Paul Broun

Mr. BROUN of Georgia

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. I reclaim the balance of my time. The thing is, this administration has given all of these czars tremendous amounts of power outside the purview of what they should have under the Constitution of the United States, and this particular czar doesn't look at scientific facts that there are thousands of scientists that say that there is minimal, if any, human effect on global temperatures. We have an administration who has loaded up this council with people who are carrying out a political process, and it's been politicized, and it should be totally unacceptable. It is to me. It should be to all us of us. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. If I can have your time.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. This is about transparency and accountability. This administration has appointed more czars than pre-Communist Russia has appointed, and this one that we're trying to defund is just one of many. Congress has no oversight. This is totally unacceptable. It should be unacceptable to you guys, too, Mr. Chairman, as well as every Member of this House. It should be unacceptable that we have czars appointed in what's supposed to be a free society, in a democratic Republic, representative government. Congress has the authority and responsibility to oversee the administration, and we're not doing our job, frankly, and it's about time for us to do our job.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. How much time do I have left?

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Mr. Chairman, I rise today in support of my amendment, which eliminates funding for the climate czar, their deputy, and staff salaries for the Council on Environmental Quality. For too long the executive branch has skirted Senate confirmation proceedings and congressional oversight by appointing officials to oversee vast parts of the Federal Government. Administrations from both parties have been guilty of this practice. It's time for it to stop. Mr. Chairman, we do not need and should not have czars. The last time I checked, only pre-Communist Russia had czars, and we are most certainly not Russia. But the word czar aptly describes the kind of power that these positions hold in our Federal Government. And the current administration has no fewer than 30 czars. Unfortunately, the Rules Committee, as has been their practice, did not allow an amendment to eliminate all of these positions. The CEQ was mandated by Congress 40 years ago. While their chairman is Senate confirmed and their members are various agency heads, the veil of secrecy by which this council operates is totally unacceptable, and it should be unacceptable to every Member of this House. It's no small secret that the council's actions are overtly political and lacking a proper legislative check, and it didn't just happen overnight. The previous administration's CEQ had its fair share of problems as well. I have no problem with this administration, or any administration for that matter, seeking advice from outside experts on the important issues of the day. In fact, that's how it should be. But the recent actions by the council with regards to the Army Corps of Engineers as well as their so-called oversight on the projects from the Democrats' nonstimulus bill, to name just two, have forced me to resort to defunding their operations. Obviously, I would have preferred to remedy this problem through the normal committee process, but that option has not been afforded Members of the minority of this Congress. Attempting to fix these issues in the appropriations process is less than desirable, but that's all that's afforded the minority right now, and that should be unacceptable to the American people. I urge my colleagues to wake up and reclaim our constitutional footing as the check on the executive branch and vote ``yes'' on my amendment. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I'm a medical doctor. I used to do a radio program called ``House Calls with Dr. Paul,'' where I tried to explain medical problems to people so that they could understand them. As a Member of Congress, I am here this morning to try to explain this health care bill in ways that Americans can understand it. America needs to decide whether they want a health care system where they make the decisions in conjunction with their doctor or some Washington bureaucrat makes those decisions. They need to make the decision whether they want a health care system where they have to wait long periods of time for surgeries and for tests, for MRIs and x-rays, where people who have cancer can't get the life-saving treatments that they desperately need, which is what we've been seeing from the other side. We have solutions. Republicans have introduced numerous bills; and numerous bills will be introduced that will solve the health care problems, lower the cost of premiums, lower the cost of medicine, hospital bills and doctors' bills. The American people need to decide and demand a market-based health care system.

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. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

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

Mr. BROUN of Georgia

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

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend, Mr. Brown from South Carolina, for yielding. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this legislation and want to remind the American public, Mr. Speaker, if I could speak to them, that we have a tremendous Federal debt and deficit that's growing every moment that this Congress is in session. We have a tremendous amount of resources all across this country in forests, in Federal property; and I believe we must be good stewards of our environment. It's absolutely critical. In fact, we are charged from a biblical perspective to be good stewards of our environment, and I am a conservationist of the first order. In fact, I began my political activism being involved in the conservation movement. I'm a life member of many conservation movements such as the Wild Sheep Foundation, the Safari Club International, where I was a political action vice president, political affairs vice president for Safari Club International. I'm a member of Quail Unlimited, Ducks Unlimited, and I can go on and on. So my conservation credentials are very numerous. But we have Federal property all over this country where the Federal Government is not managing it properly. The Park Service can't take care, by their own admission, of the Federal National Park System today. The Forest Service does a much better job than the Park Service does in managing its properties. But we have national forests all over this country that have timber growing. It's a renewable resource. Mr. Speaker, we can handle some of this Federal deficit and debt by starting to manage these Federal properties in a more responsible, scientific manner that will not harm the environment, will not harm the properties, will not harm--actually will help the wildlife. So, Mr. Speaker, as I rise to support this legislation, I ask this House, I ask this Congress, I ask the American people to start demanding good management practices of our natural resources, and that's going to include good, responsible wildlife management; that's going to include considering hunting on all Federal properties as a management tool which is absolutely critical in proper wildlife management. So, Mr. Speaker, I do rise in support of this legislation. I assume that it will pass, and I hope that it does. But we need to look beyond that and start being good stewards of our environment, and we have not been.

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. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

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. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman, my good friend, Mr. Hastings, for yielding some time on this issue, and I greatly appreciate the people of the Mariana Islands wanting to control their own property. And I congratulate them on the introduction of this legislation, and I certainly support it. And I think it's very laudable that we are bringing this forward, and I very much support it. I think States and territories should control their own property. We have too much Federal control of State property and Federal property, and I am glad to see this legislation. And I congratulate you and my friends on the other side for bringing this forward. I am also concerned about the submersion though of the American taxpayer in just a sea of debt. We have created more debt in this Congress, this administration has proposed more debt over the next 5 years than has been created by every single Presidency since George Washington all the way through George W. Bush. And the American people are drowning in a sea of debt, and we are creating more and more debt for those people. We are robbing our children and our grandchildren of their future. The American people are going to live at a lower standard than we live today because of the debt that we are creating, and I am very concerned about that. We have got to stop the spending. It's egregious. It's absolutely outrageous the amount of money that's being spent by this Congress. And we see bill after bill, a nonstimulus bill, an omnibus bill, a Wall Street bailout that our previous administration brought to us and that this Congress and this administration continued and spent the other half. We have a health care bill that's being introduced just today that is going to create more debt, and it's going to destroy the health care system and put a Washington bureaucrat between patients and their doctor. And Washington bureaucrats are going to be making health care decisions for their patients. And the American people need to stand up and say ``no.'' It's going to overwhelm them, a tremendous sea of debt that's being created by this Congress, and it has to stop. And, Mr. Speaker, I just hope that the American people will understand what's going on here and will rise up, call their Congressman, call their two U.S. Senators and say ``no'' to this health care bill that's being introduced today. ``No'' to the tax and cap, so- called cap-and-trade bill that's nothing but a revenue bill that's not about the environment. Say ``no'' to that. ``No'' to this continued tsunami of spending that's going on here. We've got a spending addiction here in Congress. I'm an addictionologist. I've practiced addiction medicine in my family practice. In addiction medicine, we say where there is not denial there is not an addiction. Congress has an addiction, a spending addiction, and they are denying it. We are denying it, and the spending has to stop.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia

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

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

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. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

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. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this bill, and I agree with my good friend Jimmy Duncan from Tennessee. We need more people in this country serving this Nation. As I spoke earlier, I think we are doing a tremendous disservice to our veterans in this country by not fulfilling the promises that we've made to them. The way that we can get more people into the military, the way that we can get more folks, good people, who will be willing to serve our Nation, is to be able to fulfill the promises that we give them on enlistment or on a commissioning. We are not doing that. We are not fulfilling those promises. We are not giving those people the kind of health care that they so desperately need, and we are certainly not helping their spouses, because we are not giving them the health care financing that they need either. So, Mr. Speaker, I rise today not only in support of this bill to name this facility in Knoxville after this hero, but we have to remember the heroes in Iraq and in Afghanistan today, those heroes I see at the VA hospital in Augusta, Georgia--the Charlie Norwood VA Medical Center--those heroes I see at the Eisenhower Medical Center in Fort Gordon, Georgia, those heroes who have lost a leg or an arm, those heroes who want to go back to their units in theater to continue to fight for our freedom. We cannot turn our backs upon those heroes, just like we cannot turn our backs upon the past heroes. I think it's a travesty the way this government has treated our veterans. We're not doing them right. It verges on criminal because we have broken our promises, and we need to fulfill those promises, and I'll do everything I can as a Member of Congress in supporting the veterans in my 10th Congressional District in Georgia. As a physician, I understand their medical needs. I'll do everything I can as the Congressman from the 10th Congressional District of Georgia to make sure that our veterans have all of the promises made to them fulfilled. This government has broken promises. It continues to break promises. It has got to stop, and I'll do everything I can to fulfill those promises. I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia

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

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. I rise today in support of the veterans of this country. Mr. Speaker, I served in the United States Marine Corps. I'm also an original intent constitutionalist, and I believe very firmly that most Americans understand that a national defense, a strong national defense, and thus, supporting our military men and women as well as the veterans, is critically important. It's important for the veterans, the retirees, those who are on disability. It's extremely important to them. It is also important to our current active duty troops for us to support veterans, because how are we going to get people to stay in the military to be senior NCOs, senior officers or flag officers if we do not fulfill the promises that we make to the men and women who come into the military to begin with? And thus, it is also important in the recruiting process. How are we going to recruit good men and women to come into the military, make it a career, if we don't fulfill the promises that we have made to them as they enlist or are commissioned in the military? Mr. Speaker, we have broken promises to the veterans. We have broken many promises. In my district, I have two stellar VA hospitals, the Charlie Norwood Veterans Medical Center in Augusta, Georgia. I also have a veterans clinic just outside of Athens, Georgia, that gives stellar care to our veterans. But veterans are denied the health care, educational needs and other things that they have been promised, and it's a travesty. We have to stop denying the veterans the promises that we have made them, and it's absolutely critical for our national defense.