Jim McGovern

Mr. McGOVERN

Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, I rise today on behalf of Mr. Lynch, Mr. Delahunt, Ms. Tsongas, Mr. Kind, Mr. Markey and Mr. Tierney to pay tribute to Karin Walser. Karin is the founder of Horton's Kids, a nonprofit that provides comprehensive services to the children of Washington, DC's Ward 8, improving the quality of their daily lives and nuturing their desire and ability to succeed. For over 20 years, Karin has demonstrated an inspirational commitment to the health and happiness of hundreds of children served by Horton's Kids. I have known Karin for over 20 years. We both had the honor of serving on the staff of the late Congressman Joe Moakley. Karin founded Horton's Kids in 1989 while working as Congressman Moakley's press secretary. When she stopped at a Capitol Hill gas station late on a Sunday night and several children offered to pump her gas for spare change, the idea for Horton's Kids began to take shape. Karin initially enlisted friends and Congressional co-workers to take a small number of the children on field trips in their personal cars over the weekends. The program next expanded to tutoring sessions on Tuesday nights to encourage academic achievement. Today, hundreds of children from Anacostia regularly participate in Horton's Kids mentoring and tutoring programs. They also receive dental and eye care, enjoy birthday and holiday celebrations, participate in community service projects, and attend a six-week summer camp dedicated to improving literacy and to preventing the ``summer slide.'' Most importantly, these children benefit from the attention, love, and dedication of over 500 volunteer mentors who help enrich their lives, expand educational opportunities, and offer as much personal attention as possible. Horton's Kids can help so many kids because of the financial generosity of individuals, corporations, civic groups and foundations. But their greatest resources are the enthusiastic and dedicated volunteers--many of whom work full time on Capitol Hill--and their talented, dedicated staff. Monday and Tuesday night tutoring in Rayburn House Office Building draws Hill staff and professionals from throughout the Washington area. On Wednesdays, a partnership with the U.S. Department of Education brings Horton's Kids to their facilities for a third night of tutoring with Department staff. And in 2008, Horton's Kids added a Wednesday evening academic enrichment program for older students, providing additional mentoring from committed professionals. Karin Walser has earned numerous well-deserved honors and awards in recent years, including the WJLA-ABC 7 Working Women Award, the Bryn Mawr School Young Alumni Award, and a briefing with former President Bush followed by a Presidential mention as a ``social entrepreneur'' in a national speech on mentoring. She was chosen as WETA's Hometown Hero for April 2005 and was featured on NBC Nightly News' ``Making a Difference.'' Karin and the inspirational story behind Horton's Kids were also featured in Allison Silberburg's 2009 book, Visionaries in Our Midst. Karin Walser's continued commitment to the children and families of Washington, DC's Ward 8 has transformed hundreds of lives. The children of Horton's Kids are overcoming obstacles and succeeding: graduating high school, finding internships, and applying to colleges. Their growth is a testament to the dedicated efforts of Karin Walser. Marquitta Jones became a Horton's Kid as a young girl, attending tutoring programs and Sunday field trips. Now enrolled in college, Marquitta credits Karin Walser for her success. ``Karin cared about me and my education when not many did,'' Marquitta says. ``She's made a difference in our neighborhood where the kids need someone to believe in them.'' As Marquitta says, ``one person can make a difference to children, and Karin has gone above and beyond.'' Madam Speaker, Karin Walser is an inspiration to us all. I know that all of my colleagues in the House join me in paying tribute to this remarkable woman.

Mr. McGOVERN

Mr. McGOVERN. I thank the gentlewoman for yielding to me, and I want to associate myself with her remarks. Mr. Speaker, my Republican friends talk about fiscal responsibility, and they talk about how we need to focus on the economy. Let's review the record here. George Bush inherited from Bill Clinton a sound economy and a surplus. The Republicans came in. They basically eliminated the surplus, and they drove this economy into a ditch. What President Obama inherited was the worst economy since the Great Depression. That is what they did. My friend from North Carolina wants to talk about arrogance. What about the arrogance of creating this enormous debt, of taking this surplus that they've inherited and just frittering it away and creating an all-time high, historic national debt? Where is the arrogance of that? Tax cuts for rich people that weren't paid for. That went onto our debt. Two wars we are fighting. None of it paid for and trillions of dollars onto our debt. When they were voting for all of this stuff, there was no mention of the implications to average families. A prescription drug bill not paid for. Hundreds of billions of dollars added to our debt. Do you want to talk about arrogance? That's arrogance. That's what they gave us. They gave us the worst economy since the Great Depression. They drove this economy into the ditch, and now they're complaining about the size of the tow truck. It is Tax Day. At this moment in our history, we have to clean up a mess. It's easy. It's fun to create a mess. When we were kids, it was always fun to mess things up. It wasn't so fun when our mothers told us, You've got to clean things up. We are cleaning things up. We are cleaning up their mess. I wish we didn't have to, but that's what they left us. In terms of tax relief, we have the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. It had tax cuts for average working families, tax incentives for businesses to create jobs by increasing bonus depreciation, by allowing small businesses to immediately write off new equipment purchases, and by providing a 5-year carryback for net operating losses. They had an opportunity to vote for that, and they voted ``no.'' They voted ``no.'' On health reform, there are tax credits to help families pay for health care coverage. The cost of health care has become obscene. There are tax credits for small businesses to help them offer coverage to their employees. What did they do? They voted ``no.'' There have been hiring incentives to restore employment, the so- called HIRE Act. There has been a payroll tax holiday for businesses that hire unemployed workers and retain them. How did they vote? ``No.'' They voted ``no'' on that. The Small Business and Infrastructure Jobs Act provides tax incentives to help spur investments in small businesses. They all talk about small businesses. How did they vote on that? ``No.'' There has been permanent estate tax relief that ensures that nearly all estates--99.8 percent--are exempt from taxes. How did they vote? ``No.'' On every measure that provides relief to average working families, they voted ``no.''

Mr. McGOVERN. I am sorry. I say to my Republican friends that we are not trying to accommodate the Donald Trumps of the world and that we are not interested in providing more and more tax breaks, you know, to big corporations and to big financial institutions that created this mess on Wall Street. We have a different set of priorities, which is to help average working families get through this economic crisis that they created, and we are going to do that with or without their help. So I am proud to stand with the President and with the leadership in this Congress to focus on working families. Announcement by the Speaker Pro Tempore

Mr. McGOVERN

Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, this is a matter that properly belongs before the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct. I yield back the balance of my time, and I move the previous question on the motion. The previous question was ordered.

Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, I move that the resolution be referred to the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct.

Mr. McGOVERN

Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, after 8 long years, hundreds of billions of dollars of deficit spending and, most importantly, thousands of our brave soldiers killed or wounded, it is past time to reexamine our strategy in Afghanistan. Instead of nation-building in Afghanistan, I believe we should be doing some more nation-building here at home. The American people deserve accountability in terms of how and when our troops will be returned to their families and in terms of how taxpayer dollars are being spent. Today, Congressman Walter Jones and I introduced legislation that would require the President to provide a plan and a timetable for drawing down our forces in Afghanistan and to identify any variables that could require changes to that timetable. I should note that the bill does not set a specific date for withdrawal. The bill would safeguard U.S. taxpayer dollars by ensuring all U.S. activity in Afghanistan be overseen by the Inspector General. We must aggressively go after al Qaeda and its allies wherever they are, but I am not convinced that a long-term occupation of Afghanistan in support of a corrupt, incompetent government is in our best national security interests. I urge my colleagues to join us in this effort.

Mr. McGOVERN

Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, the time is now. On the issue of health insurance reform, just about everything has been said and just about everyone has said it. On Sunday, this House passed the most meaningful health care bill in over 40 years. We voted to end the most abusive practices of the insurance companies, to provide coverage to millions of hardworking families, to bring down the costs of health care for families and small businesses, and to pass the biggest deficit reduction package in 25 years. That reform is now the law of the land. Already, we hear from our friends on the other side of the aisle saying that they want to repeal that law. They want to allow insurance companies to once again discriminate against people because of preexisting conditions. They want to take away help for small businesses to purchase insurance for their workers. They want to continue to let families go bankrupt because of their medical bills. That doesn't make much sense to me, Madam Speaker. The bill before us today provides important improvements to the law by improving affordability for working families. It strengthens provisions to attack waste, fraud, and abuse in Medicare and Medicaid. It strengthens consumer protections, including prohibiting lifetime limits and the practice of dropping people when they get sick. It closes the doughnut hole in Medicare and extends the solvency of that vital program, and it removes the special fixes for Nebraska and Florida. This has been a contentious debate, and we have spent a lot of time arguing about things that don't matter a whole lot to people in their everyday lives; things like reconciliation and filibuster and CBO and parliamentarians. So I'd like to close by focusing this debate back where it belongs, on the American people. Last week, a letter to the editor appeared in the Orlando Sentinel, and I'd like to read it. And I quote: ``Three months ago, my wife became pregnant. Two months ago, she miscarried. Today, the insurance company refuses to insure her for at least 5 years because the company classifies a miscarriage as a preexisting condition. This is the only reason insurance is being denied. ``If life is to be truly valued in America, then we must all pull together to make health care available for all our citizens. This is the greatest moral issue facing our Nation today.'' Signed, Blake Harrington, Orlando. Well, Mr. Harrington, your voice has been heard, and because of this Congress and this President, no family will have to go through what you did. The time is now, and I urge my colleagues to support this rule and the underlying bill.

Mr. McGOVERN

Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, this is a matter that properly belongs before the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct. I yield back the balance of my time and move the previous question.

Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I move that the resolution be referred to the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct.

Mr. McGOVERN

Mr. McGOVERN. Can you tell me how much time is remaining on both sides.

Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Butterfield).

Mr. McGOVERN. I continue to reserve the balance of my time, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from American Samoa (Mr. Faleomavaega) for the purpose of a unanimous consent request. (Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, this is a historic day for all of us in the House. We have the opportunity to enact real, meaningful health insurance reform that will improve the lives of millions of our fellow citizens. We can end the most abusive practices of the insurance companies. We can provide coverage to millions of hardworking families. We can bring down the cost of health care for families and small businesses. We can close the doughnut hole in Medicare and extend the solvency of that vital program, and we can pass the biggest deficit- reduction package in 25 years. All we need is the courage to do what is right. Today is especially meaningful for those of us from Massachusetts. As we all know, 7 months ago our friend and mentor, Ted Kennedy, lost his battle with brain cancer. When he passed away, I said that while no one could ever fill his shoes, we can and we must follow in his footsteps, and that is exactly what we are doing today. We have already taken important steps in Massachusetts to deal with the health care issue. And I am proud to say that my congressional district has the highest rate of coverage, over 97 percent, of any district in the country. And people back home often ask me, Why do we need to pass a Federal bill when we already have insurance here in our State? So I would like to talk for a moment about what reform means for Massachusetts: 75,000 additional middle class people will receive help to pay for their premiums; nearly 180,000 of our seniors will receive a 50 percent discount on their prescription drugs; 70,000 small businesses, the innovators and job creators, will receive credit to cover the cost of insuring their workers; our community health centers, our hospitals, our medical research centers, all will receive support to continue their great work; and we will no longer be forced to subsidize through higher premiums and higher Medicare and Medicaid costs the uncompensated care of people in other States who do not have health insurance. If we want to create jobs, then passing this bill is absolutely essential. A few weeks ago, I talked to a small business owner in my district. Business has picked up lately, and he wanted to hire another employee, but then he got his health insurance bill and realized he couldn't afford it. He will just have to work harder and spend less time with his family. That is who this debate is all about. That is why today is so important. I regret the fact that my Republican friends are not standing with us. I regret the fact that they deliberately try to obstruct this process. But you know what? The Republicans opposed Social Security. They opposed Medicare. They were on the wrong side of history then, and they are on the wrong side of history today. Senator Kennedy said that providing access to health care is ``a fundamental principle of justice and the character of our country.'' As usual, he was right; and today, in this House, the work goes on and the cause endures. I urge my colleagues to support this bill.

Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, at this time I would like to yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Colorado, a member of the Rules Committee, Mr. Polis.

Mr. McGOVERN. I reserve the balance of my time, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. McGOVERN. I reserve the balance of my time, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. McGOVERN

Mr. McGOVERN. I want to thank my colleague from California, Congresswoman Capps, for yielding the time and for the excellent legislation which will help educate our children about the importance of our environment, our oceans and our watersheds. She has been a leader on environmental legislation, and I am proud to serve with her. But, Madam Speaker, I want to just take a moment to comment on some of the other debate that's been going on here. I regret very much the tone that my Republican colleagues have taken in this debate. Never, never in all my time being here have I heard such rhetoric, personal attacks, harsh attacks. I regret it because the issue of health insurance reform is an important issue, and we should talk about it with respect for one another and with respect for each other's approaches to health insurance reform. This is important. This debate we're going to have on Sunday, this vote we're going to have on Sunday is important. My colleagues express outrage over the process. Where's the outrage over the fact that tens of millions of our fellow citizens do not have health care? Where's the outrage over the fact that some of the biggest insurance companies in the United States of America regularly discriminate against individuals who have preexisting conditions, preexisting conditions like acne, believe it or not? And in some States in this country, domestic violence is used as a preexisting condition to deny women health insurance. So a woman who gets beaten by her husband or her boyfriend has a preexisting condition. Give me break. Give me a break. I have heard that we're not going to vote on health care. This is some kind of crazy process. A process, by the way, which has been invoked by them many times when they were in charge. But to the question that always gets raised, is the House approving the Senate bill without actually voting on it? No.

Mr. McGOVERN. The House is voting to approve the Senate bill when it votes on the rule. When Members take up the rule, they are considering whether to pass the Senate bill at the same time that they pass reconciliation, which will improve the Senate bill. You want to be outraged, be outraged over the fact that we're the greatest country on this planet, the richest country on this planet, and tens of millions of our citizens do not have health care. We can do better, and we will do better on Sunday.

Mr. McGOVERN

Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, by direction of the Committee on Rules, I call up House Resolution 1190 and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I want to make something clear, and that is the President has said over and over and over again that if you like what you have in terms of your insurance, you can keep it. No matter what my friends on the other side say, no matter how much they don't like the fact that people can keep their own insurance--and the President has assured that over and over again--no matter what you say, the facts are the facts, and that is a fact. The other facts are: what will health insurance reform do starting the first day it becomes law? On day one, on day one annual caps on coverage would be eliminated. On day one, rescissions, the practice of dumping people even if they have paid their premiums, would be eliminated. On day one, preexisting conditions, exclusions for children would be eliminated, and, over time, all preexisting condition exclusions would be eliminated. On day one, parents would be allowed to carry their children on their health insurance policy until their 26th birthday. On day one, a down payment toward completely closing the doughnut hole for seniors would be met with a $250 rebate for those in Medicare part D. This is all what will happen on day one when we pass it. These things here are important to the American people. These are the things that when they were in charge, they didn't have time to do. We had to do tax cuts for people who were wealthy. We had to give corporations more tax cuts and more subsidies. Well, the time has come for us to care about the American people and do something for the American people, and this is it. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. McGOVERN. On your time, I will.

Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, gamesmanship my foot. There is no Federal money in this bill for abortion. The Hyde amendment applies to this bill. That's the law of the land. To get up here and to try to---- No, I will not yield on that. There is enough misinformation being said on this floor. I will not yield. And, Madam Speaker, in terms of scores, let me read the CBO score today from how it appeared in Roll Call. `` `An analysis of the Democratic health care overhaul by the Congressional Budget Office shows it would cost $940 billion over a decade and expand insurance to 32 million people. The package also will slice the deficit by $130 billion in the first decade and a whopping $1.2 trillion in the second,' a House Democratic leadership aide said Thursday. `The CBO report, which will soon be published, will show that the plan cuts the growth of Medicare costs by 1.4 percent per year while eliminating the doughnut hole. Those cuts would extend the solvency of Medicare for at least an additional 9 years.' '' If you want to talk about scores, that's one of the scores here. This bill will not only insure 32 million people, it will cut our deficit, which is something that everybody says they want to do. So let's stick to what's real here. With that, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, can I inquire how much time remains on both sides?