Joe Barton

Mr. BARTON of Texas

Mr. BARTON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to one of our pro- life leaders, the Honorable Chris Smith of New Jersey.

Mr. BARTON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, first of all, let me tell you how proud I am of the members of the Energy and Commerce Committee on both sides of the aisle who have participated in this debate since January, and who have participated on the floor debate today. It makes me proud to be a member of that committee. Mr. Speaker, we have heard all of the policy arguments pro and con for this bill. I am going to end the Republican side of the Energy and Commerce debate simply by saying that I think this bill should be defeated because it is an imposition on personal freedom here in America. I just simply don't think that it is right to tell people that they have to have insurance, tells employers they have to provide insurance, to set up a bureaucracy that advises a bureaucracy what that insurance should be, that then determines what the insurance itself should be, what the minimum premium should be, what has to be covered, what shouldn't be covered, and then over time almost guarantees that everybody, except the richest people in America, are in some version of the public option. I just think that is wrong in America, Mr. Speaker, and for that reason alone I am against this bill. There is an alternative. The Republican alternative covers many of the things that my friends on the majority side say they are for. We simply do it without mandating and imposing government will on the American people. Please vote ``no'' on the majority bill, and vote ``yes'' on the minority substitute.

Mr. BARTON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I have a parliamentary inquiry.

Mr. BARTON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Lubbock, Texas, a recent beneficiary of the best health care system in the world, Congressman Randy Neugebauer.

Mr. BARTON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Phoenix, Arizona, Congressman John Shadegg, a member of the committee.

Mr. BARTON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I am proud to yield 1 minute to the gentleman from the Hoosier State of Indiana, Mr. Steve Buyer, another member of the Energy and Commerce Committee, and the ranking member on the Veterans' Affairs Committee.

Mr. BARTON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, could I ask how much time. You said it a minute ago, but I was not listening.

Mr. BARTON of Texas. I would like to recognize the gentleman from Virginia, Congressman Frank Wolf, for a unanimous consent request. (Mr. WOLF asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. BARTON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I will yield 1 minute to the gentleman, if that's allowed.

Mr. BARTON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the former FBI man from the great State of Michigan (Mr. Rogers), a member of the committee.

Mr. BARTON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from the Pelican State, Congressman Scalise from New Orleans, a member of the committee.

Mr. BARTON of Texas. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I was listening to my distinguished friends on the majority raptly. I now yield 1 minute to one of our doctors, physicians, the gentleman from Lewisville, Texas, the Honorable Michael Burgess, also a member of the committee.

Mr. BARTON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Wyoming (Mrs. Lummis), who represents the entire State.

Mr. BARTON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. Terry), who represents Omaha, Nebraska, the home of the College World Series.

Mr. BARTON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I am proud to yield 1 minute to the sixth Frelinghuysen to represent a district from the Garden State of New Jersey, the Honorable Rodney Frelinghuysen. (Mr. FRELINGHUYSEN asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. BARTON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the distinguished ranking member of the Financial Services Committee from the great State of Alabama, Mr. Spencer Bachus.

Mr. BARTON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I am proud to yield 1 minute to the honorable gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Pitts), one of the strong pro-life leaders in the U.S. Congress, a combat veteran of Vietnam, and a member of the Energy and Commerce Committee.

Mr. BARTON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I see that we have changed from the Jets and the Giants to the Green Bay Packers in the chair. I would like to yield 1 minute to a Ramblin' Wreck from Georgia Tech, a member of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, Dr. Gingrey.

Mr. BARTON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Missouri, who represents the hometown of Rush Limbaugh, Cape Girardeau, Missouri, Congresswoman Jo Ann Emerson.

Mr. BARTON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I recognize one of my ranking subcommittee members, Mr. Radanovich, who represents Fresno, California, for 1 minute.

Mr. BARTON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I would like to yield 2 minutes now to the leader of the Republican Health Care Task Force and a member of our committee, the deputy ranking member, Mr. Roy Blunt.

Mr. BARTON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the distinguished former mayor of Fort Worth, Texas, the Honorable Kay Granger.

Mr. BARTON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to a distinguished member of the Energy and Commerce Committee, one of our ranking members of the subcommittee, the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Upton).

Mr. BARTON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to one of the distinguished ranking members of the Energy and Commerce Committee, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Cliff Stearns). (Mr. STEARNS asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. BARTON of Texas. I yield 1 minute to another of my distinguished ranking members on the Energy and Commerce Committee, the gentleman from the Bluegrass State of Kentucky (Mr. Whitfield).