Marsha Blackburn

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Speaker, at this time, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Rogers), who has been a leader in the health care debate on our Energy and Commerce Committee.

Mrs. BLACKBURN. I yield the gentleman 30 additional seconds.

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Speaker, at this time, I yield 3 minutes to Dr. Gingrey, the gentleman from Georgia who has practiced medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, has worked with women and women's health care issues, and joins us on the Energy and Commerce Committee.

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Speaker, at this time, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Lance).

Mrs. BLACKBURN. At this time, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to our ranking member on International Affairs, Ms. Ros-Lehtinen from Florida.

Mrs. BLACKBURN. At this time, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to Mrs. McMorris Rodgers from Washington State, who is vice chair of our conference.

Mrs. BLACKBURN. I have an inquiry, Mr. Speaker. Is the gentlewoman from California prepared to close or does she have additional speakers?

Mrs. BLACKBURN. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mrs. BLACKBURN. I continue to reserve the balance of my time.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise in support of the Informed Peer-to-Peer User Act. As we are hearing today on the floor, it is imperative that we heighten public awareness of the dangers associated with P2P file sharing, and Mr. Barrow just spoke so well to those points. The reason that this legislation is needed and why it effectively requires software applications to provide clear warnings to their users is because, as the gentleman from Georgia indicated, many people are not aware of what they are finding themselves in the middle of as their information is exposed on the Internet. In addition, the Seventh District of Tennessee, my district, is home to some of the country's most talented and creative minds in the music industry, and they rely heavily on P2P file sharing in crafting and bringing forward their music. However, P2P programs are notorious for stealing copyrighted work, and this legislation does much to curb the piracy and the copyright infringement while stepping up penalties that are badly needed for those that are knowingly and willingly carrying out these violations. Unknown and untracked predators have been given fertile ground to steal intellectual property in a system that had been previously void of any centralized mechanism to track, monitor, and prosecute the violators. I do want to commend those on both sides of the aisle, especially Mr. Barrow, Mrs. Bono Mack, Mr. Barton, and Mr. Stearns, for all their hard work in crafting this bill, and I encourage everyone to support the legislation.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Madam Speaker, two days ago, thousands of Tennessee's finest men and women boarded buses and began the first leg of a long journey that will eventually lead them to the other side of the globe. Tennessee's largest National Guard unit, the 278th Armored Cavalry Regiment, has received its orders and begun its deployment--first to Camp Shelby, MS, and then on to Iraq. The 278th has proven itself to be an essential part of our Nation's Army. Without the citizen-soldiers that make up today's National Guard, our ability to defend ourselves and our allies would be severely diminished. A long deployment is very difficult, however, and for many of these soldiers this is not their first deployment. I hope these soldiers know how valuable, essential, and honored their service to our country is. I specifically think today of Troop A, 278th Support Squadron, based in Lobelville, Tennessee. These fine men and women were appropriately honored by their community on December 4, and I know will fulfill the high expectations placed upon them by their commanders and perform admirably. I ask my colleagues to lift up the 278th ACR in prayer, to honor the sacrifice their service represents, and support their families in every way possible.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Madam Speaker, it is a privilege to rise today to congratulate Mr. Stephen Hodgkins as he ends a successful term as President of the Memphis Area Homebuilders Association. As homebuilders in Memphis and across Shelby, Fayette and Tipton County continue to weather an unrelenting storm of economic uncertainty, Stephen has provided a strong and steady hand of unwavering leadership that has shined as a beacon of hope and instilled confidence in MAHA members when his organization has needed it the most. Throughout the course of his term as President, Stephen has been a relentless advocate for homebuilders and has worked tirelessly in reaching out to legislators in Nashville and in Washington, DC. Throughout our many discussions I have always found Stephen's advice to be insightful as we continue to look for ways to reinvigorate the housing market and alleviate the hardships that continue to face homebuilders across West Tennessee. While the forecast for the housing market still remains unclear one thing that has always been certain is that Stephen's success as a leader is deeply rooted in the skills he has developed over 36 years as a mortgage banker and later through the launch of his home building company Oaktree Homes LLC. Madam Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in congratulating Mr. Stephen Hodgkins for a successful term as President of the Memphis Area Homebuilders Association and wish him the best in all of his future endeavors.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Madam Speaker, I do rise in support of SHVERA, as we call it. And for those individuals that live in rural areas like my Seventh District in Tennessee, fixing a short market problem, which we have heard discussed on this floor tonight, is much more than just a convenience or an ``I want to see TV'' issue. For us, it is an issue of health and security and public safety. And by working to expand the definition of the unserved customer, which we have done on a bipartisan basis in this bill, my constituents in rural west Tennessee counties like Hardin and Hardeman and Chester are now going to be able to get that distant satellite signal that we've discussed. The reason it is important for us is because a couple of years ago, we had a devastating tornado that swept through west Tennessee and touched down in our district. Nearly three dozen Tennesseeans were killed and 150 people were seriously injured. Communities were paralyzed and had significant difficulty in receiving news alerts and communicating. By fixing this short market, we will all rest a little better knowing that should we be faced with any other such disaster of this magnitude, that we will be better prepared and able to respond and to persevere. I do want to take a moment to thank Chairman Conyers, Chairman Boucher, Ranking Member Barton, and Ranking Member Stearns for all of their hard work in fixing this short market issue and helping to resolve this issue for my constituents in Tennessee. As has been said, the bill's not perfect, and there is an area that has been mentioned mandating that a private company like DISH Network carry public broadcasting in high def. It really does go against free market principles. I do know that is going to continue to be worked on. We are looking forward to getting that issue resolved. I thank the gentleman from Florida.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. I thank the gentleman from Texas for yielding. Mr. Speaker, I would remind my colleagues here in the House that we know something is wrong with the piece of legislation when you have major media outlets talking about how off-track this is, and you also know something's wrong with it when you have our colleagues in the Senate who take up a bill, this bill, and they can't get to 50 votes in the Senate for the companion legislation. So it is with a real sense of regret that I think many of us look at this. Does the standard growth rate, SGR, need to be fixed? Absolutely. And there is agreement on that. It is an issue out of fairness to our Nation's physicians, the providers of health care. It is an issue of fairness to our Nation's seniors. Mr. Speaker, I think it has been really something that has been of concern to us as we have watched some of our colleagues in this House treat Medicare as a slush fund rather than recognizing that it is a trust fund and it's there for those seniors. We can do better. Our seniors and our physicians deserve better.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Speaker, I find it so interesting that some are so excited about voting for this bill. Quite frankly, I find it to be a very sad day that this body would take a step moving toward a single- payer system in health care. We have all heard the horror stories of what happens in Europe and in Canada as women seek to get care for breast cancer and die before that care can be found, because care delayed is care denied. We've heard about heart surgeries that never came to pass because they were waiting in the queue. We have talked to mothers who sought desperately to have children treated for chronic illnesses and could not get that help. We have heard about our seniors, and we know what this bill will do to Medicare, making one-half trillion dollars worth of cuts. We have talked to mothers who have said, My goodness, you cannot even get H1N1 vaccine out there and you think you're going to handle the health care for my children? And today, recorded in the Wall Street Journal, Betsy McCaughey, former Lieutenant Governor of New York, cites some of the provisions and what it will do to the seniors in this Nation as it cuts into their access. This is not the action we should take. Announcement by the Speaker Pro Tempore

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Texas, and I rise in opposition to this rule, and I encourage my colleagues to stand in opposition to this rule. The reason is this is not what the American people want to see in health care reform. It is not what my constituents want to see in health care reform. There are some very valid, tangible reasons. This is a wrong step for America. This bill costs too much. It is too expensive to afford. Look at what happened to my home State of Tennessee with the test case for public option health care. The cost not only doubled, not only tripled--it quadrupled, and it nearly broke the State. Our State was on the verge of bankruptcy. We had a 4-year battle over a State income tax to pay for this. Who do you think is going to pay for this bill? This is too expensive to afford. What you are doing is sacrificing the future of our children, our grandchildren, and our great-grandchildren to pay, to pay for federalizing, nationalizing government control of health care. Let's oppose the rule and take it down.

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition on this record- killing, job-killing bill that is going to cut Medicare and pile debt on our children, our precious grandchildren and raise health care costs and taxes on the American people.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Madam Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in congratulating Mr. Jim Durrett of Clarksville, Tennessee, upon his retirement after 32 years of civil service to the City of Clarksville. Jim's story is inspiring. A native son, he began his work for the city as a laborer in the Street Department. Jim worked diligently and continued to assume more and more responsibility. Eventually, he became the Superintendent of that department and served capably in that role for 20 years through many difficult times. Jim's leadership over those years prepared him to be named as the Mayor's Chief of Staff in 2007. Since that time, Jim has overseen the city's involvement in some of Clarksville's most exciting developments--the recruitment of Hemlock Semiconductor, the extension of the RiverWalk, the beginning of construction on the long-awaited Marina, and many other important projects. Despite the heavy load of responsibility, Jim's strong work ethic, pleasant demeanor, and the continuing respect of his colleagues is remarkable. Please join me in honoring Jim Durrett on his service to the City of Clarksville, and wishing him only the best in the years to come.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Speaker, the American people, especially women, are listening and watching; and they are paying close attention to how we define problems, how we address problems, and how we as a body get around to solving problems that they're concerned about. And I think they're really learning so very much. They are learning that we have a philosophical difference in how we choose to address these problems. Some of my colleagues want to see this played out in the health care debate where they would choose to have a government-centered plan, and then there are those of us that would like to have a patient-centered, taxpayer-friendly way to address this. And we do have lots of ideas. We, as Republicans, have brought forward so many ideas and so many bills that would do just that, to address the health care and medical concerns of our constituents. What they want is more affordable cost, ease of access, making certain that we address access to affordable insurance for those that have preexisting and existing conditions. And we can do that and be friendly to the American taxpayer.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. I thank the gentlelady for yielding back, and I appreciate that she mentioned how States need to be able to innovate, how they handle the Medicaid payments that are there. This is so very important because they are the ones that are delivering these services. This bill would increase the eligibility for Medicaid to 150 percent of the Federal poverty level. Now, what this does is to shift that burden over to our States. It takes that burden from the Federal Government and places it squarely in the lap of our States. Now, most of our States have balanced budget amendments. Here we are handing them, and in my State of Tennessee, we know we have heard from our Governor's office that the expectation is this is going to cost us an extra $735 million per year. Every State around the country is looking to see what it would cost them. They know that by shifting that Medicaid burden, expanding that eligibility to 150 percent and then shifting that burden to the States, well, it may help them with budgeting, those that are trying to pass this bill and are looking for budget gimmicks and trying to say it is going to cost less than $1 trillion. Well, that gimmickry might help them, but for the taxpayer who already has too much month left at the end of his money, what you are saying is get ready, your sales tax is going up. Your State property tax is going up. You are going to see State income taxes going up, and that is all because the Federal Government said, States get ready, it is coming to land in your lap. I recognize the gentlewoman from Oklahoma (Ms. Fallin) about how this will affect the States.

Mrs. BLACKBURN. I thank the gentlelady, and the gentlelady is exactly right. Much of this has been done behind closed doors by our colleagues across the aisle, and many of the great ideas that have been brought forward that do stay focused on the patient have been brought forward by the Republicans in the House, whether it is the Republican Study Committee bill, Mike Rogers' bill, John Shadegg's bill, Paul Ryan's bill, any of the number of amendments, over a hundred amendments that we on Energy and Commerce had when we were marking up the bill. So there are lots of good ideas on our side of the aisle. At this time I want to recognize the gentlewoman from Minnesota (Mrs. Bachmann) who has been so instrumental in helping to lead the debate on health care here in the House. I yield to her for her comments on the issue.

Mrs. BLACKBURN. I thank the gentlelady from Minnesota for her good work on this issue and for being here with us tonight as we have brought forward the alternatives that are there, the good, solid, positive, free-market-oriented alternatives that are there from our conference and from the women in our conference. I thank everyone for joining us, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Speaker, I am so thrilled to be here tonight to talk about health care for women in America. Throughout this evening, you are going to see colleagues of mine join me on the floor as we talk about women's health care, to talk about the alternatives that we as Republicans have; how we would answer these questions that women and families have; how they would make the decisions; and some of the great ideas that we would bring forward. You know, I think there is something that has become very evident to us over the last few weeks; women make most of the health care decisions in their families. Indeed, we have surveys that show that women are making as many as 85-90 percent of all health care decisions for their families, for their children, for their grandchildren many times, and for elderly parents. The Sandwich Generation is really jumping in and making these decisions. They are watching so closely the alternatives for health reform. Of course, while we all agree that there is indeed a need for health reform, there is a big divide in this House. We have many to the left that are saying they want a government-centered plan, and then we have many of us who are on the right who are saying we want it to be patient-centered. We want the focus to stay with patients, with families, and let's not have a bureaucrat in the room. We know that women are indeed watching. They have seen what the Democrats have to offer, and they are unimpressed. They are not impressed with this. They know that it limits and restricts their options. Women are the drivers in the health care marketplace, and I think American women are going to be the drivers in the decisions that are made as we look at how we reform health care, because indeed it should be patient-centered, with families and individuals having control of those health care decisions. We don't want Washington and a layer of bureaucracy making those decisions. A couple of weeks ago, I saw a story in Politico, and it said the Democrats needed to do a better job in messaging and trying to get their message out to women. I wrote a response to that, because I felt like, you know, they have gotten that message out. Women did not like what they were seeing. So I am very appreciative that Cathy McMorris Rodgers, who is vice chair of our caucus, and Michele Bachmann from Minnesota have taken the lead for the Republican women tonight in establishing this Special Order time. We know that we have better bills, and they will put women more in charge of health care decisions and bring down the cost, because just like too much of the family budget gets spent on taxes, too much of it gets spent on health care. We need something to bring the costs down. Even the CBO says the Democrat bill is going to drive the cost up. It is going to drive the cost of health care up, it is going to drive the cost of health insurance up, and we know also it is going to restrict access. We know that women want to have a say in this, and they don't want a bill that is going to end up hurting them and hurting their alternatives at the end of the day. So making certain that we have a plan that works for women is important. Now, we know that in Speaker Pelosi's bill the Democrats outline how much the government will pay for certain procedures. A doctor who wants to do business with the government will have to accept that rate, and if you are an insurance company, why would you offer any more money than the going rate established by the government? Well, we also know from what we have seen, from public option health care and the test case that took place in my State of Tennessee, that this doesn't always work. What you see is, when you have a public option plan in competition with private insurance, the cost goes up, restriction to access takes place. With Tenncare, the test case for public option health care that took place in our State, we saw the costs quadruple within a few years' period of time. We know that that hurt certain procedures and access to certain procedures, like cardiology, and we are very concerned about the restrictions to cardiology that are in the bill that the Speaker has brought forward. Mammography, we are very concerned about what would happen to mammography and the ability to have those imaging tests and procedures that are needed and are necessary. The Speaker's bill does we think end up hurting women in a couple of specific areas that I have just pointed out, breast cancer health and cardiology, and we know that there is a better way to do this. Let me touch on three bills that Republicans have that I think give the ideas that women are looking for. They bring forward great ideas that are patient-centered, that are focused on individuals, focused on reducing costs, increasing access, and making certain that more individuals have the ability to access the health care that they need. One of those is H.R. 3218. It is by Representative John Shadegg. It would allow small businesses, churches, alumni associations and other small institutions to pool together, to come together just like you do when you join those associations, come together with that membership and then be able to look forward and say, all right, we are going to offer a health insurance plan. It also would allow for those insurance plans to be implemented across State lines. That is a pretty good idea, and that is a way, by pooling together small businesses and individuals, pooling together, then what you do is to lower that cost. Now, there is also H.R. 3713, and this is by Representative Mike Rogers out of Michigan. He is a member of the Energy and Commerce Committee with us. He has taken an interest in and a leadership role in this issue. What he has done is to look at the things that the President has said he wanted to accomplish, things that we all agree need to be done: Insurance market reforms, making certain that we have affordable insurance, access to affordable insurance for individuals who have preexisting and chronic conditions; making certain that individuals that are in good standing with an insurance policy are not dropped from that policy if they become ill and want to exercise that policy; making certain that portability is in place. One of the frustrating things we hear often about, especially from women, is the fact that they may change jobs and then they find they can't take that insurance with them. How many times have you talked with a friend or a neighbor who said, you know, I have had a great job offer, but I can't take it. I have a child who has a chronic condition, or my spouse has a chronic condition, and, because of that, I would have to deal with the preexisting condition issue if I were to change insurance, if I were to change jobs. So addressing those portability issues is tremendously important. Now, there is another component in this, liability reform. We all hear it. We hear it regularly. We hear from our physicians. We hear from our neighbors. We hear from individuals who say, you know, the practice of defensive medicine, having to make certain, having to make certain that you have a physician who is getting a validating opinion, who sent you to someone else for a second opinion, who sent you to someone else--defensive medicine drives the cost up. Some of the physicians who are Members of the House have told us that fully they believe that this drives up the cost of medicine repeatedly to the tune of tens of billions of dollars every single year--every single year. So it increases that cost. And it is also a inconvenience to our seniors. I had a constituent call me the other day and she said, Marsha, I just want to tell you what has happened to me as we have been going through this situation. She has a chronic condition. They were just beginning to address it. She went to her primary care physician, who ran a test and said, I think you need to see a specialist, and referred her. She went to him. He ran the test again, the same test, the same facility, ordered by a different doctor. He got the results back, and he said, I think you need to go and visit with Dr. So-and-so, so that you can get a second opinion on this. She goes back. She sees the new physician. He runs the test again. Then she goes back to him. That is three times. And then the insurance wanted her to go for a fourth test. As she said, it was the same test run four different times. And her question was very simple. She said, Why don't they run the test once? Run it once and read it four different times, rather than having me have to get my daughter to take off work, which is a half a day for her to go to the test and then return home. It's expensive. It is invasive. It is inconvenient. It is something that Congress could address and do something about, and I think that most people agree with that. It is of concern to us that H.R. 3962, the Speaker's bill, is 1,990 pages of bill. It is a big bill. This bill, this big huge bill--and we're going to have that bill on the floor for you to see tonight--this bill would be, really, a bill that is not fair to our seniors, and it does concern us. It's one of the primary concerns that we do have in this piece of legislation, the unfair practices that it would move forward on our seniors. As we are going through our Special Order tonight, if you would like to log on to my Web site, blackburn.house.gov and pull down the legislation and follow along through it as we go through it, we certainly would appreciate you doing so. As I said, we feel the legislation is going to be very unfair to seniors. They're talking about making cuts to the tune of $500 billion in Medicare, basically doing away with Medicare Advantage. Then look what's happening with this, cutting Medicare by 2017. We all know the Medicare trust fund is going to be running out of money. But what we're seeing from the Democrat leadership of this House is a failure to recognize that Medicare is a trust fund. Medicare is not a slush fund. And we want to make certain that we protect our seniors as we work through this bill. I am so pleased that we have women who are joining us on the floor tonight. At this time, I yield to the gentlelady from West Virginia, Shelley Moore Capito, for her comments on health care.

Mrs. BLACKBURN. I thank the gentlewoman from West Virginia, and I thank her for those comments about women in West Virginia and how this bill would affect them. What we are hearing all across our Nation is, This is not a bill that women want. Indeed, the blog spot, whymomsrule.com ran a survey, and it said that only 7 percent of American women think the health care proposals that have been brought by the leadership, the Democrat leadership, are proposals that reflect their concerns. We know that. We are listening. We hear them. And we have ways to solve this issue so it puts patients and families in charge of those decisions, not the Federal Government. It preserves that freedom. Indeed, for small businesses--as we all know, women-owned small businesses are a very active part in our economy, in our financial sectors, and we're very concerned about the impact for employer-based insurance that this bill would have on those women-owned small businesses. At this time, I want to turn to the gentlelady from Illinois (Mrs. Biggert) who has been such an active voice not only in the Education and Labor Committee but in the House as a whole, as she has been a leader on this issue.

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Reclaiming my time, I just want to expound on this point for just one moment because the point you're making is so relevant to this debate. The bill that is before us now, the 1,990-page bill that Speaker Pelosi has brought forward, and we hear tomorrow there will be a manager's amendment that will be dropped or also added to this; so it's going to be more than 2,000 pages by the time we get to the end of the week, but in that bill there are the provisions that mandate that end- of-life counseling.