Paul Broun

Mr. BROUN of Georgia

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, today leaders in this Congress have hastily pushed through a bill with the direct intent of correcting a mistake, a mistake that could have been prevented in the first place. Let me repeat that. A mistake that could have been prevented in the first place. We've all seen the devastation that occurs following congressional knee-jerk reactions, and I am afraid that today's AIG bonus bill will not be an exception to that rule. I have serious constitutional concerns about our government's targeting such a narrow group of citizens with a retroactive tax hike. Regulating the pay of thousands of private citizens because of a mistake made by the leadership of this Congress starts us down a slippery constitutional slope. And what are our constitutional leaders planning to do with the taxes that they collect from this bill? It will probably all go back to AIG in their next bailout payment. My mama always taught me that two wrongs do not make a right, and this bill is no more than a legislative coverup by the leadership of this Congress. It's time for this body to instead address the problem that got us here in the first place: the lack of transparency. Lack of transparency is the true perpetrator in this high crime against the taxpayers. Ultimately, the taxpayers are not only the defendant in this case, but also the jury. And I think the taxpayers must serve congressional leaders with a clear verdict. It's congressional leadership who relinquished their promises for a more transparent government and instead steamrolled the ``nonstimulus'' stimulus bill down our throats, bypassing the regular committee process and refusing input from the minority party. Why are my colleagues on the other side acting surprised to find that a provision was ripped out of this bill that would have prevented these bonuses in the first place? In fact, that was even introduced by a Democratic U.S. Senator. They finally made the 1,000-page bill public in the middle of the night and then steamrolled it through Congress only a few hours later, all without adequate public or congressional scrutiny. This is absolutely outrageous. The American people deserve better and must demand better. They say that making legislation is like making sausage; you don't want to see it. But I beg to differ because these are trillion-dollar hot dogs that are being slammed and shoved down the throats of the taxpayers, and the taxpayers have to swallow it. It's time for congressional leaders to let taxpayers into the sausage factory. It's time for taxpayers to see what goes on here in Congress and goes into the sausage, and what's left out. Then and only then will we avoid coming back to fix mistakes that shouldn't have been made in the first place. We have seen bill after bill shoved down the taxpayers' throats. It's a steamroll of socialism that's being shoved down our throats. It's going to strangle the American economy, and it's going to choke the American taxpayers. Taxpayers deserve better. Taxpayers have to demand better. Taxpayers are not being treated fairly. We've seen bill after bill that's going to hurt the economy. It's going to cost jobs. It's going to create a longer and a deeper recession, maybe even a depression. We have seen people on the other side blame President Bush and they show righteous indignation, and it's totally misplaced because in this last Congress, 110th, now in the 111th, and with this administration, we have seen bill after bill that's going to hurt the economy, that's going to hurt the American taxpayer, that's going to cost jobs. It spends too much, it taxes too much, it borrows too much, and it's going to kill our economy. We have got to demand more and better from this leadership and this Congress. The steamroll of socialism is being driven by Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid and this administration, and it must stop because it's going to destroy America economically.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. I thank you for yielding. I want to just point out that you have been a leader on this Fair Tax and trying to offer solutions. Republicans have offered solution after solution after solution to energy, to housing, to taxes, to the spending; and the leadership has totally denied us from bringing this forward to the American public. And I congratulate you for being a leader in this regard.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, I believe that if a study were done on facial expressions made during a word association test, the results would show that most people's facial expression given the word ``taxes'' would be strikingly similar to that as when they were asked to recall the last time that they stubbed their toe or they smashed their finger with a hammer. Just as each physical injury has left a memory of pain and discomfort, so has each tax season burned a memory of stress and anger into the minds of most Americans. As many of you may know, I am an original-intent constitutionalist. I believe the Federal Government was not established to tax and spend; it was established to protect freedom and liberty. Yet, here we are today trying to solve our Nation's economic woes through an outdated and failed philosophy of more taxes, more spending, more borrowing, and an overall belief that more government is the solution. How many times, Mr. Speaker, will we hit ourselves in the thumb with an economic hammer before we realize that this is not the way to approach our problems? As the great Winston Churchill once said, ``For a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle.'' With the tax filing deadline just around the corner and many Georgia families struggling to figure out how they will pay off Uncle Sam this year, now is the time to do away with our terrible tax system, scrap this tax-and-spend mentality so we can go about a better way to get this country back on track. Mr. Speaker, I would submit that one great way to reform our tax system would be to institute the Fair Tax, which I'm an ardent supporter, a system that would replace all Federal taxes with one single retail sales tax. Just imagine the money that would flow into our economy if hardworking Americans were actually allowed to keep more of their money that they earned, if they didn't see increasing amounts being taken by a government that can't even pass a balanced budget, much less operate on one. However, it would be foolish to only discuss reforming our tax system without addressing its soul mate, and that is government spending. Skyrocketing growth in government spending by both Congress and Presidents, regardless of political party, has grown to a level of astronomical proportions. Spending by the Federal Government has more than doubled since 1980 and tripled since 1965. Recent history has shown us that cutting taxes is not a viable solution if we do not also address our gluttonous spending. This government exists for the sole purpose of serving the people, but for too many years, government has been merely serving itself. It has taxed and spent itself into a debt that shows no signs of receding. You see, this is something that seems to have been forgotten by Congress and by this administration. To spend these huge increases as they are proposing, they must first take it way from people through taxes. And what happens when there are not enough taxes to cover all the increased spending? They simply increase taxes, often through new and creative methods, while also increasing our Federal debt. In 1930 the U.S. Tax Code was a brisk 500 pages long. Today it has swollen to more than 45,000 pages, full of provisions that too often produce negative results. A Fair Tax system, empowering the American people to decide how much taxes they'll pay through their own purchasing decisions, will force this spending-engorged government to change their ways and enact fiscally responsible budgets. In addition, a Fair Tax system will move the responsibility of taxing citizens back to the States, simplifying the process, and remove the temptation by Congress and the administration to feed their growing appetites at the smorgasbord that is our current tax system. Often when I'm at home talking with my constituents in Georgia about taxes, I tell them if 10 percent is good enough for the Lord, it ought to be good enough for Uncle Sam. We have to reduce the size of government and government spending to achieve this heavenly goal. Under the original intent of our Constitution, 10 percent would be more than enough to fund all of the functions of the Federal Government as envisioned by our founders. I call on my colleagues to listen to the American people who are demanding a better system. We can and should give it to them by reducing Federal Government spending and reforming our tax system by enacting the Fair Tax. I congratulate my dear colleague from Iowa for allowing me to speak and bringing this very, very important issue to the forefront of the American people. We have to stop spending. We are spending too much. We are taxing too much. We are borrowing too much. And it's going to kill our economy. I call this a steamroll of socialism being shoved down the throats of the American people that's going to strangle our economy. It's going to slay the American people economically if we don't stop it. Thank you so much.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. I thank the gentlelady. I just came from a meeting where I heard some very interesting information about this taxing, this cap and tax, as we are calling it. The Democrats call it cap and trade. But there is a video called ``Apocalypse? No!'' This was Christopher Lord, Christopher Monckton, one of the greatest outspoken people in this world, about how the global warming is just totally a farce, and he was talking about how it was going to hurt the poorest of people, not only in the United States but in the world. He was begging for us, not as a Congress, as a government, for us to not put this cap and tax policy in place, because what it's going to do is it's going to put people out of work, it's going to lock them into a welfare state, which is going to hurt everybody's pocketbook long term. It's going to hurt small business, it's going to hurt the economy of not only the United States, but the world. And he was begging us not to pass a cap and tax policy here in the United States and was saying that we in America need to do the right things. He was showing us graphs, and the lies, actually, that are being put out by a NASA scientist by the name of Mr. Hanson and others who are promoting this, now they talk about climate change. But Lord was saying in the last 7 years we have actually had global cooling, global cooling. So they have stopped talking about global warming because we have had global cooling for the last 7 years. And this was in the normal variability of climate going up and down over the years. And he was pointing out that sun spots, sun activity actually has more to do with the temperature than the CO2 that has been emitted.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. In fact, he wants to cap charitable giving in this country, which means people won't give to the Salvation Army, people won't give to the Red Cross.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Thank you for yielding. In fact, you're exactly right. I think one point I really want to reiterate about this cap and tax or cap and trade issue--whose going to be hurt the worst? It's going to be the poor people in this country because groceries will go up, the cost of medications will go up so the elderly and the sick and the people who are on fixed incomes will have more to pay for their drugs. It's going to hurt the poorest and the people who are in the least position to be able to take care of paying this higher tax. And this cap and tax is going to hurt everybody. But it's going to cost jobs. So that is going to make more people unemployed. Not only that, as the chart says, President Obama's budget spends too much, it taxes too much, it borrows too much. But it also hurts the poor too much.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Let me tell you about one government regulation that came in to the health care system when I was practicing medicine down in rural South Georgia to show you and just give you a picture of how much government regulation increases the cost for all of us. I had a small automated lab with quality controls, because when I did tests I wanted to make sure that the tests were appropriate and that they gave good results so that I could treat my patients in the best way. Well, Congress passed a bill that was signed into law called the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Act, CLIA. If a patient came in to see me and had a red, sore throat and I want to find out if they had a bacterial infection or a viral infection, I would do a CBC. It cost $12 and I could do it in 5 minutes. CLIA shut down my lab. I had to send them to the hospital. It cost $75 and took 2 to 3 hours. That is with just one government regulatory burden.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Will the gentleman yield? The sad thing is our children and grandchildren are going to live at a lower standard. Their standard of living is going to be lower than ours today because they are going to be saddled with this huge debt. You cannot borrow and spend your way into prosperity. In fact, our President has, if you all remember, came and told the Republican conference that he wasn't going to make the same mistake that Franklin Delano Roosevelt made when FDR got scared and quit spending. Our President said he was going to continue to spend. And it's just wrong. That policy during the Depression did not get us out of that Depression. Warren Buffet just last week said he thinks we've been pushed off the edge and our economy is heading into a very severe depression or a very severe recession. And we may well be. I hope and pray that we aren't. But, I know this. Every single thing that this administration and the leadership in this House and this Senate have proposed is going to hurt our economy. It's going to deepen the recession, it's going to prolong it, and may push us into a severe depression. We keep hearing this is the worst economic time since the Great Depression. No, this is the worst time since Jimmy Carter and those failed policies. What our President has done is he's bought into that philosophy, that Keynesian economic policy, which is socialism. That's is exactly what he's bought into. In fact, the way I have described it in some floor speeches is that we have a steamroller of socialism being shoved down the throats of the American people. It's going to strangle the American economy and it's going to slay the American people economically. And it's going to. That steamroller of socialism is being driven by Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid. We have got to stop it because it's going to hurt the poor people in this country. It's going to hurt the small businessmen and women in this country. It's going to hurt the most economically disadvantaged in this country. We have policies that we are proposing that will actually help small businesses, that will create jobs. It will create paychecks instead of welfare checks. That's exactly what we are trying to promote, is giving people a paycheck instead of a welfare check.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. We would have created 73,000 more jobs in Georgia alone, under the Republican proposal, at half the cost. And we would not have borrowed any money at all. We would not have borrowed from our grandchildren like the stimulus bill or ``non-stimulus'' bill did.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. If the gentlelady will yield, down in my part of the country, down the in southeast, we had a couple of little hurricanes a few years back. Hurricane Katrina and Rita. If you look at the Federal response and compare it to the private response, where FEMA came in. People are still living in trailer houses. The neighborhoods are still empty, businesses are still boarded. But where the private sector, churches, synagogues, and other private entities went in to help these people in need, communities are back functioning. People are back in their homes, they're back in their businesses. The communities are back functioning. What that shows is that the private sector works a whole lot better than how the bureaucracy works when it has all of its encumbrances. How it crawls slowly and how it cannot really respond. Now, we have an administration that wants to take money away from those entities that work the best to help people. I just don't understand it. We have, as Republicans, we have solutions. We are not just the Party of ``No,'' as Ms. Foxx was saying. We have presented solution after solution after solution. Unfortunately, on the Wall Street bailout, President Bush and his Democratic Treasury Secretary, Hank Paulson, wouldn't consider our proposals. Our proposals were to cut the capital gains tax. That would even bring a lot of money offshore into America and free up a lot of capital so banks could start loaning to banks again. Banks could loan to people again. We had other solutions that President Bush and Hank Paulson wouldn't consider. Since then we have had proposal after proposal that this House, the Senate leadership, as well as President Obama will not consider anything that we bring forward, which, actually, every single solution that we bring forward will help small businesses, it will create jobs. Just in Georgia, the proposal that we had on the stimulus would have created twice the number of jobs--73,000 new jobs above what the Democrats say that they hope to save or create, using their own rules.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Wait a minute, would you please repeat that for the people who are watching tonight so that they understand very clearly what you just said? Say it slow for us down south.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Absolutely.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Absolutely. Every single policy that we hear from this administration is going to hurt the most vulnerable in our economic system.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. I know there are many sewer projects all around this country that need funding. There are two that have been already authorized through the Water Act of 2007 that are in my district that we are trying to find funds for. But what I have an objection to is, we are continuing to build greater and greater debt for our children across the country, and not only our children, but our grandchildren. I think their standard of living is going to be much lower than ours today if we don't stop this borrowing of funds from our grandchildren. We see budget after budget that continues to increase the Federal debt, and we have just got to stop the spending. We are spending too much, we are taxing too much, we are borrowing too much, and at some point we have got to stop that, because our grandchildren are going to pay a very heavy price for us doing so. So I call upon my colleagues on the Democratic side for us to work together to try to find some ways to bring forth these worthwhile projects, but to stop borrowing from our grandchildren and our children. It is absolutely critical for the future of this Nation that we do so. The Democratic budget that has been presented by the administration does nothing but increase the debt, and we have got to stop it. It is absolutely critical for the future economic well-being of this Nation. Republicans have presented many, many ideas that have not been considered by the leadership of this House nor by the Senate nor by the administration. I call upon my Democratic colleagues to work with us, to consider the things that we bring forth as potential solutions to the economic woes we have as a Nation. American people are hurting. They are hurting tremendously. We are hurting small business, which is the economic engine of America. We are taxing and we are overregulating them, and we have got to stop it. We have got to build a strong economy in America, and just stop this idea that we can spend more and more money. Consequently, I have objections to continuing to build greater debt for our Nation. So I call upon my colleagues on the Democratic side, let's work together, consider alternatives, consider ways of solving this economic crisis we have as a Nation, and not continue down this road that I believe is going to lead to not only lengthening the recession and deepening the recession, but, as Warren Buffett just said yesterday and the day before, off the cliff. And I think we may very well be headed to a deep depression, deeper than we saw even in the thirties, if we don't stop the spending that we are doing here in this Nation. So I call upon my colleagues on the Democratic side, please, let's work together. Let's find some commonsense solutions to these economic woes that we have as a Nation, and do some things for the American people, not for government. Government is not the solution. The private sector is the solution. Small business is the solution. We have got to find those solutions that make sense economically for this Nation. Socialism never has worked, never will work, and it won't work today. With that, I withdraw my objection, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Madam Chair, I rise to claim the time in opposition to this amendment and reserve my ability to object.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Would the gentleman yield?

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. I thank the gentleman for yielding. I understand this is an authorization. There is no question in my mind what this stands for. And, frankly, in my opinion, we have spent too much money not only since we have had a Democratic majority in the House and the Senate, but also the previous administration.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. It is not the role of the Federal Government to hoard massive amounts of land, and I urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on S. 22.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. John Locke, the great political philosopher, stated that ``the preservation of property is the reason for which men enter into society'' and that ``no government hath the right to take their property, or any part of it, without their own consent, for this would be in effect to leave them no property at all.'' Our Nation is facing an economic crisis. Yet Democrats are forcing this Chamber to rush through the omnibus, or should I say ominous, lands bill today that will increase government spending by as much as $10 billion and permanently lock up tens of millions of acres of the people's land. The Federal Government already owns over 650 million acres of land that it can't take care of. The National Park Service alone faces a backlog of $9 million worth of projects that need to be funded. If S. 22 were to pass, there will be more wilderness acres in the United States than the total amount of developed land. It is a huge attack on people's rights and especially property rights.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, our health care financing system in America is broken. We have the best health care system in the world, but the financing system is going to degrade, and it's going to wreck the quality of health care if we don't do something about it. I come before you this evening and talk about this issue that is of vital importance to everyone in this body and every American, and that is health care. The new administration has stated that health care reform is going to be their main priority for the rest of the year, and I applaud the administration for undertaking this ambitious endeavor to finally reform this broken system of health care financing. Our current health care system, with a reliance on third-party, or employer-provided, insurance, is a relic of World War II. As time marches on, we are finding that individual patients, which should be the primary concern of any health care system, are being relegated to the back seat in the decision-making process, leaving it up to their physicians to try to obtain payment from insurance providers, with varying degrees of success. In fact, insurance bureaucrats, both government and private, are currently making health care decisions and are already rationing health care, and these folks are not even medically trained. Instead, if true health care reform is to be at all successful, we must refocus our efforts on putting patients front and center in all decisions that relate to their health. The patient and the physician should be deciding the best course of action as it relates to the patient, just as the patient should be the main arbiter with their insurance provider. Once people are finally allowed to assume responsibility for their own medical well-being, they will be able to demand upfront an explanation of charges for potential tests and procedures. Only in a fully patient-centered system can we bring the market forces of accountability and transparency into the health care system that exists in other areas of our economy. I envision a way in which we can build a vibrant health care system in our country, where physicians are free to practice medicine without the massive government burdens that our current health care system weighs them down with. Our new system will still have a vital place for a third-party payment structure to cover extraordinary or even catastrophic procedures. But the basic tenet must be simple and straightforward: The patient must always come first, and the patient must ultimately be responsible for their own health care well-being. The task set before us is enormous, but it is attainable. Failure is not an option, but a fate worse than failure for the future of our country and its people is absolutely making the wrong choice. I cannot stress this enough. Our country's health care system must not follow the ill-advised example of other western countries, specifically France, England, and Sweden, with an utter reliance on the government to provide health care for every individual. This is socialism in its most basic form and is directly responsible for burdening these countries with such massive financial obligations that the only remedies are radical changes and cuts or bankruptcy. Not to mention that the standard of care that these countries provide is an inferior one. True, our current health care system is rapidly going bankrupt and bankrupting every American in the process. But we spend 2\1/2\ times more money than any other country in the world right now. Just imagine how much we'll spend if we follow Europe's lead and totally socialize our health care system. So we must not follow their reckless example as we work to change our own health care financing. But we must not waver either in the face of this enormous task set before us. And make no mistake about its enormity. I have never encountered a problem, except for national defense, where a solution from the government has turned out better than a solution from the private sector. That said, we should not stand for trading in government bureaucrats for insurance company bureaucrats. I cannot stress this enough: The ultimate decisions must be in the hands of every individual patient. Physicians should be in charge of explaining the benefits and risks of each and every test and procedure to the patients, and the patient will decide how to proceed. When necessary, the patient will consult with their insurance provider, seeking guidance about extraordinary procedures or hospital stays or whatever is required. We must take steps to change our health care system, but socialism is not the answer. Let's work together to find solutions that are patient- focused and not government-focused.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. That's right.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. I thank the gentleman for yielding. As a medical physician, a medical doctor, I'm certainly concerned about my patients, and I can understand people who are in wheelchairs wanting to walk again. I understand people who have Parkinson's disease wanting to not have the rigidity and shakes that they have with that disease and the degradation of their lifestyle that that horrible disease causes. And I, as a medical doctor, want to find cures for these diseases as well as many others. But as we look at this issue, I don't think there's a single person with Parkinson's disease or a single person that's in a wheelchair that would be in favor of killing another human being so that they could walk again or so that they wouldn't shake and have the rigidity and all the devastating effects of Parkinson's. I don't think there's a person in this country, in this world, who would say ``I'm in favor of killing this 2-year-old little girl or this 6-year-old little boy so that my disease will be cured.'' But the facts are very simple. When we do embryonic stem cell research, we're killing human beings. That's a separate human being. It's a separate entity. And that person has the right to live just like you and I do. We can't forget that. These are people. They may be a one-cell or just a few-cell human beings, individuals, but they are still distinct human beings that have their own genetic makeup, that have their own ability to live if we will just put them in an environment where they can. Now, I've got a friend at home that says that we ought to be able to take our 13 year olds and put them in the ground and dig them up when they're 25 and they'd be a whole lot better. And there are some parents who threaten to kill their teenage children, but they wouldn't really. But the thing is we are killing people. We're killing human beings. And the unfortunate part of this whole discussion is there has been virtually zero, zero, very little, if any, positive results from killing these human beings, bringing about the research on these human beings. There has been very little. Whereas with adult stem cells, with germ cells, we see a tremendous promise. And just as you said, Congressman Smith, the President has put politics and the radical pro- death abortion groups in this country ahead of science. It is a mantra of death and destruction. I don't see things as being in the gray area, particularly on this issue. You're either pro-death or you're pro-life. You're pro-abortion or you're anti-abortion. I have wondered frequently whether this whole issue about embryonic stem cell research was just a mechanism to try to give credence to the abortion industry, just to try to give credence to being able to take that right or at least the designation of personhood away from these human beings that are just one or two cells. I introduced a bill called the Sanctity of Human Life Act that gives the right of personhood to one-cell human beings. And we have got to stop the killing in America. God commands in Proverbs to speak up to the speechless and the cause of those appointed to die. Congressman Smith for years and years and years has been coming to the floor and introducing legislation and speaking up for those innocent human beings that are killed through abortion, killed through embryonic stem cell research, and we have got to stop it. God cannot and will not continue to bless America while we're killing 4,000 babies every day through abortion. We must stop it and do everything that we can. And stopping embryonic stem cell research is also extremely important because these are human beings that God has created. He tells us in His Word that he opens the womb and He closes the womb. I believe in the depth of my heart as a physician that he allows those human beings to be formed, even in a petri dish, and we need to protect them. We need to protect the beginning of life; we need to protect the end of life. When I graduated from medical school from the Medical College of Georgia in 1971, I made a pledge. It's an oath. It's called the Hippocratic oath. They don't give that in medical school, I don't think, much anymore, if ever, and the reason they don't is because of the abortion industry, because in that pledge, in that oath, it says I will not do an abortion. It also says I will do no harm. Embryonic stem cell research kills a human being. It does harm, and physicians who are doing that are breaking their Hippocratic oath if they take it seriously. It's not a legal document. It's just something that those of us who believe in doing no harm, who believe in rendering good to our patients and trying to preserve life, that's exactly what we try to do; so we must stop this heinous, and it is heinous, practice of destroying human life. No matter how good somebody paints the picture of this procedure, they paint a picture that has not been true, that it's going to bring about all these good cures, but it's an empty promise. And those who cling to it have been sold a bill of goods. They have been sold a bald-faced lie. It's a lie of a promise that has not shown to have any promise really. There are other research methods, other scientific methods, where we can put money, we can put effort to bring about the critical cures that we need to help people get out of their wheelchairs, to help cure cancer, to help cure diabetes, to help cure all these diseases that are absolutely critical for us to cure as a Nation, and we need to put our focus where it should be, and that's not on killing people. And that's what embryonic stem cell research does. It kills people. Put it on the things that will save people, things that will cure their disease, hopefully get people out of their wheelchairs and walking, help them to live their lives and be productive in society. I'm all for that, but I am totally against killing embryonic human beings just for the sake of medical experimentation. We must stop it, and I will do everything I can, and I join Congressman Smith in his efforts and I applaud his efforts over the years. I just greatly appreciate all that you've done, my dear friend. And, Chris, I just want to join with you in everything that you do to try to stop this heinous practice of killing human beings through abortion, through embryonic stem cell research, and all the other things that you have so valiantly fought against all these years. I thank you.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I thank my colleague from Tennessee and my colleague from California. We are, as Republicans and Democrats, coming and talking about something that is extremely important, and that is science exploration of Mars and what Spirit and Opportunity have done there. We talked on the previous bill about math and science and how important it is that we go forward with these types of projects. And it absolutely is critical for the future of our Nation that we do so. The other things that are critical for our Nation that we need to explore is how to stimulate our economy. And the best way to stimulate our economy is by stimulating small business. Small business is hurting today. It is hurting terribly. The American middle class and the workers of America are hurting terribly. We have proposals brought forth to this floor in bill after bill that markedly increase the size of the Federal Government. This is what I call the steamroll of socialism being shoved down the throats of the American people. We have to find solutions to this economic problem we have in America. And building a bigger government, building a more socialistic government, is not going to create jobs. It is not going to bring about the things that we need to get us out of this economic downturn. I hope that as we work together on this bill, and as we did with the previous bill, that we can work together, Democrats and Republicans alike, can come and find some commonsense economic solutions for America, commonsense solutions that will stimulate the real economic engine of America, and that is small business. Small businesses create most of the jobs in America today. We have proposals that are going to take away jobs from small business because it is going to put a heavier regulatory burden on that small business. It is going to put a heavier tax burden on small businesses. We have seen proposals in the budget that will increase taxes on what is described as the wealthiest in America. But most of those tax increases will affect small businesses, and it is going to rob jobs, rob jobs that are critical for the economic well- being of America. Small business is the economic engine that pulls along the train of economic prosperity in America, and we need to stoke the fires of that train so it has the ability to create jobs, to bring us out of this economic downturn. What I see over and over again are policies that are being suggested that are going to rob small business of those critical assets that they need. They are going to rob the American people of the jobs that we need. Government does not make one single nickel, not one single penny. All it does is it takes away from the private sector. We have policies that are taking away from the private sector and increasing a bigger and bigger government to tell us how to live our lives. It is robbing the private sector of necessary funds that are absolutely critical to get us out of this economic downturn. We cannot continue down this road toward a socialistic society with socialized medicine that is going to destroy the quality of health care. It is going to be extremely costly. It has been said very often around here that if you think health care is expensive today, wait until it is free. It is going to destroy the innovation that is absolutely critical. So as we commend NASA, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Cornell University on this outstanding scientific accomplishment that they brought forward with Spirit and Opportunity, we need to look beyond that and we need to look in a bipartisan way. We have got to stop what I think is an idiocy of destroying small business and creating a bigger socialistic government. We have seen bill after bill that spend too much, tax too much, borrow too much. Our children and grandchildren are going to live at a standard that is much less than we have today if we don't just stop this, and I am struggling for a word here, but one where we are bringing forth policies that are absolutely adverse to what this country was founded upon. We stand at a crossroads, and it is a crossroads that will lead one direction towards socialism and total government control, and another direction which leads toward freedom, entrepreneurship, innovation and economic security. So I call upon my colleagues on the Democratic side, let's work together. Let's work together to find policies that make sense. Let's work together to find commonsense market-based solutions that will stimulate small business, that won't hurt our children and grandchildren like bill after bill that is being proposed and a budget that is being proposed. We have to stop this direction, this steamroll of socialism that is being driven by Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid. It is a steamroller of socialism that is being shoved down the throats of the American people, and it is going to strangle the American economy. It is going to kill the American public economically. So as we applaud these scientific endeavors, I call upon my Democratic colleagues to work with us in a bipartisan way so we can find economic solutions that are so drastically needed, so that we can find the solutions that America needs. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I would like to yield to my good friend whom I respect tremendously, Mr. Dreier from California, as much time as he may consume. (Mr. DREIER asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of House Resolution 67. This resolution recognizes and commends NASA, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and Cornell University for the success of the Mars exploration rovers, Spirit and Opportunity. By almost any measure, the Mars exploration rovers have been an extraordinary success. These rovers, named Spirit and Opportunity, were originally intended to perform a 90-day mission on the hostile surface of Mars. Spirit was the first rover to land on the Mars surface on January 3, 2004. Spirit was joined on the Martian surface by Opportunity 3 weeks later on January 24, 2004. From the very early phases of the mission, these rovers have exceeded even the wildest expectations of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory team that designed and built them. Originally intended to perform a 90-day mission to search for evidence of water and other conditions that could have supported life on the harsh surface of the red planet, they have now exceeded that goal by over 1,800 days. Along the way they rewrote our knowledge of the Martian environment by discovering and verifying geological evidence of ancient Martian environments where hospitable conditions may have existed. While on Mars, these rovers have explored over 21 kilometers of Martian terrain, survived dust storms, mechanical difficulties, and endured three cold, dark Martian winters. The advanced scientific instruments deployed in conjunction with Cornell University have relayed over a quarter million images, including evidence of explosive volcanoes and subsurface water. At a time when Americans could use some good news, it is fortunate that we can recognize and commend the men and women of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Cornell University for their outstanding success in designing, developing, launching and operating the Mars Exploration Rovers. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this resolution. I reserve the balance of my time.