E PL UR UM IB N U U S Congressional Record United States th of America PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE 109 CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION Vol. 151 WASHINGTON, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2005 No. 18 House of Representatives The House met at 10 a.m. and was Pursuant to clause 1, rule I, the Jour- The other type of stem cells, adult called to order by the Speaker pro tem- nal stands approved. stem cells, we are hearing, can be pore (Mrs. CAPITO). f found in many places: umbilical cord blood, fat tissue, bone marrow, muscle, f PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE the spleen and baby teeth, just to name DESIGNATION OF THE SPEAKER The SPEAKER pro tempore. Will the a few. PRO TEMPORE gentleman from Oregon (Mr. DEFAZIO) Already doctors have treated diseases The SPEAKER pro tempore laid be- come forward and lead the House in the with adult stem cells in over 45 clinical fore the House the following commu- Pledge of Allegiance. trials, and extracting them does not nication from the Speaker: Mr. DEFAZIO led the Pledge of Alle- harm anyone; and they are successfully giance as follows: WASHINGTON, DC, being used. These cells do not present February 17, 2005. I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the the serious ethical concerns and med- I hereby appoint the Honorable SHELLY United States of America, and to the Repub- ical dangers of embryo-destructive re- MOORE CAPITO to act as Speaker pro tempore lic for which it stands, one nation under God, search. on this day. indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. We need to focus our efforts on adult J. DENNIS HASTERT, f stem cells, not speculative and uneth- Speaker of the House of Representatives. MESSAGE FROM THE SENATE ical research of embryonic stem cells. f A message from the Senate by Mr. f PRAYER Monahan, one of its clerks, announced SOCIAL SECURITY REFORM that the Senate has passed a bill of the The Chaplain, the Reverend Daniel P. (Mr. DEFAZIO asked and was given following title in which the concur- Coughlin, offered the following prayer: permission to address the House for 1 rence of the House is requested: The following is an adaptation to minute. what is sometimes referred to as S. 384. An act to extend the existence of Mr. DEFAZIO. Madam Speaker, the George Washington’s prayer for this the Nazi War Crimes and Japanese Imperial debate over the future of Social Secu- country: Government Records Interagency Working Group for 2 years. rity is complex and confusing. Even the ‘‘I now make this my earnest prayer: President seems to be a bit confused. f that God would have you and the State His staged town halls have focused on over which you preside in His holy pro- ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE SPEAKER privatization, which actually makes tection; that He would incline the PRO TEMPORE the finances of Social Security worse. hearts of citizens to cultivate a spirit The SPEAKER pro tempore. The On Saturday, the President talked of respect and obedience for govern- Chair will entertain up to five requests falsely about the looming bankruptcy ment, and develop a strong affection for 1-minutes from each side. of Social Security. Worst case sce- and love for one another as fellow citi- f nario, Social Security can only pay 75 zens of the United States, especially to 80 percent of benefits starting in 40 for those who serve in our military; STEM CELL RESEARCH to 50 years. and finally that He would graciously (Mr. PITTS asked and was given per- Until yesterday, he has been pro- dispose all of us to do justice, to love mission to address the House for 1 posing cutting benefits even more to mercy and conduct ourselves with that minute and to revise and extend his re- save the system. But finally yesterday, charity, humility and peaceful disposi- marks.) he opened the door to lifting the cap on tion which are characteristic of Divine Mr. PITTS. Madam Speaker, there is the tax, on wages which people pay. Authorship. Without such virtues, we no ban or gag on stem cell research. In Right now if you earn over $90,000 a can never hope to be a happy Nation.’’ fact, more than 15,000 patients will ben- year, you do not pay any more Social Amen. efit from stem cell research this year. Security tax. If you earn $900,000 a f However, we need to distinguish be- year, you pay the Social Security tax tween the types of stem cells. Embry- at one-tenth the rate of someone who THE JOURNAL onic stem cell research has resulted in earns $40,000. That is not fair. The SPEAKER pro tempore. The no cures for diseases. Aside from the Lifting the cap would assure the sol- Chair has examined the Journal of the destruction of embryos, embryonic vency of Social Security for at least 75 last day’s proceedings and announces stem cells present two significant prob- years and potentially could give a tax to the House her approval thereof. lems, tumors and rejection. break to everybody who earns less than b This symbol represents the time of day during the House proceedings, e.g., b 1407 is 2:07 p.m. Matter set in this typeface indicates words inserted or appended, rather than spoken, by a Member of the House on the floor. H721 . VerDate Aug 04 2004 03:36 Feb 18, 2005 Jkt 039060 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 7634 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\A17FE7.000 H17PT1 H722 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE February 17, 2005 $9,000 a year under a plan I proposed in pension and drive-train of the vehicles, This budget does not do that. Commu- the last Congress. hampering their operational efficiency nity development block grants, grants Hopefully, the President will con- and making them slower. But, even to States and cities that would help tinue down the path of fixing Social worse, the fact that the floor is not cities build their infrastructure and Security first before we have a debate protected means that the insurgents fund various programs throughout the about other programs. are now targeting these up-armored ve- cities. Cuts to first responders and fire- f hicles. Just a couple of weeks ago, I fighters. Funding drug-free schools. had one of my constituents lose a foot The programs go on. We must find the ELECTRONIC PRESCRIBING SAVES because of such an attack. money to fund these programs. COPS LIVES AND MONEY Two years later, and after over $200 programs, $40 million. (Mr. MURPHY asked and was given billion that Congress has given the ad- Madam Speaker, our cities need our permission to address the House for 1 ministration for the war in Iraq, we help. We have got to do better as ap- minute and to revise and extend his re- should not approve another supple- propriators. We have to do better as marks.) mental budget request without ade- this Congress. Fund American families, Mr. MURPHY. Madam Speaker, ac- quate guarantees that, finally, the fund the cities and States so that cording to the Institute of Medicine, needs of our soldiers will be met. America can stay strong, as God in- over 7,000 people die and $29 billion are f tends. wasted every year due to medication f errors. Electronic prescribing can SUPPORT THE CLASS ACTION change lives and save money. FAIRNESS ACT TWELVE POINT COMMONSENSE Medication errors are caused when (Mr. BARRETT of South Carolina PLAN TO RESTORE FISCAL DIS- physicians confuse the names of simi- asked and was given permission to ad- CIPLINE lar drugs, assign inappropriate dosage dress the House for 1 minute and to re- (Mr. ROSS asked and was given per- levels, issue redundant medications, or vise and extend his remarks.) mission to address the House for 1 lead to harmful drug interactions, and Mr. BARRETT of South Carolina. minute.) allergic reactions. Electronic pre- Madam Speaker, in the past few years, Mr. ROSS. Madam Speaker, our Na- scribing allows doctors to automati- we have witnessed an explosion of tion finds itself today in a financial cally and securely transmit a prescrip- interstate class-action lawsuits being crisis. This year, our deficit is pro- tion to a patient’s pharmacist. This filed in our State courts, particularly jected to exceed $589 billion. Last technology eliminates the human er- in certain ‘‘magnet’’ jurisdictions. year’s deficit was $412 billion. Seventy rors caused by unreadable handwriting These ‘‘magnet’’ courts routinely ap- percent of that money was borrowed and improves the quality of care to pa- prove settlements in which lawyers re- from foreigners, including China and tients. ceive large fee awards and the class Japan. Electronic prescribing saves lives by members receive virtually nothing. We are spending nearly $1 million immediately checking a patient’s The result is a growing number of more every 60 seconds than we are tak- records to alert the physician of poten- class-action lawsuits that are losing ing in in this country. On top of that, tial conflicts with other medical condi- propositions for everyone involved, ex- we are spending nearly $1 billion a day tions, known allergies, interactions cept the lawyers that bring them. simply paying interest on the national with other active prescriptions and du- Madam Speaker, later this morning, debt, a debt that today is $7.6 trillion plicate therapies. Electronic pre- we will be debating the Class Action and rising. scribing also saves money by providing Fairness Act. This legislation closes a Yesterday, I joined my colleagues of information to physicians and patients loophole in the system by creating the fiscally conservative Democratic about lower-cost medications like Federal jurisdictions over large, multi- Blue Dog Coalition to announce a new generics, lets the doctors know which State class-action cases.