Paul Broun

Mr. BROUN of Georgia

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I'm a family doctor. I have examined the Pelosi and Reid health care bills, and I have made a diagnosis, and the American people need to listen up to this diagnosis. If you like your health insurance today, the price is going to skyrocket, and you're not going to be able to keep it eventually. If you're on Medicare, you're going to have a hard time finding a doctor that will accept Medicare because of the massive cuts. If you're a veteran and dependent upon TRICARE, forget it. Mr. Speaker, my prescription is that we need to trash the Reid and Pelosi health care bills, work in a bipartisan manner, do this in an incremental way to lower the cost to everybody, and work to make something that makes sense for the American public and keeps the good quality health care we have in America.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commend the soldiers, civilians, and military families stationed at Fort Gordon for their service and dedication to the United States, and to honor the lineage of Fort Gordon as an indispensable communications installation and training center in our Nation's history. Fort Gordon was originally conceived as Camp Gordon on October 18, 1941, as an answer to America's fight in WWII Europe. Camp Gordon was home to three Army Divisions--the 4th Infantry Division, the 26th Infantry Division, and the 10th Armor Division. All served with distinction in the liberation of Europe from the Nazi tyranny. It was not until March 21, 1956, that Camp Gordon was given permanent status and renamed Fort Gordon. Since that time, Fort Gordon's soldiers and civilians have continuously served with distinction in Vietnam, Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, and in current operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. All the while, the military family members were providing support while dealing with the hardship of long and often times multiple deployment separations. In June 1986, the United States Army Signal Regiment was established and Fort Gordon was designated as the home base for the regiment. Fort Gordon is home not only to the Army's premier signal training center, but it is also home to deploying active and reserve Army units. The soldiers in these units take the lessons learned from the battlefield in order to incorporate the lessons into the signal training curriculum and in research and development. This functional and technical analysis has lead to the development of mobile subscriber equipment, the Army's communication architecture and information mission area, which include integration of automation, communications, and visual information. Fort Gordon's role as a communications leader was not achieved through individuality but through a combined effort of the Army and the citizens of Augusta who together have fostered a strong community. Margret Mead said it best when referring to the strength of a community, ``never doubt that a small, group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.'' These committed Augusta citizens were and are an essential part of Fort Gordon's history that has led to a safer and secure America.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 935, H. Res. 845-- recognizing the United States Air Force and Dyess Air Force Base for their success in achieving energy savings and developing energy-saving innovations during Energy Awareness Month, and rollcall No. 936, H.R. 2278, to direct the President to transmit to Congress a report on anti- American incitement to violence in the Middle East, and for other purposes, had I been present, I would have voted ``yea.''

Mr. BROUN of Georgia

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 933, commending the soldiers and civilian personnel stationed at Ford Gordon and their families for their service and dedication to the United States and recognizing the contributions of Fort Gordon to Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom and its role as a pivotal communications training installation, had I been present, I would have voted ``yea.''

Mr. BROUN of Georgia

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Madam Speaker, on rollcall No. 931, making appropriations for the Departments of Transportation, HUD, and related agencies for FY 2010, and on rollcall No. 932, recognizing the 10th anniversary of the activation of Echo Company of the 100th Battalion of the 442d Infantry, and the sacrifice of the soldiers and families in support of the United States, had I been present, I would have voted ``yea.''

Mr. BROUN of Georgia

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 934, recognizing and honoring the National Guard on the occasion of its 373rd anniversary, had I been present, I would have voted ``yea.''

Mr. BROUN of Georgia

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 937, H. Res. 915, encouraging the Republic of Hungary to respect the rule of law, treat foreign investors fairly, and promote a free and independent press, and rollcall No. 938, H. Res. 907, recognizing the Grand Concourse on its 100th anniversary as the preeminent thoroughfare in the borough of the Bronx and an important nexus of commerce and culture for the City of New York, had I been present, I would have voted ``yea.''

Mr. BROUN of Georgia

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, the economic engine that pulls along the economic train of prosperity in America is being derailed. America's entrepreneurs, America's small business men and women are this country's economic engine. They are the backbone of our economy. They create most of the new jobs here in America. Mr. Speaker, they have waited long enough for the so-called stimulus to kick in. In fact, they have been waiting far too long. Mr. Speaker, where are the jobs? It's time for us to scrap this failed policy. It's time for Congress to stop wasting taxpayer time and money. It's time to give a real jolt to the economy and stop taking so much through high taxes and more debt. Mr. Speaker, I introduced H.R. 4100, the JOBS Act, to do just that. My bill, the Jumpstarting Our Business Sector, or JOBS Act, is a commonsense and simple approach. It provides a 2-year moratorium on capital gains and dividends taxes, two taxes which directly inhibit or derail a business' ability to reinvest their revenue into creating now jobs. It reduces the two lowest tax brackets by 5 percent. It cuts the payroll tax rate and the self-employment tax rate in half for 2 years. Additionally, it reduces the corporate tax rate by 10 percent for 2 years. In fact, the United States already has the second highest corporate tax rate in the world. It's incredible that our economy has prospered for this long under such an extraordinary tax burden. At this time of great economic turmoil, it's only logical to curtail this massive tax and allow our business sector to propel us back onto a stable economic footing. Finally, just as important, my JOBS Act recoups any and all unspent stimulus dollars, putting them to work instead of towards waste. Now is the time for a new way forward. For 11 months, the so-called stimulus has been tried and tested. Unfortunately, it has failed. But there is no reason to keep going down the same track and throwing taxpayers' money down a rat hole towards a failed plan. And there is certainly no reason to keep sending money into Georgia's imaginary congressional districts, double zero, 27, 86, or any others that the government has identified. The American people demand something better than more government and more debt. They deserve more, something better than more unemployment insurance and COBRA extensions. We need to stop handing them dead fish and, instead, hand them a fishing pole. Mr. Speaker, I've introduced H.R. 4100, the JOBS Act, to answer their call. And I urge my colleagues to lend their support by cosponsoring this important legislation and keeping that economic engine of small business on the right track to economic prosperity.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay respect to the memory of Staff Sergeant Justin M. DeCrow, one of the 13 victims that died in the tragic and senseless attack at Ford Hood, Texas, on November 5, 2009. Staff Sergeant DeCrow is survived by his wife Marikay and their 13- year-old daughter Kylah who currently live in Evans, Georgia. Justin was described as a loving father and husband with an ``infectious charm and wit that always put others at ease.'' This is what many of us aspire to be, but it seems Justin was an exemplary person to display such character. We owe Staff Sergeant DeCrow's family an answer as to why this has happened and to ensure that it never happens again. I pledge to all the victims and their families that I will do everything that I can to find the answers as to why this act of terror took place.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Dr. Gingrey, thank you so much for yielding tonight, and I appreciate the opportunity to come here to try to help our colleagues and hopefully the American public to understand what we are dealing with with this PelosiCare bill. And what is apparent thus far, since it has just been out, I can't say for certain, but it is apparent within the Senate bill, the ReidCare bill, of where we are going as a Nation. The American people need to understand something very clearly, and that is there is going to be rationing of care, as Dr. Gingrey was just talking about, and we are already seeing the beginning of this. Mr. Speaker, over the August break, I went up to Canada and I talked to Canadian patients. I actually lived in Canada many, many years ago for a short period of time. I didn't talk to doctors, but I talked to Canadian patients, since we hear our Democratic colleagues holding that up as the kind of model we need to go to. Mr. Speaker, the American people need to understand very clearly that the Canadians have marked rationing of care. I talked to women in their forties and fifties who never, ever have been told that they needed a pap smear and never have had one. What Dr. Gingrey was just saying, Mr. Speaker, about this recommendation that women not have mammograms until they are after 50 years of age, I have seen patients in my own medical practice in their thirties who have been diagnosed and treated for breast cancer. In fact, I had one lady 29 years of age in my own practice who found a lump in her breast. She came to me, she got a mammogram and went to surgery and was found to have breast cancer at 29 years of age. Mr. Speaker, this is the beginning of the process of rationing of care that we already see the Federal Government doing just in anticipation, in my belief, of what the PelosiCare, the ReidCare, the ObamaCare bill is going to do. You see, the Democratic Party's health care reform plans which have been introduced in the House and the Senate will allow you to have anything that you want as long as the boss would allow you to do it. Boss Hogg is going to determine whether a patient can have a mammogram, as we already see in the Federal Government saying we need to stop these mammograms for patients that desperately need them from a medical perspective.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. This comparative effectiveness panel that is going to be set up in Washington, D.C., they are going to look at how to spend dollars. They are going to use age and dollars on how to make health care decisions, which means that senior citizens are going to be denied care because they are going to determine that it is not effective to spend dollars on seniors' care as opposed to spending it for young people's care. So this mammogram recommendation is just the harbinger of where we are going. One other thing, Mr. Speaker, that the American people need to understand is that not only Boss Hogg is going to tell them whether they can have surgery, whether they can have a mammogram, whether they can have a pap smear, whether they can have lab tests, MRIs, CAT scans, but Boss Hogg and another group is going to tell the American people what their health insurance looks like. So we have heard the President over and over say that if you like your current health insurance policy, you can keep it. That is a bald- faced lie. It is not true, because the health care czar panel is going to dictate every single health care policy in this country. Not only in the public exchange, but also everybody's private insurance in this country is going to be dictated by Boss Hogg, the health care czar panel in Washington, D.C. They are going to say whether that insurance will pay for insurance coverage for those mammograms, and they are going to use this recommendation that just came out this week to deny women under the age of 50 of being able to get those mammograms that their doctor thinks that they need and that they think that they need. There are medical indications for those mammograms, but Boss Hogg is going to say ``no'' because it does not fit within the parameters of the insurance that the Boss Hogg health care czar panel is going to put into place.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. I thank you, Dr. Gingrey, for yielding. Carrying down that same road that you were talking about, I have practiced almost four decades as a family doctor. I have done colonoscopies and sigmoidoscopies. We do routine digital rectal examinations on patients for prostate cancer. We do PSAs routinely in screening. We do cholesterol screening and blood sugars and hemoglobins and all of these different tests that the American people wouldn't understand unless they have those diseases or have studied those things. But you're exactly right, Dr. Gingrey. The screening for, for instance, colon cancer, we do a lot of checking stools for blood, doing flexible sigmoidoscopies even colonoscopies for colon cancers. Frequently even at colonoscopies we take out polyps that could turn out to be cancer if they're not removed. This cost-effectiveness panel, Boss Hogg, very probably is going to cut off all that screening. And you're going to have more people get prostrate cancer, more people get colon cancer, more people get breast cancer, more ladies get cervical cancer because those screening tests that Dr. Gingrey is talking about, Mr. Speaker, very probably are going to be cut off and denied to patients because they have to stop paying for all these tests because of the comparative effectiveness. Particularly when you look at it, young people from old people compared to how you spend your dollars, we're going to have tremendous rationing of care. So everybody in this country is going to have their insurance dictated by Boss Hogg, the Federal Government. Everybody is going to have their care dictated by Boss Hogg, the Federal Government. Everybody in this country is going to have a Federal bureaucrat standing between them and their doctor. It's not right and the American people need to stand up and say ``no'' to the ReidCare bill. They need to say ``no'' to the PelosiCare bill, no to ObamaCare. And let's lower the prices for everybody. Republicans have many, many bills that we've introduced. I have introduced one myself, H.R. 3389, which is a comprehensive bill. It does not add one nickel of increased spending to the Federal Government, and it puts the patient and doctor in charge of those health care decisions. Dr. Gingrey, I appreciate your doing this Special Order, and I appreciate your bringing these very pertinent things to the attention of the American public by doing this Special Order. And I just applaud what you're doing here because in Hosea 4:6 God says, ``My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.'' And the American people are going to be destroyed for a lack of knowledge about what this PelosiCare bill is going to do or the ReidCare bill is going to do that Barack Obama is pushing down the road. We've got a steamroller of socialism that's going to cost jobs and destroy the quality of health care, and the American people need to stand up and say ``no.'' Thank you, Dr. Gingrey. I appreciate it.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Madam Speaker, on December 23, 1776, just days before the Continental Army won a great victory at the Battle of Trenton, General George Washington asked aides to read passages from Thomas Paine's The Crisis. That great book, which lifted the spirits of the army from the darkest depths, famously begins, ``These are the times that try men's souls: The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.''

Mr. BROUN of Georgia

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, the American people need to know what this debate is all about. On one hand, it is a complete takeover of the health care system that the Democratic Party is proposing. On the other hand, Republicans have offered alternatives to let the patients make decisions. In fact, I offered H.R. 3889, which is totally private, doesn't raise taxes or anything else. Their plan will destroy the economy. It will put 5.5 million people out of work. It is going to destroy the doctor-patient relationship. Government bureaucrats will be making decisions for every patient. The American people need to understand: This is about a government takeover of the whole health care system. They need to call their congressman and say ``no'' to the Nancy Pelosi steamroller of socialism.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I am a physician. I practiced medicine in Georgia for almost four decades. In health care, us providers try to do no harm. But, Mr. Speaker, this Pelosi health care takeover is going to destroy the quality of health care. It is going to actually destroy poor people, and particularly Medicare recipients, from even having a doctor, because the cuts in Medicare are going to mean that doctors just can't afford to continue to see them, even though they want to. It is going to destroy State budgets because of the increase in the Medicaid recipients that are going to be forced on to the State budgets, which means that it is going to hurt teachers and all the goods and services within the State. It is going to destroy every family's budget because of the increased cost for everybody in this country, because all goods and services are going to go up because of the increased taxes on all the business. It is going to destroy jobs. It has been estimated that 5.5 million jobs are going to be lost. But, most of all, it is going to destroy our economy. We need to destroy this bill.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Madam Speaker, on rollcall No. 832--H.R. 1168, the Veterans Retraining Act of 2009, on rollcall No. 833--H. Res. 291, Recognizing the crucial role of assistance dogs in helping wounded veterans live more independent lives, and on rollcall No. 834--S. 509, A bill to authorize a major medical facility project at the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Walla Walla, Washington, had I been present, I would have voted ``yea.''

Mr. BROUN of Georgia

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Some people may say that that's a racist comment you just made. First thing, they are not immigrants. They are aliens, they are law breakers, they are criminals, and they need to go home. We certainly should not give them taxpayer subsidies, not only health care but a lot of the taxpayer subsidies, and they are getting them today. In spite of being against the law getting Medicaid, SCHIP, they are getting those things today because they have fraudulent Social Security numbers, fraudulent driver's licenses. They are criminals. They need to go home. I want to tell you, I have been accused of being a racist by saying things like that. But I also volunteer as a medical doctor at a clinic called Mercy Clinic in Athens, Georgia, and the vast majority of people that come to that are illegal aliens, people who have no insurance. I have devoted my time, and there are 40-some-odd doctors in our community that devoted our time to go take care of sick people who need our help. I have a heart for them, but I also believe in the law.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. They lie. They lie.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Yes, they are going to pay higher taxes. Everybody in this country is going to pay higher taxes, from the extremely rich to the poorest people; but most of those taxes will come on the backs of the small businesses. That is the reason that the President's own economic adviser has said that 5.5 million jobs in America are going to be destroyed. People are going to be put out of work because of that tax burden that is placed on small businesses. This whole bill, this Pelosi health care takeover, is going to destroy America. It is going to destroy everything we have in America. Let me tell you a little story. Recently, I was talking to one of the Blue Dog Democrats, and I asked him to show me in this document where Nancy Pelosi has the constitutional authority to take over the health care system in America. He could not because this is unconstitutional.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Well, I appreciate that, Dr. Boozman. I practiced medicine for a few years in Blakely, Georgia, a town of 5,000 people. We had a small community hospital there. I moved from there to Americus, Georgia, which has 17,000 people; 25,000 in Sumter County, Georgia, both down in rural southwest Georgia. We had a regional hospital in Sumter County, an excellent regional hospital. At the time I was there, we had a little over 30 doctors in Americus, Georgia. We had just about any specialty, except for neurosurgery and neurology, in that community. Then from there, the Lord moved me to Oconee County, just outside of Athens, Georgia, where I still live today. Athens is a town of a little over 100,000 people. There are two hospitals in Athens, Georgia. St. Mary's, I am on the foundation board. I have worked with St. Mary's Hospital. It's a Catholic hospital. I have worked with them for years, trying to help provide care for indigents and people that don't have insurance and to help that hospital be viable. But we also have Athens Regional Hospital. Now that I am a Member of Congress, I represent the northeast corner of the State of Georgia, and we have a lot of small community hospitals scattered through my congressional district in Hart County and Elbert County and Thomson, which is McDuffie County, and a lot of these, and I can go on. There are many small rural hospitals. Now, back to something I just said earlier in Hosea 4:6: My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. What it's going to do if the Pelosi bill, this one right here in front of me, is passed into law, small rural community hospitals all over this country are going to close down. Small communities are going to have all those people who work there be jobless. They are going to be put out of work. Folks are going to have to drive miles and miles to those regional hospitals to get the health care that they so ably deserve. This is not a health care bill. This is a health insurance bill to set up--in fact, the President himself has said he wants to establish socialized medicine where the Federal Government is the only insurer. This bill is the step that they need to put that into place. That's exactly why the progressives, I call them Marxists, because that's really their philosophy is Marxism or communism, socialism, is based upon, this bill is a step to go to that socialized medicine. But not only the health care markets and small community hospitals are going to be put out of a job. The President's economic adviser has said 5.5 million people are going to lose their job, so it's going to destroy jobs all over America. Mr. Speaker, if the American people could see this document and understand how onerous it is, they would say ``no,'' and they should. This is the Republican alternative that's going to be considered on and voted on Saturday. Look at the difference in the size. The Republican Party is the Party of Know, k-n-o-w, know. We know how to lower the cost of health insurance for everybody in this country and let the doctor-patient relationship be how health care decisions are made. This bill is going to put a bureaucrat from Washington D.C., making health care decisions for every single person in this country.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Would the gentleman yield?

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Thank you. The Constitution starts out with three extremely powerful words ``We the People.'' We the People are speaking, and they don't want a government takeover of their health care system. In Hosea 4:6, God says, ``My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.'' Mr. Speaker, the Doctors Caucus and Dr. Gingrey have been trying to educate the people about the onerous effects of a government takeover of health care. I just want to mention a few of those things. Dr. Boozman, my good friend from Arkansas, was already mentioning the increased taxes and the attacks on small business. But this bill, if it's passed into law, is going to destroy our economy. It's going to destroy our economy because it's going to spend--right now CBO, with their zombie economics, is going to spend over $1 trillion. I call it zombie economics because you have to be a dead person walking around to believe the accounting procedures that CBO went about utilizing in evaluating this bill. But this bill has been scored by CBO as costing over $1 trillion. When Medicare was passed into law 40-some-odd years ago, CBO, when they evaluated it then, they missed the mark. In fact, Medicare, in the first decade, cost almost 10 times what CBO scored it, and that's exactly what's going to happen with this one. I think 10 times will be a conservative estimate of what the CBO is scoring it. It's going to destroy our economy. The second thing it is going to do is it's going to destroy the State's budget. In Georgia, as the gentleman from Georgia, Dr. Gingrey, knows, we have a balanced budget amendment to our State Constitution. Well, this bill shifts a lot of cost in unfunded mandates to the State because it expands Medicaid. Georgia is already struggling to meet its balanced budget amendments and is already cutting services in the State of Georgia. This bill, for the State of Georgia, from everything I can tell, is going to increase the cost to Medicaid to the State of Georgia $1 billion. We don't have that kind of money. The State of Georgia is going to have to cut its services markedly or increase taxes. Mr. Speaker, the Governors all over this country should be contacting every single Member of Congress in their delegation and telling them to vote ``no'' on this Pelosi bill that is going to take over the health care system. It's going to destroy States' budgets. It's going to destroy everybody's home budgets because taxes are going to go up on all goods and services, particularly health care services. But there is going to be taxes on every single small business and large business in this country, which means that those taxes are going to be passed through at an increased cost for every good and service in this country. So everybody, including the middle class, the poor people, those on limited income, the elderly are going to have to pay more for everything that they buy, for every service that they contract for. So it's going to destroy everybody's home budgets. It's going to destroy our children's futures. It's going to destroy their futures because Congress is borrowing and spending dollars that our children and our grandchildren are going to have to pay for. So we're stealing their future. Scripture says in the Ten Commandments, ``Thou shalt not steal,'' and I call on this House to stop stealing our children's and our grandchildren's futures.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. I thank the gentleman, Dr. Gingrey. I did house calls full time prior to coming to Congress in 2007, and I actually still make house calls. I appreciate the people coming here today and getting in the house call business. They made a house call on the people's House, and I congratulate them on doing so because their voices were heard. The Constitution of the United States. I carry it in my pocket all the time. I believe in this document, as it was intended by our Founding Fathers. It starts out with three very powerful words.

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. Thank you, Chris Smith. I greatly appreciate all your leadership on this. Madam Speaker, I'm a medical doctor. I've practiced medicine in Georgia for almost four decades. The very first bill I introduced in Congress, the first bill I will ever introduce in every Congress, as long as the Lord continues to send me up here, is one called the Sanctity of Human Life Act. It defines life beginning at fertilization. As a medical doctor, I know that that's when my life and all of our lives begin. Madam Speaker, God cannot continue to bless America while we are killing 4,000 babies every day through abortion. He just cannot and will not because He is a holy, righteous God. He tells us in Jeremiah that He knows us before we are ever knit together in our mother's womb. We have to stop abortion. We have to stop this bill that is going to continue to fund abortions with taxpayers' dollars. The future of our America depends upon it. Right to life is absolutely the central part of liberty and freedom in America. Madam Speaker, we cannot lose that right.