Tom Price

Mr. PRICE of Georgia

Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to come and chat with the House and to maybe set the record straight a little bit. As a freshman Member of the House, we have 24, 25 freshmen on our side of the aisle, and over the past 13 months we have grown a little weary with what we see as the amount of misinformation and disinformation that we so oftentimes see brought by the other side, so we have developed what we call the Official Truth Squad. And so I am here to bring you some messages with some of my colleagues from the Official Truth Squad, which is an effort to try to embrace the American Dream, to embrace the American vision, and to present to the American people and our colleagues the story that Congress is working in a positive manner, that we are optimistic about the Nation's future in spite of some things that you hear from some of our friends on the other side of the aisle. When I go home and I talk to constituents, I oftentimes hear them say, What is going on up there? Why all the negativity? Why all the pessimism? Why all the misinformation that we appear to hear all the time? And I commiserate with them. So this Official Truth Squad is an attempt to try to bring some light to truth, to some of the information that we believe the American people ought to have in contrast to some of the things that you have heard, even here tonight. I am pleased to hear the Blue Dogs present a proposal or two. They talk about being fiscally conservative. They talk about being fiscal hawks. But my recollection is a little bit to the contrary of that. There is a wonderful quote that I like from Daniel Patrick Moynihan, a former United States Senator from New York, Democrat. And he was such a cogent individual. He was one of those individuals who worked for the truth regardless of where it led. And he had this wonderful quote. He said, ``Everyone is entitled to their own opinion but not their own facts.'' Everyone is entitled to their own opinion but not their own facts. And I really think that that kind of crystallizes what we have heard in this Chamber over the past few minutes. You have heard the other side talk about deficit spending and how we ought not be spending into the deficit, and they are right. They are right. But when they had an opportunity to decrease spending by nearly $40 billion just a few short weeks ago, not a single one of them, not one of them, voted for it. A $39.8 billion decrease in spending and not a single one voted in favor of it. You heard them talk about the alternative minimum tax and how it is an unjust tax and it needs to go away, and they are right. They are right. A colleague of mine, Congressman English, has a bill, H.R. 1186, that would repeal the alternative minimum tax. Not a single Democrat on that bill, not a single cosponsor from that side of the aisle. You hear them talk about the need to balance the budget and not spend so much money, and they are right. They are absolutely right. But when the proposals are put on the table to do away with programs that are wasteful or do away with programs that have significant abuse, where are they? Nowhere to be found. So you are entitled to your own opinions, but you are not entitled to your own facts. And to crystallize that a little more because the disinformation that we heard over and over about budgetary cuts really does a disservice to the debate, does a disservice to the discussion, does a disservice to the American people, because when you look at the numbers, when you look at the truth, that is not what is going on. And this evening you have heard the other side talk about budgetary cuts in the area of defense spending and spending on veterans. So, at home, if I were sitting there listening, I would say, well, my goodness, they must have addressed the amount of money that was going to the military or decreased the amount of money going to veterans. Mr. Speaker, is that not what you would think? That is what I would think if I heard that. But here we have the Defense Department appropriation, budgetary authority from Congress from the year 2000 projected through 2007. In 2000 it was $287 billion. In 2001 it was $303 billion. That does not sound like a cut to me. In 2002, $328 billion. That is real money. That does not sound like a cut to me. In 2003, $365 billion. Remember, down here in 2000 we were at $287 billion. So these are the actual numbers. Fiscal year 2006, $411 billion of budgetary authority for the Department of Defense. Mr. Speaker, that is not a cut. That is responsible spending on the part of the United States Congress. And I am proud of the support that we have given to our military. And I am proud of the support that we continue to give to veterans. You have heard this evening that veterans' budgets were cut. Here are the numbers, the actual numbers, from 1984 through 2005, and I want to draw your attention to what has happened in the last 10 years. In 1994 discretionary spending for veterans: $17.2 billion; 1995, $17.6 billion; 2005, $30.7 billion. Mr. Speaker, I do not know what arithmetic they are using. I do not know where they went to school, but I do know that that is not a cut in anybody's book. So when we get this kind of misinformation, this kind of disinformation, it does not contribute to the public debate. It is not honest. It is not truthful. So the Official Truth Squad is here to try to bring some truth to the situation. This is veterans' medical care, and you heard it talked about this evening, how we have these incredible cuts in medical care for veterans. Mr. Speaker, here are the numbers: 1994, $15.6 billion; 2005, $29.9 billion. Mr. Speaker, that is not a cut. It is an appropriate, responsible move by Congress to take care of those who are protecting our freedoms. So remember what Mr. Moynihan said, You are welcome to your own opinions but you are not welcome to your own facts. So I would like to highlight this evening what is called the politics of division that seems to be practiced by so many here in Washington, and it is disheartening and it does a disservice to all of us. We are going to talk tonight in a positive way about America. We are going to talk in a positive way about our future. We are going to talk in a positive way about our Founding Fathers and about our history and about our heritage. And just to identify the destruction of the politics of division that is so often practiced here, I have got a quote from Abraham Lincoln that I would like to share with you and it is kind of his philosophy on the social fabric. He said: ``You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift. You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong. You cannot help the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer. You cannot encourage the brotherhood of man by encouraging class hatred. You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich. You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than you earn. You cannot build character and courage by taking away man's initiative and independence. You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they could do for themselves.'' Mr. Speaker, the politics of division has no place in the public arena. It does a disservice to our Nation. It does a disservice to the debate. Frankly, it is an embarrassment for the individuals that practice it. So I encourage all Members of Congress, Republican, Democrat, all of my colleagues, to go about our debates and the discussions that we have and the challenges that we face in this Nation in a positive and honest and truthful manner. Then we can get to the right solutions. As I mentioned, the Official Truth Squad comes almost every evening since we began the first of the year and talks about some positive aspects of America, talks about the importance of honesty and truthfulness in the debate. And tonight we are going to concentrate on our heritage, our American heritage, our wonderful American heritage. I have been joined by a number of colleagues tonight, and they are going to share a story or two about maybe the Founding Fathers, some heritage that we have. I hope that what that will do is inspire some of our colleagues to remember the principles that brought our Nation about and remember, remember, the ideals that we are bound to uphold. With that, I am honored to yield to my good friend Louie Gohmert from the great State of Texas. He is a judge by profession and is a member of the freshman class as well, and has just a wealth of knowledge about American history and our heritage. Congressman Gohmert, please share a few words with us.

Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Thank you, Congresswoman Schmidt. It is just a pleasure to hear your words and the very inspiring words. You talk about freedom being infectious. It truly is. But you also talked about freedom not being free, and that the price of freedom, the price of liberty, is eternal vigilance. I am proud to stand with you this evening and continue, continue to try to assist others to appreciate the fact that that eternal vigilance is necessary now, as never before frankly. So we appreciate so much your words this evening and your participation. Mr. Speaker, I am also joined this evening by another fellow freshman, Congresswoman Foxx from North Carolina, just a great, great member of the freshman class, an individual whom I respect highly, who spent a number of years in the education community, understands what it means to impart the importance of our heritage, of American principles and fundamentals. I welcome you this evening and look forward to your words.

Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Thank you so much, Congresswoman Foxx. I tell you, it does my heart good to listen to your comments about the Constitution, about our Founding Fathers, and the kinds of things that they held dear. I want to just highlight again that Preamble, the first line of the Preamble, ``We the people of the United States in order to form a more perfect union.'' The Founding Fathers used these words to remind us that preserving the Constitution that they created is as difficult, maybe even more so, as writing and ratifying it in the late 1780s. The words remind us that it is we the people that educate ourselves on the issues, become involved in choosing our leaders, and committed, those leaders, make sure the leaders are committed to governing by constitutional principles. And again the issues that we face today are equally as dangerous as those that the Founders faced. I wanted to highlight very briefly another document that is one of our founding documents, that is the Declaration of Independence. One of the early paragraphs in the Declaration I think crystallizes something that is incredibly important, we all know those words, but I think it is important to repeat them: ``We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness,'' and ``that to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.'' Incredible, powerful words. But the message here that I always harken back to is that the power that government has is derived from the people, because the people derive their power from the Almighty, and the power that people have they then cede to government. It is not the other way around. We do not believe that government has power and gives it to people. We believe that people, because of the inherent power from the Almighty and because of the inherent quality of life, have that power and cede it to the Federal Government and to the State government to bring about the kind of things that Congresswoman Foxx talked about. The founding of our Nation truly is tied to a reliance on a higher authority and everyone at the time knew that. We have gotten a bit away from that, and I think one of the things that is incumbent upon us as leaders is to make certain that we remember that and that we remind people of that and that we talk about it freely and openly make certain that everyone understands and appreciates the importance of the Almighty. One of the items that I will close with that moves me so every time I read it is Lincoln's Proclamation for a National Day of Fasting and Prayer. There are a couple of portions of that that I find incredibly eloquent. I quote from the proclamation: ``It is the duty of nations, as well as of men, to own their dependence on the overruling power of God, and to confess their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon, and to recognize the sublime truth announced in the holy scriptures and proven by all history that those nations only are blessed whose God is Lord. ``We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven. We have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which has preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us. And we have vainly imagined in the deceitfulness of our hearts that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. ``Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self- sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us. It behooves us then to humble ourselves before the offended power and to confess our national sins and to pray for clemency and forgiveness.'' Mr. Speaker, we live in a wonderful and a wondrous Nation, a Nation that has blessed more individuals on the face of the Earth than any nation in the history of mankind. It is our privilege to serve in the United States House of Representatives and to bring this message of hope and optimism and positive speaking to the American people.

Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Thank you so much, Congressman Gohmert, for bringing us those words and the inspiring stories of American history. You have highlighted one of my absolute favorites with Washington withstanding the onslaught of the attack and then meeting the Indian chief years later and the Indian chief telling him that he understood and knew and it was clear that Washington had been touched by the hand of God. That just is so inspiring when we hear those words. Washington himself talked a lot about our Nation. He talked a lot about what it took to preserve the Nation. He was concerned that the Nation might have difficulty in the future, and he felt that the only way to keep our Nation strong was on what he called teaching the science of government. He said a primary object should be the education of our youth in the science of government. By that he meant learning about government, learning about our republic. He went on to say, ``In a republic, what species of knowledge can be equally important and what duty more pressing than communicating or teaching it to those who are to be the future guardians of the liberties of our country?'' That is why it is important that I think we come here this evening and talk about our heritage, talk about our history, talk about the wonder of America. It has been said if you want to see the future of a nation and what it will be, look at what the children are being taught. So we hope by some small measure to assist in the education of all of us and to remind us about the wonder and the beauty and the awe of our Nation and its heritage. I am joined now by Congresswoman Jean Schmidt. Congresswoman Schmidt is a fellow freshman and an active participant in the Official Truth Squad. We are so pleased to have her join us this evening and bring some comments about our heritage and about the principles of our wonderful Republic.

Mr. PRICE of Georgia

Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, recently we recognized National Disability Day. I'd like to share with my colleagues the many barriers to employment that people with disabilities face, such as transportation, environment, and stereotyping, though 11 years have passed since the landmark passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act. People with disabilities continue to battle a 50 percent nationwide unemployment rate, and for those with severe disabilities, the rate is a shocking 70 percent. The key to changing this statistic is to focus on the ability of an individual, rather than the disability. Hiring a deserving, qualified individual with a disability is not a charity. It's a smart economic decision. When a person with a disability is employed, they are transformed from a welfare recipient to a tax payer, and that positive economic benefit ripples out to all tax-paying citizens. The Javits-Wagner-O'Day (JWOD) Program in particular has been a critical force in assisting people with disabilities and creating self- sufficient, independent productive members of society. The JWOD Program uses the purchasing power of the Federal Government to buy products and services from community-based nonprofit agencies dedicated to training and employing individuals with disabilities. The people employed on JWOD contracts acquire valuable job skills and training, receive good wages and benefits, and gain greater independence. The program serves 40,000 people with disabilities nationwide. Last year it generated approximately $280 million in wages earned and nearly $1.5 billion in products sold. In Georgia alone, approximately 1,000 people with disabilities earned nearly $3 million in wages last year as a result of JWOD. This is a program that truly makes a difference in the nation and in Georgia. I'm proud to recognize its impact on National Disability Day.

Mr. PRICE of Georgia

Mr. PRICE of Georgia. But the area of support that the United States has received for freedom and for liberty around the world from the United Nations is often time lacking. And that is a bitter pill to swallow, but it does not mean that you do not keep working. It does not mean that you do not keep trying. But I think it is important, the perspective you bring, to maybe hopefully wake up some Americans who need to hear the information and appreciate that the U.N. needs to be moving in a bit of a different direction. I thank you so much for your participation.

Mr. PRICE of Georgia. I thank Congressman Gohmert so much for your comments and for your participation. What we are doing is the Official Truth Squad. The Official Truth Squad is primarily a group of freshmen Congressmen and women frustrated by the tone in Washington, frustrated by the animosity and doing our doggonedest to raise the level of discussion, raise the level of the rhetoric, be a little more positive, and put out the word that, yes, there are individuals in Congress who love this Nation, who believe that it is the finest Nation on the face of the Earth and are proud of the work that we are doing and trying to correct the record sometimes, bringing truth to light. To that end, I think it is important that we sometimes highlight statements by people who may have a certain forum or a certain podium that simply is untrue, because it is important that somebody stand up and say, no, that is not the case; and I refer now to comments that were made just this past Sunday by former Vice President Al Gore. He was visiting Saudi Arabia and he was talking to an audience there, and oftentimes when he talks sometimes there is a bit of hyperbole, but this is not hyperbole. These are flat-out lies. This is just not the truth. What he said was that the U.S. government has committed ``terrible abuses'' against Arabs after the September 11, 2001, attacks. He went on to say that the United States ``indiscriminately rounded up'' and held in ``unforgivable conditions.'' Now, I ask you, Mr. Speaker, where is the evidence for that? I ask you, where is the evidence for that? That is as unconscionable and irresponsible a comment as I have ever heard uttered. I ask the Democratic leadership, are you supportive of these comments? Is that what you believe? The silence from the other side really is, again, a disservice to the debate. It does a disservice to the Nation, frankly. So I call on my colleagues to stand up and be counted on this. If you got the evidence, then let us show it. But to make those kind of comments, especially overseas, there used to be some protocol or some common courtesy that former members of the executive branch, especially when traveling overseas, would not criticize a sitting President or the United States. Well, those common courtesies are long since gone. Again, that is kind of what the Official Truth Squad is all about, raise the level of the rhetoric and hopefully be able to bring some truth to light. I have a few minutes left, and I wanted to talk about the National Security Agency and the domestic terrorism surveillance. When I talk with constituents back home in Georgia and I ask them and I ask big groups, tell me if you were running the country and you knew that there were certain cell phones or certain telephones of communication devices that were owned or utilized by terrorists, international terrorists, and you knew that, and you knew when one of those individuals was going to make a call into the United States, would you want to know who they were talking to? Would you want to know what number they were calling? I have not gotten a single person yet to tell me that they would not want to know that. Not one. The American people know the truth about this program, this domestic terrorist surveillance program. They know that what this government is doing is protecting them. It is protecting them. So much so that when the discussion initially occurred about this program, the Members on the other side, many Members of the other side stood up and just shouted it down, just said awful things about the individuals performing it, awful things about its being in place. Then they heard from their constituents. Most districts, it is 65, 75, 80 percent of folks at home who believe this type of program is appropriate. We are not talking about listening to American calls. We are talking about, appropriately so, to calls from known terrorists, outside the United States into the United States. I would suggest to the House, Mr. Speaker, I would suggest to the American people that if we were not doing that, if we were not doing that, we would be irresponsible. Well, the Members on the other side of the aisle certainly got that information at home. Because this past Sunday on Meet the Press Mr. Russert had the sitting ranking member of the House of Representatives on the Intelligence Committee, Representative Harman, and former Senator Daschle, who was the minority leader in the Senate when this program began, and asked them some very specific questions. One of the questions he asked was, Senator Daschle, were you briefed? He was talking about this program. Senator Daschle's response, it goes into long details, but, yes, we were briefed. We were briefed. As the President said, if he wanted to break the law, why did he come to Congress and tell him what he was doing? So the truth is that this is an appropriate program. The truth is Congress knew about it in the appropriate ways. Representative Harman was asked, do you support the program? And she says, I still support the program. This is the thing they are arguing so much about and complaining so much about. Senator Daschle, should the President stop this program? Senator Daschle replies, no, absolutely not. Mr. Russert asked Representative Harman, do you think the program should be stopped? Representative Harman, no, I think the program should go on. So, Mr. Speaker, truth is an important thing to talk about when we are discussing about matters of public policy. As Congressman Gohmert and others have mentioned, I am a physician. I am an orthopedic surgeon. I practiced for nearly 20 years in the Atlanta area, and I know if you do not listen to the right results of tests, if you do not investigate, if you do not get the right information, if you do not get the truth, you cannot make the right diagnosis. And the same is true in public policy. If you are not talking about things in a truthful manner, if you are not putting out information that is accurate, then there is no way that you can reach the right solution. Mr. Speaker, I am proud of the leadership that the Speaker is providing. I am proud of the leadership the Republican leadership is providing about the area and the issue of national security. Because this is not a Republican issue, it is not a Democrat issue, it is an American issue, and it may be the most important thing that we have to do as Members of the House of Representatives. So my hope and prayer truly is that all Members of the House and the Senate will work together in this most solemn, solemn of challenges and tasks that we have and ensure the protection of our Nation.

Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Congressman Poe, I thank you ever so much for your leadership in this area. Your knowledge is just so very, very helpful to all of us, not just in Congress but literally across the Nation. As you were relating your story about where you were on 9/11, we all have those stories, and I get chills listening to you and what you were describing. I remember that day just as clearly as everybody else. It is just phenomenal when you think about again the fact that we have so many wonderful men and women working right now to make certain that that doesn't happen again and for bringing clarity to what is happening in Iraq, the positive news that is coming from Iraq. As the Official Truth Squad, we have got some truths I would like to just share with the American people and with our colleagues, because you oftentimes don't hear of all of the good things that are happening over there. We are making incredible, incredible progress, regardless of what you think about how we got there or the like of it, incredible progress. I know this is tough to read, but I will go through a few points. In August of 2004, about a year-and-a-half ago, there were only a handful of Iraqi army battalions in the battle, in the fight. Today, there are 100 Iraqi Ministry of Defense combat battalions in the fight, in the battle. In July, 2004, there were no operational army division or brigade headquarters. Today, there are eight brigade headquarters and 37 battalions that have assumed battle space. In July, 2004, again about a year and a half ago, there were no operational special police commandos, public order, mechanized police or emergency response units under the Ministry of the Interior in Iraq. Today, there are 28 such battalions in the fight. November, 2004, just a little over a year ago, there were there 115,000 trained and equipped Iraqi security forces. How many today? 227,000 trained and equipped security forces. There are more if you count all of the local police officers. The experience and ability of the Iraqi forces has increased remarkably. This is General Peter Pace who said just a week ago in December the Iraqi armed forces had more independent operations than did the coalition forces. Did you hear that, Mr. Speaker? The Iraqi forces were providing more independent operations than the coalition forces. That didn't make any headline. You didn't hear that on the news or read that in your newspaper. That is progress for freedom, it is progress for liberty, and it is progress for, frankly, I believe the stability of that region certainly and ultimately the world. We are sharing some thoughts, Mr. Speaker, about national security, and the operation Official Truth Squad is pleased to have Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn join us again. Congresswoman Blackburn is just an incredible leader from Tennessee. She has I know a great interest in the area and great expertise in what it means to provide national security, homeland security and to fight for liberty and freedom. Congresswoman Blackburn, thank you so much for joining us today.

Mr. PRICE of Georgia. They are big.

Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Ohio for her leadership on this issue. And what a moving story that was about the communication that you had with your daughter, and it brings back the memory of September 11 to all of us and where we were and what we were doing that day. As Members of Congress, as you know, we have some opportunities to get some information about our intelligence and about what things are happening in the world that we are not often able to share, and I am moved by the stories like that that I hear; but I also, when I go home, tell folks that the fact that we have not been attacked again is not a mistake. It is not a mistake. We have thousands, millions of men and women who are just working night and day to make certain that we are safe as a Nation, and I am proud of that fact. I am proud of that fact. Joining us now is Congressman Ted Poe. Congressman Poe is a judge from Texas, a leader in his area, his community and his State and certainly in our Nation, and an individual who has such an incredible fund of knowledge as it relates to national security and specifically border security. I know that in Georgia we have got major challenges. I know that in Texas there are major challenges. So I yield to Congressman Poe to discuss some things about national security and border security.

Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the courtesy that the leadership has extended me in hosting this hour. We are going to talk about a number of things this hour, but I think it is important for the folks at home to know what this hour is. This is called the leadership hour, and what that means is that the leadership of the Republican party allows individuals to come to the floor for this hour. The leadership of the Democrat party allows individuals to come to the floor and speak about topics that are of interest to Congress and of interest to the American people, of interest to the world. And what you have just heard is an interesting presentation that, apparently, the leadership of the Democrat party endorses. I am not certain what, how one would describe it or how one would categorize it, but it was more fiction than truth. I would love to hear the other side, the leadership of the other side stand up and say what they disagree with about what has just been presented. You know, when I go home and I talk to constituents, one of the things that they say over and over and over again is that they just cannot understand the tone that is going on in Washington. What is going on? Why are people so angry? And I do not understand it, frankly. We are all elected here to come solve problems, and that is the challenge that we have been given. But the tone that we get so often is this culture of cynicism. It is a culture of pessimism. It is a culture of negativity. To make statements about our members of the executive branch and leaders who are elected in ways that just have no foundation does a disservice to everybody. So I am a member of the freshman class, and as a member of the freshman class we get together once a week. And one of the things that we talked about toward the end of last year was we need to try to raise the level of the rhetoric here. We need to try to put a more positive message out because of the tone that we so often hear in Washington. So we have developed what we call the Official Truth Squad. This is a group of individuals who are willing to come to the floor and talk about messages, talk about things that are of interest to the American people in a positive light and also to bring truth to the debate. Because, as you oftentimes hear, those who have been watching, we are given great latitude in what we can say and, in fact, it does not have to be the truth. Many people put issues out here and things are not countered, so people begin to believe them. You know, they say that in Washington, if somebody says something three times, that makes it true. Well, it just is not so, Mr. Speaker, as those around the Nation know. So what we would like to do is to talk about things in a truthful way to try to make certain that we counter much of the negativity that has been presented. You know, Senator Moynihan had a wonderful, wonderful quote that he had. It was, you know, everybody's entitled to their opinion, but they are not entitled to their facts. And I think that is so true. So this afternoon, what we, the Official Truth Squad, are going to be talking about is national security. It kind of dovetails with the discussion that we have just heard. I am pleased to be joined by many of my colleagues in the freshman class and others, and I would like to introduce first to talk about national security, Congresswoman Jean Schmidt. Congresswoman Schmidt is from Ohio. She comes with great expertise, representation at the State level, and has a passion for not just America, a positive passion for America, but a passion for national security and national defense. So, Congresswoman Schmidt, I would like to yield to you and have you bring us some words about national security.

Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank Congressman Gohmert for his kind words and for his truth. Sometimes truth is a bitter pill to swallow.

Mr. PRICE of Georgia. I thank the gentlelady for coming and being such an integral part of the discussion and the leadership in this House of Representatives. Again, I think it is incredibly important that we appreciate that those that say that there is no plan, hasn't ever been a plan, that that is just not truthful. Again, we are the Official Truth Squad, and the truth of the matter is that there has been a plan, and that plan was outlined very eloquently by the gentlelady from Tennessee, a seven-step process. The final step is to have coalition forces leave, and we are on the sixth of seven steps. So we are moving incredibly well and orderly, moving through a process that is bringing about freedom and liberty to people who, frankly, may never have even hoped that it could occur. The gentlelady was so appropriate in defining those different areas of the Nation that we are addressing, not just the military but standing up the government, education, educating individuals who in their wildest dreams could never have dreamed of the opportunity to have the kind of education that they are able to receive now because of their freedom. As a physician, I know that the health care services that are being provided there in Iraq now are of a higher quality than before and accessible to all, which certainly was not the case before. So truth, truth is so incredibly important when you talk about public policy. If we don't deal in truth when we talk about these issues that come before our Nation, then it is difficult to reach the right conclusion. It is difficult to reach the right solution. So that is why we are so enthusiastic about the need and the importance of truth. I have been searching for a number of quotes on truth. This is one that I am very fond of. George Washington, in a letter to Edmund Randolph in 1795 said that there is but one straight course, one appropriate course, one straight course, and that is to seek truth and pursue it steadily. Seeking truth and pursuing it steadily. And I think that is what is so imperative, because so often you hear from the folks who want to blame America first, all of the things where they have stretched, stretched is being generous, the truth; and so it is appropriate that we come here day after day, literally, and put forward to the American people the appropriate information that is necessary for individuals to have the truth. And the other quote that I have shared with folks before is the one from Senator Moynihan, that is, that everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts. And so with that, I would like to talk about another aspect of truth. And one of the things, as I mentioned before, we have some great latitude in this Chamber to talk about things and to say things that may not necessarily be so. Just yesterday, as a matter of fact, in one of the speeches that was given from the well on the other side, a Member of the other side said, we are talking on this side of the aisle, that is, the Democratic, the minority side, Mr. Speaker, that we embrace and we appreciate our troops and veterans. That is a wonderful thing. But meanwhile, this is the statement on the floor, meanwhile in the President's budget it talks about cuts in veterans affairs, cuts in veterans affairs. I know this is a little hard to read over here, but, in fact, the truth of the matter, in particular $34.3 billion for medical care a $3.5 billion, 11.3 percent increase over the 2006 enacted level, and an increase of 69 percent since President Bush took office. So what you see here is the allegation, and here is the truth. There are a couple of other ways to show that, to demonstrate that with certainty, and it is even more vivid. This chart, this graph, shows the Department of Defense military discretionary budget in billions of dollars from 2000 to projected 2007. That asterisk there is because we have not adopted the 2007 budget yet, will not do so until later this year. But the President's proposal is listed. What you see here are the levels of expenditures, Federal expenditures for the Department of Defense. Now remember the allegation is that there are cuts in the military: 2000, $287 billion; 2001, $303 billion; 2002, $328 billion. You notice that we are going in a direction that looks like it is increasing. Only in Washington can a cut be an increase. Only in Washington can a cut be an increase: 2003, $365; 2004, $376; 2005, $400 billion; and last year, $411 billion. Now I do not know about you, Mr. Speaker, but where I come from those are not cuts, those are increases, and appropriate increases, appropriate increases to our defense establishment and to the veterans who are serving so well. What about medical care? You hear about veterans medical care. All the time the allegation was, as was in that quote just yesterday, that veterans medical care is being cut. Well, here is the before and after. 1995: what happened in 1995 was that the Republicans took control of the House of Representatives, and you see before then the gradual increases, mostly fixed to inflation, sometimes not even at inflation. And then the entire budgetary allotment for medical care, veterans medical care, is in the yellow bars there from 1995 to 2005. And what you see is an increase from $16.2 billion to $29.9 billion. Mr. Speaker, that does not look like a cut to me. That does not look like a cut to America. That does not look like a cut to veterans. They know the truth. And it is so important. You cannot reach the right conclusions, you cannot reach the right solutions if you are not talking truthfully. So we are pleased to come to the floor and talk about what is true. What about discretionary spending on veterans, not just medical care, but discretionary spending on veterans? This is the same kind of graph: before 1995 and since 1995. Again, remember the allegation is that this money, discretionary spending for veterans, is being cut. Well, Mr. Speaker, again, I mean, my eyes may deceive me sometimes, but I cannot for the life of me figure out how moving from $17.6 billion in 1995 to $30.7 billion in 2005 could ever be described as a decrease or a cut. This is a commitment by the Republican leadership and the Republican House to make certain that we appropriately, appropriately, provide resources for veterans, our military individuals who serve us so incredibly well. But, again, truth. The truth is that the resources have been increased every single year, that there has been no cut. And so I am pleased to have the opportunity to be able to come and share that kind of truthful information with the American people. I am honored to be joined right now by another colleague, another gentleman from Texas, another judge from Texas, Congressman Gohmert, who has a wealth of experience in his State and is a true leader in the area of national security knowledge and intelligence. So we appreciate Congressman Gohmert you coming and joining us today. Please, I look forward to your remarks.

Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I want to make certain that people are hearing what you are saying. Because so oftentimes we hear there is no plan, the President doesn't have a plan, we don't have a plan. But what you have said so clearly is that when the President talked about this in the spring of 2003, 3 years ago, that he outlined a seven-step process. As far as I can tell, we are on the sixth step of that. So the plan is there.

Mr. PRICE of Georgia

Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, what a great pleasure it is to come and speak to the House tonight about a number of different topics. I want to thank the leadership and the conference for giving me the opportunity to lead an hour here and talk about things that are of utmost importance to our citizens all across this Nation. When I have talked with some of my constituents, many of my constituents at home, over and over and over again I hear them say, what is going on up there in Washington, why has the discussion, the personal animosity that seems to be brought to so many of our debates, why is that occurring? It is a great question because it does a disservice to us all; it really does. What we are beginning tonight is what we are calling the Official Truth Squad. This is our new logo of the Official Truth Squad, and we thought that was appropriate because there are so many times that you hear on the floor inaccuracies here, and so we thought it was appropriate to put together a group of folks that would come as often as needed to bring some truth. To start that truth, I just wanted to set kind of the premise of why people are so disgusted, what kinds of things that are being said that make people so doggone disgusted with some of the language that is going on up here in Washington. These are real quotes; and I think it is important, Mr. Speaker, that people hear these things because, again, it does a disservice to the whole debate. These are quotes from Howard Dean, who is the chairman of the Democratic party. This is a quote just a year ago: ``I hate Republicans and everything they stand for.'' Can you imagine that? What an awful thing to say to at least a third of the Nation, if not more, to individuals who voted in the last general election for President, over half of the individuals that voted, and that kind of tenor is just wrong. It is just wrong. It does not help anything. Just 6 months ago or so, he said: ``Republicans, a lot of them haven't made an honest living in their lives.'' What kind of nonsense is that? What kind of disservice does that do to our Nation? We have heard some of that same kind of tone here on the House floor, and so we endeavored to put together a group that would talk about the truth, talk about real things, and try to bring some real information to our citizens all across this Nation. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, I do not have the exact quote, but he said something like, everyone is entitled to their own opinion but they are not entitled to their own facts; everyone's entitled to their own opinion but not their own facts. So we thought we would bring some facts, and we will do that over this next hour and over the next number of days as we come and talk with folks. This Official Truth Squad grew out of the freshman class group of 24 or 25 of us who get together on a frequent basis, and we thought it was an appropriate thing to do to counter what has come to be known as the culture of cynicism, the culture of pessimism and the culture of negativity that we oftentimes hear from the other side. So we hope to bring a much more positive outlook, a much more positive view, frankly, of our Nation and to bring some facts to the table that I think and we think are appropriate just so people have the right kind of information out there to make decisions, to figure out what their government is doing and what it is not doing and what it ought to be doing. With that, I am pleased to be joined by my colleagues, and first to come talk to you about some things as its relates to the economy and the budget is the gentlewoman from North Carolina (Ms. Foxx). She is a member of the freshman class. I have come to know and respect her so highly. She has a background in education and is just as principled as they come and as frankly positive as one could be about the outlook for our Nation. So the gentlewoman is going to spend a few moments and talk with you about the economy and the budget.

Mr. PRICE of Georgia. What a wonderful vision you have created and the great story that you have told about the recovery after 9/11 and the incredible economy that we have going in America right now. Often at home, people do not understand that. They aren't getting told that, certainly not on the nightly news and not in the newspaper. Thank you so very, very much for joining us. I also want to just highlight what Representative Drake said about the words that are used here in Washington. So often you hear about cutting this and cutting that. In fact, things are not being cut. We will talk a little bit more about that in just a minute. Oftentimes, things are just decreasing the rate of increase, which is a little different way to say it, but it has been said that Washington is the only place where a decrease in the amount of growth that was projected is considered a cut. We just have to suffer with that. That is why we are joining you tonight as the Official Truth Squad, to bring some real facts, some truth to the issue of the economy. I wanted to expand a little bit on what I hear at home when people talk about the kind of news that they see on television or the kind of things that they most often read in the paper. They want to know why are they not hearing these good things about America. To highlight once again some of the statistics about our economy, 17 straight quarters of growth, 17 straight quarters of growth. The home ownership rate in our Nation now is at an all-time high. Nearly 70 percent of Americans own their own home, 70 percent. What an incredible story that is, and it cuts across all demographic lines and all sectors of our society. And that is positive. That is a positive thing, that is a good thing, and it is the result of the economic policies that have been put in place here in this Congress. Unemployment rate: 4.7 percent. Four point seven percent. And most economists will tell you that 5 percent unemployment is full employment because we have got people looking for jobs or looking to change their job or moving, those kinds of things. Five percent is full employment. Right now, our unemployment rate is 4.7 percent. Four point seven million new jobs in the last 5 years. Good news. Great news. It really is. And because you occasionally get that, this is today's Wall Street Journal. The other side likes to talk about their third-party validators. Here is a third-party validator, a Wall Street Journal, front page story today: ``Retail Sales surge 2.3 percent, Underlining Economy's Health. A 2.3 percent increase in sales. That just shows the kind of wonderful and good economy that we have got going. So we have got a plan. We have got a plan to continue to increase the wonderful performance of this economy. I wanted to talk a little bit more about some truthful aspects that ought to be discussed, and Representative Drake talked about this, this chart here, again trying to bring some truth to the issue of who pays taxes. Oftentimes, we hear that the wealthy do not pay any taxes in this Nation at all and they have all sorts of ways to get around paying taxes. And this graph is so telling because oftentimes we hear, Mr. Speaker, that a picture is worth a thousand words, and this picture is. We have got six bars here. The first bar here is the top 1 percent of wage earners in this Nation, and then, on this ordinate here, we have got the percent of taxes that they pay. Out of 100 percent of taxes here in America, what percent did the top 1 percent of wage earners pay? Thirty-four point two seven percent. Over a third of the taxes in this Nation paid by the top 1 percent wage earners. And if you go on down, the top 5 percent pay over 50 percent of the taxes in this Nation. These numbers are not my numbers. These are official numbers, and it just is really telling. When we look down at that fifth bar, the largest bar there, that is the top percent, 50 percent of wage earners. That is half of the wage earners in this Nation. And the top 50 percent, as Congresswoman Drake said, pay 96.54 percent of the taxes. The bottom 50 percent of wage earners pay less than 4 percent. So when you hear that the wealthy in this Nation are not paying their fair share, I do not know about you, but I would say that this distribution is not unfair to those at the lower end of our scale, and it ought not be. But this is the truth. This is the truth. When you hear those other lines and you hear those other statements, you just know that it is not the truth. This chart here talks about the revenue growth that we have had. This is the amount of money coming into the Federal Government. And you have heard it said oftentimes that in Washington we do not have a revenue problem, we have got a spending problem. And, indeed, we do. Washington spends too much of the hard-working taxpayers' money. But I think this chart is telling. Because what this shows from the year 2000, and it is projected out to the year 2011, there is a dip here at about 2002, 2003 in revenue coming into the Federal Government. And currently in 2006, the amount of money that came into the Federal Government is $2.3 trillion. A lot of money. A lot of money. But being an individual who likes to know why things happen, I want to know why that increase occurred; and I think it is important to know that at this point at almost the lowest point of revenue over the past 5 years, 6 years in this Nation, what happened is that we decreased taxes. We decreased taxes through the President's recommendations and through the hard work of this Republican Congress, decreased taxes to all taxpayers in this Nation. And what happens when you put more money in people's pockets? Incredibly, what happens is that there is more revenue that comes into the Federal Government because they become more productive. They spend more, but they save more, and they have greater incentive, greater incentive, frankly, to work. So the truth of the matter about revenues in this Nation is that they are up because of decreases in taxes. Numbers do not lie. Senator Moynihan said everybody is entitled to their own opinion, but they are not entitled to their own facts. And the facts will show that, in fact, after the tax decreases what happened is an increase in revenue. Now, oftentimes our friends on the other side of the aisle like to say, and, in fact, we have heard it here tonight and I wrote it down because I hear it so often but it is put in different ways, but we heard tonight that government assistance to education has been flat under this leadership. ``Government assistance has been flat.'' Well, again, you are welcome to your own opinions, but you are not welcome to your own facts. Here are the education totals: The annual growth over the last 5 years, the annual growth over the last 5 years, 2000, nearly $40 billion in growth in education expenditures from the Federal Government. Forty billion dollars. In 2001, over $40 billion of growth. In 2002, nearly $50 billion in growth. And you see the other columns there: 2003, 2004, 2005, continual increases. This is not the increase from 1 year to the next. This is the absolute amount of money, new money, Federal Government money being spent on education. So when you hear people say that the amount of money going into the education of our children and our young people has not increased or it has decreased or it has been cut or it is not growing at all or it is flat, that is simply not true. Simply not true. Again, you are welcome to your own opinions. You are not welcome to your own facts. What about Pell grants, Pell grant funding? Pell grants are those grants that the Federal Government appropriately provides to those individuals who want to seek a higher education degree and they simply do not have the resources to be able to assist them. What has happened to Pell grants since the year 2000? Remember the sounds that you hear from the other side that these cuts have been disastrous, that you are cutting and you are slashing? In fact, the annual growth in Pell grants over the last 5 years average, average, a 10.3 percent increase per year. That does not sound like a cut to me. That does not sound like a cut to me. So what this chart shows is significant growth year after year after year, billions of dollars over the last 6 years annually. Not a cut. Not a cut. And that is appropriate. It is appropriate that we do that, but what we are here tonight to bring to the American people, Mr. Speaker, are some facts, some truth that we would like to share with the American people. What I would like to do this evening in my brief time remaining is to just bring a little truth and fact to where Federal Government spending occurs. Because I think it is important for the American people to know and appreciate just what their Federal Government is spending their hard-earned taxpayer money on. This is a pie chart. It is relatively simple, and there are about six major categories of spending that the Federal Government has. And you have heard a lot about automatic spending that occurs, and those automatic areas are the area of Social Security, the area of Medicare, and 20.5 percent for things like Medicaid and pensions and the like, and then there is net interest. Then there is the discretionary side, which really is the only side that we have been able to affect to any great degree. One is defense, which is about 20 percent of the Federal budget, and the other is 19.2 percent, which covers everything else that the Federal Government does. So I think it is important to get an appreciation for where Federal Government money is going. Social Security, 21 percent right now. Medicare, 11.9 percent. Other entitlements or other automatic spending, 20.5 percent. We were talking about the amount of spending, where the Federal Government spends its money; and the previous pie chart showed what we have right now, in 2005. Currently, the Federal Government spends 54 percent on what are called mandatory programs, and it really ought not be called mandatory. We could call it automatic. It is oftentimes called entitlements. But in that portion of this pie chart are Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, some Federal pensions and the like. But those are programs that have formula within them that allow them just to continue to perpetuate year after year after year. And this area of the pie chart is what Representative Conaway talked about. That is the area that will consume 50 percent, 50 percent of the entire gross domestic product. Currently, this is 20 percent of the budget. This, over the next 10 years, will grow to 62 percent. As you can see, this trend, in 1995, it was 49 percent; 2005, 54 percent; 2015, 62 percent. That trend is one that we cannot sustain as a Nation. It just cannot happen, unless you do what the other side talks about repeatedly, which is to raise taxes; and, as Congressman Conaway talked about, in fact, you cannot even grow your way out of it. You cannot even raise taxes enough to cover that and sustain our way of life as a Nation. So I think it is incredibly important that when we are talking here on the floor of the House that we talk about real facts, real facts, honest information for the American people. Mr. Speaker, with that, I would just like to say what a pleasure it has been to come before the American people tonight and to gather a group of what we are calling the official truth squad of primarily the freshmen class. And, Mr. Speaker, as president of the freshman class, Representative Jindal from Louisiana has been wonderfully supportive of these efforts to bring truth to the floor of the House. What a wonderful thing. We live in an incredible and a great and a wonderful Nation. It is a Nation that has, through liberty and through freedom, benefited more citizens than ever known in the history of the world. We believe, on this Republican side of the aisle, that it is important that government does do some things, but we do not want government running every part of our life. There are a couple of things the government should do well. It should defend us well. It should have a balanced budget and be able to keep the commitments that it makes. We have a clear and a positive plan to build a safer world and a more hopeful America. We believe that Washington spends too much money, too much of the taxpayers' hard- earned money, and we have a commitment to balance the budget through controlling the growth in spending. The other side, as I mentioned, tends to be interested in doing one thing, and that is raising your taxes. There is a plan afoot right now that they have to increase and raise your taxes. It seems to be oftentimes the only solution that they have. But, Mr. Speaker, we were sent to Washington to solve problems. Difficult problems, yes. But my colleagues and I and the official truth squad will be here many, many times over the coming months to bring reality to the discussions that we are having, to bring some truth to the discussions that we are having, and to remember what Senator Moynihan said, and that is that you are welcome to your own opinions but you are not welcome to your own facts. With that, Mr. Speaker, I thank the leadership once again so very much for the opportunity to present this hour.

Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Thank you so much, Congressman Conaway, for your clarity. Clarity of thought is not often seen here in Washington. You have just laid out for us, really, a pretty foreboding picture that in a relatively short period of time, less than one lifetime, the government, if not changed, will spend 45, 50 percent of the GDP on government, on government programs. That just cannot be done, as you say. The positive thing that you mention is we can solve it. We can solve it if we all knuckle down and get to work together, which I think is the uplifting message that we need to give to the American people, because it can be solved. We just have to do it together and do it positively. Thank you so much for coming and joining us this evening. We are joined now by Thelma Drake, Congresswoman Drake, who is another member of the freshman class and another member of the Official Truth Squad who oftentimes comes to the floor and just provides great insight into so many different areas. She is a Representative from Virginia, has owned a small business, understands what it means to sign the front side of a paycheck, and has great insight into the economy and the budget itself. I want to thank you so much for joining us tonight. She is going to talk a little bit more about the budget.

Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Tennessee for coming and providing great light for some of the principles that we ought to be holding dear here. One, we ought to be good stewards of the taxpayers' money. We oftentimes see Washington just spending too doggone much money. People know that. They understand and appreciate that. They also understand that Republicans are the team that has the ideas, as Mrs. Blackburn said, to decrease spending. She has provided great leadership in providing a bill that would reduce spending across the board at the Federal level by 1, 2 and 5 percent each. So take your pick. Where do you feel comfortable? I, frankly, would support as much as we can do. I know she would as well. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Conaway), another member of the freshman class of the 109th Congress, a Member I have come to respect very highly for so many things but especially for his financial acumen. He is a CPA in his real job, his real life, and he has brought great interest and enthusiasm to the challenges we have in the economy and in the budget. He sits on the Budget Committee. I am pleased to have him join us to talk about the budget and where we are headed in the future.

Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentlewoman's participation and involvement. It brings light to the appropriate problem and the appropriate solution. The problem is too much spending. The problem that we have here in Washington is too much spending, which means the appropriate solution is to decrease that spending. The Deficit Reduction Act was a move in the right direction, to decrease spending by $40 billion. Mr. Speaker, I know it is hard to believe, but we did not get a single vote from anybody on the other side of the aisle for something that is a move in the right direction. Was it as much as we would like? Certainly not. But without any help from the other side, things get much more difficult. We appreciate the gentlewoman bringing us the truth as it surrounds the budget. I am pleased now to yield to the gentlewoman from Tennessee (Mrs. Blackburn) who, although not a member of the freshman class, we have adopted because she brings such clarity of thought to the issues. She has presented the optimistic and positive view of our Nation and the hard work we are doing to move our Nation forward. I am pleased she is able to join us tonight and talk a little bit about the budget.

Mr. PRICE of Georgia

Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I am so pleased to stand with so many of my colleagues this evening and to talk about an issue that really is one of the central planks of our side of the aisle and the national campaign that we put forward before the American people. I thank you so much for your leadership. I was going to talk at length about the National Security Agency and the issue that has come before us. I look forward to doing that at some point in the future. But I do just want to share a few comments about what we have heard tonight. When I was young, I was a member of an organization, a group, that used to sing a song called Freedom Is Not Free, and the words were something like: freedom is not free, freedom is not free, you have got to pay a price, you have got to sacrifice for your liberty. And I had the privilege of being with the American Legion Post 140 last night, just last night in my district, and met with these men and women. And they went around the room and each of them identified themselves and their branch of service and the conflict and the war in which they served. And I was so humbled to be in the company of such heroes. It just brings to the fore the incredible sacrifices that we as Americans have made over the past number of years for our liberty, for our freedom. I am so pleased with the leadership in the House, the Members who stood up this evening and talked about the difficulty that Americans have comprehending this war on terror; and we do, as you well know, because we do not think like terrorists. We do not understand that mind. We do not understand the mind that would murder innocent individuals. We do not understand the mind that would chop the heads off of innocent individuals. That is just incomprehensible to us. So it does not come easily to us to comprehend the fact that we are in a war. I was so pleased to hear Congressman Conaway talk about Iraq not being the end of this war. There are so many aspects to all of this war. So I am pleased with the leadership in the House, and I am pleased with the leadership of my colleague, the gentlewoman from Tennessee, who is willing to stand up and discuss these issues. I also understood that this is not a Republican issue, it is not a Democrat issue. It is an American issue; it is an American challenge. And so my hope and prayer over the coming year is that all of the Members of the House of Representatives and all of the members of the Senate will embrace the challenge and the battle truly that we have to work together in this war on terror. I yield back to you, and commend you for your wonderful leadership in this area.

Mr. PRICE of Georgia

Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairwoman for allowing me to speak on this issue. I appreciate her leadership in this. I want to thank my Georgia colleagues and all colleagues on both sides of the aisle who have assisted in supporting this endeavor. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to wish a happy Valentine's Day to Sarah Anne Voyles. Sarah is a 15-year-old young lady who happens to live in my district. She is a special young lady who just happened to be born with a congenital heart defect who brought this whole issue to my attention. As a physician, I practiced for nearly 20 years in my community and I understand the medical importance of being able to treat congenital heart defects. But as a Member of Congress the issue becomes all that more important as we work to bring attention to this remarkable challenge. So I am proud to stand today and present and support H. Res. 629, a resolution that will identify today, Valentine's Day 2006, as a Day of Hearts, Congenital Heart Defect Awareness Day. What is a congenital heart defect? Well, congenital means it is present at birth, so it is an abnormality that is present at birth. It is a birth defect. It is a birth defect of the heart. It is a birth defect, though, that we don't often hear about. It occurs during the development of the heart, which begins for a baby shortly after conception. These defects can involve the walls of the heart, or the valves of the heart, or the blood vessels, the arteries and veins that supply the heart itself. They are often able to disrupt the normal flow of blood in the heart, slowing that blood down or having it flow in the wrong direction or wrong place, or it might even block the flow of blood altogether. They also can be conduction defects, defects that make it so the heart doesn't beat in the correct way. More than 35,000 infants, about one out of every 150 births, are born with heart defects every single year; and these defects can be very minimal in nature and not even be noticed by the family or the child or the physicians, or they can be life-threatening. Heart defects are among the most common birth defects, and they are the leading cause of birth defect-related deaths in the United States. The good news is that with significantly improving treatment over the past few decades there are now more adults living with congenital heart defects than ever before, having been treated in their infancy for those defects. And this means that there are new medical challenges that we as a society will confront, and confront them we will. So it is perfectly fitting and appropriate that we pause today and recognize Congenital Heart Defect Awareness Day in order to do three specific things: One is to increase the awareness of congenital heart defects; two is to encourage research with respect to this disease; and, three, to support the millions of Americans who are affected by this disease. So I join with the others and ask my colleagues to support this resolution and join me in wishing Sarah Anne Voyles, and all Americans living with congenital heart defects, a very happy Valentine's Day and a Day of Hearts for Congenital Heart Defect Day.

Mr. PRICE of Georgia

Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, last week, in this Chamber, the President shared with the American people a reasoned and measured agenda for the future, an agenda that will lead us to meet the challenges of today and seize the opportunity of tomorrow. The issues that the President addressed are not just his concerns; they are not just Republican concerns. They are the concerns of the American people. We must provide for the reform of our health care system that fixes the problems, not bandages them up, immigration reform that respects our sovereignty, and embrace a policy that will result in energy independence. The American people want leadership. They want direction, and they want to know that their government is working for them, protecting them and providing a framework that preserves the ideal of the pursuit of happiness for all. We in Congress have an obligation to our citizens and to the great history of our Nation to provide leadership that is equal to the task at hand. Our Nation, its security, its vitality, its health care and its livelihood depend on it. I urge all of my colleagues to embrace this responsibility together.

Mr. PRICE of Georgia

Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, on rollcall Nos. 665 and 666 I was unavoidably detained. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea'' on both measures.

Mr. PRICE of Georgia

Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, very few decisions are more personal or important than health care decisions. And when Washington gets involved in health care, especially in Medicare, government must put patients first. Decisions already made, if not changed, will result in 38 percent of the doctors seeing fewer Medicare patients, half of physicians less likely to participate in Medicare Advantage and a third of the doctors no longer visiting nursing homes. Unless Congress acts, the ability for seniors to access quality medical care will get worse. The way our government pays doctors for taking care of our parents and our grandparents through Medicare is unbelievably broken. Physicians will be subjected to a 26 percent pay cut over the next 5 years, and an official of the government agency in charge of Medicare said they will cut doctors pay until they stop seeing Medicare patients and then they might fix it. Mr. Speaker, then will be too late. Americans deserve better from their representatives. Those who care for all of us are being driven out of business by a government that cares more about money than health. Let's stop this insanity.

Mr. PRICE of Georgia

Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, first, I want to thank Chairman Deal for his leadership on this issue and Chairman Barton as well for allowing this to go forward and thank particularly Mr. Brown and Ms. Herseth and Mr. Dingell for working together to make certain that this issue is brought forward before we go home for the holiday. Any testing, any testing, for quality in health care, must recognize and be tailored to real-life situations and the actual practice of medicine. As a physician, I have a real concern about quality health care and about how often government decisions may adversely affect that care. In our State of Georgia, as the chairman knows, 40 percent of the pathologists in our State no longer read Pap smears. They no longer read Pap smears. The reason is not that they forgot how to read Pap smears. The reason is that the liability, the risk for reading a Pap smear at this point is greater than the benefit that they can derive themselves, and it is not worth putting their families at that personal financial risk to do so. If we go ahead with current CMS policy, I fear all across this Nation, we will see the remainder of the pathologists will no longer be able to read Pap smears, and consequently, the quality of care will be further diminished. The reason that this test that has been proposed to move forward is flawed is because the practice of pathology is a collegial practice. If a pathologist is reading a slide to determine a diagnosis and he or she may have a question about it, they do not simply put it aside and not do anything about it. They call over Dr. Smith or Dr. Jones or one of the other personnel and ask them, what do you think? And they come to a decision together. Sometimes they may even take the specimen, that slide and the specimen they have, to a professor, to a university nearby or to a seminar that is being held and get other opinions. It is a collegial practice. The test that is on the books right now and being proposed to be implemented January 1 on a mandatory basis does not recognize any of the collegiality of the practice of pathology or medicine for that matter. So I believe that any testing that ought to be approved must be approved by the specialty society. The College of American Pathologists has wonderful individuals, scientists, individuals who understand the practice of medicine and also understand the science, and they must, they must, approve any test before it goes forward. I also believe that any test that would be of benefit to us as citizens and truly increase the quality of care would be a test that measured the quality of the facility which recognizes the collegiality of the practice of pathology, and not be necessarily physician- specific, because that does not recognize how these things are done. So, this bill, I commend the chairman once again for bringing it forward. I believe it is a commonsense measure. It is a measure that, ultimately, I believe, will result in a better rule and a better ability of pathologists and other physicians across this Nation to practice. I urge adoption of this bill.