[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 8]
[House]
[Pages 11044-11045]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                               HEALTH TAX

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Virginia (Mr. Forbes) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. FORBES. Mr. Speaker, several days ago I was one of only a handful 
of Members of Congress who actually sat in the Supreme Court and 
listened to five Justices debate and say that they believed that the 
President's health tax was constitutional, and I watched them debate 
the four Justices who believed it was not constitutional.
  Because one more Justice believed it was constitutional than the four 
that believed it was not constitutional, our friends on the other side 
of the aisle believe that we should now step back and do nothing and 
just allow this health tax to be imposed on the American people.
  Well, we reject that suggestion, and the reason we do is because 
today the number one issue in the American people's minds is the 
economy, and the number one concern we have about the economy is the 
loss of their jobs. Yet we have watched as this administration has had 
41 straight months of unemployment in excess of 8 percent.
  We have watched as their policies have delivered us a net loss of 
473,000 jobs, and we are about to unleash three enormous job killers on 
the American public. In just a few months, we will increase taxes on 
the American people if we refuse to extend the Bush tax cuts, which 
will cost thousands of jobs. Yet our friends on the other side of the 
aisle say we should step back and do nothing, and we reject that 
notion.

[[Page 11045]]

  In just a few months, based on legislation this President approved 
and signed into law, we will have massive defense cuts that his own 
Secretary of Defense says will cost us 1.5 million jobs, and our 
friends on the other side of the aisle say we should do nothing and 
just let that come on the American people. We reject that notion.
  Finally, Mr. Speaker, as this health tax gets ready to be imposed on 
the American people, based on the Congressional Budget Office, it will 
cost 800,000 jobs. Yet our friends on the other side of the aisle say 
we should take no action and just let it happen. We reject that notion.
  The reason we reject it is because the American people realize that 
as we take an action to repeal this health tax, we are setting a new 
course for health care in America. As we set a new course for health 
care in America, we begin to do what the American people want us to do 
and set a new course and a new direction for America.

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