Marsha Blackburn

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Madam Speaker, I rise today to ask my colleagues to join me in honoring the selfless service Jack Nyiri has performed throughout his lifetime for the Boy Scouts of America, specifically the Cub Scout organization. The aims of Scouting--citizenship training, character development, and personal fitness--are so very important to developing the next generation of American citizens. But these aims cannot be accomplished without the dedication of individuals like Jack Nyiri, who are willing to part with their own time and effort for the good of our children. After participating in both Cub and Boy Scouting in Cleveland, Ohio, Mr. Nyiri dove into leading Cub Scout packs and participating in the administration of scouting across at least three different states. His steadfastness and excellence has been recognized through many of scouting's highest awards, as he has more than lived up to the Cub Scout motto--``Do your best.'' Nowhere is Mr. Nyiri's dedication more tangible than in the success of Bus Scout Pack 96, based in Nashville, Tennessee. His leadership has built this pack into a strong and vibrant organization, and the scouts and parents of Pack 96 have expressed to me their extreme gratefulness for Mr. Nyiri's tenure as the Pack Leader. Madam Speaker, I congratulate Jack and ask my colleagues to join me in celebrating his accomplishments.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Speaker, the health care proposals that are before us have been tried before. Public option was tried in my home State of Tennessee under a plan called TennCare. For more than 10 years, the legislature and three Governors tried to make it work. It has been less than successful. But what has happened is that a program that was supposed to have saved millions, tens of millions of dollars, has never saved one nickel. It also has restricted access. It has driven up the cost of private health insurance, and it has nearly bankrupted the State. Tennesseeans know that rushing to reform health care and doing that wrong is a very expensive process. We all know that costs and access of health care needs to be addressed. No one seriously believes that any of these plans before this House right now is going to do that. Tennesseeans know the cost of rushing and getting it wrong, and the American people are figuring it out because they have seen the majority rush a stimulus, an omnibus, a housingus and a porkulus that has left the American people saying, where are the jobs? And they do not want that to happen in health care.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Chairman, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Chairman, again, today I rise in defense of the American taxpayer. Mr. Chairman, we were greeted this week with the unfortunate news that we have already spent $1 trillion more than we have taken in in this fiscal year. The projections for next year are no better. Many think they're even worse. And yet, here we find ourselves on the floor again, one more day, one more ``approps'' bill, one more debate about spend, spend, spend. Everybody in this Chamber knows that I am the grandmother of two precious little boys. Their future is so special and precious to me. And because of that, every day when I come to work, I think about the ramifications of the votes that I take and what it is going to do to them. And every day, I come down here, and what I try to do is slow the growth of government spending. It is completely out of control. It is about to bankrupt this Nation, and it is costing us jobs, jobs, jobs. And I do that because my grandsons already, at the age of 14 months and 1 month, they already owe $70,000 to Uncle Sam. The debt that we run up here will be paid in their denied opportunities of tomorrow. I just can't run up that debt with a clear conscience, and I really don't think that, if my colleagues stopped to think about it, that they would want to be running up that type of debt either. That is especially true when we consider the funding for the programs that are before us today, because that funding has risen over 52 percent in the past 3 years. These same programs have already received $7 billion this year in stimulus funding. And yet, we propose another 6.4 percent increase, another $1.5 billion increase more than last year. That will include a new $5 million for a program called Youth Services. When I saw that, I thought, my goodness. I wonder how our youth will end up servicing the massive debt that we are leaving them to handle. My 5 percent across-the-board cut will save the taxpayers $1.2 billion. My friends on the other side of the aisle will, no doubt, rise in opposition to this bill, and they're going to tell their constituents how hard they've worked in committee, how responsible the bill is. And as one of my constituents said, it must be mighty hard work to spend a billion dollars an hour, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, which is exactly what is happening in Congress. I just don't buy the lines about hard work anymore, and neither does the American taxpayer. How hard can we be working? How many hard choices can possibly be being made by Members of this Chamber when every year we spend more and more and more. My colleagues may say that they aren't increasing funding by all that much, if you don't count the stimulus money, and you don't count the special appropriations. But we have already spent that money on programs. And I do count that money, and I count it because the ones who are going to have to pay that back are our children and our grandchildren. Mr. Chairman, the gentleman across the aisle from me may offer a series of programs that his party claims are just too vital to be cut. And I would challenge him to take that list to his constituents, to lots of grandmoms like me, and just ask them if they agree. I would concede that yes, indeed we do have critical programs that need to be funded. I would simply suggest that, in this economy, when people are losing their jobs, when businesses are struggling, with a $1 trillion deficit already on the books for this year, that we consider reducing by 5 percent the amount of increase that is before us today. And so now, so that my colleagues can dazzle me with their Washington-style math, I will reserve the balance of my time.

Mrs. BLACKBURN. What we are saying is save a nickel out of a dollar. A nickel out of a dollar, out of the amount of increase that is being given. All of these programs sound great, but may I remind my colleagues, this administration has piled up more debt, more debt than every previous administration from George Washington to George Bush. You must have liked the deficit spending so much that you're doing more and more and more and more of it. There are some of us that have come to this floor repeatedly. Budgets and appropriations should be about priorities. I encourage a ``yes'' vote on my amendment.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Chairman, I rise today on behalf of the American taxpayer to continue my push to rein in Federal spending by just 5 percent. As with the other appropriations bills that my colleagues and I have attempted to amend this year, this proposal would enforce a 5 percent across-the-board cut to the Energy and Water appropriations bill. My amendment would save the taxpayer $1.7 billion and reset Energy and Water spending levels for the next budget. Spending on Energy and Water programs has increased by, get this, 183 percent over the past 3 years. Under the majority's control, spending has increased 183 percent. The very programs being funded on the House floor this afternoon have already received $51 billion in stimulus funding and $7 billion in supplemental funding this year, this one year. This Congress has already spent more than $1 trillion than we have taken in. This trillion-dollar deficit is the largest in American history. In my opinion, this deficit represents the height of fiscal irresponsibility and is absolutely unconscionable. On top of it, many of my colleagues are proposing another $1 trillion in government-run health care spending. Every day we are laying more and more debt on the backs of our children and grandchildren. I ask my colleagues: How do we expect these children and grandchildren, how do I expect my grandsons to pay for college or a first home or start a business when they already owe $70,000 to the Federal Government? Mr. Chairman, we have to realize debt incurred is opportunity denied. My constituents keep telling me, We are tired of the government spending money we have not made yet on programs we don't want. Through this appropriations cycle, I have intended to rein in this deficit by cutting spending. And today, again, I will ask the bureaucrats in Washington and their patrons in Congress to trim a nickel from every dollar that they are going to spend. As our deficit and our debt grow to historic and dangerous proportions, it is more urgent than ever that we take action and bring spending under control. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Chairman, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Chairman, while I support the Boren amendment, I do rise in opposition to the manager's amendment and to some provisions that are there. It strikes me that the manager's amendment results in an earmark for the Big Three automakers. What it does is to stipulate that the alternative fuel cars have to be bought from them. What it does is to ignore the many other American citizens and taxpayers who produce American-made passenger vehicles in this Nation, but they are manufacturers that are not the Big Three. I view this as being something that is bad policy. It is bad environmental policy. It is bad appropriations policy. It is bad economic policy. There are 209 vehicles, Alternative Fuel Vehicles, that are going to be purchased to go into these different agencies as stipulated in this bill. The way this manager's amendment is written, it is an earmark for the Big Three, which have already received billions of bailout money.

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Chairman, I would remind my good colleagues that this is not Federal Government money. This is taxpayer money. And every year on April 15, the taxpayers send their portion to the Federal Government, and they charge us with looking out after that money. Many times they set aside hopes, dreams and college educations. They don't get to pursue their priorities because they have to send the money to Washington. I find it absolutely incomprehensible that this body is not willing to turn to the bureaucrats that line all of these streets and these granite buildings and say, save a nickel out of the dollar. Allow our children and grandchildren to have opportunities. We have to realize, as I said, debt incurred today is opportunity denied for these children and grandchildren. I have heard all those arguments before. When I was in the State senate in Tennessee, they had this grandiose health care plan called TennCare. Oh, it was going to save all this money. It was a public option. It was the test case for public option. It nearly bankrupted the State. When I offered an amendment to make across-the-board cuts, oh, those are draconian, those are indiscriminate. It is going to shut government down. Well, guess what? They never took the cuts that we had. But when a Democrat Governor came in and he was faced with seemingly insurmountable odds on balancing a budget because we have an amendment, he made 9 percent across-the-board cuts. We need to do this. We need to make the hard choices of where we are going to spend this money. You can't say, well, when you exclude this from the stimulus, and when you exclude this amount of money, when you exclude this $51 billion from stimulus and this $7 billion from supplemental, then it is only this. Well, guess what? That money is already spent. You spent the money. So unless they pay it all back, you can't exclude it. So your fuzzy math doesn't add up. It doesn't add up. You have already spent that money. The person that is being undercut is the American taxpayer. And it is being done by the selfishness and by the greed of those who refuse to say ``no'' to a growing, out-of-control Federal bureaucracy. I think it is time that we get some backbone on this spending issue. Stop the out-of-control deficit. Stop the out-of-control debt. Vote for the amendment and ``no'' on the debt.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. That's one of the interesting things. You know, Tennessee's TennCare program was put in place in 1994 as the test case for public option, government-funded, government-delivered health care. The interesting thing now is the White House doesn't want to talk about it because it is an experiment that was not successful. It failed. Even our Democrat Governor has said it has been a disaster.

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Well, I thank the gentleman for yielding. Dr. Roe is exactly right. He was a physician practicing medicine or trying to practice medicine under the impact of TennCare. I was a legislator trying to figure out how to pay for this as a member of the Tennessee State Senate.

Mrs. BLACKBURN. You're exactly right. And what the gentleman has is one small portion of that bill. And also, I would add, before I yield back, that his own economic advisor from--the President's economic advisor estimates that that amount of taxes and this legislation would cost us 4.7 million new jobs. And I yield back.

Mrs. BLACKBURN. I thank you. What we see in this stack of the bill, the 1,100 pages that are there in that bill, 1,683 times it gives you the directive of you ``shall do,'' individuals ``shall do'' this. Now let me explain what this means. When you are a mother, many times you will tell your children, well, you can go out and play if you want to or you can do this if you want to. But when you really want to make a point, you say, ``you are going to go to time out'' or ``you are going to go to this corner'' or ``you are going to do your homework, no question, no options.'' In legislative parlance, that is what ``shall'' means. You have to do this. Now, 47 times it uses the word ``must.'' You must do this and that. And 495 times it uses the word ``require.'' All of these are new mandates on the American people. To make it worse, 172 times it talks about taxes, taxpayer, taxable activity, 172 times, and 99 times it uses ``penalties.'' The Democrats have become the party of punishment, and they are going to punish Americans severely in this health care bill. And to the gentleman from Georgia, I loved the fact that he talked about the taxes. That portion that he so beautifully articulated, would create $300 billion in new revenue for the government, which means taxes out of your pocket that you're taking out of your pocket and handing to the tax man; $300 billion. Even the prices----

Mrs. BLACKBURN. I do yield.

Mrs. BLACKBURN. I thank you. I will give a brief answer to that and then I know Dr. Roe will also want to comment on it. It's so wonderful that we can talk from the perspective of a State senator who was charged with holding that program accountable, even though it was set up without the permission, without the permission of either the Statehouse or the State senate in the State of Tennessee. And Dr. Roe was charged with keeping his oath and making certain that he was providing care to those that were in his care. But what we saw, again, was the cost shifting that was taking place, the cost of the insurance to those in the private markets going through the roof. I have employers in my State senate district and now in my congressional district who have seen, over a 3-year period of time, their health insurance cost go up 100 percent. We also saw delayed care. And as the gentleman from Arizona knows, delayed care might as well be denied care.

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Costs skyrocketed. And we saw the costs go up every single year. As Dr. Roe can tell you, having been a physician trying to handle this issue, every single year the costs went up on the public option, the access was restricted, the quality of care was diminished, and those with private insurance saw their rates go up 10 percent, 15 percent.

Mrs. BLACKBURN. I'll gladly yield.

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Yes. And one of the things we need to realize is this. TennCare was put in place as an executive order program of the Office of the Governor. It was an 1115 waiver from CMS. The Statehouse and the State Senate got the bill of paying for it. What happened after about 5 years of this program being in place, and you had consent decrees and court orders, you had companies that were dropping insurance, 55 percent of the enrollees on the program were people that were not supposed to be there. They had previously had insurance. And you had a program that was ensuring or covering--gold-plated program covering 25 percent of the State's residents. Then the cost starts to balloon. You see cost shifting taking place onto those who have private insurance. You see restricted access by doctors and hospitals because they're not being paid by the program, because there's not enough money to go around, and the cost of the program goes to the point that they are actually absorbing every single new revenue dollar that is coming into the State of Tennessee, and ends up being 36 percent of the State's budget.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Madam Speaker, I rise today to ask my colleagues to join me in honoring the 80th birthday of one of Tennessee's finest citizens, Mr. Albert McCall, Sr., of Carthage, Tennessee. Born and raised in Smith County, Tennessee, Mr. McCall earned two degrees--a bachelor's at Tennessee Polytechnic Institute and a master's at the University of Missouri--before serving as an Army Artillery Officer and in the dangerous position of a forward observer during the Korean war. After returning home from the war, he married Miss Virginia Olive Doran in 1955 and began working in the family business, DT McCall and Sons, founded by his father and still a vital business and significant employer in Tennessee some 100 years later. Mr. McCall has two fine children, Albert McCall II and Menda Elizabeth McCall Holmes, and four grandchildren: Alex, Kate, Monica and Derek. He is a member of the First Baptist Church in Carthage and has been active in civic affairs for many years across Tennessee. His leadership has been crucial to the success of our State, and I am humbly grateful to him for the many years of hard work and sacrifice he has provided. Madam Speaker, I congratulate Albert on a life well-lived and ask my colleagues to join me in celebrating his past, present, and future accomplishments.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Chairman, tonight I rise in support of the American taxpayer. Like a lot of my colleagues, I was home last week. I spent a lot of my time talking with constituents and listening to them and to their concerns. And it seems like wherever I went and whomever I spoke with, one concern overrode all of the others. They talked to us a lot about how astounded they were with cap-and-trade and they talked about their fears of what the liberal proposals were going to do to health care. But the one thing that overrode them all, the commonality of concern, was with spending, the deficit, and national debt. Many times they used the term ``I am dumbfounded'' by what we are spending. Where is this money coming from? Is it coming from China? Is it coming from India? Are we just continuing to roll up the debt? And over and over they said, Tell me what we can do to stop this excessive spending. Well, Mr. Chairman, my amendment is a good first step, and it is a way that we can begin to slow the Federal spending. The approps bill before us represents nearly a 12 percent spending increase over last year. And if you add all the stimulus spending, which was $26.5 billion, and the emergency spending, which was $7.9 billion, these programs have benefited from about a 125 percent increase over the past 3 years. So can any of us say that spending 125 percent more than we did on these programs last year in this economic climate is responsible? Look at what that growth has been over a 3-year period of time. Mr. Chairman, I am asking my colleagues to agree with me to give back just one nickel out of every dollar that is being appropriated and given to the bureaucracy, one nickel out of every single dollar. As my colleagues all know, I am probably the proudest grandmother here on Capitol Hill. I have two adorable grandsons. My oldest grandson is barely a year old, and he and his brother, his 3-week-old brother, are each already in debt to the tune of about $70,000 to the Federal Government. I know that there are thousands of grandparents that are out there just like me. They are incredibly concerned about what they see happening. They fear that the exploding debt and the deficit will compromise and will cap the opportunity of those precious children and that we will trade their bright future for one that is limited by a national debt that makes this Nation so sluggish that the best and the brightest opportunities are going to end up going elsewhere. And where are we getting the money? We are getting the money from our grandchildren. So I urge support of my amendment. Cut 5 percent across the board. Cut a nickel from every dollar. And require today's bureaucracy to find a way to do what the American taxpayer is doing, to tighten the belt and save that nickel out of a dollar for our future. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Chairman, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mrs. BLACKBURN. If the gentlelady will yield.

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Chairman, the gentlewoman mentioned fiscal irresponsibility. I think that growing programs by 12 percent when they have already seen enormous, enormous increases is irresponsible. We are asking to curtail the growth 5 percent. Curtail that growth 5 percent. You know, the States have been a great lab of experimentation in this. And many States, including mine of Tennessee, have had across-the-board cuts, and they have used that to rein in the bureaucracy and say tighten your belts. Times are tough. Tighten your belts. And, Mr. Chairman, that is what we should do. Priorities. She talked about priorities. How about the priority of the American taxpayer? How about the priority of the American farmer who writes that check to Uncle Sam every year and turns to his child and says, Guess what, you're not going to go to the university; you're going to go get another job and work another year before you can go. These are priorities that are set aside while they meet our obligation to us. It is our responsibility to be good stewards of that dollar. And giving egregious raises--listen to this. McGovern-Dole International Food for Education and Child Nutrition Program grants, an increase of 99.5 percent; FDA salaries and expenses--and, trust me, Energy and Commerce, we've been after them for a long time--14.6 percent. The list goes on and on.

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Money doesn't solve that problem.