Health Care Reform

Floor Speech

Mr. BOOZMAN. I appreciate the gentleman from Georgia yielding to me.

I also want to thank you for your leadership on the Doctors Caucus as one of the co-Chairs. You've done an outstanding job.

I think one of the reasons that's so important, I think the reason that we had so many thousands of people up here today--and I would just echo your sentiments about the importance of that. As I looked around, I saw all of these predominantly middle-aged and seniors that had made a trip, made a tough trip in many cases from all over the country. I think it's due to the fact that we've worked very, very hard as a conference. And under your leadership as one of the co-Chairs, I think the Doctors Caucus has done a good job of trying to get accurate information as to what this bill actually does.

We did a town hall teleconference 2 days ago. And as you said, there are many people all over the country that would have loved to have been up here today, but they couldn't get up here. And we did a poll during the course of that teletown hall. We had 12 percent for, 75 percent against, 13 percent undecided. And I think if we had done that a few months ago, the numbers wouldn't have been that great.

The more the American people learn about this bill, the unintended consequences that are going to occur, the more they don't like it.

The gentleman talked earlier about somebody working in a place and was a part-time employed person. The reality is that under this bill, as you start taxing small business the way that it does for full- and part-time employees where you don't offer good enough insurance by government standards, many of those jobs are going to disappear, and this truly is a job killer.

I'm going to go ahead and yield back because I really want us to talk about our alternative versus what's being presented. I want us to talk about the fact

that we're not cutting Medicare. I have got 25,000 Advantage patients in my district. Our bill does not cut them in any way. That program goes ahead and continues on. Then I also want to talk about the effect on small business, our bill cutting the insurance rates versus taxing small business in the other plan.

Mr. GINGREY. Reclaiming my time, I thank the gentleman and I hope the gentleman will stay with us so we can continue----

Mr. BOOZMAN. Yes, very much.

Mr. GINGREY. Because I do want to hear from Dr. Boozman in regard to the Republican alternative and some of the unique things that he's talking about. And I mentioned, of course, the CBO score and that's fantastic. But I think it is important for our colleagues to know, especially those who are undecided. And quite honestly, I think, Madam Speaker, there are a lot of undecideds.

I know there are many caucuses in the Democratic majority. You have 257, something like a 40-seat majority over us Republicans. And you have those many caucuses. You have the Hispanic Caucus. You have the Congressional Black Caucus. You have the Progressive/Liberal Caucus of which Speaker Pelosi is, I guess, the titular head. And then you have the Blue Dog Caucus, some 52 members, who many of them, Madam Speaker, and I know you're aware of this, hold seats that Candidate Senator John McCain carried in the 2008 election. So their districts, Madam Speaker, are not unlike mine. And I won my last election, my third re-elect fourth term with 69 percent of the vote. And I know that many of these Members are agonizing over their vote come Saturday.

Our colleagues earlier--I think the gentlewoman from California was here in 2003 when we had the vote on Medicare modernization and the prescription drug plan, Medicare part D. And she said some things that were accurate in regard to the length of the vote and the fact that it was a very close vote, and when the clock struck double zeros, there were still people undecided. And there was still a lot of persuasion going on. Maybe a little arm twisting, maybe a few calls from the President, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, a lot of weeping and gnashing of teeth. And then, of course, finally that bill did pass at 5 o'clock in the morning, as I recall.

I would say to the gentlewoman from California, you ain't seen nothing yet until we get to 2 days from now, on Saturday, when we're trying to--when I say ``we,'' I think most people on my side of the aisle, if given the opportunity to vote on our bill, would vote ``yes,'' every one of us, but I doubt if there will be too many of us voting for the Federal Government to completely take over our health care system.

And there's going to be some arm twisting and there's going to be some blood letting, not literally but figuratively. A lot of persuasion going on. So we'll see what happens.

I am also joined by a good friend who, like Dr. Boozman, is a part of our GOP Doctors Caucus. Dr. Paul Broun is one of three doctors, three on the Republican side, from the great State of Georgia. Our other colleague who is chairman of the Republican Study Committee, 110 conservative Republican members, Dr. Tom Price chairs that group.

And I want to, Madam Speaker, mention the fact that Dr. Price was also very involved in this effort today to have this House call on Congress and bring these 15,000. In fact, Dr. Price moderated that and did an excellent job.

But Dr. Broun has been wonderful on this issue, brings a tremendous amount of knowledge, plus about 40 years of clinical experience as a family practitioner who it comes as close to Marcus Welby as anybody I have met in years because he did house calls.

Madam Speaker, I will now yield to Dr. Broun so that we can hear from him.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. I thank the gentleman, Dr. Gingrey. I did house calls full time prior to coming to Congress in 2007, and I actually still make house calls.

I appreciate the people coming here today and getting in the house call business. They made a house call on the people's House, and I congratulate them on doing so because their voices were heard. The Constitution of the United States. I carry it in my pocket all the time. I believe in this document, as it was intended by our Founding Fathers. It starts out with three very powerful words.

Mr. GINGREY of Georgia. And if the gentleman will yield just for a second, just for the visual effect. Congressman Gingrey also carries it, and I think every Republican--this document is not what we describe as a living, breathing, changing document unless we do it under the rules of the Constitution by amendment, but I wanted to let the gentleman know that I, too, carry this every day.

I yield back.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Thank you.

The Constitution starts out with three extremely powerful words ``We the People.'' We the People are speaking, and they don't want a government takeover of their health care system. In Hosea 4:6, God says, ``My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.'' Mr. Speaker, the Doctors Caucus and Dr. Gingrey have been trying to educate the people about the onerous effects of a government takeover of health care. I just want to mention a few of those things.

Dr. Boozman, my good friend from Arkansas, was already mentioning the increased taxes and the attacks on small business. But this bill, if it's passed into law, is going to destroy our economy. It's going to destroy our economy because it's going to spend--right now CBO, with their zombie economics, is going to spend over $1 trillion. I call it zombie economics because you have to be a dead person walking around to believe the accounting procedures that CBO went about utilizing in evaluating this bill. But this bill has been scored by CBO as costing over $1 trillion. When Medicare was passed into law 40-some-odd years ago, CBO, when they evaluated it then, they missed the mark. In fact, Medicare, in the first decade, cost almost 10 times what CBO scored it, and that's exactly what's going to happen with this one. I think 10 times will be a conservative estimate of what the CBO is scoring it. It's going to destroy our economy.

The second thing it is going to do is it's going to destroy the State's budget. In Georgia, as the gentleman from Georgia, Dr. Gingrey, knows, we have a balanced budget amendment to our State Constitution. Well, this bill shifts a lot of cost in unfunded mandates to the State because it expands Medicaid. Georgia is already struggling to meet its balanced budget amendments and is already cutting services in the State of Georgia. This bill, for the State of Georgia, from everything I can tell, is going to increase the cost to Medicaid to the State of Georgia $1 billion. We don't have that kind of money. The State of Georgia is going to have to cut its services markedly or increase taxes.

Mr. Speaker, the Governors all over this country should be contacting every single Member of Congress in their delegation and telling them to vote ``no'' on this Pelosi bill that is going to take over the health care system. It's going to destroy States' budgets. It's going to destroy everybody's home budgets because taxes are going to go up on all goods and services, particularly health care services. But there is going to be taxes on every single small business and large business in this country, which means that those taxes are going to be passed through at an increased cost for every good and service in this country. So everybody, including the middle class, the poor people, those on limited income, the elderly are going to have to pay more for everything that they buy, for every service that they contract for. So it's going to destroy everybody's home budgets.

It's going to destroy our children's futures. It's going to destroy their futures because Congress is borrowing and spending dollars that our children and our grandchildren are going to have to pay for. So we're stealing their future.

Scripture says in the Ten Commandments, ``Thou shalt not steal,'' and I call on this House to stop stealing our children's and our grandchildren's futures.

Mr. GINGREY of Georgia. If the gentleman will yield back to me, and I think that is a very, very good point. Mr. Speaker, I agree with the gentleman that it, indeed, is stealing our children's futures to have a current debt of $11.2 trillion. A trillion, you can't imagine. I've heard Members describe what $1 trillion is. I won't try to do that tonight. It's unfathomable. Our current debt is $11.2 trillion.

It's estimated that in the next 10 to 15 years, if we continue down this road, that debt will be $24 trillion. We'll be paying more interest on the debt than we do on discretionary spending. We'll have no money to defend our country. In talking about that Constitution, when you really look at it, there is nothing in here about spending trillions of dollars for health care or for education, but we just keep spending and spending.

But I did want to take this a step further before yielding back to the gentleman from Arkansas, Dr. Boozman. We're not only stealing our children's and grandchildren's futures, Dr. Broun--and I know you know this--we are stealing their present. Now, let me explain.

First of all, Mr. Speaker, the irony of that is that in the cohort of people age 18 to 29 in this recent election, 66 percent of them voted for then-Senator, now-President, Obama. They elected him. In the 18- to 29-year-old cohort, 66 percent. Of that group, Mr. Speaker, that's the highest plurality for a President ever from that age group. I don't impugn their motive or their vote. That's what's great about this country. I'm not sure why each and every one of the 66 percent made that decision. I'm sure they were, as I was, impressed by then-candidate Senator Obama's youth, his energy, his charisma, his communication skills, and he made promises. He made attractive promises. You know, after 8 years of an administration, people are ready for a change, and he promised them change. Indeed, I think he said a change that they could believe in. My English teacher would have changed that and said a change in which they can believe. But in any regard, it made a good sound bite.

Shortly after the President was elected and inaugurated, the President was asked by the media or asked by the minority about these policies of massive government expansion in every sphere, and his response was a glib, Elections have consequences.

Mr. Speaker, indeed, elections have consequences. That's what I'm talking about, Dr. Broun, in regard to robbing our youth not only of their futures but of their present, because this bill that guarantees community

rating and universal coverage, it drives up the cost of health insurance for all of our young, healthy 18- to 29- to 39- to 45-year-olds who are taking care of themselves, who are exercising, who are not overweight, who don't smoke. Today, they're able--in most States--to be able to get affordable health insurance because their lifestyle is less risky and because their age is less risky.

What the President and what Speaker Pelosi and Leader Reid and the Democratic majority want to do is have a one-size-fits-all, where the costs for people that are in their fifties--obviously not eligible yet, Mr. Speaker, for Medicare--it will lower the cost of health insurance for them, and that's a good thing. But at the same time, it drives up significantly the cost of health insurance for those low-risk individuals. In fact, today, many young people will choose a low premium, a low monthly premium, you know, maybe $100 a month, with a very high deductible, and they'll combine it with a health savings account. Under this plan, H.R. 3962, they will not be permitted to do that.

Mr. Speaker, we are robbing the future of the youth of America.

With that, I yield to my friend from Arkansas, Dr. Boozman.

Mr. BOOZMAN. Let me just say that, again, one of the concerns that I have are the unintended consequences that are going to be as a result of the bill, as you are talking about now.

I had a gentleman call me, oh, a month or so ago, and he owns several fast food restaurants. Many of the people that he employs are part-time employees. They're high school kids going to school, working a little bit on the side, many, many college kids. He said that if this bill goes through and he's going to have to be responsible for providing coverage for all of those part-time employees--he provides the coverage now for the full-time employees--he simply can't do that. In this economy, that's so tough, you know. He's barely making it now. So the first thing he's going to do is start laying off those kids. So again, the unintended consequences of them not having a job, going to school and things like that, those are the things that we're going to see so much as a result of this.

I will give you another example. This bill hits community hospitals very, very hard. The only way that you can save money is to consolidate. In Arkansas, and I know in Georgia where you gentlemen are from, there are many, many community hospitals. You start consolidating. You start ratcheting back on your community hospital. That's probably the best jobs in that community, you know, well paid and all of the ancillary things that they buy and things. It is a big part of the economy. You lose your hospital. It's not too long that you lose your physicians? You lose your doctors, you lose your providers. You lose your providers, and then at that point, you really start talking about losing these small communities.

So again, there are so many things out there that this is such a huge deal. You can be for this or against it, but the reality is that it truly is a massive increase in government.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Would the gentleman yield?

Mr. BOOZMAN. Very much so. The only other point I would make is that, from Washington, the important aspects of health care--who does what, who gets paid or whatever--are going to come out of Washington, D.C., versus from a myriad of places right now.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Well, I appreciate that, Dr. Boozman. I practiced medicine for a few years in Blakely, Georgia, a town of 5,000 people. We had a small community hospital there. I moved from there to Americus, Georgia, which has 17,000 people; 25,000 in Sumter County, Georgia, both down in rural southwest Georgia.

We had a regional hospital in Sumter County, an excellent regional hospital. At the time I was there, we had a little over 30 doctors in Americus, Georgia. We had just about any specialty, except for neurosurgery and neurology, in that community.

Then from there, the Lord moved me to Oconee County, just outside of Athens, Georgia, where I still live today. Athens is a town of a little over 100,000 people. There are two hospitals in Athens, Georgia. St. Mary's, I am on the foundation board. I have worked with St. Mary's Hospital. It's a Catholic hospital. I have worked with them for years, trying to help provide care for indigents and people that don't have insurance and to help that hospital be viable. But we also have Athens Regional Hospital.

Now that I am a Member of Congress, I represent the northeast corner of the State of Georgia, and we have a lot of small community hospitals scattered through my congressional district in Hart County and Elbert County and Thomson, which is McDuffie County, and a lot of these, and I can go on. There are many small rural hospitals.

Now, back to something I just said earlier in Hosea 4:6: My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. What it's going to do if the Pelosi bill, this one right here in front of me, is passed into law, small rural community hospitals all over this country are going to close down. Small communities are going to have all those people who work there be jobless. They are going to be put out of work.

Folks are going to have to drive miles and miles to those regional hospitals to get the health care that they so ably deserve. This is not a health care bill. This is a health insurance bill to set up--in fact, the President himself has said he wants to establish socialized medicine where the Federal Government is the only insurer. This bill is the step that they need to put that into place.

That's exactly why the progressives, I call them Marxists, because that's really their philosophy is Marxism or communism, socialism, is based upon, this bill is a step to go to that socialized medicine. But not only the health care markets and small community hospitals are going to be put out of a job. The President's economic adviser has said 5.5 million people are going to lose their job, so it's going to destroy jobs all over America.

Mr. Speaker, if the American people could see this document and understand how onerous it is, they would say ``no,'' and they should. This is the Republican alternative that's going to be considered on and voted on Saturday. Look at the difference in the size.

The Republican Party is the Party of Know, k-n-o-w, know. We know how to lower the cost of health insurance for everybody in this country and let the doctor-patient relationship be how health care decisions are made. This bill is going to put a bureaucrat from Washington D.C., making health care decisions for every single person in this country.

Mr. GINGREY of Georgia. Reclaiming my time, I think the gentleman is making some excellent points, but we do want to have a moment to talk about our alternative. Dr. Broun is holding that up now, the 261-page Republican alternative that's fully paid for, that cuts insurance premiums on average by 10 percent across the board, according to the CBO, and saves $65 billion over 10 years.

I am going to yield back to Dr. Boozman. Before I ask him to go through a couple of slides with us, I want to point one out to our colleagues, this second opinion. I talked about this earlier, about these great Americans that were up here today, as Dr. Broun referenced. They were making a House call on the House, their House, the people's House, absolutely.

Their second opinion included, I talked about that prescription: dispense no money to pay for abortions, dispense no money to pay for illegal immigrants, dispense no money to let a big government bureaucracy take over our health care system and come between our great doctors and their patients, indeed, our constituents. But also in their second opinion they are going to say and they did say today, many of them are wearily driving back home now, but they said, and I point out in this slide: patients don't want government-run health care, period.

Now, I am going to yield to Dr. Boozman for a few minutes, because I have got a couple of slides. I hope he can see those. He should; he is an optometrist. He knows about eyesight. I will lend him my glasses if he needs them. But we will go through a couple of bullet points and talk about things that people are outraged, Mr. Speaker, outraged over.

It's unbelievable, but I will yield to Dr. Boozman and let him talk about it.

Mr. BOOZMAN. Well, again, our first point that it is not government-run health care, and we have alluded to that earlier. We don't federalize 16 percent of the economy. We don't cut seniors to pay for health reform.

Again, I have 25,000 Advantage members. The Advantage Program is so important to them. Also, the other Medicare cuts, you can't increase the population by 30 percent that you are going to serve, not give them any more resources. Something is going to give and the quality of care will suffer with the Pelosi plan.

It doesn't raise the deficit. Your fourth point, health care choices, not government mandates. Then, again, this is a bipartisan compromise.

The other thing I would add, I heard the discussion earlier, people from Arkansas, it just drives them crazy when they hear us talking about giving, allowing illegal immigrants to buy subsidized health care programs. I mean, that's something that they just don't understand.

I am very much opposed to that. I know that you all are very much opposed to that.

But, again, that's something that the majority of this country does not understand, why we would want to do that. Our country is struggling. We are barely--I get the phone calls, as an optometrist, a provider. I used to see people all the time that couldn't afford their health care. That's what we are trying to do to fix.

But the idea, like I say, of giving illegal immigrants subsidies such that they can buy makes no sense at all to the average American. That's one of the reasons so many people are opposed to this is things like this in the bill.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Some people may say that that's a racist comment you just made.

First thing, they are not immigrants. They are aliens, they are law breakers, they are criminals, and they need to go home. We certainly should not give them taxpayer subsidies, not only health care but a lot of the taxpayer subsidies, and they are getting them today. In spite of being against the law getting Medicaid, SCHIP, they are getting those things today because they have fraudulent Social Security numbers, fraudulent driver's licenses. They are criminals. They need to go home.

I want to tell you, I have been accused of being a racist by saying things like that. But I also volunteer as a medical doctor at a clinic called Mercy Clinic in Athens, Georgia, and the vast majority of people that come to that are illegal aliens, people who have no insurance. I have devoted my time, and there are 40-some-odd doctors in our community that devoted our time to go take care of sick people who need our help.

I have a heart for them, but I also believe in the law.

Mr. GINGREY of Georgia. Reclaiming my time, Dr. Broun, as I referred to him earlier as a modern day Dr. Welby, I like the compassion, and I know that he treats people without regard of their ability to pay, and he is a good man.

I wanted to go back to Dr. Boozman because we got into talking about the cost. This next slide, and I want my colleagues to look closely, please. I hope you can see this because these three bullet points are hugely important. I will ask Dr. Boozman to begin to comment on the very first one.

Because on this chart, on this slide, this is how the Democrats, the Pelosi health reform bill comes up

with the $1.055 trillion to so-call pay for this thing and not add one dime, as they say, to the deficit.

Mr. BOOZMAN. Right. Well first one, no $570 billion in Medicare cuts, which again is such a concern to seniors and why they are very much, I think, as a group, opposed to this bill, at least in the Third District of Arkansas. No 700 billion in taxes on employers and citizens. Again, small business is very, very concerned about the impact that this is going to have on their businesses.

No taxing States. The Medicaid increases, Dr. Broun alluded to that earlier. That's going to be a huge impact on our States, and the States have to either raise taxes or cut services in order to provide that service. Again, that's a real problem.

Mr. GINGREY of Georgia. Dr. Boozman, I don't think there is anything about raising Medicare coverage to 150 percent and putting this burden on the back of States in the Republican bill, is there?

Mr. BOOZMAN. No, not at all. In fact, I think an unintended consequence that we might see that people need to look at is many of our State county employees, city employees, our teachers, I don't think that they will meet the mandate that is pushed forward in the Pelosi plan. I think that will up their costs greatly at the State level. Again, that's going to have to be taken through increased property taxes and things like that to pay that bill. So many unintended consequences.

Mr. GINGREY of Georgia. Dr. Boozman, I did want to go back to my first bullet point. Again, my colleagues, I refer you to this slide that's on the easel, ``no $570 billion in Medicare cuts.''

If the camera could focus on Dr. Broun for a second, because that bill, that bill, H.R. 3962, is right in front of him. I am glad he is not trying to hold it, because we would be working on his back tomorrow; he would probably be in a back brace.

But in that bill, that $1.055 trillion pay-for includes this $570 billion, $570 billion cuts in Medicare.

Dr. Boozman, would you elaborate on some of those cuts and why that should be of some concern to our seniors, because the folks on the other side of the aisle, Dr. Boozman, Dr. Broun, Mr. Speaker, my colleagues, just an hour ago said they don't need to worry about that; they are not going to hurt them. They are going to be okay. Let's talk about that a little bit.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. They lie. They lie.

Mr. BOOZMAN. Well, I will just say this----

Mr. GINGREY of Georgia. Well, you know like some others on this side of the body Dr. Broun just spoke out of turn, but we will forgive him for that.

I will yield now officially to the gentleman from Arkansas.

Mr. BOOZMAN. Well, we have a situation where Medicare gets in big trouble and goes broke in 2017 without aid. I have many people call me, I know that you guys do too, that have moved to town, you know, that maybe their mom has moved in or something, they can't find a Medicare provider now because physicians, because we are not paying them what it takes to see some of these patients.

They are starting to either not accept new Medicare patients, or they are limiting the Medicare patients that they already see. Again, we are already seeing a form of rationing.

So to make 570 billion in cuts, with that going on, its just makes no sense at all. If anything, we need to be shoring up Medicare.

The other thing, too, is that they add significant increased population, increased patients to the thing. We already have 10 percent-plus. I think everyone agrees it's at least 10 percent in fraud and abuse.

Why increase the system? Why not take care of the problems that we have got now, shore it up so we don't have problems in 2017 before we just throw more money into it and just create even more problems?

Mr. GINGREY of Georgia. Dr. Boozman, reclaiming my time, I am so glad you elaborate on that $570 billion Medicare cut, because that's 12 percent a year over the next 10 years. We are not spending $570 billion today on Medicare; I can assure you we will in the very near future, but we are not today. So a $570 billion cut is more than what our yearly expenditure is today on Medicare. So over a 10-year period of time, about a 12 percent cut. The most egregious cut is coming from Medicare Advantage. Some 120-something billion dollars, a 17 percent cut per year, from that program.

Well, if that program was just some fluke that a few seniors signed up for and it wasn't that good of a program and we were wasting money on it, that would be one thing, Mr. Speaker. But 20 percent of our seniors are Medicare patients. They love it; they love it.

They get prescription drug coverage so they don't have to sign up for part D and pay that extra monthly premium. They get an annual physical. You don't get that in Medicare fee-for-service. They get screening, they get follow up, they have a nurse practitioner call them after their appointments to make sure they are taking their medication. They have a nurse call them when it's time for the next appointment, and they are staying healthy. The President and the majority party and all of us agree that preventive care is cheaper than treating the illness.

Yet you want to cut that program? That's bizarre to me.

I want to yield to my friend from Athens, Dr. Broun. He may want to discuss the $700 billion in taxes in addition to the Medicare cuts and where that is going to come from and whose back is that on. Is this from the ultra-rich, Bill Gates and Warren Buffett and folks like that?

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Yes, they are going to pay higher taxes. Everybody in this country is going to pay higher taxes, from the extremely rich to the poorest people; but most of those taxes will come on the backs of the small businesses. That is the reason that the President's own economic adviser has said that 5.5 million jobs in America are going to be destroyed. People are going to be put out of work because of that tax burden that is placed on small businesses.

This whole bill, this Pelosi health care takeover, is going to destroy America. It is going to destroy everything we have in America.

Let me tell you a little story. Recently, I was talking to one of the Blue Dog Democrats, and I asked him to show me in this document where Nancy Pelosi has the constitutional authority to take over the health care system in America. He could not because this is unconstitutional.

Mr. GINGREY of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, we have just a few minutes left. This bill that we are talking about, H.R. 3962, this bill that we will be voting on on Saturday, this massive increase in bureaucracy, when it came through the Energy and Commerce Committee, I counted that it had 53 czars. I think we are up to 120 now. But the most egregious of all the czars that have been created through this bureaucratic bill is someone called the health choices administrator.

Now the health choices administrator is the person who is going to say what has to be in every health plan. That is why I was talking about driving up the prices for the youth of America, and why we are robbing from their present as well as their future. This health choices administrator is going to be more powerful than the Social Security administrator. They are going to decide not only are we going to force you to buy insurance or we are going to charge you a 2 percent fine, maybe put you in jail, or force your employers to provide insurance for your employees or fine you 8 percent, or maybe put you in jail, too. The person that is making those decisions on what type of plan is offered, and, Mr. Speaker, I am sure these low-premium, high-deductible health savings accounts are the types that young people love because it gives them protection against ``horrendoplasty,'' as we call it in medicine, a terrible car accident which causes them to lose a limb, and every bit of their financial wherewithal.

Here on this slide is a caricature of the health choices administrator. The gentleman from Georgia recognizes him because he ran Hazard County, Georgia. His name was Boss Hogg. Some may be too young to remember the ``Dukes of Hazard,'' but Boss Hogg, he made all of the decisions. He was the health choices administrator. And Boss Hogg says, kind of like Big Boss Hogg says, the President of the United States, you can have whatever you like as long as the boss approves it. As long as the boss approves it.

Let me just conclude by saying the people that came up here today had a prescription for America, and they told us, and I had one, too. I had it in my pocket, I just didn't have a chance to share it.

Here is my 10 prescriptions for a healthy America:

No government-run health care plan.

No cuts to senior care.

No new deficit spending. The President promised that.

No new taxes. That is in the Republican bill.

No rationing of care. The seniors don't want to get thrown under the bus, but they will under H.R. 3962.

No employer mandate. It is unconstitutional to force them. We want to encourage them. We want to lower the prices, as the Republican bill does, so they can get health care insurance, but in a voluntary way.

And we don't want to have taxpayer-funded coverage for illegal immigrants.

And we don't want to pay for abortions with taxpayer dollars.

Mr. Speaker, thank you for your patience. We will be back tomorrow night. God bless you and good evening.

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