Paul Broun

Mr. BROUN of Georgia

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Will the gentleman yield?

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Thank you for yielding, Dr. Gingrey. What I wanted to bring up, Dr. Fleming, is that during the August break I went up to Canada and talked to folks about their universal health care system. And the American public need to understand what their situation is up there. I found women in their 40s and 50s who've never been told that they needed a pap smear, never been told they needed one. Never had one. Why? Because the doctors won't take the time to counsel with them and won't take time to do the pap smear because doctors have to rush people through the office so quickly just to see the capitated amount just to make a decent living. The average time spent, I was told by many, many patients up there, was 5 minutes with a doctor, 5 minutes. I was told that if you have high blood pressure, diabetes, and high cholesterol, you have to make three appointments to see the doctor and they'll just give you medicines for those three things one at a time. You can't go counsel with your doctor for any period of time. But most importantly, and back to the reason I asked you to yield a moment or two, is that in Canada they pay a tremendous amount of taxes. Even the lowest income people pay a tremendous amount of taxes to pay for their health care system. They have a provincial and national sales tax just to pay for their health care of 7 percent in British Columbia, where I was, a 7 percent sales tax just to pay for national health insurance. Plus on top of that, they have an income tax. I was told by a guy making under $50,000 a year, he said he paid 60 percent of his income, 60 percent of his income was paid in taxes to help pay for their national health insurance program.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Dr. Gingrey, thank you so much for yielding. This is the health care czar. The President said, if you have insurance and you like it, you can keep it. Nothing could be further from the truth; it's a boldfaced lie. The reason it's a boldfaced lie is because this bill requires the health care czar and his panel--this dude is going to be confirmed by the Senate, but the panel is going to be appointed by the President with no confirmation--they're going to be making health care decisions for everybody. And everybody, even private health insurance plans, have to be approved by the boss. So if you have health care insurance today and you like it, forget it because it's going away unless the boss says it's okay. So the Democratic health care plan, the health insurance bill that Nancy Pelosi has given us, you can have anything that you want if the boss approves it. And I thank Dr. Gingrey because this is his slide here.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. I just wanted to come back to the point that I just was making so that the Speaker himself can understand and the American people who are listening here can understand that the lowest income workers who are trying to make a living, struggling today to make a living and make ends meet, maybe they do or don't have insurance today, they're going to pay a heavy, dear price in increased taxes by this bill, the Pelosi health care bill. It is going to destroy their own personal budgets because of this bill if it ever gets passed into law. I want to remind, Mr. Speaker, if I can speak out to the American public, I would tell them that the Republicans are the Party of Know, K-N-O-W, because we know how to lower the cost of health care. We have 53 bills that have been introduced. Some of them are comprehensive, such as my bill, H.R. 3889, which is totally private, doesn't increase taxes for anybody. It doesn't put mandates on anybody or anywhere and totally looks to the private sector and will lower the cost of health care. We have many Republican bills that will help lower the cost for everybody if our bills could just be heard on the floor. But the American people need to demand that the Pelosi bill be defeated, destroyed, so we can go back to the drawing board, we can go back to the table and work in a bipartisan way and have Democratic and Republican ideas, and we can find something that is right for America that will lower the cost of health care. The Pelosi health care bill will skyrocket the health care costs for everybody, skyrocket taxes, and we have to stop it.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Will the gentleman yield?

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. No, sir. Well, thank you, Dr. Gingrey. The States are prohibited from printing money under the Constitution. Actually, we should be preventing the Federal Reserve from printing money like they are doing, and the Congress has the authority to do that, if we just take that power back from the Federal Reserve, and I, as an original intent constitutionalist, think we should do that. It is our prerogative as Members of Congress to manage the money instead of the Federal Reserve, and it shouldn't be the Federal Reserve doing it. We should be doing that here in Congress. But the States can't do that, so they are going to have this tremendous economic burden. Our Governor, Sonny Perdue, is struggling trying to make the budget come out in black ink in our State. Because we have a balanced budget amendment to our State constitution, the State of Georgia cannot spend more money than it brings in, technically, under our constitution. So if we as a Federal Government put a tremendous burden of $1 billion on the State of Georgia, which is already struggling, already furloughing workers, they are not replacing workers, State services are being cut, teachers' salaries and furloughs and cuts are being put in place, and we add $1 billion to the State of Georgia, an economic burden, that money has got to come from somewhere. The Federal Government is not going to give it to Georgia. It is not going to give it to Louisiana. It is not going to give it to Texas, New York, Vermont, or Minnesota. The States are going to have to come up with those dollars, and the only way they can do that is through higher taxes, as well as cutting more services than what they are doing now. You take States like Michigan, where the unemployment is so high, raising taxes is going to further wreck their economy. So this is going to destroy the American economy as well as the States' economies. We are going to be destroying lives with this bill, because this bill, the way it is written today, is going to allow taxpayers' dollars to pay for abortions. Now, the Democrats have put some mumbo-jumbo language in there, and it is really a ruse. What they have done is they say private funds can be utilized to pay for abortions through the public insurance system. They call it the public option. But it is not an option; it is a mandate. It is actually something that the leadership of the Democratic Party, from the President to many of the leadership in their own party, have said that this is just a step to a single party payer health insurance program. So it is going to destroy private insurance here in America too. So what this Nancy Pelosi health insurance bill is going to do is destroy everything that is good, and good with our health care system. And what is most important, it is going to destroy the quality of care our seniors are getting, because they are going to get the short shrift of all of this. They are going to draw the short straw, because the Democrats put something in the bill, something that is called comparative effectiveness research in the stimulus bill, and now they have set up a panel that is going to use that comparative effectiveness to determine how best to spend the dollars. And when you have limited dollars, they are going to decide is it better to spend the money on a well person who is 25 versus a sick person who is 70. So the seniors' health care provision is going to be destroyed. We are going to have more people pushed, because Medicare Advantage is going to be destroyed, we are going to have move people pushed off on the Medicare system, which is going to further increase the burden on the current Medicare system. So we are going to have further rationing of care, particularly for the seniors. So they are going to be told they can't get tests, they can't get surgeries, they can't get medications that they need, and it is going to be absolutely disastrous for seniors.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. You bet.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Dr. Gingrey, I appreciate greatly your doing this Special Order tonight, and I appreciate your yielding me some time. When I spoke on the floor this morning in 1-minutes, I started off my speech by saying when I graduated from the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta, Georgia, and got my MD degree, we in the medical college all swore to the Hippocratic Oath. One of the clauses in the Hippocratic Oath was ``I will do no harm.'' The Nancy Pelosi health care insurance bill, it is not about health care. It is about insurance, and, actually, it is about power. It is not even about health care. But the Nancy Pelosi health care insurance bill will actually do a tremendous amount of harm for me and all of our medical colleagues who continue to practice medicine, so it is going to destroy the quality of care. It is also going to destroy the Federal budget. Dr. Gingrey, as you were talking about, it is going to spend over $1 trillion in what I am describing as voodoo economics or zombie economics that CBO utilized in scoring this bill, because they made some assumptions that are just totally untenable. They are just not going to happen. Since they are projecting the growth of Medicare is going to be half of what it has been historically, that is not going to happen. They haven't counted into the scoring a lot of issues that are going to balloon the costs to the American people. So the Pelosi health care insurance bill is going to destroy our economy, and it is going to create a tremendous debt. It is going to destroy people's private health care plans that they have today. If you continue to buy private health insurance, the American public's premiums are going to double and triple. So it is going to destroy the budgets of families all across America. It is going to destroy the State budgets, because it is going to have a tremendous unfunded mandate on the States because of the large expansion of Medicaid; thus, the States are going to have to go get that money from somebody, and they are going to increase taxes. They are going to have to. They have no other choice but to increase taxes.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Well, in increasing the Medicaid rolls that the State government has to fund, the Federal Government is going to help by giving money to the States, but the States are going to have to come up with the matching. Just in our State of Georgia, it is estimated the State of Georgia is going to have an extra $1 billion that Georgians are going to have to come up with in increased taxes just for this Federal mandate on our State alone. It is billions and billions of dollars on every State in this country, so it is a huge burden on the States. So it is an unfair taxation that is pushed off on the States, and every person, even the middle class, who our President said he was going to protect, the middle class is going to be burdened with a tremendous tax burden because of the mandates. Some of them aren't direct taxes. As I have already mentioned, their health insurance premiums are going to really double or triple. That is really a tax, because it is a cost shifting from the private insurance.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, when I graduated from medical school at the Medical College of Georgia, I swore to do no harm. Mr. Speaker, the Pelosi health care insurance bill will destroy America. It will destroy the quality of care for everyone. It will destroy jobs. In fact, experts tell us 5.5 million people will lose their jobs. It will destroy private insurance. In fact, it is estimated 114 million people will be forced off their private insurance under a government policy. Mr. Speaker, it is going to destroy our economy and cost over $1 trillion. It will destroy our States' budgets, and it is going to destroy our own home budgets for everyone through higher taxes and through higher private insurance premiums. It will destroy our children's and grandchildren's future. Mr. Speaker, we the people in America must demand that we destroy the Pelosi health care insurance bill.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, Americans are growing tired of having to speculate about what is in a 1,000-plus page bill that is still being drafted in secret behind closed doors. The American people want transparency in this process, and they want real bipartisan reform. They want a step-by-step approach. Why don't we work together out in the sunshine and add even a few of the elements Republicans have presented in our 53 health care alternatives? One of these alternatives is my OPTION Act, H.R. 3889, that among other things would, number one, make the purchase of health insurance more affordable to more people. It would allow transparency in health care pricing; make all health care-related expenses tax deductible for everybody; and allow for individuals to keep their health insurance once they leave their jobs or shop across State lines. We must bring health care reform back from the partisan abyss and give the American people real bipartisan health care reform.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia

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

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

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Mr. Chairman, if the philosophy is that government has to supply all the money for all the research and development in this country, particularly for energy resources or anything else, then it makes sense to pour more and more money into this kind of development, but we are stealing our grandchildren's future. They are going to live at a lower standard. Mr. Chairman, we just simply have to stop the spending and control what we are doing. We cannot spend ourselves into economic prosperity. It's going to cost jobs in this country. We are going to go into an economic slump and a downturn if we don't stop spending money here in Congress. So my amendment will certainly continue to fund solar energy, which we desperately need; but the private sector, Mr. Chairman, can do that also. Government is not the only source of funds. The private sector is already developing things, as I stated in my opening statement for these shingles. We have to stop robbing our grandchildren's future. And with that, Mr. Chairman, I urge all Members on both sides to support my amendment. It's a commonsense, fiscally responsible amendment. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to my good friend, Mr. Hall from Texas.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself as much time as I may consume. Energy independence and innovation are essential to America's national as well as economic security. Current rising energy costs only reinforce this critical need. Last summer's record-breaking prices of fuel exposed the consequences of the failure to have a comprehensive national energy strategy, one that makes America energy independent. Many believe the debate is oil and gas versus wind, solar, and renewable sources of energy. That assumption is absolutely false. We need all of the sources of fuel that we know about, both current and any possible ones that we can develop in the future. Today's bill focuses on one of those sources of very much needed energy, solar energy. The technological advances in solar-generated energy are growing every day. Specifically, during committee markup, our friend and colleague, Dr. Ehlers, shared with us an ingenious new technology that may only be a year away from the market, a solar shingle. These new shingles, which are being developed by the private sector, will be able to produce more than enough energy to power almost any modern home. I hope they get on the market very quickly. These shingles have dual purposes--the protection of the home on the roof and providing a clean energy source to the home. Further, the costs to the consumer would eventually be comparable to regular wood shingles. This is the marketplace at its best. Despite my strong support of these innovative and cleaner technologies, this Congress must recognize a simple fact: We do not have enough money to do all the programs that we would all like to do. In order to balance the noble goals of this legislation with the overwhelming pressures placed on the budget, I offer this amendment which would freeze the amount of money authorized in this bill to $250 million a year for 3 years. In this fiscal year's Energy and Water appropriations bill, $225 million was appropriated for solar energy programs. This is in addition to the $117 million that was appropriated in the so-called stimulus--I call it the ``nonstimulus'' bill--earlier this year. This is more than Congress can and should be doing for solar and other renewable resources, reduce and streamline regulatory burden in developing and building green technologies, actions which would not expand or increase our debt. I urge my colleagues to support this commonsense, economically responsible amendment and reduce the burden of adding to the debt which will be passed along to our children and grandchildren. Mr. Chairman, we have to stop the outrageous spending that this Congress is doing, and my amendment will help to do that. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Will the gentleman yield?

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Mr. Akin, as you know, I've practiced medicine. I am a family doctor. I've done general practice for almost four decades. The problem with defensive medicine, overutilization of testing and services in the health care industry is a huge part of the expenditure. Patients are actually demanding these things, and doctors are complying with that because of the possibility of a medical malpractice suit being filed against the doctors. So something needs to change because we are overutilizing tests, we're overutilizing services. In fact, I was talking to the administrator of one of my local hospitals in my district recently. And the day I was talking to him, just that day the lady who runs the CAT scan unit at their hospital was asking for some more help at night, and he couldn't understand why she would need more help. And the lady said, Well, we've run 10 CAT scans through the night through the emergency room. He said, Well, how many of those were positive? Zero. How many were really indicative? If you look at the medical indication for those, it's zero. So the overutilization of very expensive testing is rampant within the system. So you're exactly right. If we do something to stop the doctors from having to practice this medicine--

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Absolutely. It is a tremendous risk.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Absolutely.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Let me give you a good example of that exactly. I've worked in emergency rooms many times throughout my career and sometimes was even a full-time emergency room director. But if a patient comes in with a headache that they've never had before, comes in with a severe headache and--well, maybe, it's not even a severe headache. Maybe it's in the front part of their face and it's typical of a sinus infection. A doctor has a tremendous pressure on them to get a CAT scan or a CT of the head, or both, because if they don't and several years later that patient is found to have something such as a brain tumor, they could come back and sue the doctor for failing to diagnose, even though frequently in these cases the patient's history and the physical examination will not indicate any medical need, any medical indication of a brain tumor. But the doctor has to do that to prevent the suit.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. It doesn't cost the doctor anything. It doesn't cost the patient anything either. It costs the whole system.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. The patients will come and say, I'd like to have an MRI on my head or a CAT scan on my head or belly or something, and their attitude is it doesn't cost them anything. It doesn't cost them anything. It costs the insurance company. Just like a lot of people think the government can provide all of this free health care and the government just pays for it. Well, where does the money come from?

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Absolutely.