E PL UR UM IB N U U S Congressional Record United States th of America PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE 111 CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION Vol. 155 WASHINGTON, FRIDAY, JULY 24, 2009 No. 113 House of Representatives The House met at 9 a.m. and was last day’s proceedings and announces WE NEED TO BREAK THE HOLD IN- called to order by the Speaker pro tem- to the House his approval thereof. TEREST GROUPS HAVE ON OUR pore (Mr. BLUMENAUER). Pursuant to clause 1, rule I, the Jour- NATION f nal stands approved. (Mr. KUCINICH asked and was given DESIGNATION OF THE SPEAKER permission to address the House for 1 f PRO TEMPORE minute.) Mr. KUCINICH. The health care de- The SPEAKER pro tempore laid be- PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE fore the House the following commu- bate ends up being a debate about the nication from the Speaker: The SPEAKER pro tempore. Will the legitimacy of our political system. If gentlewoman from California (Mrs. this is truly a government of the peo- WASHINGTON, D.C., July 24, 2009. CAPPS) come forward and lead the ple, by the people and for the people, I hereby appoint the Honorable EARL House in the Pledge of Allegiance. then why do we not already have a BLUMENAUER to act as Speaker pro tempore Mrs. CAPPS led the Pledge of Alle- health care system which meets the on this day. giance as follows: needs of all the people? Is it because we NANCY PELOSI, I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the have a market-based, for-profit health Speaker of the House of Representatives. United States of America, and to the Repub- care system? Why do we have 50 mil- f lic for which it stands, one nation under God, lion Americans uninsured and another PRAYER indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. 50 million Americans underinsured? Why are most bankruptcies connected The Chaplain, the Reverend Daniel P. f Coughlin, offered the following prayer: to people being so heavily in debt for Lord God, Who rewards the just serv- hospital bills? MESSAGE FROM THE SENATE ice of Your people and never forgets America faces not only a health cri- those who offer the ultimate sacrifice A message from the Senate by Ms. sis but a spiritual crisis when health of their lives to protect others, we Curtis, one of its clerks, announced insurance and other interest groups praise You and we thank You for those that the Senate has agreed to without stand between the people and their who serve as Capitol Police here in the amendment a joint resolution of the government extracting the wealth of Nation’s Capital. House of the following title: our Nation and appropriating it to a As we honor the memory of Officer H.J. Res. 56. Joint resolution approving the few at the expense of the many and Jacob Chestnut and Detective John renewal of import restrictions contained in pressing upon the many the burden of Gibson later today with a moment of the Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act of illness and the brevity of life. silence, we now pray for all those who 2003, and for other purposes. It is time to break the hold these in- presently commit themselves to serve The message also announced that the terest groups have on our government. as a security force that shields govern- Senate, sitting as a court of impeach- When we do, our Nation will be more ment workers and the public from ment in the trial of Samuel B. Kent, healthy and more free. harm and danger. May their service former District Judge for the Southern f never be compromised or be taken for District of Texas, upon articles of im- granted by others. peachment exhibited against him and COMMONSENSE HEALTH CARE Lord, protect, guide and encourage upon the receipt and exhibit of House REFORM all those women and men who give of Resolution 661, has dismissed the arti- themselves for the good of others in (Mr. KIRK asked and was given per- cles of impeachment and has adjourned mission to address the House for 1 public service. Reward them and their sine die. families with peace and security in this minute and to revise and extend his re- marks.) life. Answer their prayers and all the f longings of their hearts for a better Mr. KIRK. Mr. Speaker, the worst State for health insurance in the coun- world in the future. ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE SPEAKER Amen. try is New Jersey at $5,500 a patient. PRO TEMPORE The best is California at $2,500 each. f The SPEAKER pro tempore. The California has lawsuit reform to reduce THE JOURNAL Chair will entertain up to 5 requests the need for expensive defensive medi- The SPEAKER pro tempore. The for 1-minute speeches on each side of cine and larger insurance pools to Chair has examined the Journal of the the aisle. lower average risk 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. H8711 . VerDate Nov 24 2008 02:58 Sep 28, 2009 Jkt 079060 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 7634 Sfmt 0634 E:\RECORD09\RECFILES\H24JY9.REC H24JY9 smartinez on DSKB9S0YB1PROD with CONG-REC-ONLINE H8712 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE July 24, 2009 For this Congress, Republican mod- costs and regulations that could poten- aster. Masked in rhetoric to simplify erates wrote a health reform bill to re- tially drive many out of business. In and improve our lives, the proposal cre- peat these successes, lowering the costs addition, these increased costs will be ates a new agency to tell every commu- for all Americans and expanding cov- passed along to consumers in the form nity financial business across America erage. Indications are we will not be al- of higher bank fees and less avail- which products they can and cannot lowed to vote on these commonsense ability of credit. So, exactly how is offer to consumers. reforms. Instead, we will vote on a bill this supposed to help our current finan- Bigger government and limits on that is 1,000 pages long, at $1 billion a cial crisis? choice won’t restore confidence in our page, costing $1 trillion, raising taxes It appears as though, once again, this financial marketplace. Our system in the teeth of this recession to mar- administration plans to force Main needs a stronger, smarter, regulatory ginal rates higher than France. Street to pay for the mistakes made on approach which our Republican plan of- I urge Members to reject this bill and Wall Street as they continue to follow fers to empower consumers, protect put forward a commonsense set of re- their financial policy of ‘‘too big to against fraud, and preserve consumer forms that will lower health costs fail, too small to matter.’’ choice. without raising taxes. Reform is needed within our financial f f system, but that reform cannot sac- rifice the health of our small financial THE TIME IS NOW FOR HEALTH WE NEED TO PASS THE HEALTH institutions. INSURANCE REFORM REFORM BILL f (Mr. PALLONE asked and was given (Mrs. CAPPS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 permission to address the House for 1 MINIMUM WAGE INCREASE minute.) minute and to revise and extend her re- (Mr. COHEN asked and was given per- Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, Presi- marks.) mission to address the House for 1 dent Obama in his speech to the Nation Mrs. CAPPS. Mr. Speaker, recently a minute and to revise and extend his re- on Wednesday night really brought constituent called me distraught. She marks.) home the fact that we need to act on has health insurance, but that com- Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, today the health care reform immediately before pany is denying life-saving surgery for Federal minimum wage rises to $7.25 an this Congress adjourns for the August her daughter born with spina bifida. hour. This Congress is proud that the recess, and the reason is simple: costs Why? Because when this mother took a previous Congress passed the minimum continue to go up. new job recently, she got new health wage, and it went up in stair steps; and The cost of health insurance, infla- insurance, and this health insurance in these tough economic times, work- tion is way out of line by comparison company says they don’t have to pay ing people need help. They need help to any other developed country, and we for her daughter’s surgery because with all types of activities. still have about 40 million to 50 million spina bifida is a preexisting condition. This will put $1,100 in the pockets of Americans that have no health insur- Sadly, this is not an isolated story. working people. That means money for ance. So we need to do both. We need Every one of us here has constituents groceries, for rent, for school supplies, to cover everyone as best we can, and who are going through similar situa- moneys that will help with this eco- we need to bring down the costs of tions. These are the people I am fight- nomic recovery, $5.5 billion over the health insurance. ing for. next 12 months. The bottom line is that many of the Our health reform bill seeks to insure One of the first votes I took in this organizations who opposed health in- the nearly 50 million people who don’t Congress was to increase the minimum surance reform 15 years ago when I was have any health insurance, but just as wage that had been held stagnant for here under President Clinton now sup- important is fixing the currently bro- decades.