David Dreier

Mr. DREIER

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

Mr. DREIER. So then no more speakers other than your close. Is that it?

Mr. DREIER. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. DREIER. I just wanted to clarify that. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Mr. DREIER. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, now may I inquire of the distinguished Chair of the Committee on Rules if she has three or four more speakers? I don't know, Mr. Speaker, if the distinguished Chair on the Committee on Rules has anymore speakers.

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I am going to close the debate as I had begun, by denouncing the charges and smears that we have seen over the past several weeks. Tragically, those of us who serve as Members of Congress for years have dealt with that. It is unacceptable and outrageous, and we all join together in decrying the things that we have seen. Mr. Speaker, there is a high level of frustration over the process through which we have gone, and there is an understandable outrage from people all across this country for the final work product that we have. The process has been, at very best--I am trying to be generous-- unorthodox. The notion of utilizing reconciliation, which is designed to reconcile budget discrepancies, for this, is not the right thing to do. And it has never, ever, since passage of the 1974 Budget Entitlement Act, been used for such a monumental piece of legislation. We have tried desperately to work in a bipartisan way, and everyone talks about this. But, Mr. Speaker, we have reached out, as Mr. Burgess said, time and time again, and we have been rebuffed. The only thing bipartisan about this legislation and the vote that we will see tonight, Mr. Speaker, is not the support for it but the opposition to it. Our colleagues on the other side of the aisle have a 70-seat majority, and yet many of their Members will be joining us, as they did last Sunday night, in opposing this. Why? Because they know that this is badly flawed legislation. It's badly flawed legislation, because, as we listened to so many medical doctors point out, we are told that you can choose your own doctor. We constantly hear that refrain from the President and others. But the question is, With the decrease in the numbers of doctors out there, will your doctor choose you? And then, Mr. Speaker, we get to the question of, Will we or will we not be able to pay for this? Well, $1 trillion, 569.2 billion in tax increases, and tremendous uncertainty is not going to adequately address the challenges that we have. We all want to ensure that no one is denied access to health care because of preexisting conditions. We can do that in a bipartisan way. But, Mr. Speaker, unfortunately, this bill doesn't do that. There are people out there who today believe that they will not be denied access to insurance because of preexisting conditions. But, guess what? Because this bill was so poorly put together, right now they are denied access. We want to make sure, and we are happy to work in a bipartisan way, to address that concern. As we look at the fact that we are back here tonight because of those two amendments that were problems in the Senate, the fact that we already have announced problems with the goal of ensuring that everyone has access, is not denied access because of preexisting conditions, and when we look at the challenges that have been put forward time and time again, we simply ask our colleagues: When we work to clean this up, Mr. Speaker, I hope very much we will be able to work in a bipartisan way. I urge a ``no'' vote.

Mr. DREIER. I thank my friend. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, at this time, I am happy to yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Ennis, Texas (Mr. Barton), the hardworking ranking minority member on the Committee of Energy and Commerce. (Mr. BARTON of Texas asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. DREIER

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, may I inquire how much time is remaining on each side?

Mr. DREIER. At this time I am happy to yield 1 minute to my very good friend from Fort Myers, Florida (Mr. Mack).

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, at this time I am happy to yield for a unanimous consent to the gentleman from Idaho (Mr. Simpson). (Mr. SIMPSON asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, at this time I am happy to yield 1 minute to my very good friend from Sarasota, Florida (Mr. Buchanan).

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, may I inquire of the gentlewoman if she has any remaining speakers?

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, for a unanimous consent request, I'm happy to yield to my very good friend from California (Mr. Lewis). (Mr. LEWIS of California asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. DREIER. I yield for the purpose of a unanimous consent request to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Granger). (Ms. GRANGER asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)

Mr. DREIER. May I inquire of the distinguished gentlewoman from New York if she has any remaining speakers?

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, at this time I am happy to yield 1 minute to the distinguished gentleman from Springfield, Missouri (Mr. Blunt).

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 15 seconds to urge my colleagues to defeat the previous question. I will be offering an amendment to the rule. The amendment will require the Speaker to direct the Clerk to call the roll on the final votes on the Senate health care bill and the reconciliation bill. As the Republican leader has said repeatedly, it is time for the Members of this House to stand up and be counted. I ask unanimous consent that the text of the amendment and explanatory material appear in the Record immediately prior to the vote on the previous question.

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker at this time I'm happy to yield for the purpose of a unanimous consent request to another former Rules Committee member, the distinguished ranking member of the Committee on Natural Resources, Mr. Hastings. (Mr. HASTINGS of Washington asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. DREIER. I yield for the purpose of a unanimous consent request to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Roskam). (Mr. ROSKAM asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, at this time I'm happy to continue the Rules Committee and former Rules Committee lineup by yielding 2 minutes to another former Rules Committee member, the gentleman from Marietta, Georgia (Mr. Gingrey).

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, at this time I am happy to yield 1 minute to a hardworking new member from Clarence, New York (Mr. Lee).

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, for a unanimous consent request, I yield to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Hoekstra). (Mr. HOEKSTRA asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, for a unanimous consent request, I yield to the gentleman from Iowa (Mr. King). (Mr. KING of Iowa asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)