[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 3]
[House]
[Pages 4001-4002]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           HEALTH CARE REFORM

  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, I thank my three colleagues who were here for 
the last hour doing yeoman's work on explaining why this so-called 
health care reform bill is bad, why it's unconstitutional, why it does 
not deserve to be passed. I want to especially thank my colleague from 
Texas (Mr. Gohmert) for reminding us of the words in the Declaration of 
Independence and John Adams' letter to Abigail Adams.
  What we're doing here is really pitiful compared to what the Founders 
did and all those who have sacrificed to keep this country free. This 
country is really a miracle. Never before in the history of the world 
were there people who believed that they had the right to life, liberty 
and the pursuit of happiness. We were a totally revolutionary people. 
It was a totally radical idea, and it is our job now to keep that 
miracle going. The founding of this country was truly a miracle and I 
think ordained by God.
  From the beginning of this country, it has been average people who 
have kept us free: those who fought in the Revolutionary War, those who 
have fought in every war since, those who gave their lives and who gave 
their time, who were wounded, who came back wounded and maimed from 
those wars in other countries because they know that the price of 
freedom is dear. The price of freedom for us is not threatening our 
lives currently, but it could in the future. It could threaten the 
lives of other people, and that's why we have to continue to resist the 
passage of this horrible bill.
  As Leader Boehner has said, Republicans can't defeat this bill alone, 
but the American people can. So we need you tonight to continue to call 
your Member of Congress and to say, We do not want you to vote for this 
bill. We want you to live up to your oath to the Constitution and be 
reminded that the 10th Amendment says, The powers not delegated to the 
United States by the Constitution nor prohibited by it to the States 
are reserved to the States respectively or to the people.
  We also want you to ask Congresswoman Slaughter, Why did you say in 
an op-ed on CNN on December 23 that the Senate bill was not worthy of 
our support, and yet you find the sleight of hand to do everything you 
can to get the bill passed?
  And, Mr. Speaker, I would like to insert into the Record the op-ed 
written by my colleague Ms. Slaughter.

                       [From CNN, Dec. 23, 2009]

   A Democrat's View From the House: Senate Bill Isn't Health Reform

                        (By Louise M. Slaughter)

       Story Highlights: Senate bill isn't worthy of being called 
     health reform, says Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-New York); 
     Slaughter, who heads Rules Committee, says lack of public 
     option is a fatal flaw; She says Senate bill would not stir 
     competition among big insurance firms; Slaughter: Senate 
     needs to go back and start over on health care.
       Editor's note: Rep. Louise M. Slaughter, a Democrat, 
     represents the 28th Congressional District of New York. 
     Slaughter is the first woman to chair the House Rules 
     Committee and the only microbiologist in Congress.
       Washington (CNN).--The Senate health care bill is not 
     worthy of the historic vote that the House took a month ago.
       Even though the House version is far from perfect, it at 
     least represents a step toward our goal of giving 36 million 
     Americans decent health coverage.
       But under the Senate plan, millions of Americans will be 
     forced into private insurance company plans, which will be 
     subsidized by taxpayers. That alternative will do almost 
     nothing to reform health care but will be a windfall for 
     insurance companies. Is it any surprise that stock prices for 
     some of those insurers are up recently?
       I do not want to subsidize the private insurance market; 
     the whole point of creating a government option is to bring 
     prices down. Insisting on a government mandate to have 
     insurance without a better alternative to the status quo is 
     not true reform.
       By eliminating the public option, the government program 
     that could spark competition within the health insurance 
     industry,

[[Page 4002]]

     the Senate has ended up with a bill that isn't worthy of its 
     support.
       The public option is the part of our reform effort that 
     will lower costs, improve the delivery of health care 
     services and force insurance companies to offer rates and 
     services that are reasonable.
       Although the art of legislating involves compromise, I 
     believe the Senate went off the rails when it agreed with the 
     Obama Administration to water down the reform bill and no 
     longer include the public option.
       But that's not the only thing wrong with the Senate's 
     version of the health care bill.
       Under that plan, insurance companies can punish older 
     people, charging them much higher rates than the House bill 
     would allow.
       In the House, we fought hard to repeal McCarran-Ferguson, 
     the antitrust exemption that insurance companies have enjoyed 
     for years. We did that because we believed firmly that those 
     Fortune 500 corporations should not enjoy special treatment.
       Yet the Senate bill does not include that provision--
     despite assurances from some members that they will seek to 
     add it. By ending that protection, we will be able to go 
     after insurance companies with federal penalties for 
     misleading advertising or dishonest business practices.
       The House bill would cover 96 percent of legal residents, 
     while the Senate covers 94 percent. Compared with the House 
     bill, the Senate's bill makes it much easier for employers to 
     avoid the responsibility of providing insurance for their 
     workers.
       And of course, the Senate bill did not remove the onerous 
     choice language intended to appeal to anti-abortion forces.
       Now don't get me wrong; the current House and Senate bills 
     are a significant improvement over the status quo. Given the 
     hard path to reform and the political realities of next year, 
     there is a sizable group within Congress that wants to simply 
     cut any deal that works and call it a success. Many previous 
     efforts have failed, and the path to reform is littered with 
     unsuccessful efforts championed by Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 
     Harry Truman and Bill Clinton.
       Supporters of the weak Senate bill say ``just pass it--any 
     bill is better than no bill.''
       I strongly disagree--a conference report is unlikely to 
     sufficiently bridge the gap between these two very different 
     bills.
       It's time that we draw the line on this weak bill and ask 
     the Senate to go back to the drawing board, The American 
     people deserve at least that.

  We've had so many things said about this bill that have been 
misrepresented. We're told that we're the ones who misrepresent. But I 
want to say that President Obama has said over and over again, If you 
like your plan, you won't have to give it up. You can still keep it. 
But at our Republican retreat, President Obama was quoted as saying, 
``For example, we said from the start that it was going to be important 
for us to be consistent in saying to people if you have your--if you 
want to keep the health insurance you got, you can keep it, that you're 
not going to have to have anybody getting in between you and your 
doctor in your decision-making. And I think that some of the provisions 
that got snuck in might have violated that pledge.''
  The President admitted that what he had said and what he continues to 
say is not accurate because the bill that they proposed that we vote on 
is the very bill that has those things in it. It's the very bill that 
Ms. Slaughter has said is not worthy of the American people.
  Well, we need you to continue to tell the President, Ms. Slaughter, 
and all the Democrats who have said they're going to vote for this bill 
that they are right, this bill is not worthy of the American people. 
It's not worthy of the sacrifices that have been made to keep us free 
because this is a government takeover of our lives. We will be giving 
up our freedom if this bill is passed. The government will take over 
not only our health care but ultimately our lives. That is unworthy of 
the people who started this country.

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