Charlie Rangel

Mr. RANGEL

Mr. RANGEL. Mr. Speaker, they say, what bill? It is the bill that they denied the opportunity for this body to debate, the Democratic alternative.

Mr. RANGEL. Parliamentary inquiry, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. RANGEL. Point of order. He continues to talk about that.

Mr. RANGEL. He is talking about that.

Mr. RANGEL. Do not talk about that.

Mr. RANGEL. Mr. Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Pelosi).

Mr. RANGEL. I thank the Speaker.

Mr. RANGEL. Mr. Speaker, is it proper to state that this body, this Committee on Ways and Means, has not acted on this bill? Is that proper?

Mr. RANGEL. But how do they get in the system? Where do they go?

Mr. RANGEL. Mr. Speaker, it was said that they have 12 minutes and we have 15\1/2\, and they are yielding to us? Okay. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Andrews). (Mr. ANDREWS asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. RANGEL. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Pelosi), our new and dynamic minority whip.

Mr. RANGEL. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the hard-working gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee). (Ms. JACKSON-LEE asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)

Mr. RANGEL. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Connecticut (Ms. DeLauro), who is a special assistant to the minority leader.

Mr. RANGEL. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Nadler).

Mr. RANGEL. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the hard-working gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Brown).

Mr. RANGEL. Mr. Speaker, I would just like to thank my friend, the gentleman from California (Mr. Herger) for not referring to the nonexisting health program for the unemployed. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Maine (Mr. Allen).

Mr. RANGEL. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the hardworking gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Kaptur).

Mr. RANGEL. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman will yield, where does the person go, to the Democratic Council?

Mr. RANGEL. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume to say to the gentleman from Wisconsin that as soon as he can find what page in the bill all these advance refundable credits are, any of these credits, since he worked so hard on it, it must be in the bill someplace, but whenever he finds that, he can rely on me to give him a minute to show it to the rest of us. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Florida (Mrs. Thurman).

Mr. RANGEL. Well, having heard the objection, then I must continue. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume, and let me first start off by apologizing to the gentleman from California (Mr. Thomas). All evening I have been calling it the Thomas health bill, since I thought he drafted it. But his response to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Kleczka) was that this was not his bill at all, it was the President's bill. So maybe we ought to get unanimous consent to substitute, if we want to find out what is in the bill, the President, instead of the Secretary of the Treasury. Because there is only one sentence in this bill that deals with health care, and that is ``the Secretary shall establish the program.'' So if this is not the program of the gentleman from California (Mr. Thomas), I apologize. Mr. President, we owe you an apology too. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Lewis), a vital member of the Committee on Ways and Means.

Mr. RANGEL. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that if the other side does not refer to their health bill any further this evening, I will stop embarrassing them.

Mr. RANGEL. I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Portman) to tell me what page is this on.

Mr. RANGEL. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Well, I am at a disadvantage, Mr. Speaker, because I cannot keep up with the gentleman from California (Mr. Thomas). He is making up this thing as he goes along and he refuses to refer to what page. First of all, the whole idea that we cover less people, we have information from the Health Department to indicate we cover 5 million under COBRA, and we cover up to 3.8 million on the Medicaid, and he only covers 3.3 tax credits under his so called health bill. And if he has figures to contradict this, I will eat it on the House floor. So much for that. But the interesting thing as to when one goes to the unemployment office and they go there with their credit and they do all of these things, sounds exciting to me, but I refer you to page 100. That is not on page 100. The total program is that you got to find Secretary O'Neill and ask him what you do. Do not ask the chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Kleczka).

Mr. RANGEL. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I may end up apologizing to my friend on the committee because he is a good friend of the President, and so this is the President's program, and so my colleague flipped through those pages a little fast here, but I will yield him 30 seconds to tell me how does a person with a tax credit and no job and no tax liability, what do they do and where do they go, and he can just refer to one of those pages that he flipped, and if he does not know, he can call the President and I will give him time when he comes back.

Mr. RANGEL. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, the chairman of the committee in response to a question that was raised by the former chairman of the Committee on Energy and Commerce was asking well, what does one do with a tax credit? Where does one take it? How does one convert this into health insurance? What does one do if one got a disability? And the distinguished gentleman from California (Mr. Thomas) said that the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Dingell) did not understand because under his bill, under his program it was an advanced refundable tax credit. Well, I tell Members this, when Members get back home and people ask questions, Members had better staple the gentleman from California's (Mr. Thomas) press release to their response. Because I said it before and I say it again, the total Republican Thomas health plan is on page 100. There is nothing in this bill about any refundable tax credit. There is nothing in here about anything except what some people who did not like the Secretary of Treasury 2 weeks ago now find him to be the Secretary of Health and the Secretary of the Unemployed. But I tell Members, if they want to find out where to find the refundable tax credits, which makes sense to me, they had better check with the Secretary of Treasury. Now, a person who knows about health and who helped to draft this program because he is a doctor and he did not refer to the Secretary of Treasury, is the gentleman from Washington (Dr. McDermott), a senior member of the Committee on Ways and Means. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Washington (Mr. McDermott).