {time}  1515

  An extension of the National Flood Insurance Program, extension of 
the Satellite Television Home Viewer Act, a program out of the 
transportation committee to repay furloughed workers on highway 
projects, those are the eight current laws that are being extended. 
There is also a technical fix on health IT in terms of the definition 
of doctors that worked for hospitals or worked for clinics.
  None of these issues, Madam Speaker, needs to be addressed in the 
type of an omnibus extension on such a short term. Every one of these 
on its own has merit. Every one of these on its own could come to the 
floor in a bipartisan fashion and be debated and probably pass for 
longer than 1 month.
  I am trying to understand why the three bills that are in the 
committee of jurisdiction that I am the ranking member of, the Energy 
and Commerce Committee, that's the Medicare Physician Freeze, the 
Medicare Therapy Caps Extension, and the Satellite Television Home 
Viewers Act, why those three bills have to come to the floor for 1 
month in this fashion.
  I don't know when the majority decided to do this. I know that the 
minority staff was informed of it at approximately 10 o'clock this 
morning. We're now on the floor at 3:15 in the afternoon.
  Take aside the merits of the programs on policy and process alone, we 
should vote these down on suspension. In a week in which the American 
public is expressing legitimate outrage because the majority is 
contemplating bringing the biggest domestic policy bill of this 
Congress, i.e., the health care reform package, to the floor under a 
rule that would have a self-executing feature to it where we would deem 
something passed if we pass the rule, it would seem to me that the 
Speaker and the majority leader and the committee chairman would not 
want to pile insult onto insult and bring these bills to the floor 
under a process where you combine bills from numerous committees of 
jurisdiction with no notice, for all intents and purposes, and bring 
them to the floor. At least in this case we are going to get an up-or-
down vote on the bill, which is a good thing. But it's not a vote on 
the rule that self-executes. So I want to commend Chairwoman Slaughter 
of the Rules Committee for that and Speaker Pelosi.
  But again, we don't have to operate, the United States of America, 
like we're a third-world country that doesn't know how to run a 
democracy.
  Again, on the merits, Republicans have said for physician 
reimbursement we believe there should be a fix. We believe that the 
physicians need to be reimbursed in a fair fashion in the current 
Medicare reimbursement system. We support some of these therapy cap 
reforms. We certainly support the Satellite Television Home Viewer Act. 
So this isn't something that the only way to do it is to put it 
together in a big package and put it on the floor 1 month at a time. 
The only advantage I can see is that this just kind of treads water; it 
provides some sort of a vote this afternoon.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentleman has expired.
  Mr. BARTON of Texas. I would yield myself 30 additional seconds.
  So I guess the other thing that I need to point out to Members of the 
body and to the American public is, because of the procedure, this is 
all deemed, apparently--and I hate to use that word. This is all 
defined to be emergency, and so it's not paid for.
  The rule that brought these bills to the floor waives PAYGO, and my 
recollection is not too many months ago my friends in the majority were 
beating themselves and congratulating themselves because they had 
instituted these tough PAYGO rules. But if I am correct, I believe that 
none of this is paid for and the rule does not require PAYGO.
  With that, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mrs. CAPPS. Madam Speaker, I continue to reserve.
  Mr. BARTON of Texas. How much time do I still have?
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Texas has 1 minute. The 
gentleman from Kentucky has 6 minutes.
  Mr. BARTON of Texas. I would yield 1 minute to a distinguished member 
of the Energy and Commerce Committee from Flower Mound and Denton, 
Texas, Dr. Michael Burgess.
  Mr. BURGESS. I thank the gentleman for the recognition.
  One minute is not much time to deal with what is a very complicated 
process. It is unfortunate we didn't have more time to actually look at 
this bill before it came to the floor on the concept of expanding the 
definition of a hospital-based physician for the use and purposes of 
electronic medical records in the stimulus bill that was passed last 
year. That's a good provision. That was language that we had asked for 
in the letter that was signed by 293 Members of this body that went to 
the acting director for the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
  I do have to point out, Ranking Member Barton is exactly right. This 
SGR problem is not an emergency. Everyone in this body knew this was 
going to happen. What this signals us is perhaps the Democrats don't 
have the votes to pass their health care bill because, otherwise, the 
fix would be included in their health care bill. The fact that we are 
having to provide yet another month signals to me that they don't have 
the votes to pass their larger underlying bill.
  There is no other Member in this body that wants this SGR fixed more

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intensely than I do, but this is not the way to go about it. It is not 
an emergency. It should not come to us at the 11th hour. That is an 
insult to the Nation's physicians. They can't run their businesses when 
we always do it in this fashion.
  Mrs. CAPPS. I continue to reserve.
  Mr. McDERMOTT. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. DAVIS of Kentucky. Madam Speaker, as I said in my opening 
statement, I urge support for H.R. 4851 to continue unemployment and 
health insurance benefits for long-term unemployed workers, along with 
extensions of other important expiring provisions like the Medicare 
reimbursement provisions that my colleague from Texas just mentioned.
  But as we, as a Congress, redouble our efforts on the task of 
empowering Americans to create jobs, we need to remember the four 
causes of this. Even as we help in those places where jobs are hardest 
to find, promoting job growth ultimately needs to be the broader goal.
  One thing that we could do as a Congress to promote job growth and 
help our economy stand up and restore confidence in investing would be 
to stop the ramming of this health care bill through the House of 
Representatives presumably without even taking a vote on it. I think 
there is a small detail in the Constitution that would suggest my 
colleagues on the other side of the aisle have a small problem 
explaining that to their constituents.
  But let's look at the base principles in this bill. There are good 
elements in it, small individual elements. But the framework, the 
foundation on which it is built is not only flawed, it would be 
destructive to the American economy and make it into the equivalent of 
an Eastern European health care system within 10 years.
  First of all, it's based on huge tax increases. We still don't know 
what the reconciliation numbers are, but we know by commentary off the 
floor that the score from the Congressional Budget Office was far more 
than anything that's been presented in public thus far. Taxing health 
insurance is going to do one thing. It's going to reduce access to 
health insurance because less benefits will be provided by employers. 
It's very simple. Those of us who have run businesses understand this. 
We go without payroll to make sure our employees are covered. But we 
need to keep in mind the reality of what is happening. Taking money out 
of our pockets to fuel the growth of Federal bureaucracy is not right.
  The second thing that's done on the opposite end of the pipeline is a 
half a trillion dollar cut in Medicare benefits. In my going on 6 years 
in Congress, I have never seen $1 taken out of waste of the Center of 
Medicare Services. We hire more people, we put more rules in place, but 
we don't take the overhead out to simplify the processes.
  Indeed, in the Ways and Means Committee, a simple amendment offered 
by the gentleman from Illinois to study point of sale and credit card 
architecture technology that's used in every convenience store in 
America was rejected; as one gentleman from Texas called it, a pumpkin 
designed to enrich insurance executives. We use that every day. We use 
that in our identification cards here to vote. We don't have that 
integrated in our government. That's why citizens complain all the time 
about dealing with Washington, D.C.
  The final thing that's done on top of all of this is the only job 
creation program that's coming out of the legislation being considered 
this week is the hiring of over a hundred thousand new Federal workers 
who have to be paid for by taxpayers. That means that many jobs have to 
be created for every one of those.
  When I stop and think about this, I'm amazed, because we're not 
fixing the waste, the excess, the broken processes, the unintegrated 
database, and the contradictory regulations between the agencies. All 
we're doing is making the problem bigger and, in the end, it will 
result--as your own bill says with its waiting list language--in 
rationed care.
  Finally, let's talk about the overwhelming majority of the American 
people. It is astounding to me the awareness level at all levels of our 
society of this bill and, frankly, the fear that is out there; not fear 
from things I say back home, but when people read the bill and see what 
it means. I'm not talking about cable television fear mongers. I'm 
talking simply about good Americans who are doing their civics homework 
like some of my colleagues in both bodies have failed to do and don't 
remember the basis of why we're sent here. And then when we can't get 
that popular vote because of fear of Members of retribution in the 
fall--which I guarantee you is going to come and all of us will be held 
accountable for our vote--to deem a bill that takes over nearly one-
fifth of the economy--let's think what ``deeming'' means for my fellow 
Americans watching.
  I could deem each of my children a Ph.D. I could deem them a good 
house. I could deem them a great future. In fact, while we're here 
deeming things, let's deem world peace, then we would do away with lots 
of expenditures. You all know the absurdity of that statement on the 
false premise that is raised with deeming. Why are we doing it? Because 
it creates a subterfuge that is wrong and violates Article 1 of the 
Constitution.
  At the end of the day, there will be an accounting to the American 
people. We agree on good things that can get done. Let's do those good 
things. Let's fix the government waste, fix the private market, and 
provide real medical liability reform.
  I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mrs. CAPPS. Madam Speaker, I yield back any remaining time that I 
might have.
  Mr. McDERMOTT. Madam Speaker, I listened to my colleagues. I think 
they wanted the 20 minutes to talk about the health care bill. They 
didn't really want to talk about this piece of legislation that's out 
here in front of us.
  This bill is here because the Republicans in the Senate continue to 
use the filibuster to stop any orderly process over there of dealing 
with the problems of this country.
  And I don't know whether it's ignorance or amnesia, but ``deeming'' 
is a process that comes out of something that some of the senior 
Members know about, maybe the junior Members don't know about. This is 
called the Jefferson's Manual, and it provides the rules for the House, 
and it's where ``deeming'' comes from and all of the rest of the things 
that happen in the House.
  In fact, just to remind you, Speaker Hastert, Speaker Gingrich used 
deeming on 202 occasions. Now, this is no big surprise. This is no 
surprise that fell out of the sky.
  And no, I won't yield. I think I've listened to you talk about 
deeming enough. I want to talk about deeming for a second.
  Deeming is rules of the House, and the reason you're doing that is so 
that we can get something done because people in the Senate are 
requiring, through the filibuster, that 60 votes be in the way of 
anything that happens. Now, if you insist on that when 50 votes is a 
majority, then you're going to get things like using arcane rules in 
this thousand-page rule book. And we will use it just like Speaker 
Gingrich used it, just like Speaker Hastert used it, to get around 
obstructionists.
  And now I would yield to the gentleman from Kentucky.

                              {time}  1530

  Mr. DAVIS of Kentucky. I thank the gentleman for yielding. My 
question is when you, as a party, deemed the debt increase of nearly $2 
trillion, I would say that it makes any deeming of budgetary issues, 
even the Deficit Reduction Act reconciliation process, seem almost as a 
grain of sand. We might as well deem all votes and not even come here 
and answer mail in our offices if we are going to continue to deem one-
fifth of the economy under government control.
  Mr. McDERMOTT. Ultimately, we have to go out and face this. And when 
we pass this health care bill, you are free to campaign against a bill 
that gives health coverage to 30 million Americans and that closes the 
doughnut hole. If you want, you can go home

[[Page 3696]]

and argue with the seniors and say, I didn't want a bill that closed 
the doughnut hole. That was a stupid bill. I voted against it. What you 
are free to do after this bill passes is to go home and argue against 
the things that are in the bill. The people back home have no 
understanding what ``deeming'' is. It's inside baseball in this place. 
You wait, when you go and try, on the campaign trail, to sell the idea 
that you were against doing anything for 30 million people.
  Mr. DAVIS of Kentucky. Would the gentleman yield?
  Mr. McDERMOTT. I yield.
  Mr. DAVIS of Kentucky. When the cashier at our local supermarket 
asked me about the reconciliation process and deeming and how can you 
pass something you don't vote on, I think the message is already at the 
grassroots.
  Mr. McDERMOTT. I would suggest that the gentleman has tried to create 
an issue, but it won't last. Nobody remembers any of the debate before 
Social Security. Nobody remembers any of the debate before Medicare. Of 
course, there were people saying all kinds of things out here. But when 
the bill is in, the people will take the benefits and be grateful for 
the Congress that acted on their behalf. I urge everyone to vote for 
this bill. The unemployed should not suffer again because of Senate 
filibusters.
  Mr. LINDER. Madam Speaker, drip, drip, drip.
  Here we are for yet another extension of unemployment benefits and 
various related programs. These programs have been repeatedly extended, 
even as Democrats claim their economic stimulus plan has worked and is 
creating jobs. Well, it's not, and our presence on this floor today is 
yet another affirmation of that obvious fact. If stimulus was working, 
more people would have paychecks. But it's not, so we are here to hand 
out more unemployment checks instead.
  Let's review the history of just the unemployment benefit extensions 
we are continuing today.
  In June 2008, Congress created a new Federal ``temporary'' 
unemployment benefit program paying 13 weeks of unemployment benefits, 
on top of 26 weeks of State benefits. CBO said the UI portion of that 
bill would cost $14 billion. Unemployment was 5.5 percent.
  In November 2008, that temporary program was expanded by 20 weeks of 
benefits--for a new total of 59 weeks of UI per person. CBO said that 
would cost just under $6 billion. Unemployment was 6.9 percent.
  In February 2009, Democrats' stimulus plan extended the temporary 
program through 2009 and nationalized the Federal/State extended 
benefits program, among other changes. That added another 20 weeks of 
Federal benefits, for a total of up to 79 weeks per person. CBO said 
that would cost $40 billion. Unemployment was 8.2 percent.
  In November 2009, Congress added another 20 weeks of temporary 
extended benefits, for a record total of 99 weeks of UI per person. CBO 
estimated that would cost $2 billion just in the last few weeks of 
2009. Unemployment was 10 percent.
  In December 2009, the temporary program was extended for two months. 
CBO said that would cost $14 billion. Unemployment was 10 percent.
  Last month the program was extended through March, at a cost of $8 
billion. Unemployment was 9.7 percent.
  And here we are again today, pondering yet another extension or 
expansion--the sixth of the program created in the summer of 2008--
costing yet another $6 billion. Since this program began, CBO estimates 
would suggest we will have spent a total of $90 billion on Federal UI 
benefits through the end of next month. And that's not counting another 
$50-plus billion it would cost to extend these programs for the rest of 
this year, as the Senate approved last week.
  Unemployment has soared from 5.5 percent to 10 percent. Yet our 
colleagues on the other side of the aisle press on with their claims 
that this is somehow creating jobs. It's not.
  What it is creating is more unemployment taxes, to cover the costs of 
the record unemployment benefits States are paying out. Those are taxes 
on jobs, which are rising in 35 States this year, by a total of 44 
percent.
  Madam Speaker, we have tried extending unemployment benefits again 
and again. And we have only gotten more unemployment. Yet what 
unemployed workers really want are jobs and paychecks. We need to start 
over and do the things that really help create jobs for unemployed 
workers. That means eliminating uncertainty by scrapping Democrats' 
government health care takeover and cap and tax energy plans, extending 
expiring tax cuts on businesses and individuals, repealing wasteful 
stimulus spending, and committing to not increasing any tax until the 
economy has fully recovered.
  Until we do that, additional extensions of unemployment benefits will 
simply spend even more money we don't have without truly helping 
unemployed workers find jobs, which must be our real goal.
  Mr. McDERMOTT. I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Washington (Mr. McDermott) that the House suspend the 
rules and pass the bill, H.R. 4851, as amended.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the 
rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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