Gene Taylor

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, I have a parliamentary inquiry.

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, I take it from what just occurred is that I will not be able to offer the amendment to require a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution. Now, is that the net effect of that vote that just occurred? Because I do have a follow-up.

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, having read the rule, it said that the minority was to be given a motion to recommit. If that motion to recommit was ruled out of order, does the minority still have the right to offer another motion to recommit?

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, I offer a motion to recommit.

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, I am opposed to the bill in its present form.

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. Yes, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the underlying bill is to prevent the desecration of the flag, the trampling of our flag, the misuse of our flag. The amendment that I have offered is to prevent the wholesale theft and desecration of the Social Security trust fund. In the past 4 years alone, this Congress, of which I am a part, has taken $632 billion out of the Social Security trust fund that we promised the citizens we would set aside just for Social Security payments and used to run the country. The President has gone all around the country saying we have a crisis, that by 2017 we will be out of money.

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. The point of order is to my colleagues, if you think it is wrong to desecrate the flag, I would hope that you would think it is wrong to misspend money taken out of people's wallets that we promised to spend on their Social Security and to protect that money in the Constitution.

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, I appeal the ruling of the Chair.

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, I would remind the Members of this body that this bill came to the floor waiving all points of order. The Medicare prescription drug bill that is going to increase the national debt by $1.5 billion came to the floor waiving all points of order. We have acquired $2.1 billion worth of new debt in just the past 4 years, waiving all points of order. But if the gentleman is going to insist on not allowing a vote to protect the constitutional amendment to balance the budget, not allowing a vote to protect the Social Security trust fund, and not allowing a vote to protect the Medicare trust fund, I see no further reason other than to point out that I really thought the Republican majority meant it when they passed the Contract with America, that they said they would balance the budget. I gave you an opportunity to do just that. I hope the Speaker will give us an opportunity in the near future for you guys to live up to your promises.

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, to the gentleman from Wisconsin, you have, using the power of the majority, blocked the vote on a constitutional amendment to balance the budget and the constitutional amendment to vote to protect the Social Security trust fund. Now, I have additional motions at the desk. The next one would be a constitutional amendment to protect the Medicare trust fund. Would it be your intention to object to that as well and prevent a vote on this House floor?

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. I yield to the gentleman from Wisconsin.

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, I offer a motion to recommit.

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. In its present form.

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, in the interests of moving things along, I ask unanimous consent to engage the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Sensenbrenner) in about a 3-minute colloquy.

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, given the nature of this motion, I ask unanimous consent that the Clerk read it again.

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent, given the gravity of this motion, that the Clerk read the motion again since, apparently, no one on this floor, other than I, know what is in it.

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, I had to leave the room briefly. It was my understanding, when I left the room, that the gentleman had mentioned that the bill had passed committee 61 to 1. Is that correct?

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. Is the gentleman aware that when the bill passed the committee, the amendment that provided TRICARE for every single Guard member and Reservist was a part of that bill?

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. Okay. I just want the gentleman to know that that 61 to 1 vote included that amendment.

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, in South Mississippi this morning, four families of National Guardsmen will be notified that their loved ones died yesterday in Iraq. Last Friday, as I visited Walter Reed, I had the opportunity to visit five Mississippians, three of whom are amputees, all of whom are National Guardsmen or Reservists. As the gentlewoman from California just mentioned, over 40 percent of all the people serving in Iraq right now are Guardsmen and Reservists, and a disproportionately high percentage of the deaths and wounds have been received by them. One way we tried to make it up to them for their supreme sacrifice to our Nation was to see to that those Guardsmen and Reservists who choose to can buy into the TRICARE health care coverage provided by our Nation to every other member of the Armed Forces, the regular soldier to their right, the regular Marine to their left. It was brought up in committee, and by a majority vote the Armed Services Committee voted to allow National Guardsmen and Reservists to buy into TRICARE. But somewhere between the committee and the Rules Committee, someone decided that there was mandatory spending involved. So the same Congress that has brought 21 bills to this floor that waived all budgetary rules, no matter how much it ran up the deficit, the same Congress that has added $2.2 trillion to the National debt in just 4 years, that decided Paris Hilton can inherit hundreds of millions of dollars without paying a penny in taxes, decided because there was $5 million mandatory spending, these National Guardsmen could no longer buy into that policy. So we went to the Rules Committee. We showed the Rules Committee where the National Guard Association, the Military Officers Association of America, the Enlisted Association of the National Guard, the Adjutant Generals of every single State voted unanimously for this amendment. The Reserve Officers Association and the Fleet Reserve Association all endorsed this amendment. And yet the Rules Committee, in a straight party line vote, decided that National Guardsmen and Reservists cannot buy their health care. The gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Hastert), the Speaker of the House, ignored the call of the adjutant general of Illinois and the 12,500 National Guardsmen in his State. The gentleman from Texas (Mr. DeLay) ignored the call of his adjutant general and the 20,000 National Guardsmen in Texas. The gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Blunt) ignored the call of his adjutant general and the 10,000 National Guardsmen from Missouri. The gentleman from California (Mr. Dreier) ignored the call of his adjutant general and 20,400 National Guardsmen. The gentleman from Florida (Mr. Putnam) ignored the call of 12,000 National Guardsmen. The list goes on. The bottom line is, if these people are good enough to serve our Nation in Iraq, if they are going to die in disproportionately high numbers, if they are going to lose their limbs in disproportionately high numbers, do you not think this Congress could find the time to debate an amendment that has already passed the Armed Services Committee, and let every Member of this body decide whether or not those Americans who are serving our country in the Guard deserve the opportunity to buy health insurance for themselves and their families? Mr. Speaker, I urge a ``no'' vote on the rule. Committee on Rules David Dreier, CA--Chairman; Lincoln Diaz-Balart, FL; Doc Hastings, WA; Pete Sessions, TX; Adam Putnam, FL; Shelley Moore Capito, WV; Tom Cole, OK; Rob Bishop, UT; and Phil Gingrey, GA. Louise McIntosh Slaughter, NY--Ranking Minority Member; James P. McGovern, MA; Alcee Hastings, FL; and Doris Matsui.

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, I offer a motion to recommit.

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. In its present form, Mr. Speaker.