Diane Black

Mrs. BLACK

Mrs. BLACK. I thank the gentleman for yielding. Madam Speaker, I rise on behalf of the people of middle Tennessee who spoke loud and clear this last year that they do not want the Federal Government dictating their health care. The plan that was signed into law by the President was supposed to increase access to health care and lower costs for American families. However, in the months since the bill passed, it has been shown to do neither. We now know that the health care bill not only increases premiums for families but hinders job creation and is filled with unintended consequences that not only diminish the quality of our health care system but also do great damage to our economy, and increase our deficit. This new Congress was sent here to follow a more responsible path. Through commonsense, market-based solutions, we can replace a flawed health care bill to have the best health care system in the world. I am eager to take part in drafting the new Republican plan and focusing on rolling back the individual mandate, eliminating the onerous demands on small businesses, and actually lowering the cost for families and increasing access to quality, personalized health care. I also look forward to a thoughtful discussion that includes solutions that went ignored before, like tort reform, increasing competition, and tax breaks instead of tax hikes. As a nurse for over 40 years, my top priority will be making sure our plan honors the doctor-patient relationship that is so sacred in medicine because there is no place for a government bureaucrat in an individual's health care decision. As a member of the Ways and Means Committee, I am excited to work with Chairman Dave Camp and my fellow committee members on a new way forward to responsible health care reform. Let's do the work that the American people sent us here to do.

Mrs. BLACK

Mrs. BLACK. Madam. Speaker, on rollcall No. 9 I was unavoidably detained. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yes.''

Mrs. BLACK

Mrs. BLACK. ``The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it. No bill of attainder or ex post facto law shall be passed.''