Mike Coffman

Mr. COFFMAN of Colorado

Mr. COFFMAN of Colorado. Madam Speaker, this morning our national debt was $12,030,202,701,513.91. I should note this week is the first time our debt has broken the 12 trillion level. On January 6, 2009, the start of the 111th Congress, the national debt was $10,638,425,746,293.80. The national debt has increased by $1,391,776,955,220.11 so far this year. According to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, the forecast deficit for this year is $1.6 trillion. That means that so far this year, we borrowed and spent $4.4 billion a day more than we have collected, passing that debt and its interest payments to our children and all future Americans.

Mr. COFFMAN of Colorado

Mr. COFFMAN of Colorado. Madam Speaker, this morning our national debt was $12,039,319,107,488.80. I should note this week is the first time our debt has broken the 12 trillion level. We have added $8,019,921,198.73 to the national debt since yesterday. On January 6, 2009, the start of the 111th Congress, the national debt was $10,638,425,746,293.80. The national debt has increased by $1,400,893,361,195 so far this year. According to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, the forecast deficit for this year is $1.6 trillion. That means that so far this year, we borrowed and spent $4.4 billion a day more than we have collected, passing that debt and its interest payments to our children and all future Americans.

Mr. COFFMAN of Colorado

Mr. COFFMAN of Colorado. Mr. Speaker, there are many heroes who have served our Nation from the Sixth Congressional District of Colorado. Today I rise to pay tribute to one hero in particular. Marine Corps First Lieutenant Thomas Claiborne of Parker, Colorado. On October 29, 2009, First Lieutenant Claiborne was lost when his Marine Super Cobra collided with a Coast Guard C-130 during an escort mission off the coast of California. The lives of the crew of both aircraft were lost in this tragic training accident. First Lieutenant Claiborne graduated from the University of Colorado magna cum laude on a full Navy ROTC scholarship in May 2006 with a degree in aerospace engineering and later earned his wings as a pilot in the United States Marine Corps. He is remembered as a fine young man, an outstanding student and a dedicated Marine Corps officer who had always dreamed of flying. First Lieutenant Thomas Claiborne was a shining example of the Marine Corps traditions. As a fellow marine, my deepest sympathies go out to his family and to all that knew him.

Mr. COFFMAN of Colorado

Mr. COFFMAN of Colorado. Madam Speaker, this morning our national debt was $11,991,506,876,413.07. We have added $2,628,074,721.89 to the national debt since Friday, the 6th. On January 6, 2009, the start of the 111th Congress, the national debt was $10,638,425,746,293.80. This means the national debt has increased by $1,353,081,130,119.27 so far this year. According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, the forecast deficit for this year is $1.6 trillion. That means that so far this year, we have borrowed and spent an average $4.4 billion a day more than we have collected, passing that debt and its interest payments to our children and all future Americans.

Mr. COFFMAN of Colorado

Mr. COFFMAN of Colorado. Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition as this bill is punitive to both small businesses and seniors.

Mr. COFFMAN of Colorado

Mr. COFFMAN of Colorado. Madam Speaker, this morning our national debt was $11,990,561,444,829.48. We have added $11,607,722,003.58 to the national debt since just yesterday. On January 6, 2009, the start of the 111th Congress, the national debt was $10,638,425,746,293.80. The means the national debt has increased by $1,352,135,698,535.68 so far this year. According to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, the forecast deficit for this year is $1.6 trillion. That means that so far this year, we borrowed and spent an average $4.4 billion a day more than we have collected, passing that debt and its interest payments to our children and all future Americans.

Mr. COFFMAN of Colorado

Mr. COFFMAN of Colorado. Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 858, I was unavoidably detained. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea.''

Mr. COFFMAN of Colorado

Mr. COFFMAN of Colorado. Madam Speaker, this morning our national debt was $11,978,953,722,825.90. On January 6, 2009, the start of the 111th Congress, the national debt was $10,638,425,746,293.80. The national debt has increased by $1,340,527,976,532.10 so far this year. According to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, the forecast deficit for this year is $1.6 trillion. That means that so far this year, we borrowed and spent $4.4 billion a day more than we have collected, passing that debt and its interest payments to our children and all future Americans.

Mr. COFFMAN of Colorado

Mr. COFFMAN of Colorado. Madam Speaker, I want to take a moment to comment on H. Con. Res. 139, congratulating the first graduating class of the United States Air Force Academy on their 50th graduation anniversary and recognizing their contributions to the Nation. I should start by complimenting my friend and colleague, Representative Doug Lamborn, for his effort to pass this resolution. It is Colorado's honor to host the Air Force Academy. The fact that we are the home of one of our nation's premier training grounds for the best and brightest of our nation's youth is an immense point of pride to every citizen of our state. Driving down 1-25 into Colorado Springs and seeing the Academy and its famous chapel nestled in the foothills of the Rockies is always gratifying. The 157 surviving members of the first United States Air Force Academy class, recognized today on the 50th anniversary of their graduation, were leaders not only in their own years of service to our country, but also in that they were a vanguard establishing the Air Force Academy, the city of Colorado Springs, and the State of Colorado as important and productive centers of military excellence. I am pleased we passed this resolution.

Mr. COFFMAN of Colorado

Mr. COFFMAN of Colorado. Mr. Chair, on rollcall Nos. 845, 846, and 847 I was unavoidably detained. Had I been present, I would have voted on rollcall 845--``aye,'' on rollcall 846--``aye,'' and on rollcall 847--``no.'' Amendment No. 4 Offered by Ms. Sutton

Mr. COFFMAN of Colorado

Mr. COFFMAN of Colorado. I thank the gentlewoman from Wyoming for yielding. One concern certainly that I have is that we are, I think, not focused on all that we have in terms of a safety net. For instance, in my home State of Colorado, there is a high-risk insurance pool called Cover Colorado. We have a premium tax on all insurance products, whether it's health care or it's property and casualty, some of which goes into the general fund, some of which goes into a subsidized health insurance plan for people with preexisting conditions that can't otherwise reasonably get insurance but don't qualify for a public plan because of their income or their assets. So they are covered under this program where they are charged a flat 140 percent of what the average premium cost is in Colorado. We have 183 community health clinics in Colorado. If you look at the community health provider network Web site for Colorado, they saw over 400,000 patients--not patient visits but patients in the State of Colorado--where they got preventive care, primary care, dental services and mental health services, mostly at taxpayers' expense, all for the uninsured and underinsured. We have Medicaid for the poor and disabled. We have Medicare for the elderly. So there is a tremendous safety net right now. To include emergency room care for those that don't have any form of insurance or are not on a plan and walk in, they're required by law to receive all appropriate screening and subsequent treatment. So I think we need to be aware of what the safety net is right now.

Mr. COFFMAN of Colorado. Thank you, Representative Lummis. What I think is of concern to those of us from Colorado, and I think many people across the country, is what is the impact upon jobs and employers. There is a concern about small business in particular. There is a provision in the Pelosi bill, the Pelosi health care reform bill, that has a surcharge on small businesses and employers. Now, granted, it has moved up to where it was in the first version, H.R. 3200, where it was if somebody had the average annual payroll between $250,000, and then it started as a surcharge at 2 percent up to $400,000 on an average annual payroll, with an 8 percent surcharge, that number has been moved up a little bit; but I think it's still going to be devastating to the economy. With $750,000 and above it's an 8 percent surcharge, and then it's graduated a little bit down below that. To put a surcharge on employers, a payroll tax, if you will, on employers that are just trying to keep their doors open, to keep making, to be able to make the payroll that they have, I think, is going to be a devastating job killer to this economy. I think we ought to focus on job creation and not job killers.

Mr. COFFMAN of Colorado. The majority of small businesses, they are the job creators. They are the engine for job creation in this country, these really small businesses. Whether we like it or not, the reality is that oftentimes start-ups don't have the cash flow to support health insurance. I started a small business in Colorado and for the first 7 years was not in a position to offer health insurance. When I could, it was at a 50/50 split with the employee. What this legislation says is that's not even good enough, that you have to be able to pay 72.5 percent of a federally approved plan through the insurance exchange or, for a full-time employee, 65 percent of the family. Anything less than that, you are going to be hit by a surcharge. You know, the reality is that oftentimes small businesses just--I mean, if you are struggling just to keep your doors open, and you get hit with a payroll tax, it's not like an income tax, that if you make a profit, you pay the tax. This is, you are going to pay this whether you are losing money or not. This is whether or not you are going to have to lay off employees or not. It's a very bad direction to go, and it's certainly not in the Republican version. It's, unfortunately, in the Democrat version that we will be voting on later this week.

Mr. COFFMAN of Colorado. I think it's about a couple of inches thick, would be my guess. The manager's amendment to the cap-and-trade, I think, was several hundred pages. I am speculating, but this is double the size of cap-and-trade. So let's go for 600 pages.

Mr. COFFMAN of Colorado. Thank you, Congresswoman Lummis. One of the things that concerns me is how seniors are treated in this bill, and I think you certainly mentioned some of the things. But half of the bill is paid for by cuts to Medicare, roughly half, and that is stripping hundreds of billions of dollars out of the Medicare system. So a couple of things concern me. There are going to be cuts certainly to Medicare Advantage. Many of the 10 million seniors that we know that are on the Medicare Advantage program will lose their coverage. But what concerns me is the solvency of the system. If in fact there are savings in the Medicare system through looking at waste, fraud and abuse, as the proponents mention, that money really needs to stay in the Medicare system for seniors, because the actuaries or the trustees of the Medicare system are projecting that Medicare will run out of funding in 2013. So what we ought to be concentrating on, and there seems to be no discussion, is what is going to happen to the seniors in Medicare. Will they simply move into the public option? And then the public option, we defer to bureaucrats in the bill to define what are essentially the procedures, the treatments that are authorized. So they are going to be making that decision, and on what basis are they going to be making that decision? Is it going to be on the quality-of-life issues in terms of maybe end-of-life care isn't important? We don't know these things. But I think the seniors ought to be real concerned about what is going to happen to their Medicare system, their Medicare plans under this particular proposal.

Mr. COFFMAN of Colorado

Mr. COFFMAN of Colorado. Mr. Speaker, the Pelosi health care bill raises taxes, especially on small businesses. Small businesses will be hit with up to an 8 percent surcharge for those who cannot afford health insurance. Mr. Speaker, the Pelosi health care bill cuts Medicare and reduces benefits to seniors. The 10 million seniors who now enjoy coverage under the Medicare Advantage program will lose that coverage. Mr. Speaker, the Pelosi health care plan will add to the government's long-term deficit problems. It plants the seeds for a number of entitlement programs that will never in the long run be paid for but will add to the Nation's debt. Mr. Speaker, the Pelosi health care bill is 1,990 pages, a government takeover of the health care system. Mr. Speaker, I would urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on the Pelosi health care plan. Let's mend our current health care system. Let's not end it.

Mr. COFFMAN of Colorado

Mr. COFFMAN of Colorado. Mr. Speaker, the House of Representatives will soon be debating a health care reform proposal on the floor of this Chamber. The biggest question in this proposal will be whether or not we should have a government-controlled health insurance option called the public option that is targeted to cost about $900 billion, half of which is on the backs of the taxpayers and small businesses of this country in the form of higher taxes, surcharges and fees, and the other half is money stripped out of the Medicare system; hundreds of billions of dollars stripped out of Medicare. When the proponents tell you that if you like the insurance that you have, you can keep it, they're not referring to the 10 million seniors who are on the Medicare Advantage Program that will be phased out. Mr. Speaker, it's important that the proponents of the public option be honest with the seniors of this country in terms of what it will do to them.

Mr. COFFMAN of Colorado

Mr. COFFMAN of Colorado. Madam Speaker, on rollcall No. 815 I was unavoidably detained. Had I been present, I would have voted ``aye.''

Mr. COFFMAN of Colorado

Mr. COFFMAN of Colorado. Congressman Bishop, when we talk about the issue of competition, you have mentioned some innovative things that Utah is doing. But it is amazing to me that right now, by law, we don't allow small businesses to band together for the purchase of health insurance to get the same kind of discounts that large corporations have. We have a law in the Federal books that provides an antitrust exemption for the insurance industry, and small businesses and individuals in particular are limited and can't purchase health insurance across State lines to get the most price-competitive policy, the best quality that they can afford. What, in your view, is needed to fix this system? Because one of the reasons why we are talking about the public option is because the Democrats are saying there's not competition, there's not adequate competition, and so we have to introduce government into this equation. Is there a free market solution to this?

Mr. COFFMAN of Colorado. Thank you, Congressman Bishop. Congressman Thompson, when we talk about the safety net that exists today, and you came from the health care industry, the first bill that the President signed was the SCHIP bill that went four times above the poverty level to provide a public insurance program for children, so that's $88,000 for a family of four, and States can do income disregards and raise the amount up more; we have Medicaid for the poor and disabled; we've got Medicare for elderly. In my State, we have 183 community health clinics that, if you look at their Web site for the 2008 annual report, shows that they had about 400,000 patients in 2008, not patient visits, but patients that received preventive care, primary care, dental care and mental health services. This is in a State of 5 million that is publicly funded. Some of it folks can pay as they have the ability to. It's for the uninsured and the underinsured. We have a high-risk insurance pool in the State of Colorado for everyone who buys an insurance product, pays a premium tax, and part of that goes into a pool for anybody, regardless of their income, that can't qualify for a public program; and irrespective of their preexisting condition, they receive health insurance that is capped at 140 percent of the average premium price in the State of Colorado. Can you address to us your view as a former health care professional about the safety net that exists in America?

Mr. COFFMAN of Colorado. Would the gentleman yield for a question?

Mr. COFFMAN of Colorado. Representative Thompson, the bill, H.R. 3200, strips hundreds of billions of dollars out of the Medicare system, and it effectively shuts down the Medicare Advantage program. The trustees of Medicare have already said that in 2017, not by 2017, but in 2017, Medicare is expected to go broke. So there's solvency issues in Medicare. And yet we're stripping hundreds of billions of dollars out of the Medicare system. Can you speak to that and its impact on the elderly?

Mr. COFFMAN of Colorado. Would the gentleman yield for a question? Congressman Thompson, we talked about cost shifting, and I know clearly there's cost shifting for uncompensated care, but there's also cost shifting for Medicare and Medicaid. The underfunding of those government programs have done much more in terms of cost shifting on to the private insurance market and have had a big factor in escalating premiums. But when we talk about how government sets rates, it doesn't set rates really to the market, as a private company would have to do. It can set rates at an artificially low level because it doesn't have to respond to the market. I wonder if you could address that, and why the public option would destroy private insurance?

Mr. COFFMAN of Colorado. Congressman Bishop, you have talked about some of the health care reform measures before the Congress, some of the Republican measures. I think you referenced one by Congressman Shadegg, and you referenced another one, let's see, Congressman Shadegg and Congressman Price. I think you referenced two Republican health care proposals. I think that everybody in the Congress agrees that reform is necessary, that the system isn't working as it should, that people are paying too much for health care, that we need to do more for the uninsured. It is a question of how we get there, and do we do a government takeover of the system by inserting a government-controlled health care plan, or are there market-based solutions. I wonder if you could give your view on how you see reform.

Mr. COFFMAN of Colorado

Mr. COFFMAN of Colorado. Mr. Chair, on rollcall No. 801. I was unavoidably detained. Had I been present, I would have voted ``aye.''