Paul Broun

Mr. BROUN of Georgia

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, this morning on ``Fox and Friends,'' one of my favorite golfists, Phil Mickelson, was there talking about his wife, Amy, and his mother, Mary, having breast cancer. He made an astonishing statement. He said that the treatment of breast cancer today is better than it was 5 years ago, better than 10 years ago, and he's absolutely right. Mr. Mickelson's hope in the cure for his mother and his wife's breast cancer, this devastating illness, is very high. But, Mr. Speaker, the American people need to understand if we pass the Democratic health care reform bill that they are proposing, innovation in health care is going to quit or go down and be very little. The quality of care is going to go down. As a physician, I can tell the American people that the quality of your care will be worse a few years from now because of the Democratic Party's health reform plan. The American people need to stand up, Mr. Speaker, and say ``no'' to this and say ``yes'' to some of the alternatives that Republicans are presenting. We have a plan, but it will not be heard unless the American people demand it.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Chairman, I'm pleased to see that finally after 10 appropriations bills under closed rules, the Democratic majority has finally seen fit to allow this sensible cost-reduction amendment. The underlying bill increases the funding for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services and Education by 25 percent. Mr. Chairman, isn't a 24\1/2\ percent increase over last year enough? Is the Department of Labor really going to feel the effects of this modest amendment? We're only talking about reducing their increase for half a penny for every dollar that the agency spends. The American people are feeling the squeeze of this economy and, to date, Congress has done nothing to ease their burdens or address their frustrations. This modest reduction, Mr. Chairman, however small, is an important step. So I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on this amendment.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Chairman, I come before you today to protest this restrictive process. Mr. Chairman, I have submitted a handful of very simple, straightforward, and commonsense amendments to this body. This arbitrary process of choosing which amendments are allowed to be considered on the floor is unworthy of this institution and has damaged the democratic process. Is the majority leadership so afraid of making their Members vote against such commonsense measures as cutting this bill by half a percent that they wouldn't even allow debate? I also submitted an amendment that would have prohibited any money in this bill to be spent on bike paths. Mr. Chairman, maintaining bike paths is clearly not a function of the Federal Government, and especially in these tough economic times and an era of large deficits. This is not an appropriate use of Federal funds and taxpayers' dollars. At a time when our Federal Government is hemorrhaging money and selling bonds to foreign countries like China just to be able to keep the lights on, building bike paths is certainly a frivolous expense that should be cut out of this bill. Unfortunately, this amendment was not allowed to be debated. The distinguished chairman of the Appropriations Committee has made it known that he is conducting the appropriations process in this restrictive manner in the interest of time. But, Mr. Chairman, that argument does not make any sense. The Constitution has mandated this body with a finite number of basic responsibilities. Chief among those is allocating Federal dollars. If we cannot spend more than 1 hour debating appropriation bills that allocate hundreds of billions of dollars, then I would suggest that our priorities, the ones that deserve time on this very floor, are misplaced. I urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on this legislation and for the majority party to turn the legislative process back to regular order.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Thank you, Mr. Wamp. I appreciate you yielding me some time. Mr. Speaker, government is growing, freedom is going. Many of us came to the floor through Special Orders and said, Where are the jobs? Mr. Wamp very eloquently told you, Mr. Speaker, where the jobs are. They're going to China and India and Sri Lanka and all the different countries around the world where the energy costs and the environmental regulations aren't such a hamper to industrial growth and development. Mr. Speaker, I have several manufacturing plants in my district in northeast Georgia that have told me if that tax-and-trade, cap-and-tax bill passes the U.S. Senate, that they're just going to have to lock the door. They're going to lock the door and all the people who work in those factories in northeast Georgia are going to be out of work. Right now, today, this very day, many of the counties in my Tenth Congressional District of Georgia have unemployment rates pushing over 14 percent. In Georgia, just a couple of days ago, it was announced that the State unemployment rate is 10.1 percent. I heard today in Augusta, Georgia, which because of all the job- producing entities that have to do with government, State and Federal Government, such as the Eisenhower Army Hospital on Fort Gordon, Fort Gordon itself, the Savannah River site Department of Energy facility over in South Carolina, in my good friend Gresham Barrett's district, and the Medical College of Georgia, my alma mater, those four entities, plus the VA hospital--we have two VA hospitals in Augusta, Georgia-- those give a buffering effect to job losses. But in Augusta, Georgia, it's 10.1 percent now, from what I understand. So where are the jobs? Well, they've left. And why? If you look at what has happened, we see over and over again our colleagues on the Democratic side blame George W. Bush for this bad economy and all the things that are going on today. I heard Members of the Democratic Party just this week blame the stagnation and poor economy on George W. Bush. Well, George Bush was a big-spending President. There's no question a about that. He did create some deficit and debt. There's no question about that. And I was against that. I wasn't here during most of that period of time in Congress, but the last almost 2 years of his Presidency, I was here, and I voted against every big spending bill, every tax increase. But I want to remind you, Mr. Speaker, and I want to remind the American people, if I can speak to them directly, that it's been on the Democratic leadership for the last 2\1/2\ years that most of the jobs have been lost. And if we look at the deficit and debt that's been created just in the last 6 months under this Democratic administration and under the rule of Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid in Congress, we have seen more debt, more deficit created than George Bush ever thought about doing. The Democrats need to quit talking about George W. Bush because it's their deficit, it's their debt. And then they passed this tax-and-trade bill. They call it that. They also call it cap-and-tax because it's about taxes. The President himself a few weeks ago said he had to pass this cap-and-trade bill to be able to fund his health care reform. Now what's that mean? It means that he needs the revenue. It's about revenue. It's not about the environment. In fact, that bill, if it passes in the U.S. Senate, is going to cost more jobs. And it's going to hurt the very people that I hear over and over again that the Democrats claim that they represent. They claim the Republicans only represent Big Business, but actually, Mr. Speaker, it's the Democratic Party that represents Big Business, because Big Business prospers under Big Government. It's small business that we as Republicans represent. And this energy bill that's sitting over in the Senate is going to hurt small business. It's going to hurt everybody. It's going to hurt the poor people because they're going to be paying for higher energy costs. Dr. Foxx was talking about it, and I think my good friend Mr. Wamp from Tennessee was saying that everybody in this country is going to have to pay more. They're going to pay more for gasoline. When you flip on the light switch in your home, you're going to pay more for that electricity. When you go buy groceries, you're going to pay more for groceries. When you go to the drug store to buy your medications, you're going to pay more because these energy costs are going to be passed to every single good and service in America. Every single one. It's been estimated that it's going to cost, because of higher energy costs, the average family, as Dr. Foxx was saying, over $3,100 per average family in America. Now some people try to refute that. The MIT economist said, Well, we're taking this a little out of context. But the thing is, what he looks at is not what it's going to cost people out of their pocketbook. In reality, it's going to cost every average family in this country over $3,100 per average family for higher energy costs if that bill passes the U.S. Senate. So we're going to lose jobs. We're going to lose jobs because small businesses are going to have a hard time paying the energy costs with this tax-and-trade bill that this House passed. All small business can do is increase the cost of their goods and services to the public or they have to cut back or they have to cut back on their expenses. And the way they do that is by letting people go or reducing salaries or cutting hours to their employees. So the average worker in this country is going to take home less money if that tax-and-trade bill passes the U.S. Senate. This health care reform bill that we hear the Democrats are going to bring before the August break is going to cost more jobs. Well, how many more jobs are these two bills going to cost? Mr. Speaker, it's estimated it's going to cost many millions of Americans, working class, blue collar, small business jobs all across this country. Just last night, the President said if the burden primarily falls on the middle class, he won't be for it. That's hogwash because his bill, his plan is going to fall on the backs of everybody, including the middle class. It's not true. Middle class is going to pick up the bill for this health care reform, for the tax-and-trade. We've got to stop it. Now, Republicans aren't going to stop it. Only the American people can stop it. Former U.S. Senator Everett Dirksen one time said when he feels the heat, he sees the light, Mr. Speaker. And what he's saying is when he gets calls and letters, faxes, e-mails, visits about an issue, he starts feeling the heat. Most Members of Congress in the House and the Senate are going to be running for reelection at some point. Most want to get reelected. And so when their constituents contact them about an issue, that's how we feel the heat. So, Mr. Speaker, if I can speak out to the American people and tell them what to do to defeat this, Mr. Speaker, what I would tell every single individual who wants to solve the economic problems is to stop this cap-and-tax bill that the Senate is debating, also this health reform bill that's going to destroy quality health care, put a Washington bureaucrat between every patient and their doctor and the decisions are going to be made by that Washington bureaucrat, not by the patient, not the patient's family, but by a Washington bureaucrat. It's not going to even cover everybody, and it's going to be extremely expensive, according to the Congressional Budget Office. If the American people really understood what was going on in those two bills, they would rise up and say ``no'' to their U.S. Senators, ``no'' to their Members of this House, to their U.S. Congressmen. They can call, Mr. Speaker, they can e-mail, they can fax letters, they can visit the district offices, State offices, and say ``no'' to cap-and- trade, ``no'' to Barack Obama's plan, ObamaCare, and it's critical that we do that, because if we don't, our economy is going to be destroyed, jobs are going to be destroyed, the environment is not going to be any better worldwide. In fact, I think it will be worse. And we're going to go down a road towards exactly what Mr. Obama's good friend Hugo Chavez has taken in Venezuela. We have a clear picture of what's going to happen in America if we continue down this road that this administration and the leadership in this House and the Senate today, the Democrat leadership, has taken us. All we have to do is look off the shore of Florida at Cuba and see where America is going, because that's the picture of what this country is going to be like several decades from now if we go down this road the way we're going. So I hope, Mr. Speaker, that the American people will understand. God says in Hosea 4:6, My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Please, please, our American people need to be informed. We need to have that knowledge spread among the people. And the American people, Mr. Speaker, need to rise up and say ``no'' to ObamaCare, ``no'' to cap-and-trade, ``yes'' to jobs, ``yes'' to a strong economy, ``yes'' to creating jobs. We're accused, as Dr. Foxx said, of being the Party of No on the Republican side. But, actually, we are the Party of Know, K-N-O-W. We know how to stimulate the economy, we know how to create jobs. We know how to be good stewards of the environment. And we will be. And that's what we need to do. I thank the gentleman from Tennessee for yielding. God bless you.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Madam Speaker, pursuant to clause 2(a)(1) of rule IX, I hereby notify the House of my intention to offer a resolution as to the question of privileges of the House. The form of my resolution is as follows: Whereas the gentleman from Georgia, Mr. Broun submitted an amendment to the Committee on Rules to H.R. 3288, the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2010; Whereas the said gentleman's amendment would have required that none of the funds made available in this Act be used for bike paths; Whereas transportation appropriations have previously been used to build and repair bike paths; Whereas the construction and repair of bike paths is not a legitimate function of the federal government, since they do not contribute to interstate transportation or interstate commerce; Whereas the gentleman's amendment complied with all applicable Rules of the House for amendments to appropriations measures and would have been in order under an open amendment process, but regrettably the House Democratic leadership has dramatically and historically reduced the opportunity for open debate on this Floor; and Whereas the Speaker, Mrs. Pelosi, the Democratic leadership, and the chairman of the Committee on Appropriations, Mr. Obey, prevented the House from voting on the amendment by excluding it from the list of amendments made in order under the rule for the bill: Now, therefore, be it Resolved, That H. Res. 669, the rule to accompany H.R. 3288, be amended to allow the gentleman from Georgia's amendment be considered and voted on in the House.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Will the gentleman yield?

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Yes. I was going to talk about that with prostate cancer in a minute or two.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Almost 100 percent. Five years.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Not in his daughter.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. I was looking at the word prostate, so I apologize. But breast cancer, actually, with the new technology we have of imaging and the diagnosis to try to diagnose this early, as well as some of the new drugs that are coming out on the market today that will all be denied actually under care because it's not cost effective. But 5-year survival rate for women is way over 90 percent in the United States. But look in England, it's hard to tell, but it's much lower.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. I want to point out a chart that Dr. Fleming pulled up. The one that Mr. Akin is looking at here is about all cancers. But if you look at prostate cancer and breast cancer, it's absolutely phenomenal at the difference in the rate. For instance, in the U.S., which is the purple bar here----

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Will the gentleman yield?

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. How's that?

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Well, you're not going against what I was saying. In Canada, it happens that way. But they have a relief valve, and that's called the United States and the excellent quality of care that they can get here on demand. But in the Canadian system, in the British system, if they stay there, they just die. They don't get the care that they need to save their lives. And so you and I agree. You, in Michigan, have seen that first and foremost in your communities in places like the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Will the gentleman yield?

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Thank you, Mr. Akin. I appreciate your yielding me some time. As you know, I just walked in a moment ago. I wanted to bring out something that you may or may not have talked about. The American people need to understand something. They've been promised that if they like the private health insurance that they have today, they can keep it.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. No. In fact, that's what I wanted to bring up. If you like what you have today, you're going to lose it. Thank you, Dr. Fleming, for giving me this chart. But if you like what you have today, the American people are going to lose it.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Well, that's correct. And the reason that people are going to lose their private health insurance that they have today is because the bill requires the health care czar, they call it a ``commissioner'' in the bill, is going to set the health care plan for every single individual in this country.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. They call him a ``commissioner.''

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Well----

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. No, they don't call him a ``czar.'' They call him a ``commissioner'' in the plan, but this fits the pattern of the czars that the President has established. The funny thing is this President has set up more czars than Russia did throughout its history through 200 years. We have more czars in the last 6 months than Russia has ever had.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. The bill calls him a ``commissioner.'' But he fits the pattern of this health care czar because he is not confirmed by the Senate. He has no one to answer to but the President of the United States. Congress has no control over what he does.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Absolutely.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Absolutely. It is kind of like a dictatorship.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. I would like to come back to something that my friend, Mr. Hoekstra from Michigan, was just saying about the government bureaucracy. And I want to remind all my colleagues that Mr. Hoekstra was talking about that putting the bureaucrats in charge of this gives us more power. But we won't have any control because the commissioner, or the health czar, is going to be making these decisions, and we won't. As Members of Congress, as the duly elected representatives of each of our districts, we won't have any say whatsoever on what that commissioner does. And coming back to what my friend, Michele Bachmann, was talking about and my friend Steve King was talking about, we have got a clear picture of what is going on here, about taking over the economy by this President. Because he is doing exactly the same thing that his Marxist buddy, Hugo Chavez, is doing in Venezuela. We have a very clear picture long term of where that leads. And that leads to what another one of our President's good buddies, Fidel Castro, has done to Cuba. We are headed down that same road. The American people can look at Cuba, at their health system, at their economic system, and see that that is exactly the direction that this administration is taking us. I'll yield back.