Paul Broun

Mr. BROUN of Georgia

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Will the gentlelady yield?

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. The facts are that the Federal Government will require all insurance policies to get that extra tax. It is not called a tax, but it is an extra tax that is going to be forced upon anybody who pays for insurance, and that tax is going to be what is paying for abortions. So abortions are going to be paid. They are going to be forced on the American people by the Senate bill. And that's just the facts. That's the simple facts of the bill.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, America is at a pivotal point in its history. We hear a lot of claims on both sides that are contradicting. And I want to just talk for a few minutes about some of those claims and just give you some simple truths. We heard all day long today that doctors support this government takeover of the health care plan. I brought one of several charts that we are putting together in my office. Nearly 500,000 doctors, represented by a number of organizations, including the Medical Association of Georgia, my own medical society, are against this bill. In fact, this chart, small letters, this is just the beginning of the A's. The simple truth is that doctors don't support this bill, if they are practicing physicians, overwhelmingly. Now, I am a family practice doctor. My own society, the American Academy of Family Physicians, has supported the bill. They have cut a sweetheart deal where the reimbursement rate for primary care docs, family doctors like me, will be upped a little bit. But what they haven't looked at is all the ramifications of this, which are going to be disastrous for their own practices. The AMA cut a sweetheart deal. It is my understanding that they wanted tort reform, an SGR fix, and 100 percent coverage. They haven't done very well with that because none of those three are going to be accomplished in the Senate bill that we will be voting on this weekend. We have heard claims about CBO says it is going to reduce the deficit. Well, the simple truth is they have used zombie economics to get these numbers. Because one would have to be walking around in a dead person to believe the economic parameters that were forced upon the CBO. A good example is the CBO was forced to score, or tell us how much it would cost when we pay out only 6 years' worth of benefits but we have 10 years' worth of increased taxes. The Internal Revenue Service is going to be markedly increased in size and given more authority to snoop into our personal lives. In fact, they are going to hire 16,000 new agents to look at our bank accounts, look at our health records, look at whether we have acceptable health insurance as is deemed by a board here in Washington, D.C. We hear our colleagues on the Democratic side, the far left, talk about people cannot get health insurance or health care. Well, they use health care and health insurance as being synonymous. I have treated many patients during my almost four decades of practicing medicine where I have treated them for free. Doctors all over this country are doing so. And some of the societies look at a government takeover of health care, maybe they will be paid for these patients that they are treating for free, and so maybe it is a better deal for them. But they are sadly mistaken. Mr. Speaker, the simple truth is we are at a pivotal point in our history. We are going to go down a direction that is going to lead us towards total government control of our lives. And that is exactly what this so-called health care bill that we are going to be voting on, the Senate bill, with all of its special sweetheart deals, the taxpayer- funded abortion, the Cornhusker kickback, the Florida gator aid, the Louisiana purchase, all those special sweetheart deals, we are going to vote on that by voting for a rule. And it is going to deem that bill to be passed. Deem and Pass is what they say. That sounds like an old western, doesn't it. Deem and Pass. The only people who are going to be ambushed are the American people. Because the only people who are really going to be benefiting from that bill are the government bureaucrats and the politicians here in Washington that are supporting this bill. We are at a pivotal point. The American people have to decide. Are we going to decide between freedom on one hand or socialism on the other? Are we going to look at entrepreneurial market solutions to lower the cost of health care, to cover people who are uninsurable? And we have those answers. The Republican Party is the Party of K-n-o-w. The American people can stop this by saying ``no'' and contacting their Democratic Congressman and tell them to vote ``no'' and we can stop this leap towards socialism and vote for freedom.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. And it is going to be a big boom for Planned Parenthood, which is the largest abortion provider in this country and in the world. So those 29 pro-life Democrats can never, ever claim to be pro-life again if they vote for the rule. If they vote for the rule, they can never, ever claim to be pro-life again because they are voting for abortion. Also, the American people are smarter than what our Democratic colleagues evidently give them credit for, because the American people will know when we vote on the rule, which is what I think we are going to see on Sunday, a vote on the rule, whenever it is. When we vote on that rule, they are going to be voting for the Senate bill with all the special deals, with abortion funded by taxpayer dollars, for cutouts so the illegal aliens won't be fined and taxed like American citizens will be, so that all of the bad things that are in the Senate bill that the American public overwhelmingly have rejected--when they vote for that rule, the American people need to take note, because they are going to be voting for the greatest government takeover of our economy ever in the history of this Nation because they have put in place a mechanism to socialize the health care system. In the 1930s, the Socialist party of the United States said the fastest way to destroy freedom in America, the fastest way to change America from being a free Nation with free people into a Socialist Nation with government control, central control from Washington, D.C., is a government takeover of the American health care system. The American people need to contact their Democratic members and say: ``No. Or, we are going to say `no' to you.''

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Thank you, Dr. Fleming. I appreciate your yielding. In fact, I've wondered, and I'm sure the American people are wondering, why is it that Democrats don't want to have a vote on a bill? Well, you're just telling them right now today in this Special Order why the Democrats don't want to have a vote on the bill--because they don't want to face the fact. They don't want to face the voters that they are doing all these special deals, sweetheart deals. You didn't mention the ones in there for the unions on their Cadillac plans. The unions have just cut a special deal, too, with the administration, with the leadership here in Washington. But why wouldn't they want an up-or-down vote? We've heard the President say over and over again this should have an up-or-down vote. Well, just today, just today, as my colleagues know, the Democrats voted down, through a procedural method, voted down--what we are trying to do is to have an up-or-down vote on the bill, but they don't want their yeas and nays to be recorded as is required by the Constitution of the United States. Article 1, section 7, the second paragraph says that for a bill to be passed into law, it has to be voted on by both Houses. It has to be the very same bill, and then it has to be signed by the President or a veto has to be overridden, and the yeas and nays must be recorded. So it is totally unconstitutional what the leadership is doing. And I have one question for the Speaker. If Democrats are confident that the American people want this new multitrillion dollar program, why are they avoiding a simple up-or-down vote? Well, the simple truth is that the House Democrats just don't want that because they don't want to face the voters. They don't want to face their constituents about these special deals. They don't want to face the zombi economics that they're using. But the jig is up for the Democrats trying to pull the wool over the eyes of Americans, because Americans get it. They understand that this is going to be disastrous. As I mentioned before, we are going to have costs go out of the roof for everybody. And, in fact, experts tell us that people who have private insurance, private insurance today for a family, their insurance premiums are going to go up $2,100 a year because of ObamaCare if this is passed into law.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. I want to go to Congressman Deal, too. He has been fighting for a long time to stop this birthright citizenship here in this Nation, which is actually a ruling by the Federal court system. It is an improper ruling on the 14th Amendment. It's an unconstitutional, actually, ruling on the 14th Amendment that we're giving birthright citizenship to these children who are born to illegal aliens in this country, and they are going to go on the Medicaid system. And we're going to have a magnet, a magnet to draw more of those illegal aliens in this country because they are going to get free government health care because of this ObamaCare bill that we're going to be voting on just in the next day or two. I just want to say before I yield back, Congressman Nathan Deal, I hope he is our next Governor, and he has been right on the front line fighting this illegal alien problem that we have in this country. He lives in Gainesville, Georgia, and he has seen them there in Hall County, Georgia, how it's been a tremendous drain on the local economy and the local government for goods and services and things. And so he has been an ardent, ardent fighter to try to make these illegal aliens, who are criminals, to go home. Now we are going to give them free health care. And the American people need to just say ``no'' to our Democratic colleagues, because it's just going to be disastrous. We are going to have an influx of illegal aliens just to come and have those anchor babies to get on Medicaid. We've already seen that happening, and that is one reason Nathan Deal has been doing it. I yield back to Dr. Fleming.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. I thank you for yielding back. In fact, I want to point out something else that is going to happen with this bill the way it's set up. The tax-writing committee, the Ways and Means Committee, tells us an additional $10 billion is going to be needed to pay for this marked expansion of the Internal Revenue Service. And, Dr. Gingrey, I'm like you. I would like to totally get rid of the Internal Revenue Service. You and many people know I have been a very ardent supporter of the fair tax. But it doesn't matter--well, it does matter how they get our taxes. The bottom line is that we have just got to stop this outrageous spending here in Washington, and we are going to increase spending of the Internal Revenue Service by $10 billion. But something else the American people need to know is: Guess who has been left out? Guess who is not going to have all these mandates? Illegal aliens. That's what our Democratic colleagues have put in place. The illegal aliens in this country are going to get free taxpayer-funded health insurance, and they are not going to get all these fines. They are not going to be bothered by the Internal Revenue Service. It's just the American citizens and legal residents in this country that are going to be bothered by these folks. Now, they are going to say, and I've heard them say over and over again, illegal aliens can't get free government health insurance, but Dr. Gingrey was in the Energy and Commerce Committee. Over and over again, Dr. Gingrey and many others fought to make sure that illegal aliens would not get free government health insurance by making the Federal Government verify the citizenship and the legal presence of these people here.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. I thank you, Dr. Fleming, for yielding. We are here talking tonight amongst ourselves during this Special Order period that Dr. Fleming is controlling--very well, thank you--and I am just honored to joining him and Dr. Gingrey here. But the American people are asking, what can they do? They are asking, is this a done deal? In fact, I have talked to a lot of people not only in my district but around the State of Georgia and even some from other States, and the American people are saying, ``What can we do? Is this a done deal? Is this going to pass?'' I don't think it is a done deal. And it is up to the American people whether it passes or not, because the Democrats don't want their fingerprints on the Senate bill, they don't want their fingerprints on all the increase in the Internal Revenue Service and the increased taxes, the health care insurance police that is going to be put in place. They don't want their fingerprints on the increased costs; in fact, they are even denying the increased costs. Why? Because the Democrats know this is a bum deal. They know that. In fact, I have talked to just in the last 2 or 3 days several Democrats, and I have been told by the Democrats that every one of them know it is going to raise premiums. Every one of them know that it is going to increase the cost of health care above doing nothing. Every one of them know that this is a government takeover of the health care system. And what do they do? They come down here and say we are in favor of the big insurance companies. I don't like the big insurance companies. As a medical doctor, I have been fighting them through almost four decades of practicing medicine. I been fighting them for my patients. But they know that. And we hear the President say, well, if the American people understood his plan, they would accept it and embrace it. Hogwash. The American people do understand his plan, and they reject it overwhelmingly. And I would yield back.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Well, it is the craziest thing because they are not going to fix taxpayer-funded abortions in reconciliation. We have got, I think it is, 41 Democrats that claim to be pro-life. They have whittled it down to 12. Those other 29 so-called pro-life Democrats cannot ever, ever again claim to be pro-life, because if they vote for this bill, they are going to be voting for taxpayers to fund killing unborn children.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. One final word. The American people can kill this bill by contacting their Democratic Congressmen and saying ``no'' to this government takeover of health care system that is going to ruin our economy.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. That's right.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Absolutely.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Thank you, Dr. Fleming. I've listened to you talk about this economic game that they're playing. I call that zombie economics because you have to be a dead man walking around with no soul to believe the economic parameters and the games that the Democrats have played with CBO. And people need to understand that when CBO, Congressional Budget Office, scores a bill, they can only score the bill according to the parameters that whoever writes that bill give them to score it on. So all of these things where you're having double counting of money, it's just a good example of that zombie economics that the Democrats utilize and force CBO to use in scoring the bill so it doesn't look as bad as it really is going to be. And there is nothing about the marked cuts in doctors' reimbursement, how much the government under Medicaid, as well as Medicare, is going to be reimbursing the doctors. And what's going to happen--and I think the American people need to understand this very firmly--they may give a government insurance policy card to people that they can stick in their pockets, but they're not going to be able to find a doctor that will accept that card and accept that insurance. So the American people need to understand that the access to a doctor is actually going to go down, in my opinion. And in fact, that card for many, many Americans is going to be as worthless as a Confederate dollar was after the War Between the States. It's going to be useless. We're going to have more people who have less access to doctors, less access to care, if ObamaCare is passed. Another thing that policy after policy has shown is that the American people continue to overwhelmingly reject this government takeover of health care. Yet Speaker Pelosi has declared that a government takeover of health care should become the law of this land without even taking a vote on the bill. Well, that is unconstitutional. I, as well as, I know, Dr. Gingrey, as I know Dr. Fleming, carry a copy of the Constitution. I believe in this document as it was intended by our Founding Fathers. We have absolutely no constitutional authority for the Federal Government to take over health care. None. We have no constitutional authority to even do this deem and pass Slaughter rule. Deem and pass. That sounds like an old western movie. Deem and pass. The only people who are going to be ambushed are the American taxpayers and small businesses in this country. That is exactly what's going to happen. Deem and pass is being set up by our Democratic colleagues who want to raid small business's coffers and people's coffers. In fact, we've got a lot of taxes on small business. A lot of taxes on individuals. The Ways and Means Committee just today has put out a report on this bill. We hear from the President if you make $250,000 and above, you have to pay extra taxes for the bill. And anybody making less than $250,000 will not be taxed. But the Ways and Means Committee just today set out the parameters on the taxes. Half of the new individual mandate taxes will be paid by Americans earning less than $66,150 for a family of four. Let me say that again: half of the individual mandate taxes are going to fall on the shoulders--not of the rich people; I don't think a family of four making $66,000 a year is rich--but half of those individual mandate taxes are going to fall on the shoulders of families making $66,000 a year or less. And also the IRS is going to be markedly expanded. And, in fact, it's going to be up to the IRS to get all of these new taxes. And I have got a little slide here. Because the IRS is going to be running ObamaCare. The IRS agents in this country are going to verify whether you have acceptable health care coverage. Now, who determines what's acceptable health care coverage? Well, it's a panel here in Washington, D.C., that is going to mandate every single insurance policy in this country. So if you have health insurance today and you like it? Forget it. Forget it. That is another distortion, something that is not true that's been touted by our Democratic colleagues. And the IRS agents in this country are going to be prying into your health care insurance, into your life, to see if you have acceptable coverage. Also, the IRS is going to have to hire new agents to do all of this new work that they're being given by ObamaCare: 16,500 new IRS agents. There are going to be more audits of people's income taxes because the IRS is going to be in charge of making sure that individuals have this acceptable health care coverage that is mandated by the Federal Government. The IRS can even confiscate your tax refund. And the IRS can fine you up to $2,250 or 2 percent of your income, whichever is greater, if you don't have the minimal, essential coverage. Again, the Federal Government is going to determine what that minimal coverage is. So forget your current insurance policy. The Federal Government is going to mandate it.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Thank you, Dr. Gingrey. I put up this slide here. People who have gone to school, as kids, in their basic civics class see the little cartoon with a bill. This is the bill. They have a little song that goes along with that cartoon that is kind of a catchy song. But under the Constitution, a bill to become law has to be voted upon. That's what article 1, section 7, paragraph 2 says. In fact, I think it's worth having a little civics lesson here. Article 1, section 7, which lays out all the parameters for Congress in the U.S. Constitution, article 1, section 7, the second paragraph, it says: Every bill--in fact, I encourage people to get the Constitution and read it. Because it wasn't written by lawyers. It's understandable. This contains the Constitution as well as the Declaration of Independence and every single amendment to the Constitution in this little booklet. It's not a thousand pages, it's not a hundred pages, it's not 2,700 pages that this abomination of ObamaCare is all about. Article 1, section 7, second paragraph: Every bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate shall, before it becomes law, be presented to the President of the United States. If he approves it, he shall sign it. But if not, he shall return it with his objections to that House in which it shall have originated.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Yes, sir. Absolutely.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Not if he deems it.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. I agree with you, but he has also said that he wants everybody in this country to be under one pool, a government total control of health care where the Federal Government is the insurance agent for everybody in this country, single-payer system where the government is the insurance system for every person in this country. And the point I was making is if the Senate bill is passed into law, won't he have accomplished that purpose? And my contention is absolutely he will have what he wants. They'll put in place the mechanism for the Federal Government to take over the health care system to socialize medicine in this country. The Socialist Party in the 1930s said the fastest way to take away our liberty and go from a free market economy to become a socialist nation for us to lose our freedom is for the government to take over the health care system. And so the President will have what he wants when that bill is deemed passed by the Slaughter rule or the Slaughter House rule.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Let's go further and see if the House can deem it. Deem and pass. Western movie. The only outlaws in this particular movie are those who want to take over the health care system in this country. They're going to ambush small business. But let's go on. Have a little civics lesson: He shall return it to the House where it originated, who shall enter the objections at large on their journal and proceed to reconsider it. This is how we overturn a veto: And if, after such reconsideration, two-thirds of that House agree to pass the bill, it should be sent, together with the objections, to the other House, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by two-thirds of that House, it shall become law. That's how a bill becomes law. That's how this guy becomes law. Both Houses pass the bill. Not deem it, but pass it. Let's go on. It says: But in all such cases--and this is extremely important that the American people understand this, Mr. Speaker--But in all such cases, the votes of both Houses shall be determined by the yeas and nays. Let me repeat that: The votes of both Houses shall be-- shall be--not may be, not deemed--but shall be determined by the yeas and the nays. And the names of the persons--the names of the persons voting for and against the bill shall be entered on the journal of each House respectively. If any bill shall not be returned by the President within 10 days--and it goes on talking about--well, let's finish that paragraph. If any bill shall not be returned by the President within 10 days, Sundays excepted, after it shall have been presented to him, the same shall be law, in like manner as if he had signed it, unless the Congress by their adjournment prevent its return, in which case it shall not become law. Period. That's the only way a bill can become law. That's the only way that the kids see that cartoon about: I am a bill, I am a bill. I'm not going to sing it. I wish I could sing it.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Thank you. I just wanted to bring up, after Dr. Fleming was talking, I think it was one of the other physicians from Louisiana that we were talking to today. In fact, the three us were there when he was talking. He is a gastroenterologist from Baton Rouge. But anyway, Dr. Cassidy was talking about a patient being in Great Britain. Now, our President has held up Great Britain and their health care system as being where we need to go today. Y'all correct me if I'm wrong on this story. Dr. Cassidy spoke so quickly. I don't hear that quick, but he was saying that a lady that he was associated with went into the hospital in England and was having a bleed in her esophagus, right at the junction of the esophagus and stomach, and people can bleed to death very quickly with that kind of bleed. But the patient was told that the doctor was out at tea and she would have to wait until the tea was finished, because the doctors' union would not allow them to come and see this lady who's bleeding to death. Now, this may sound--we're giggling and laughing about it, but it's really serious business, because that's where we're headed as a Nation, and people won't get the care. And I just wanted to add that on to what Dr. Fleming was saying. What he was saying earlier is that people, though they may have free government health insurance, they're not going to have access to care. People are going to be denied care, and we're going to have a government panel here in Washington, D.C., that's going to tell people whether they can go into the hospital or not. I already fight that for my patients. I have to talk to Medicare about my patients to see if they meet criteria. We all do. But it's going to get much, much worse, and people are going to be denied medicines, lifesaving medicines, lifesaving treatments, and it's going to be disastrous for the quality of care that we have in this Nation.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Thank you, Dr. Gingrey. I was hopeful that Mrs. Gingrey had a second favorite congressman second to my good friend from Georgia, Dr. Gingrey.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. I told Ms. Gingrey and all the people living over in South Carolina, I don't pay any attention to the rivers. The Savannah River divides where she lives from my district, and I'll be glad to represent her interests too. But Mr. Thompson just brought up the issue of cost. The thing is, the American people get it. They really get it. They know that this toxic stew that Mr. King was talking about is going to increase the cost of their insurance premiums. Experts have said that a family can expect a $2,100 increase cost to their health insurance. We hear from our colleagues on the Democratic side, they say it's going to lower the cost of premiums. They know better than that. To me, this is just showing their arrogance, showing their ignorance, and showing their incompetence. It's their arrogance because they seem to want to ignore the American people, and they show their arrogance because they know best what's best for Mrs. Gingrey or for all Americans, for the rural hospitals in Pennsylvania. And in my district in North Georgia, where just this week some of the board members from Habersham Hospital in Habersham County came to talk to me about the struggles. I talked to folks in Elberton, Georgia, about how the Elbert County hospital is fixing to close up if we don't do something. And Obamacare is going to close rural hospitals all over this country because they're going to be bled to death. They're bleeding to death today. We see hospitals closing up all over the country. So we mentioned in the previous hour where, even when people are given free health care, as they're promised by our Democratic colleagues, that that insurance card is not going to be accepted by doctors because the doctors just cannot afford to see patients because Medicare and Medicaid won't pay them enough to be able to see them, and for the doctors to be able to pay their own salaries for their own employees. They won't be able to see those free government patients. If they're seen today and struggling--I've talked to many of my medical colleagues in Georgia, and they want to continue to see Medicaid patients. They want to continue to see Medicare patients. But if ObamaCare passes, that free insurance card that is in people's pockets is going to be as worthless as a Confederate dollar after the War Between the States, the Great War of Yankee Aggression. So the availability of health care is going to go down. And we are told by our colleagues that it's going to be better availability. And they're showing their ignorance. In my opinion, they're showing their ignorance of how disastrous this bill is going to be. And they're showing their incompetence because they're going against what the Constitution of the United States says. They're going against the rules of this House to try to pass a bill without anybody ever voting on it. But the American people get it. They get it. They know that when Democrats vote for the rule, they're voting for the Senate bill that is going to be disastrous. They know that they are voting for a rule that is going to put in place, a reconciliation bill that we'll vote on secondarily, which is nothing but smoke and mirrors. And it's not going to fix all of these problems. American people get it. The American people, Madam Speaker, need to call their Congressmen, their Democratic Congressmen because every single Republican is going to vote against this because we get it, too. We're fighting for the American people. We understand. We have listened to it. But our Democratic colleagues hopefully will open their ears and will hear the cries of the American people to save our great health care system.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. I just have a question of the gentleman. If the Slaughter House rule is put in place, doesn't that mean that the President gets everything that he wants without the fixes because the Senate bill will be passed into law? And I yield to the gentleman to answer the question.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Will the gentleman yield?

Mr. BROUN of Georgia

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

Mr. BROUN of Georgia

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. I thank Ms. Foxx for yielding. I want to ask three questions of my Democratic colleagues: Are you so arrogant that you know what's best for the American people? Are you so ignorant to be oblivious to the wishes of the American people? Three-fourths of America does not want this bill. Are you so incompetent that you ignore the Constitution; that you have to use tricks and deception to ram down the throats of the American people something that they absolutely do not want? I hope and pray and I call upon the American people to speak louder, and I hope and pray that our Democratic colleagues will listen to the American people, listen to their constituents, and stop this government takeover of health care. I hope you will listen to President Obama when he says that the American people deserve an up-or-down vote. I hope that I can encourage my Democratic colleagues to defeat this previous question so that Democrats and Republicans can work together, so that we can find some commonsense solutions to literally lower the cost of health care, so government doesn't take over the health care system that's going to drive a million people out of work, that's going to run the cost of everybody's health insurance up, if they have private insurance. It's going to destroy the private health insurance system. As a medical doctor, I'm not a proponent of the health insurance system. But please listen to the American people. Let's defeat this PQ and let's work together to find some commonsense solutions. This is in the best interest of America. Announcement By the Speaker Pro Tempore