Paul Broun

Mr. BROUN of Georgia

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Thank you, Madam Chairman. My amendment would reduce funding for the Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery program to the President's FY13 request of $50 million. I love salmon. I love to eat them. I love to fish for them. I'm a conservationist, and conservation issues are what started my political activism. But we also are in an economic crisis as a Nation. Let's be clear, this program is basically an earmark, and we should be eliminating it altogether. But that's not what my amendment does. I'm simply asking that we revert to funding levels back to those requested by the President. If $50 million in funding is good enough for the administration, that's exactly the amount of taxpayer money that this program should receive--and not a cent more. Given our current economic emergency, everyone needs to pull their weight when it comes to cutting spending. Congress has had to slash its own budget. Agencies across the Federal Government are tightening their belts left and right, and our Nation's families are reining in spending to deal with our failing and flailing economy. Yet the Pacific Coast Salmon Recovery is requesting $65 million in their funding--a $15 million increase in their budget from what the President himself has recommended for this year. I urge my colleagues to support my amendment to simply save American taxpayers $15 million by maintaining the status quo for the Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery funding. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the last word.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. I yield to my dear friend and colleague from Georgia, and I appreciate what he is doing with this amendment.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Mr. Chairman, reclaiming my time, I appreciate my colleague's amendment on this. It makes sense. It is a very miniscule cut, and Congress needs to face the fact that America is broke. We don't have the money to keep spending. Both parties are guilty of spending money that we don't have, spending money that eventually is going to have to be paid for by our grandchildren's children. We just have to stop the spending addiction that we have here in Washington. I'm an addictionologist, a medical doctor, and I've done addiction medicine. Addiction medicine has a saying that ``if there is no denial, there is no addiction.'' There is denial here in this Congress. There is denial that we have a fiscal crisis as a Nation. This is just a miniscule cut, not much at all. I support the gentleman's amendment. I hope my colleagues will support it and we can pass this minimal cut in this program. Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Mr. Chairman, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. My amendment would reduce the budget for the salaries and expenses of the Marine Mammal Commission by just 6 percent. The underlying bill is suggesting that Congress allot the same amount of Federal funding for the Marine Mammal Commission as last year--more than $3 million--when, in fact, every other office on Capitol Hill endured a 6 percent cut just this year. It seems only fair that in the midst of our current economic crisis we should ask Federal Commissions without any extreme need or urgent purposes to bear the same reductions. I believe that the Marine Mammal Commission falls under this criteria and that it should be able to find 6 percent worth of savings if they comb through every corner of their budget. Mr. Chairman, we reduced our budget in our offices by much more than this. I think the Marine Mammal Commission can trim their budget by just 6 percent, and I urge my colleagues to support this very simple amendment that would save nearly $200,000. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Will the gentleman yield?

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. They study marine mammals. I think probably you're correct on that, but I'm not certain.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Will the gentleman yield?

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. I appreciate the gentleman's comments. Certainly, the Navy SEALs are important, and so are the dolphins. What this is going to do is just cut expenses and salaries of the Commission itself. So it doesn't reduce the funding of the dolphin program. Certainly, there are some things that the Marine Mammal Commission can continue doing. This is not going to hurt those programs. So I urge the adoption of my amendment.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Mr. Chairman, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I listened very intently to the debate on the last amendment, and we have an amendment that actually cuts more than just Mrs. Blackburn's 1 percent. I listened very carefully to what my dear friend from Virginia, whom I have the utmost respect for and what he was saying, and I do have a tremendous respect for him and hope with my amendment his blood pressure won't go up. This is a very straightforward amendment. It would simply reduce the overall sending for much of the underlying bill by 12.2 percent. It's no secret that we as a Nation are facing an economic emergency. Entitlement spending remains out of control; discretionary spending continues to grow; and should the President's health care plan, God forbid, be upheld by the Supreme Court, we could be facing the largest expansion of Federal Government spending in recent history and the greatest attack upon our freedom. While the budget passed by the House last month would rein in government spending, it would take decades for it to be balanced. Mr. Chairman, we don't have decades to wait around for this budget--which is far better than the President's request--to right our fiscal ship. During the budget debate, 135 House Members joined me in supporting the Republican Study Committee's budget substitute, which prioritized spending in such a way that it would have balanced in just 5 years. I'm not sure we have 5 years, Mr. Chairman, but the Republican Study Committee's budget would balance in 5 years. The RSC budget represents a realistic view of the dire situation we're facing and the tough choices which must be made to get our Nation back on the right track fiscally. However, this view isn't for the faint of heart. The RSC budget would have reduced the 302(a) allocations relative to those seen in the underlying bill by 24.4 percent. My amendment is meant to be a compromise. I'm here to be a compromiser tonight, a halfway point between the level approved in the House-passed budget, which is used in the underlying bill, and the level recommended by the RSC and supported by over 100 Members of this body. My amendment would also exempt the U.S. Marshals Service. It would exempt the FBI and NASA. It would allow these agencies to continue to further our national security objectives. It is long past time to get serious about our fiscal situation, and my amendment would be a profound step toward getting Federal spending under control. I urge support of my amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Mr. Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I move that the House do now adjourn.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, this afternoon I'm going to talk about health care. I'm a medical doctor. I'm a primary care physician. As a medical doctor, I'm very concerned about where we are going as a Nation. Back during the debate over the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as ObamaCare, I presented several alternatives to that bill. Most people know in this country that the U.S. Supreme Court a couple of weeks ago, 3 weeks ago, had hearings about the constitutionality of the individual mandate, whether the Federal Government, under the Constitution, can demand that every single person in this country buy health insurance that's dictated by the Federal Government, that the Federal Government actually puts out all the parameters for that health insurance. We recently saw Kathleen Sebelius, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, say that everybody's health insurance in this country is going to have to provide free birth control pills, free pills that are designed for nothing but to cause an abortion and free sterilization for everybody in the country. That's whether you are male or female. Who pays for that? Well, we all will. Mr. Speaker, this is not about birth control. It's about government control. Because, you see, under ObamaCare, if it stays in place, it's going to be a tool where the Federal Government can mandate every aspect of our lives, what we eat. In fact, Justice Scalia, during the hearings a few weeks ago, said, if it stays in place, couldn't the Federal Government demand everybody in the country eat broccoli? I love broccoli and I eat a lot of it, but it's not the Federal Government's business to mandate that I eat broccoli--or anybody else, for that matter--and he's absolutely right. In fact, under the auspices of health care, the Federal Government could control every aspect of our lives, could tell us what kinds of cars that we drive. The Federal Government could basically say, We believe everybody should drive a Chevy Volt or a Ford Focus, and if you don't, we're going to fine you. There are already doctors that are associated with the CDC in my home State of Georgia that say it's a health hazard for people to have private ownership of firearms and it's a particular health hazard to children. They could outlaw private ownership of firearms. They could outlaw anything that the Federal Government decided to do. ObamaCare is going to be a destroyer. It's going to destroy the doctor-patient relationship. It will destroy the quality of health care, because the Federal Government is going to decide who can get care and who is not. It can decide whether a person is fit to receive surgery or go in the hospital or not. Age is going to be a determining factor, and it's all going to be based on economics, on cost. The high cost of health care today is because of government intrusion into the health care system. In fact, I will just give you two quick examples. Back when I was practicing medicine down in rural southwest Georgia, in my little office I had a fully automated, quality-controlled laboratory. If a patient came in to see me that had a fever, aching all over, sore ribs, swollen throat, coughing, nose running, I would do a complete blood count, a CBC, to see if they had a bacterial infection which needs to be treated with antibiotics or whether they had a viral infection which is not helped by antibiotics, the patient doesn't need to go spend the money on those antibiotics. The best practice is it is not a good standard of care to treat viral infections with antibiotics. I would do a CBC. I could do it in 5 minutes. I charged 12 bucks. Congress, in its infinite wisdom, decided that I might make a few pennies off of doing CBCs and, thus, would have an incentive to do too many. Well, they passed CLIA, the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Act. Instead of being able to do the test in 5 minutes, 12 bucks, I had to send patients over to the hospital. It took 3 to 4 hours, $75 for one test--from 12 bucks to $75--because of a law that Congress passed. What do you think that did to everybody's insurance all across this country? What do you think it did to the cost of Medicaid as well as Medicare? It markedly elevated the cost. The second issue, Congress passed and is now law, HIPAA. It's a totally unneeded act. It has cost the health care industry, alone, billions--billions with a B--billions of dollars, but a totally unneeded act, and it has not paid for the first aspirin to treat the headaches it has created. There are other industries--like the insurance industry, legal industry, accounting industry, and a whole lot of others--that are affected by HIPAA also. It's government intrusion in the health care system. The President promised us that ObamaCare would not cost over a trillion dollars. They went through a whole lot of budgetary gimmicks to try to get it under a trillion dollars. Just recently, CBO said that ObamaCare is going to cost $1.75 trillion. The President promises, if you have insurance and you like it, you can keep it. Nobody is going to be able to afford it. I talked to a businessman, and his insurance went up this year over last year by 43 percent because of the mandates in ObamaCare. Hopefully, the Supreme Court is going to throw out ObamaCare because it's going to destroy the doctor- patient relationship and the quality of medicine. It's also going to destroy budgets. As I've already mentioned, it's very, very expensive. The expansion of Medicaid is going to destroy State budgets. The whole bill is going to destroy the Federal budget and destroy our economy. And as I've already mentioned, it's going to destroy our freedom. So what's the alternative? What happens if the Supreme Court throws out ObamaCare, as hopefully they will--and they should--because it's blatantly unconstitutional. Well, the first thing, this chart shows us what ObamaCare is like. And this isn't all of the new bureaus and agencies that are created under the plan. Right in the middle is the Secretary of Health and Human Services. Kathleen Sebelius, if she's still in office a year from now, has the potential to be the greatest tyrant to take away our freedom because of this law. We must get rid of ObamaCare and replace it with something that makes sense economically and we put patients and doctors in the business of making their own decisions. Well, I introduced a bill a few weeks ago called the Patient Option Act. It's H.R. 4224. What would it do? The first thing, it repeals ObamaCare completely. Gets rid of it, as we should. It also makes health care cheaper for everybody. It will lower your cost of insurance. It makes all health care expenses cheaper for everyone. It will provide coverage for all Americans, and also it will save Medicare from going broke. Today, I heard some of my Democrat colleagues talk about Republicans want to destroy Medicare as we know it. And that's what their mantra keeps being. But their policy is characterized by four Ds. The first D is that they deny that Medicare and Social Security has any problem whatsoever. The actuaries of both Social Security and Medicare say they're going to go broke within just a few short years--within the life span of almost every American, except for the extreme elderly. So they deny there's a problem. The second D, they're delaying fixing the problem. Their mantra of let's save Medicare as we know it is going--they deny the problem. The third D is they're going to destroy Medicare as we know it because it's just totally not feasible to go forward and not fix it. That's what Republicans have been trying to do. And the fourth thing that my Democrat colleagues do is they demonize all of us who want to try to fix it. The Patient Option Act will fix it, and that's what we need to do. We need to have policies to give patients, give people a whole lot more options, and that's exactly what I'm trying to do with my Patient Option Act. So how does it make it cheaper for everyone? The first thing it does is it provides 100 percent tax deductibility for all health care expenses, including insurance. What's this do? Well, most people in this country get their health insurance through their employer--at least working people do. And what this does is it will allow a business to just give the money to their employees and let the employees go out and buy the health insurance that makes the most sense for them and their families. So the employer is not dictating what kind of insurance the employee gets. It's a normal business expense to the employer to give that money to the employee, and then the employee can go out and buy whatever kind of insurance that they want to. In doing so, they can buy health insurance across State lines. What this will do is it will get rid of all the State mandates because somebody in Georgia can go to Ohio and buy a basic policy without State mandates that are given to the insurance companies in Georgia. Plus, this issue breaks up the monopolies. In every State there are only just a very few health insurance companies that are providing health insurance within that State. They have what's tantamount to a monopoly. By allowing people to work with the insurance agents, they can buy health insurance anywhere in the country and can have a whole lot more options in health insurance--those kind of insurance policies that fit their families' needs the very best at a much lower cost. It also increases the contribution limits and does patient reforms to the health savings accounts. What my bill does is it allows everybody to contribute up to $10,000 a year into their health savings account, and the employer can help provide the funds so that the employee can fund their health savings accounts. Actually, the employee will own that health savings account, manage it themselves. Now, my Democrat colleagues seem to think that nobody can manage their own health insurance or their own economic affairs, that we have to have the Federal Government telling all of us how to manage all of our affairs. That seems to be their philosophy. But I trust the American people. I think people can manage their own affairs if we give them the ability to do so, and expanding health savings accounts will do just that. It's not a use-it-or-lose-it situation under the Patient Option Act. That can continue to grow over the lifetime of the individual. And when they die, when they pass it, that health savings account will actually go into their estate and go to their heirs. So this puts competition into the health insurance industry. It takes away all those mandates and lets patients have multiple options where they can purchase the health insurance at a lower cost that makes sense to them, and their employer will not dictate it and neither will the Federal Government. So it will be a whole lot cheaper for everyone. Now, it also offers coverage for all Americans. Well, in repealing ObamaCare, the thing about ObamaCare is we were told we need to have health care for everybody. Well, the thing is what is confusing to most Americans is we haven't been talking about health care. We're just talking about health insurance. When ObamaCare says ``provide health care for everybody,'' what they're saying is health insurance for everyone that is mandated by the Federal Government. In fact, the President went on a national address over TV just prior to passing ObamaCare, where he said he wants everybody in this country in one pool. One insurance pool. What's that mean? That means the Federal Government provides all health care coverage and all health care for everybody. That's socialized medicine. Socialized medicine. And that's exactly what ObamaCare is all about. It's geared towards forcing people out of their private insurance--we already see that happening today--and forcing everybody into a national pool run by the Federal Government, which in itself is going to destroy the quality of health care, and Federal bureaucrats are going to be making decisions for everybody about the kind of surgery that everybody can or cannot have, whether you can get a certain medication or not, whether you can go in the hospital or not. The doctor will not be able to make those decisions. Already, as a physician, a primary care doctor, the health management corporations as well as the government entity, CMS, determine today whether a patient can go in the hospital or not or whether they can get a certain treatment or not. We've got to stop that. We've got to put patients in control, where they can work with their doctors and get the kind of health care that they need without some bureaucrat--insurance company bureaucrat or government bureaucrat--making the decisions. But what this does, my Patient Option Act, H.R. 4224, allows businesses or individuals to come together and form an association and have huge insurance pools all across the country. That association could offer multiple insurance products--a Cadillac plan or bare-bones plan or something in between. Whatever the members of that association want to purchase, the association can offer multiple products. Since you will have such huge pools across the land, then the cost is much lower. It spreads the liability across many more people, and so health insurance is a whole lot less expensive for all of us. In doing so, it will help cover a lot of people who are uninsured today because they can't afford it, and it will also allow people who have preexisting conditions to join those associations and be able to buy health insurance at a price where they can afford it, so it will help cover those people with preexisting conditions. So this will allow those groups to make these associations as well as individuals or businesses to buy the health insurance across State lines. It will provide coverage for virtually everybody. Well, what about Medicare? And I'm going to come back to coverage for particularly poor people that can't afford insurance even with the lower prices. And I'll tell you what the bill, the Patient Option Act, H.R. 4224, does. My bill will save Medicare. It will save it from going broke and make it so that our senior citizens not only today, but these children that I see, young people I see in the gallery today, they'll be able to have insurance in the future through Medicare if that's what they want to do. It allows seniors to opt out of Medicare if they want to. I've got a constituent that worked for a large cable company here in this country. When he retired, the cable company wanted to provide health insurance for him for the rest of his life as an executive of the cable company. But they couldn't do it and he couldn't do it because, under the current law, everybody has to go into Medicare once you turn 65, at least part A. You don't have any option about that. It's mandated. Of course, mandates like that, I don't think that's freedom, frankly, Mr. Speaker. Everybody is mandated to go into Medicare when they turn 65. Well, my bill will allow them to say, No, I want to buy private insurance; I don't want Medicare; I don't want to be involved in it. So they can use their own insurance, whether it's provided through a company or whether it's something they've bought all along, and it moves Medicare into a more flexible program. It actually sets up a Medicare health savings account that Medicare will fund. The patient will own that health savings account and will manage the dollars. It won't be managed by some Federal bureaucrat. And if the patient doesn't utilize all those funds before they pass away, those funds actually go into the Medicare recipient's estate and the heirs will get the dollars. The Medicare recipient will control the money, will control the decisions, can work with their doctor, and it gives the Medicare recipient a lot of options. And it also gives premium support on top of the Medicare health savings account so that the Medicare patient will have comprehensive coverage for any medical emergency or even very costly medical treatments. So it takes care of Medicare patients. It gives them good quality care. It puts the Medicare patient in control of those decisions, and it will save Medicare from going broke, which it's going to in just a very few short years. The other thing my bill does, and this will help with those poor people who can't even buy the much-reduced-cost health insurance, even bare-bone policies, and, unfortunately, there are some people in this country that are in that category. In my over four decades of practicing medicine, I have literally given away hundreds of thousands of dollars of my services. That's what most doctors do, particularly in my generation. A lot of the younger doctors aren't doing that as much because of the government diktats to them and because of the requirements that CMS puts upon their practices that they don't have time to give to their patients. They don't have time to try to develop relationships with their patients. They don't have time to give good quality care anymore because of the Federal Government. If I was accepting Medicare as a physician and I was a preferred provider--that's the providers that are accepting Medicare as a payment. And Medicare, by the way, sets the prices but says you cannot publish those prices. There's no transparency because of Federal diktats, by the way, Federal law. If I was a preferred provider and a patient came in to see me that was really struggling and trying to make ends meet, they didn't have health insurance, they're trying to pay their bills, and they came in to see me, and I said, Don't worry about the bill--and I have done that to thousands of patients over my four decades of practicing medicine. I said, Don't worry about it. Forget it. I'm glad to give you these services for free. If I did that and I was a preferred provider, Medicare could literally throw me in jail for treating somebody for free. They could throw me in jail and they could fine me. Doctors today cannot give away their services to somebody who needs, desperately, to get their services. So what my bill does is it stops that, and it gives a physician a tax credit between $2,000 and $8,000 a year for giving away their services. It gives them a tax credit. I talked to a lot of doctors throughout Georgia and asked them, if we did this, how many doctors would actually see patients for free. Every single one in every single doctors' meeting has held up their hands. And I'll give you an example. I talked to a urologist who basically practices in a very upscale, wealthy community. He's in his office 4 days a week. It's a retirement community with high-price real estate and homes. And he told me, if I would do this in a bill, he would set aside 2 of the 4 days he's in his office to see nothing but indigent patients. Let me repeat that. This doctor who is working in this area will give half of his time to see indigent patients in his office if we would just give him this tax credit. And that's what we did in this bill so that doctors are no longer under the threat of being fined and being jailed for just having compassion on poor people, as the Federal Government has stopped that, prevented that and said it's against the law to have compassion on poor people. You have to charge them. You have to try to collect, and you cannot give away your services. This stops all that. Medicare has no compassion. Medicaid has no compassion. It's all about money and government control. Another thing that my bill does is it reforms EMTALA, the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act. This is another law that Congress passed that requires every emergency room in this country to see whoever comes in and to treat them. In my area in Georgia, throughout my Tenth Congressional District in Georgia, a person can walk into any emergency room in my district and they will find the emergency room filled with patients who do not need to be in the emergency room, should not be in the emergency room. I worked for 2 years before I moved to northeast Georgia. I was working at a hospital down in southwest Georgia as the director of emergency services. For 2 years, I worked full-time as an ER doc and directing those emergency services. Way over 90 percent of the patients that came in that emergency room, as they do in most emergency rooms, had no emergency. And, actually, emergency rooms all across this country are filled with illegal aliens that are going there and getting services, utilizing the emergency room in the hospital as their primary care provider; in other words, they're going to see doctors in the emergency room for stumped toes or colds, sore throats, headaches, any medical problem. And they don't have to pay because of EMTALA. The Federal Government has required the emergency rooms to see and treat everybody who walks in. Whether they can pay or not, whether they are here legally or not, whether they are a citizen or they are an illegal alien, it requires them to do so. What's happening with EMTALA is there is a tremendous economic burden upon hospitals. We have hospitals, particularly rural hospitals, going broke today so that nobody in their community gets services because of EMTALA. It's not fair. It's not fair to the people in that community. It's not fair to people who really need to be in the emergency room. It's not fair particularly that we are forcing emergency rooms and hospitals to see illegal aliens. Actually, it's hurting people who have true emergencies because emergency rooms are filled with people who don't need to be there. People can come in with severe injuries or severe medical problems. If it's not blatantly apparent, then people have delayed administering of treatment that they desperately need to keep them well or to save their lives. What my bill does is it allows hospitals to set up a basic screening process so that the hospital can set up somebody with basic medical knowledge and can screen patients and say to the patient, this is not an emergency, go see your doctor, go to a free clinic, we can't see you. So it reforms EMTALA and makes it so that hospitals don't have this economic burden that's been placed on them because of Federal law and Federal dictate. I presented this bill to a lot of groups. In fact, I'm very pleased, I did an interview with Forbes magazine recently. They wrote up a blog and this article about my health care bill, the Patient OPTION Act, H.R. 4224. They said this: Now a new plan has come forth, backed by one of the most influential Tea Party groups--that I'll mention in just a second-- that contains some intriguing and original ideas for bringing cheaper health care to more people. This is from Forbes magazine. Broun's plan would revolutionize the insurance market by incentivizing companies, particularly smaller ones and startups, to pay their workers directly their wages--so that the wage earner will control their own money. They're earning it, they should get it, and they should make their own health care insurance decisions themselves-- and let those workers decide how to pay for their own care. Forbes magazine. It's not a Tea Party magazine; it's a magazine that I think most Americans know. The Tea Party group--which a lot of people don't understand Tea Parties and what it's all about, but Freedom Works is a grassroots group, and it's been dubbed a Tea Party group. Actually, Freedom Works has been around for some time. But Freedom Works has endorsed my Patient OPTION Act, and this is what they said: Congressman Broun has authored a bold, timely, and principled plan that offers exactly what a majority of Americans want, a patient- centered health care so that patients can make their own decisions, along with their doctors. It makes health care cheaper for everybody. It provides coverage for all Americans. And it will save Medicare from going broke. Americans need to contact their Senators and Congressmen and the leadership of the House and Senate and demand that we pass the Patient OPTION Act, H.R. 4224. With that, I yield back the balance of my time. Announcement by the Speaker Pro Tempore

Mr. BROUN of Georgia

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. I rise today in strong support of H.R. 9, the Small Business Tax Cut Act. In my home State of Georgia, there are more than 150,000 small businesses which employ over 1.5 million people. These are the folks that tell me every day when I come home that a tax break would allow them to hire more employees. Consider this: between 2005 and 2008, more than 130,000 new jobs were created by small businesses in Georgia. But under the current administration, in just 1 short year, Georgia's small businesses have had to let go nearly all of those jobs. That's a crushing 120,000 people out of work because of the Obama administration's policies. Democrats somehow think that they can solve our unemployment crisis by raising taxes. But job creators know that the only way that they can put people back to work is if they have more money to hire folks. That's why I support H.R. 9 and also why I introduced my JOBS Act, H.R. 660, which would lower taxes for everybody. I urge my colleagues to support both bills.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. I urge my colleagues to support the Sportsmen's Heritage Act so that future generations can continue to hunt, fish, and enjoy the God-given natural resources that were bestowed upon this country.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I rise today in support of H.R. 4089, the Sportsmen's Heritage Act of 2012, a bill that will protect hunting and fishing on public lands and preserve the use of traditional ammunition and fishing tackle. I am an avid hunter and sportsman. In fact, I'm a life member of Safari Club International and my life member number is 17. I began coming to Washington, D.C., as a volunteer advocate for hunting and fishing rights and for gun owners' rights and responsible conservation. I'm also honored to be a life member of the National Rifle Association. I know the importance of ensuring that our hunters' and our anglers' rights are protected, as well as ensuring the sustainability of wildlife. This legislation is a compilation of four pro-hunting, -shooting, and -fishing bills offered by my friends Jeff Miller of Florida, Don Young of Alaska, Jeff Flake of Arizona, and Dr. Dan Benishek of Michigan. I commend all of them for their great work on this issue. I am also pleased to say that I cosponsored all of their legislation. Of note, I would like to personally thank Dr. Benishek for allowing me to amend his portion of the bill, the Recreational Fishing and Hunting Heritage Opportunities Act, that we marked up in our Natural Resources Committee. In this Congress, as I have done in the past two Congresses, I introduced H.R. 1444, legislation that would require that hunting activities be considered as a land use in all management plans for Federal land. My amendment was complementary to Mr. Benishek's legislation, and it is included in this legislation that we are voting on today. Sportsmen devote their time, their money, and their efforts towards ensuring that our Nation's fish and wildlife are sustainable for all Americans to enjoy. In return, I urge my colleagues to support the Sportsmen's Heritage Act so that future generations can continue to hunt, fish, and enjoy God-given natural resources.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. I rise today to commemorate a very important medical breakthrough that happened hundreds of years ago in Jefferson, Georgia. And that's the invention of general anesthesia. Tomorrow is Doctors Day, and I am pleased to take this time to honor Dr. Crawford Long, who gave the first general anesthetic for a surgical procedure in 1842. If it weren't for Dr. Long's discovery of ether as a general anesthetic, the world of medicine would not be as profound or innovative as it is today. This is a proud claim for the city of Jefferson, Georgia, for the 10th Congressional District, and for the State of Georgia as a whole. It is a little known fact that Dr. Long's statue is in the U.S. Capitol as part of the National Statuary Hall Collection, but this tribute is well deserved, given his significant contribution to both science and to medicine. I hope that all Georgians passing through Washington will take the time to stop by Dr. Long's statue to reflect upon this great Georgian's wonderful achievement to science and to humanity.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. I rise today to give a tribute to a friend, a television broadcast icon, the talented and eloquent Monica Kaufman Pearson. In 1975, Monica became the first African American, in fact, the first female, to anchor a daily evening newscast in Atlantic. Years later, it was revealed that she beat out Jane Pauley and Oprah Winfrey for the coveted position. And just like these high-profile women, Monica has risen to achieve extraordinary success. For her diligent reporting and superb storytelling, she has won 30 Emmy Awards and numerous honors. However, Monica does not simply report the evening news. I can confidently say that she is one of Georgia's finest. Throughout the years, she has lent her voice to efforts and charitable causes within her community, living out her motto: It's what you do with what you have that makes you what you are. On behalf of the United States Congress, it is my privilege to honor America's and Atlanta's top news leader, Monica Kaufman Pearson, for her outstanding career and significant contributions to broadcast journalism. We love you, Monica, and we'll miss you. God bless you.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Dr. Fleming, I appreciate you yielding me some time. Mr. Speaker, the American people need to understand very clearly that this administration, this President's policy on Medicare, as well as our Democratic colleagues here in the House and the Senate, can be summarized by four Ds: They want to deny that there's a problem; they want to delay fixing it; they want to destroy Medicare as we know it today; and they want to demonize those of us who want to fix it so that it is a good and solid program for the future generations of this country. That's exactly what we're trying to do here tonight is focus upon the fact that, number one, they do want to deny it. They even deny that there's a problem. They keep saying that they want to save Medicare as we know it today, but Medicare is not sustainable as we know it today because it's going broke. And it's going broke because of failed policies of this administration, and it's getting worse and worse. Hopefully, we'll see the Supreme Court throw out the Affordable Care Act, the President's reform bill, which is going to be disastrous. It's going to destroy the doctor-patient relationship. It's going to destroy budgets, from individual budgets, businesses' budgets, States' budgets, even the Federal budget. IPAB, as Dr. Harris was talking about, is going to be disastrous because we're going to have rationing of care. Our Democrat colleagues and this President want to deny that there is any problem. They want to delay doing anything about it. In fact, the Ryan budget, our budget that we passed last year, started the dialogue, started the process of looking at trying to fix Medicare for future generations. But our Democrat colleagues don't want to do that. They want to delay fixing it. They just want to posture. They want to try to do anything that they can to not face the fact that we've got to deal with Medicare and the financial problems it has that my good friend from Maryland, Dr. Harris, talked about. Their policy is going to destroy Medicare. They're already destroying Medicare Advantage. We've seen, as Dr. Fleming talked about, we've already seen the President's Affordable Care Act has destroyed Medicare Advantage and has cut $500 billion, one-half trillion dollars out of Medicare. And then they want to demonize us who want to do something about it. I introduced my Patient Option Act, which is a comprehensive health care reform plan. It deals with Medicare. It helps to save it for future generations. I introduced it in the last Congress. We reintroduced it to put in place a repeal section to repeal ObamaCare and replace that disastrous law that we have in place, the Affordable Care Act, for something that makes sense, that will lower the cost of all health care services and products for everybody in this country. We are tweaking it, and I'm going to reintroduce my Patient Option Act just in the next week or two. It's just a little over 100 pages. It's a comprehensive bill. It's market-based, and it puts the doctor and patient in charge of making all health care decisions, not some bureaucrat here in Washington, D.C., that the President and our Democrat colleagues want to have in every single doctor-patient relationship. Whether you're on Medicare or not, they want to insert a bureaucrat from Washington, D.C., to make those decisions for you. The American people need to know, Mr. Speaker, that our colleagues on the Democratic side and this President, if they have their way, they're going to deny there's a problem. They're delaying fixing it. They're going to destroy Medicare as we know it, and they want to demonize us that want to fix it. We're not going to sit still. We're not going to have it. We're going to continue to fight to make Medicare available, make insurance available for everybody at a lower price. That's exactly what Republicans are doing. We have a plan--many plans. Actually, there have been numerous bills introduced by many colleagues on our side, physician colleagues. Dr. Tom Price from Roswell, Georgia, orthopedic surgeon, one of our Georgia colleagues, introduced his plan. We've got many plans here. So we're fighting to save Medicare. Our Democrat colleagues and this administration, this President, are going to destroy it.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commemorate the 233rd anniversary of the Battle of Kettle Creek, one of Georgia's most memorable victories during the American Revolutionary War. The battle, which took place on February 14, 1779, demonstrates the popular patriotic spirit that defined our fight for freedom, as a small group of militiamen fearlessly confronted and conquered a force twice its size. In pursuit of Colonel John Boyd and his force of British Loyalists, Colonels Andrew Pickens, John Dooly, and Elijah Clarke led Patriot rebel forces to attack at Kettle Creek. Despite being outnumbered and far less experienced, the fearless patriots rallied and decisively won the day. They inflicted many times the casualties and took the remaining contingent as prisoners. Following this extraordinary triumph, Colonel Pickens declared, ``Kettle Creek was the severest check and chastisement the Tories ever received in South Carolina or Georgia.'' For this reason, and on the occasion of its anniversary, it is my honor to acknowledge the victory at the Battle of Kettle Creek and pay tribute to the courageous soldiers who fought on behalf of their new sovereign Nation. Furthermore, I extend my sincere appreciation to organizations such as the Washington-Wilkes Chapter Sons of the American Revolution, Kettle Creek Chapter Daughters of the American Revolution, Washington Wilkes Historical Foundation, and the Kettle Creek Battlefield Association for their efforts to discover our heritage and preserve our history for future generations. Mr. Speaker, it is my privilege to unite with my fellow Americans as we observe this remarkable event in Georgia history and recognize the indispensable role that the Battle of Kettle Creek achieved in the American Revolution.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I rise today to urge my colleagues to support a bill that I recently introduced, H.R. 3883, the Budget or Bust Act. My legislation would force the House and the Senate to pass a budget or else their salaries would be held hostage until they do. It has been 1,015 days since the Senate last passed a budget. That is 1,015 days that Congress has shirked one of its most basic responsibilities, and they shouldn't be getting paid for their irresponsibility. Next week, we'll see the President roll out his budget for 2013, which is not part of his constitutional job description. The Budget or Bust Act would restore the power of the purse to its rightful owner, which the Founding Fathers specifically gave to Congress, not to the President. Congress should be deciding how to spend taxpayer dollars, and the President should simply be implementing the budget and policy that Congress puts forward. I urge my colleagues to support my Budget or Bust Act so that Washington is finally forced to pass a budget and live within its means like the rest of America does.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Mr. Chairman, it's absolutely critical that lawmakers in Washington are informed and aware of how legislation that we introduce will impact our country's economic growth, so today I rise in strong support of the Pro-Growth Budgeting Act, which will basically give us that information. If this legislation had already been passed, perhaps our economy wouldn't be saddled with the effects of the President's health care takeover, the stimulus bill, and other legislative nightmares all produced by my Democrat colleagues. These only tie up our small businesses, bog down our job creators, and further bury our economy in massive Federal debt. If we had any idea of how chilling the effects of these bills would be on jobs and our economy, maybe we would have done the smart thing, which would have been not to pass them and instead stayed within the boundaries of our budget. Except, well, I forgot. We still don't have a budget, thanks to the obstruction of Democratic Leader Harry Reid. That's why I introduced my Budget or Bust Act just today. It would literally force the House and the Senate to pass a budget or else their salaries would be held hostage until Congress does its job. My bill would also restore the power of the purse to its rightful owner, which our Founding Fathers specifically gave to Congress, not to the President. I urge my colleagues to support both the Pro-Growth Budgeting Act and my Budget or Bust Act so that we can truly understand how our legislation affects the economy, and so that Washington is finally forced to live within its means and Congress is held responsible and accountable, as hardworking taxpayers deserve.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. The greatest moral issue that this Nation faces today is the killing of 4,000 babies every single day through abortion. God cannot and will not continue to bless this land while this atrocious practice continues. The first bill I introduced in this Congress when I was elected in 2007, and in every single Congress since then, has been my Sanctity of Human Life Act that scientifically describes the beginning of life when a spermatozoon, or the sperm cell, enters the cell wall of the ovum, the egg, to create a one-cell human being, the zygote. Mr. Speaker, it's absolutely critical, if we want to continue to expect God to bless America, that we stop murdering these unborn babies, and I will continue to fight to do so. And I hope my colleagues will see the reality that these are human beings. It's not a glob of tissue; it's a human being created by God, and we have to protect their lives.