Tim Ryan

Mr. RYAN of Ohio

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. If the gentleman would yield, if you just think about the history of this country--and I don't want to get corny--but there has never been a scenario where we have said as a country, we want to do something, and it's not happened. I mean, let's be honest. Because of the system of government that we have, because of all the DNA that happens to be in our great country, because of people having the courage to get on a boat with no money, and all that DNA, all that courage that it took to get here is here now; and it's been replicating itself. There is something special about whether it's World War II or it's storming the beaches of Normandy or it's going to the Moon or it's getting out of the Depression or it's that we need to be educated or the number of patents that we get. Whatever it may be, we have the ability to do this. And I think when you look at this policy in particular, the energy policy, the more I read about it, the more I like it. And when people say, Well, how is it going to work? I get excited about explaining it to them because here we are in northeast Ohio where we have all this manufacturing, and it has been dead for 30 years. We've not had any opportunities coming down the pike, like clean energy, in 30 years. This is something that is so exciting for so many people because they recognize that--I think it's 400 tons of steel that go into a windmill or 8,000 component parts that go into a windmill, and the Midwest being the Saudi Arabia of wind, and the Southwest being the Saudi Arabia of solar. My goodness gracious, what an opportunity. We can't let this slide by. We capture it. We take advantage of it. We make it work for us. That's what we do as Americans, and this is an opportunity for us to do that and to grow all of these companies. Putin, be gone. Chavez, be gone. Middle East sheiks, be gone. We're going to take care of our own business here.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. I just want to add, the answer that our friends on the other side have given when we said, increase the Pell Grant, no; increase minimum wage, no; change the energy policy, no; change health care policy, no; add a stimulus bill that is going to keep people working, no. That is not leadership, and this is bold stuff that we are trying to do. We are trying to lead the country. At the end of the day, that is going to pay off for everyone. I yield back.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. You're so lucky. Do you have any idea how lucky you are?

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. What does that have to do with anaerobic digesters?

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. If the gentleman would yield.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. I appreciate it. I want to take off on what the gentleman from Virginia was saying. I was reading an article the other day. In China, 400,000 people a year die from air pollution. And if you look at the history of China, you will see that they have periods where there is a very tumultuous uprising within the country. And if you can read the tea leaves here, you will see that at some point China and the people of China will demand clean air. There's no question about it. And they're using dirty coal. I mean, it's dirty. And those of us who have been there recognize--with the Olympics especially--how many months ahead of time they had to stop letting people drive cars into the city and everything else. So the point that the gentleman from Virginia was making is that this is an opportunity for us. And some people say, Well, China and India aren't going to do this, so why are we going to do it? Let them not do it. Let us jump ahead. My goodness gracious, it would be like saying, you know, the Soviet Union is not going to continue their space program back in the Sixties. Great. We'll jump ahead of you. That's basically what we have here. And we have an opportunity to seize this moment and then begin to develop this technology, invest this money, get our manufacturing going here in the United States, and export--things we have been talking about in our district for a long time. When are we going to manufacture? When are Americans going to make things again? When are we going to export? This is the opportunity. And the same people that call on the talk radio that say, When are we going to make things again, are the same people that are against the cap-and- trade bill because the dots aren't connected here. This is the opportunity. Take the $700 billion that we're shifting abroad, focus it on the United States, revitalize manufacturing, and export this stuff, because China at some point is going to recognize they're wasting a lot of energy, their people aren't as healthy, their people are dying because of this, and they're going to want them to be healthy. So that's one point I wanted to make. The other point I want to make is, Congressman Boccieri and I, Mr. Speaker, were on a radio show a few days ago and a gentleman called in who had some business issues, other issues, but he says, I like the alternative energy stuff. So I asked him what he did. He makes the technology, manufactures the products that go into the scrubbers that go into the power plant and go into the steel mills to keep the air clean. And here is a businessman in Youngstown, Ohio, who had, I think he said, 70 employees, who's manufacturing these scrubbers that were a result of the Clean Air Act. Because of the Clean Air Act, there's someone in Youngstown making these products. I think it's important for us to let everyone know this is opportunity for us. These are jobs that are going to be revitalizing communities in all of our districts.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. I don't know if anyone followed when Barack Obama was in Russia, but there was a deal made and struck where--Exxon is, obviously, doing business there, and they are opening up a refinery somewhere in New England to process the oil coming back from Russia. So this is what we're trying to get away from. This is what this energy bill is all about. We can't get in the position where, yeah, it may be over the next 5 to 10 years where this is something that needs to happen for the transition. This is an example of the road we don't want to go down, the road relying on Vladimir Putin's Russia for oil for the United States. You know, the American people don't want that. That's not good geopolitics. That's not good for our manufacturing base. That's not good for a variety of reasons that are all pretty obvious to anybody who has blood running through their heads right now. You know, this is pretty basic stuff here. We don't want to rely on Russia for our oil. The other point is, whether it's in Cincinnati, in Virginia, in Canton, in Akron or in Youngstown, we have these manufacturing facilities that are just sitting here. In my district, there's a company called Parker-Hannifin. It's a big company in Cleveland and in Youngstown. They have 1,000 workers, steelworkers. They make the hydraulics that go into the back of, you know, waste management--you know, garbage trucks. They do the hydraulics. These same hydraulics go into windmills. We have a specialty steel company called Thomas Steel, in Warren, that has about 300 workers. They make a decent wage. Their specialty steel goes in the solar panels. We have a company called Roth Brothers in the Youngstown area. There's a new wind cube that you can put on top of big buildings in downtown areas that will generate wind. You plug it right into the building, right into the grid, to generate energy that can turn and face the wind and that can really harness all of the wind no matter what the direction change. This is right in Youngstown. They said, If this wind cube takes off, we'll hire 100 people like that. So we have it here. It's not so much new business--although, there will be a piece of that. It's also about the businesses that we already have, those that can grow and that can manufacture. They're good-paying jobs. They're steelworkers. You know, they're people who can make some money and who can revitalize the middle class again.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. I thank the gentleman. These numbers are from 2004, but they illustrate the point, and we'll get them updated. The United States in 2004 spent $6,100 per person on health care with one's life expectancy to be 77\1/2\ years. In Canada, France and Germany, they spent $3,000 and a little bit of change, and their life expectancies are 3 years more than ours, 2 years more than ours and 1\1/2\ years more than ours. We're spending double. So what we're saying to our employers is that the status quo can't stand. We are being wasteful with our health care dollars. We are wasting money in this system. So, if you're a conservative, if you're a businessperson and if you're standing in the halls of Congress and if you have to look at and analyze the health care situation, you will come to the conclusion that it is better for us as a country to put money upfront toward preventative care and to save money on all of these costs that happen down the line. We have universal coverage now, but it's through an emergency room, Mr. Speaker. That's no way to run a health care system. Don't come to us, you know, unless it's an emergency. Then come to us. Then we'll take care of you. No business would run that way. You would put money up front. We'll give you a prescription. We'll help you with your wellness. We'll help you deal with your stress reductions. We'll help you deal with mental health. We'll help you deal with a lot of these issues so that you don't come to our emergency rooms as often for health care. I have a CEO in my district who talks about his hospital. He has said to me more than once, Give me the opportunity to get that person and to give him a $20 prescription instead of my having to deal with him when he comes to my emergency room where it costs me $100,000. That's what we're trying to do here. That's what this whole health care reform is all about. I want to yield to a friend of mine. We have worked on a variety of issues together and will continue to. He is a great Member from Rhode Island, and he is a very dear friend, Mr. Langevin.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Because we have, hot off the presses here, a copy of and a chart of the Republican health care plan. And it has been the Republican health care plan for a good many years now, and it will continue to be the Republican health care plan, and it looks very similar to the Republican energy plan. Not quite sure exactly what it is. Lots of question marks. No real solutions for the American people. And as you, I think, articulated a few minutes ago, this is a major issue for real people all over the country, for people who have lost their jobs because of the downturn in the economy, for people who come from communities who have been dealing with the global restructuring, with the loss of manufacturing jobs. Many people from my district for the last 30 years, whether they were in the rubber industry in Akron or in the steel industry in Youngstown or in the auto industry in Warren, have had to deal with this tumultuous change in our economy. This is prior to Wall Street's pulling the rug out from the national and, really, from the global economy, and this is prior to the bad policies over the past, you know, 8 to 10 years that our friends on the other side have consistently pushed. You know, from a lot of the people who do have some criticism, maybe, for what's going on, I don't hear anyone saying the answer is to cut taxes for the top 1 percent and to get defense spending kicking. We've been doing that. Prior to the Democrats' coming into office a couple of years ago in the House and then prior to President Obama's getting elected, we had a policy where there were tax breaks for the top 1 percent, and they were supposed to invest all of that money into our economy. It never really happened. I think what happened over the course of the last couple of years was that the Reaganomics--supply side economics--cut taxes for the wealthiest and then hoped the crumbs fell somewhere in Youngstown, Ohio, for some of the workers to maybe get a bite of. It has not worked. With the deregulation of Wall Street, we saw what happened there. It has caused a global recession almost to the likes of the Great Depression. The only things I feel are saving this from being a Great Depression are the Great Depression programs--unemployment insurance, Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, and the health care tax credit that we increased from 65 percent to 80 percent in the stimulus bill. Those are the only things preventing people from being on the streets. They've lost their homes, and they have no health care. If it weren't for these basic safety nets that we've set up, there would be cheese lines again. Let's be honest about it. No one wants to admit it. So what we are trying to do here with energy, quite frankly, and now with health care, is to shift what's going on in our country. It has taken us a long time. Since 1980 this supply-side economic policy has been happening. What we are trying to do is to shift 30 years of this nonsense that has been implemented and to restructure our country, to unleash the power, as Mr. Murphy stated earlier, of the American people. Those people in our districts who don't have health care or who have lost their jobs and who are scared in America need to be helped. I make no bones about it, and I don't think anyone else does, because the top 1 percent has been fine. They will be fine. What we are trying to do is to restructure the system. We are trying to take health care as it currently is, Mr. Speaker, and squeeze the fat out of it, squeeze the special interests out of it, take the savings to help cover everyone, and invest at the front end by making sure that we don't have co-pays for preventative care, to make sure that no one will lose their insurance or will have to go bankrupt because of their health care issues. To me, this is basic common sense. The security for the American people is what we are looking for so that they can confidently go about their business, so that they can create wealth, take chances and be entrepreneurs. That's what this is all about. If you take these two pieces of legislation, the health care and the energy, you are talking about unleashing the potential, the innovation, the entrepreneurship, the talent, the intellect, and the skill of the American people.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. I would be happy to yield.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. If the gentleman would yield, one of the reasons is the projection for costs. If we do nothing, this plan here, if we implement or just let the Republican health care plan continue, that means an $1,800 increase next year and down the pike. So the reason Mr. Langevin thinks about this before he goes to bed and when he gets up is because we know the cost of inaction. We don't have to explain to people in the heartland what the cost of inaction is. It's an increase of $1,800. It's more people being knocked off the rolls, more people calling our offices saying, Hey, can you help us? I just got denied coverage. It says in my policy I got covered, but now I'm not getting covered. All of this happens, and it is a cost to all of us. So I think the reason we have to act now and why it's so important is because the cost of inaction is an $1,800 a year increase.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. That's the money that we reinvest back into those cost-saving measures, that we reinvest back into preventive care so that kids will have dental, kids will have oral, which could be the same thing. Kids will have hearing checkups. All of these things will be included for young kids. Vision. These are all things that, as we save this money and steer it back into the front end of this program, we are going to have healthier citizens. Now I was reading an article last night that hit me about energy, and it also makes a good point about health care. We are in a direct competition, Mr. Speaker, with China. I don't think anybody will deny that. I think we all know that we are in a direct competition with Asia and with China. In China they lose 400,000 people a year, who die because of the air pollution in China. So the point on the energy bill is, they are clearly not doing enough. At some point those people are going to say, We want clean air. And once we jump ahead in the energy field and start making these products and exporting them to China, we now have created a massive export market. But the philosophy is different because we are saying that our values, our priorities here are about putting the money on the front end, making sure everybody's covered. This chart here, the difference in the $6,000 that we spend per citizen and the $3,000 and some change that Canada, France and Germany spend and have a higher life expectancy is because they cover everyone. They allow people to get preventive care so they're healthier, so that they can go to work, so that they don't miss weeks at a time of work. They get the prescription, and they can go back to work. I mean, we heard a lot over the last decade or two about family values. What is a deeper value than the health of your kids and the health of our families? There is not one. Because if you don't have health, you don't even have happiness. There are very few unhealthy happy people. When you are unhealthy, you are unhappy. So this is fundamental to the values that we have as a country. It will unleash a level of productivity in this country. All of the anxiety that people have will be channeled and unleashed into more positive endeavors and at the same time begin to move us in a direction where we are not going to bankrupt the country. We are going to make the country healthier, more productive, create more wealth and at the same time contain our health care costs, which will probably end up saving us a lot of money in Medicare. I mean, one of the things that people forget is, all of these people who don't have health care that are older, that think, I'm going to wait until I get on Medicare; and then once they get on Medicare, the problem is exacerbated. The cancer has spread, and a variety of other problems ensue. So this is an opportunity for us to say that as we try to compete in a global marketplace, we have the opportunity to enhance the intellect, the productivity and the health of our citizens.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. And when you look at the company you were mentioning, no co-pays on prevention, no rate increases for preexisting condition, there will be a big sigh of relief in this country when this is passed. An annual cap on out-of-pocket expenses, and we are saying to people in America, in 2013 or whatever the date is that this gets implemented, you will not go bankrupt because of a health care condition that you may have or a member of your family may have. It is said and done. That is what this bill is about.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Exactly, and flip their families and send them out of their homes and the whole ripple effect that happens. And there is another point to this that is in here but it is not in here. As we talk about prevention, and there's great sections in here about community health clinics and different preventative measures that are going on and that we are going to continue to promote preventative medicine and public health training grants and those kinds of things that I think are very, very important to what we are trying to achieve here. It is sending a signal, and I think President Obama has been sending a signal, people have got to take care of themselves as well. This is not just, okay, you can now do whatever you want and you're going to be covered. Like Congressman Murphy said, Mr. Speaker, each citizen will have skin in the game, and their health care decisions at some level will affect what they pay. But what we are saying is, we will be helpful, you will contribute, there will be shared responsibility here, and at the time you have to do what you need to do to take care of yourself. And we all have that responsibility now as we have the demographic train coming down the pike with baby boomers going into Medicare, going into Social Security and all of these issues. We have got to be a lean, mean, productive economic force in the world so that we can drive our economy and help pay for a lot of this debt that has been accumulated over the course of the last 8 to 10 years and move us forward. But, again, we know the cost of doing nothing. We know exactly what will happen. Health care bills will go up another $1,800 on average next year and as far as the eye can see. Again, this is not a plan. This is our friends on the other side; this is their Republican health care plan, a bunch of lines going to a bunch question marks and back again and maybe, you know, at some point, maybe off the chart somewhere there is a solution there. It hasn't worked. They had an opportunity here when they controlled the House, the Senate, and the White House to implement whatever it is they come up with. Maybe they have a couple of these squares they can fill in. But whatever it is they came up with, they had a chance to implement it. And now it is Johnny-come-lately, and we are going to get this done. And I think the President is committed to this; we are committed to this. Every time I go home, I meet thousands of Delphi employees who have been left behind in the GM bankruptcy, both salaried and union, and steel workers who have lost their jobs and had their pensions cut in half, those in the PBGC, lose their health care. This is what this is about. Those are the people that will benefit from this, Mr. Murphy. I want to thank you as we wind down here for the opportunity to do this. We will be here tomorrow and possibly Friday and next week, day in and day out, because it is that important for us to pass this. I really believe that the health and welfare of our country depend on it. And I think that the energy bill and with this, I think this is transformational for us and I think a great opportunity for places like northeast Ohio. And I yield back to my friend.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Will the gentleman yield?

Mr. RYAN of Ohio

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. I thank the gentlelady. Mr. Chairman, as my colleague said, this loan application is critical for thousands of jobs in Ohio and throughout the country. I would hope that the Secretary of Energy and other departmental leadership will provide the loan guarantee office staff with the necessary guidance and leadership to address this issue in the immediate future so that a conditional commitment can be issued on reasonable terms.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Madam Speaker, I am submitting the obituary of man that contributed much to our community and did so in so many ways. He was a friend, a supporter and an example to all of us. NILES--Donald K. Allen, 79, Niles, died at 6:15 a.m. Friday, March 28, 2008, at the Hospice House in Poland, following an extended illness. Mr. Allen was born Feb. 4, 1929, in New Martinsville, W.Va., a son of the late Harold Roy and Ruby Mason Allen. He was a graduate of Magnolia High School, where he was a four-year football letter winner and captain of his 1946 football squad. He recently received the Magnolia High School Alumni Life Achievement Award, honoring student athletes from their era. Following high school, he went on to Youngstown College on a football scholarship. He also attended Northwestern University. Donald served in the U.S. Army as a sergeant during the Korean Conflict, and went on to serve in the National Guard for 17 years. He was employed at the Niles Police Department in 1954 as a patrolman. Donald was the owner and operator of Associated Research Consultants as a Licensed Polygraph Operator. He then went on to work at Republic Steel in the Production Planning and Transportation Department. He continued to serve for 20 years as the president of the office and clerical Union Local 6824. Donald proudly served under Mayor Ralph Infante's administration since 1992. First serving as safety director and presently as service director for the City of Niles. His memberships include: Past member of the United Way Charity Committee; former member of the Niles Football Frontliners; 58-year member of the Niles McKinley Lodge 794 of Free and Accepted Masons, where he was a 32nd degree mason; Past worthy president and 47 year member of the Niles Eagles Aerie 1476, where he was given the honor of the Golden Eagle; Ben Lin Club member; Charter member ITAM Post 39; American Legion Post 106; 40-year member of the Niles Moose Lodge 627; and Niles Moose Legion 87; past commissioner for Niles Youth Baseball League; lifetime member of the Niles Men's Democratic Club and Former Trumbull County Democratic Central committeeman for 28 years. His loving wife, Edna Mae Sheets Allen, whom he married Dec. 1, 1951, passed away after 46 years of marriage on Nov. 14, 1997. Survivors include a son, William, and his wife, Karen Infante Allen of Niles; two granddaughters, Jennifer and Melanie Allen. He was preceded in death by his parents; two brothers, Bruce and Robert Allen; three sisters, Wilma Games, Maxine Tackett, and Beulah Hawkins. Funeral services will be held 1 p.m. Monday at Lane Funeral Home, Niles Chapel, 415 Robbins Ave. Calling hours will be from 4 to 8 p.m. Sunday at the funeral home. Burial will be at Niles City Cemetery. Memorial contributions can be made to the Hospice House, 9803 Sharrott Road, Poland, Ohio, 44514.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Madam Speaker, I submit the following: George F. ``Butch'' Buccella, 68 Mineral Ridge.--George F. ``Butch'' Buccella, 68, of 812 Carson Salt Springs Road, died at 9:32 p.m. Tuesday, June 9, 2009, at Forum Health Trumbull Memorial Hospital in Warren. He was born Jan. 31, 1941, in Youngstown, the son of Frank and Betty Cutright Buccella. He was a 1958 graduate of Niles McKinley High School. Butch owned and operated Buccella and Sons RV Sales for nine years, was a Weathersfield Township trustee for 16 years, where he served as chairman and vice-chairman, co- owned A'Lenzio's Pizza in Mineral Ridge with his wife Judy for 14 years, and was a staff representative to Congressman James Traficant for 17 years until his retirement. After his retirement, George worked for Western Reserve Limousines and at the Joseph Rossi and Sons Funeral Home in Niles as a hearse and limo driver. He was a member of the Trinity Lutheran Church in Niles and served on its parish council, was a member and past King Lion of the Niles Lions Club, and involved with the Niles Democratic Club, the Trumbull County Fair Board, and the Jolly Boys Monday Night Gang. He was also a member of the Niles Area Chamber of Commerce, where he served as president, vice president, and secretary and received its Outstanding Citizen of The Year Award and its Small Business Advocate of The Year Award. He was on the Fairhaven Workshop Board of Trustees, Niles Churches for Housing, and the Jefferson Democratic Club. He enjoyed NASCAR as he was an avid Jeff Gordon fan. He built and raced stock cars at the Canfield, Expo, and Sharon Speedways for 28 years, and also enjoyed bowling. Butch, who was always known for saying ``one day at a time'' will be deeply missed by his wife, Judy Sheldon Buccella, whom he married Dec. 8, 1962; a son, Jeff Buccella (Dawn) of Austintown; a daughter, Tracie Fynes (Dan) of Garretsville; a sister, Suzanne Miller of Florida; and five grandchildren, Eddie, Kyle, Miamee, Jordyn and Lillie. He was preceded in death by his parents. Friends may call from 5 to 8 p.m. on Monday at the Joseph Rossi & Sons Funeral Home and Cremation Service in Niles where the Niles Lions Club will conduct prayers at 7:30 p.m. Friends may also call from 10 until the 11 a.m. funeral service on Tuesday at the Trinity Lutheran Church in Niles with Pastor Beth Ferne Johnson officiating. Burial will be at Kerr Cemetery. Arrangements are being handled by the Joseph Rossi & Sons Funeral Home and Cremation Service Inc. in Niles.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. I thank the gentleman. And just as all of you do feel, this is such a critical issue for our country. And we started coming to the floor in 2002, Congressman Meek from Florida and I with the 30-something hour, and we were talking about at that point Social Security privatization and just a reminder of what the world would look like today if we would have privatized social security and if Democrats weren't here to prevent that from happening, where we would be now. But with what's going on, my district is in Akron and Youngstown, Ohio, northeast quadrant. Very industrial. Just a bit north from my friend in Kentucky. And when you look at what the problems that communities and families are having to deal with there--an example of steel companies that have closed, people, their pensions have gone to the PBGC, some lost their pensions altogether, some lost their health care altogether. Now we are dealing with, as the new GM moves forward, a lot of the old Delphi folks weren't included in the new deal. So now they're left on the outside whether they're union workers or salary workers that had put just as much time, effort, and intellect into developing Delphi and General Motors over the course of the years and now finding themselves left behind with a $14,000 or $15,000 health care bill. So what we are talking about here--why you're coming to the floor, why I'm coming to the floor, why President Obama is so forceful in persuading the American people that this has to happen now, why Speaker Pelosi and Senator Reid are all on this issue is because this is an issue that the American people want. They know that they are paying too much for their health care. They've experienced the fear of having a pre-existing condition and trying to go out into the market and trying to get somebody to cover them. They deal with this every day. So I don't want to get too much into the weeds because I think over the course of this next 3 weeks as you come down here and the 30- somethings comes down here and we all get ratcheted up and we all lean on the doctor here to tell us, you know, how this works once it hits the ground, but I think it's important to know that some of the principles here are that no one--once you get your health care--that with these new plans that you will be able to get into--your health care situation will not bankrupt your family; your health care system or your health care plan will not bankrupt your business. You will have coverage. You will have some place to go. Now, that to me doesn't seem like too big of an ``ask'' in America today with all of the money that is in this system. And I think that's the beauty, looking at the draft plan and knowing it has to go into all of the different committees and get worked through, I think the magic of what's happening here is that a lot of the costs are going to be squeezed out of the current system that has been inflicted because everyone gets their little piece of the action. And we are saying we squeeze it and reinvest that money. And in many ways we look--we have some kind of universal coverage now, but it's through the emergency rooms. That's no way to administer health care, Doc. No way to do it. It's more expensive. So what we're saying is with the preventative proposals that are in here is that there's no cost share to go check-up; there's no cost share to participate in any kind of the preventative measures that a specific plan may have that's going to make you healthier, that's going to make sure that you get a prescription instead of end up in the emergency room a week later and cost the whole system $100,000 when it could have been taken care of for a $20 prescription. That's what we're talking about here. And I'm sure there are going to be a lot of TV ads. I will be happy to yield to my friend.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. There is no question about it, and our economy is in shambles now in part because of the burden that's placed on a lot of the businesses. I remember about a year ago I was in a roomful of about 15 or 20 businesses, primarily manufacturing businesses in northeast Ohio, 50, 100, 200 people; and we were talking about health care, and they were all talking about how their health care costs went up 15, 20, 30 percent depending on the situation of the people that worked at the factory. And when asked if they would somehow be willing to pay more and get health care off their books completely, would they be willing to do that, they were all like, Sign me up right now. You mean I don't have to deal with this anymore? I can focus on making this product that I make? And part of what we're trying to do here is to say get all of this waste out of the system, put it on the front end where we can have prevention. Let's stop all of this stupidness of saying you don't get any health care because of whatever reason and you end up with the emergency room costs. Put it up front. Let's squeeze the fat. Let's bring in PhRMA and take some of the savings from there and help fill that donut hole the gentleman from Tennessee was talking about earlier, and let's get ourselves healthy. And I yield back to my friend.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. If the gentleman will yield.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Just for an example for Medicare Advantage. Fourteen percent overpayment on average for Medicare Advantage, that is over what Medicare pays. That is wasting the taxpayers' dollars. That's the money we're talking about that we can shift from that current program into what Mr. Murphy was talking about earlier, these kinds of cost savings that we need.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. About 2 years ago, I heard a number, and I think this is roughly correct, where the insurance industry had increased their employment by maybe 5 or 6 or 7 percent, and they decreased the amount of services that they were providing by, like, 25 or 30 percent. So they were taking this money, hiring people to knock people off the rolls, to not cover, to make them jump through these hoops. I call, I got denied. Well, I'm sick. I need to go now, call. I get denied. Call, you get denied. Then eventually maybe they call us and maybe we make a call and who knows what happened, you get lucky, you get somebody. But to your point, that person who's hiring people, growing their business at the expense of all of these other people is not the way this is going to keep going because America is better when all of these people together are healthier and more productive and participating in the system. And I want to yield to my friend from Tennessee because he caught me before my friend from Wisconsin, but there was an article yesterday that was brought to our attention about people in technology businesses that, for whatever reason, want to go out and start their own business but can't because someone in their family or they have a preexisting condition, so they need to stay in their current job because they don't have the coverage when they could be out in the market using what's best in America, the entrepreneurship, to generate new employment.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. I would like to thank the gentleman and thank the chairman for this bill. You know, we hear a lot from the other side about, if we pass this bill, all these jobs are going to go to China; if we pass this bill, gas is going to go up higher. The jobs already went to China. That's what this bill is all about. Come to Youngstown, Ohio. See how many jobs have already gone to China. This bill is about revitalizing manufacturing. And your energy policy has already been implemented, and it gave us $4 a gallon gas here. And we have a $700 billion transfer in wealth from this country to states that want to fly planes into our building. And this bill is about creating programs like the green bank that will loan $750 billion to companies that want to create alternative energy resources. This bill has in it $30 billion for auto suppliers, medium and small auto suppliers, to refurbish and retool so that they can sell their products into these windmill companies. Everyone is talking about losing jobs. Come to my district. Parker- Hannifin Corporation in Cleveland, they make the hydraulics that go into windmills. Thomas Steel, they make the specialty steel that goes into solar panels. When these businesses explode--Roth Brothers makes an electrical system that goes into a wind cube that will sit on top of the buildings. In Youngstown, Ohio, in Akron, Ohio, there will be jobs because this bill passes. We need to nudge this industry and unleash the creative power.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Madam Speaker, I rise this evening in recognition of Holocaust survivor and longtime Mahoning Valley resident Mr. William Vegh of Youngstown, Ohio, who passed away Friday, June 5, 2009. Mr. Vegh was born in Aspa, Czechoslovakia on November 21, 1928. Mr. Vegh and his wife Lucille, married on June 29, 1952, have three children, seven grandchildren, and one great grandchild. He came to the United States in 1948, and worked in the Mahoning Valley for 38 years. He was an active member of the El Emeth Synagogue where he attended services daily. Mr. Vegh lived through one of the worst horrors visited upon our modern era: The Holocaust. Held in Auschwitz and various other concentration camps, he lost his mother, sister and four of his brothers. After being liberated by the allied forces and settling in Ohio, he dedicated his life after retirement to speaking and educating those around him about the Holocaust and the concentration camps in which he was kept. His utter dedication to this goal helped to ensure that the people of the Valley would never forget both him and the events he endured. And his ability to inspire did not stop at the borders of Mahoning Valley. His story was documented by the Steven Spielberg Shoah Foundation, a non-profit organization based out of California dedicated to ``overcoming prejudice, intolerance and bigotry''. He also received many awards and recognitions including the Marvin and Sarah Itts Award for Distinguished Community Service, B'Nai Brith Guardian of the Menorah, J.C. Penney Golden Rule Award, Heroes of Mahoning Valley/ American Red Cross, the Janusz Korczak Humanitarian Award, the 2000 Triumphant Spirit Award and was an Honoree of the Youngstown Area Fraternal Brotherhood. These awards recognize his notable ability to connect with people and inspire them through education. I would like to commend Mr. William Vegh for inspiring us all with his incredible story and all he has done for the community. I am very proud to have represented him and I wish all the best for his family.