Diane Watson

Ms. WATSON

Ms. WATSON. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of this resolution and yield myself as much time as I may consume. Last month, over 2,600 athletes from 82 nations came together in the beautiful city of Vancouver, Canada, to compete in the 21st Winter Olympic Games. All of us were proud to watch as Team USA not only won more medals than any other country, the first time they had done that since 1932, but the most medals ever won by a single nation in any Winter Games. Apollo Anton Ohno won his seventh and eighth Olympic medals in short track speed skating, making him the most decorated American Winter Olympian of all time. Americans Lindsey Vonn and Bode Miller both won multiple medals in the thrilling alpine skiing events. American athletes won Olympic medals in the sport of Nordic combined for the first time ever and the first gold in bobsled since 1948. And Evan Lysecek won the gold in the men's figure skating, the first time an American has done that since 1988. As we celebrate the incredible achievements of Team USA, it is also important to recognize the accomplishments of other nations and athletes. Host nation Canada won 14 gold medals, more than any other country. Some nations won their first Olympic gold medals, others competed for the first time ever. We will never forget the performance of Canadian Joannie Rochette who had the courage to compete just days after her mother died and ended up winning the silver medal in women's figure skating. And we mourn the loss of an athlete from the country of Georgia who was killed in a luge training run just before the opening ceremony. Simply getting to the Olympics required an enormous sacrifice from each and every one of the participating athletes. The vast majority of them did not win medals, but all of them tried their best and all had the unique experience of being Olympians. Their determination in the face of adversity helps us all recognize our common values and foster the mutual respect that brings nations closer together. Olympic athletes inspire young people around the world to set their highest and most ambitious goals, to pursue those goals and to believe that they can achieve their dreams. We salute the athletes of Team USA for serving as role models and for their important contributions to the Olympic ideal. Finally, we send our thanks to the Canadian people for being such gracious hosts and commend the Vancouver organizing committee for all their efforts to ensure that the games were a great success. And I thank my good friend and colleague from California, Susan Davis, for taking the initiative to introduce this important resolution. I urge all my colleagues to join me in supporting it. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. WATSON. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentlewoman from California, Representative Susan A. Davis, a member of the Committee on House Administration.

Ms. WATSON. Mr. Speaker, I would yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from Colorado, Representative John T. Salazar, member of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs.

Ms. WATSON. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to Representative Jim McDermott from Washington. He's the chairman of the Subcommittee on Income Security and Family Support. (Mr. McDERMOTT asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Ms. WATSON. Mr. Speaker, again, I want to thank my colleague, Ms. Ros-Lehtinen. I'd like to thank the House for the opportunity to honor the achievement of all Olympic athletes who participated in the 2010 Winter Games and the nation of Canada for their successful execution of this event. The lighting of the Olympic torch every 2 years for both the Summer and the Winter Games initiates the beginning of a great global coming together. All around the world, people are uniquely unified by the thrill of competition and a spirit of sportsmanship. I recall my own relative back in 1964 who ran in the Japanese Olympics and won the 100-yard dash, and she became quite interested in where this ability came from because her mother played tennis at UCLA. And so she traced us way back and found out that we came from Nancy, France, through Quebec, and then down to and through New Orleans, through the Louisiana Purchase. But I say all this to say that being an American and having a good health care system is essential. And she would say to me now, We need to reform health care. We need to provide every American with the best health care that money can provide. And so, we are proposing to this House that we do the right thing. I want more Olympians in my family. My brother has eight children, and I want to see that they all have an opportunity to be their best, like our young people were, and we won the most medals. I was so happy. And I used to ski when I was teaching school in France, and I am so happy that we are preparing our youth to be winners. And we can only do that if we have a health care system that provides for every American, and that's what we are attempting to put in place. So I am so proud. And I want to thank our ranking member for bringing health care reform to the attention, and all this morning, from 12 to just a few minutes ago, all their people came, and they weren't too happy with what we were trying to do. But we're going to clarify the misstatements and we're going to let America know that we cannot wait. We cannot delay health care because we want champions. We want winners in this country. And America has been known for being a Nation of winners, and other countries need to look up to us again. And that is what we are preparing to do. So I urge my colleagues to support the bill. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Ms. WATSON. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Ms. WATSON

Ms. WATSON. Mr. Speaker, I would like to extend our time to 1 hour. Do I have 54 minutes?

Ms. WATSON. Fifty-four. Thank you. Madam Speaker, I would like to yield time to Congressman Garamendi from California.

Ms. WATSON. One of the things I would like to make perfectly clear in this debate. I was listening to the former hour from my office, and I heard over and over and over again how we are cramming the unknown through. Now prior to this whole new concept of reconciliation, I remember the other side coming down with 2,700 pages and talking about what was in those pages and also mentioning to us, Madam Speaker, that they had their staff reading through every single word. Now I heard them say, Congressman Garamendi, that we're cramming the unknown through. This is highly, highly unreasonable and a misstatement. We intended and we set out to address the 38 million uninsured. If you have insurance--and I want the public to hear this--the original intent was to cover the 38 million uninsured. And by the way, Congressman Garamendi, 8 million of that 38 million is in California, our State, and 6 million of those are children. Would we not want to cover health care for our children?

Ms. WATSON. This is not mystery content. What we are going to be considering are the issues that both sides can agree on. We should have health insurance that is affordable, health insurance that is accessible, and with the great expanse of land in California, where you go to get your health care needs to be accessible to you, and not in another town like it is in so many areas of our districts.

Ms. WATSON. I think of your district, over an expanse of land. I have gone to other districts in Colorado with Diana DeGette, and we drove for miles all within her district, town to town. So the community clinics will be accessible to people who live in remote areas. Then we all agreed that we wanted to cover preexisting conditions.

Ms. WATSON. I am so appreciative of your knowledge. You live in an area that is a valley in Sacramento, California. I went up to Sacramento, and I spent 20 years there; and I inherited the health committee, as you have already mentioned, from you. I had it for 17 years. And I found out that I had allergies. I spent years and years trying to find out why I had these allergies. Then I found that in this valley the allergens collect. And I found out that I was allergic to grass, tree bark, cat hair, the CBCs, that material on the wall.

Ms. WATSON. Exactly. Exactly.

Ms. WATSON. Well, I finally made 65 and went beyond.

Ms. WATSON. I did. Way beyond. But the point I am trying to make here is that Americans deserve health care. If you have an insurance company that covers you and your family and you like it, you keep it. And I want to make this perfectly clear to the public that many meetings were held. Many meetings were held here in Congress. No bill gets out of committee that has not been voted on. And a majority vote will get the bill out of committee. We hold our meetings in front of the public. When a bill goes to a committee, it is held, and it is spoken to, it is marked up in front of the public. So I want to make that perfectly clear to the viewing audience and the listening audience out there. We did nothing in a closed smokey room. We don't really smoke in all of our rooms. Some people do. In California, we have a policy that you cannot smoke in any enclosure or outside. You can smoke in your own homes, however. So everything that was in the bill that we are going to consider has been discussed in the public. You were not here for all of those discussions, but you follow policymaking because you served with distinction in the California legislature. You served as a statewide officer, and you know something about this. And thank you for tuning in to what we were doing here. But our premise was we ought to have a single-payer so that every American can feel that they are covered. If we want to keep costs down, we are going to keep people healthy. And we even have a provision that allows medical students to be able to get grants and scholarships if they then commit to becoming a general practitioner so that people can go, particularly to these clinics or to their hospitals, their doctors' offices, and stay healthy. That is what is going to save money. We are not doing this, Mr. Speaker and Congressman Garamendi, to increase the deficit. It is just the opposite. We are doing it to save Americans money. Because if you don't have good health care and coverage and you have a sick child and that child has a fever, what are you going to do? You are going to take that child into where you see that flashing light, that neon light. That is emergency. That is a costly area in a hospital. And if that child is acutely ill, the next stop will be in the surgical suite. And that is where the cost goes up.

Ms. WATSON. Congressman, we have been waiting for the CBO to then give us some idea of what these reforms will cost and how they will reduce the costs of health care here in America. We were hoping that we would have gotten that information today. We do have to give everyone 72 hours to look at the bill before we can bring it up. So we are waiting to get the cost estimate on this new proposal, and we do expect it to come in lower than anticipated. Thank you for giving that information.

Ms. WATSON. One of the misstatements I hear over and over again is that government that doesn't do anything right will be running the system, and that is a misconcept, and I want everyone to hear me. We do cover the conversation between the patient and the doctor to determine end-of-life care. It will be covered for the first time. They called it death panels. It is just the opposite. You know, you ought to have a right to discuss with your practitioner, with your doctor, what your quality of life should be.

Ms. WATSON. We allow you to tell your doctor, and it will be covered, who has the durable power of attorney; where your will is; do you want to be resuscitated; do you want to have these kinds of treatments or not. This is a discussion that will be covered. Government does not have this discussion. The patient and the doctor will have that discussion.

Ms. WATSON. Congressman Garamendi, you know this, a few weeks ago, Anthem Blue Cross, the California Blue Cross program, announced to its consumers that they will have a 39, almost a 40 percent raise in their fees. If we did nothing in the State of California, it would cost a family $1,800 annually for coverage. Now, we had a series of community forums.

Ms. WATSON. It would raise their coverage up $1,800.

Ms. WATSON. We had a series of town halls and so on, and I will never forget this man. He had a heavy accent, but he was an American citizen. He said he worked three jobs, and he said, My 2-year-old became ill, and even with my three jobs, I was not able to afford an insurance policy and could not get coverage for her, and she died. We should never get that testimony in the United States of America.

Ms. WATSON. I would just like to conclude by saying I serve on the International Relations Committee. We travel the globe. I served as an ambassador. I taught school in my twenties in the Far East and over in Europe. And so I have been around this world many, many times. Our status has dropped among other nations. My intent is to continue to lift the status of the most wonderful country in the world, and we are only as strong as our weakest link. It amazes me to hear the criticism, to hear people rant over delivering health care rather than reason over delivering health care, when I know that they happily nodded their heads to spending $15 billion a month on a war that has not really benefited the United States much, and that is the war in Iraq. And no one complained about adding to the deficit then. And now we come up with a health care reform that we want to strengthen America's children, America's adults, all Americans. And to think that would be the cause for these tirades we hear is beyond reason. So I really appreciate you enriching this House with your experience and your knowledge. And I am a little prejudiced because you are from California, but I think your background helps to give understanding to our audience, Americans, that we are doing this for the benefit of all Americans.

Ms. WATSON

Ms. WATSON. Mr. Speaker, I move that the House do now adjourn.

Ms. WATSON

Ms. WATSON. Mr. Speaker, during the 111th Congress, we have made great strides in creating jobs. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act was the largest middle class tax cut in history. One year ago, the economy that was declining by 6 percent is now expanding at about that rate because of this significant program. The Recovery Act has already worked to save or create as many as 2 million jobs, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. In 1 year, the Recovery Act has provided $120 billion in tax cuts for 95 percent of the working families as well as businesses across the country; loaned nearly $20 billion to small businesses to expand and create jobs; and funded more than 12,500 transportation projects nationwide; kept teachers, police officers, and firefighters on the job; and accomplished much more.

Ms. WATSON

Ms. WATSON. Madam Speaker, I, Diane Watson, along with Mr. Becerra, Ms. Bono Mack, Mr. Campbell, Ms. Chu, Mr. Dreier, Mr. Filner, Mr. Garamendi, Ms. Napolitano, Ms. Richardson, Mr. Royce, Ms. Roybal- Allard, Mr. Sherman, and Mr. Visclosky, rise today to honor University of Southern California's 10th President, Steven B. Sample. After 15 years of dedicated leadership, President Sample will be retiring this August. Steven Sample led an institutional rise at USC that is unparalleled in American higher education, helping the university become a highly selective undergraduate institution. He drove faculty excellence to new levels. Not only did he create a network of global scholars and programs, but he also focused on building successful partnerships in local neighborhoods to spur economic and educational development. During his tenure, USC earned 20 national championships in men's and women's intercollegiate sports. In addition, he completed the largest fund-raising campaign in the history of higher education. Under Sample's leadership, the University of Southern California attracted increasingly accomplished students, with SAT scores rising 300 points. Applications have nearly tripled since 1991. USC is now among the top five universities in the number of National Merit Scholars and first in the country in the number of international students. By training, Steven B. Sample is an electrical engineer and a member of the National Academy of Engineering and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. His patents in the field of digital appliance controls have been licensed to practically every major manufacturer of appliance controls and microwave ovens in the world. More than 300 million home appliances have been built using his inventions. President Sample's The Contrarian's Guide to Leadership, a Los Angeles Times best seller, was named one of six ``must-reads'' for leaders by Harvard Management Update of the Harvard Business School. Sample donates all royalties to a scholarship fund for USC undergraduates. This book is translated into a leadership course that Sample teaches to Trojans every year. His outreach has created numerous jobs locally. The University of Southern California became the largest private employer in the City of Los Angeles. It was ranked in the top five of a survey titled ``Great Colleges to Work For'' by the Chronicle of Higher Education in 2006, under Sample's leadership. As a past chairman of the Association of American Universities, Sample understands the importance of intellectual collaboration. That is why he founded the Association of Pacific Rim Universities. Sample has also dedicated himself to promoting Los Angeles as the de facto capital of the Pacific Rim with its strong entrepreneurial-based businesses and commerce, the busiest seaports in the United States, creativity and intellectual capital, and unparalleled diversity. Steven Sample's presidency of the University of Southern California has significantly benefitted the City of Los Angeles, the State of California, and, most important, thousands of Trojan students. Kathryn Sample is her husband's most trusted ally and advisor and has dedicated herself unreservedly to helping strengthen USC's position as a world-class research university. They have two daughters, Michelle Sample Smith and Elizabeth Sample, and two grandchildren, Kathryn and Andrew Smith.