House Proceeding 09-08-09 on Sep 8th, 2009 :: 3:49:15 to 4:24:05
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3:49:12 to 3:49:35( Edit History Discussion )

Michael C. Burgess: and we will continue to do it good or bad. we look forward to the president coming and addressing tomorrow in a joint session. with that, we yield back the balance of our time. the speaker pro tempore: under the speaker's announced policy of january 6, 2009, the chair recognizes the gentleman from texas, mr. burgess, for the

3:49:15 to 4:24:05( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Michael C. Burgess

3:49:41 to 3:50:02( Edit History Discussion )

Michael C. Burgess: remaing time until midnight. mr. burgess: i feel like i've got equal time for reply from the last 45-minute seeingment. i would remind my friends, they are in the majority. this is the house of representatives, the united states. any bill can pass on the floor

3:50:03 to 3:50:23( Edit History Discussion )

Michael C. Burgess: of this house with 218 votes. i think as i recall the last numbers, we have 177 members on the republican side. you have 258 members on the democratic side. that means you can pass pretty much whatever you want whenever you want as long as you keep only 40 members of your party

3:50:24 to 3:50:44( Edit History Discussion )

Michael C. Burgess: from straying and you can only lose 40 members from your side and you can pass whatever you want. we read some articles in the paper today that there are 23 democrats who said there is no way they are voting for this health care bill. you still have a comfortable margin of 20 votes to pass

3:50:45 to 3:51:05( Edit History Discussion )

Michael C. Burgess: whatever bill you want. don't set this up as a straw man republican versus democratic argument. the republican party in the house of representatives in this congress cannot stop you from passing anything that you want to pass. we do not have the numbers. we do not have the organ some might argue we don't have the leadership to block anything that you want to pass.

3:51:06 to 3:51:26( Edit History Discussion )

Michael C. Burgess: so your argument is an internal argument. it is democrat versus democrat. bring the bill to the floor of the house you want to bring. bring it to the les committee. you have plenty of time. bring it to the floor of the house. we will have our two hours of debate and have the vote and win the vote and send it over to the senate. you've got 60 votes on the senate side. this should not be a challenge

3:51:27 to 3:51:48( Edit History Discussion )

Michael C. Burgess: for you. send it down to the white house. you have a president who will sign virtually anything you send down to him. this is not an argument you are having with republicans, this is an argument you are having internally within your own caucus. why are you having that argument within your own caucus? because you have not sold this proposal to the american people

3:51:49 to 3:52:09( Edit History Discussion )

Michael C. Burgess: and you felt that acutely during the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman should refer his remarks to the chair. mr. burgess: the other side did not make the sale to the american people and did not engage the american people from

3:52:10 to 3:52:30( Edit History Discussion )

Michael C. Burgess: the grass-roots up. tough legislative proposals, you don't start at the top and work down. that's the soviet st things, madam chair. this is america. we go from the grassroots up. and our friends on the democratic side chose not to do it that way.

3:52:31 to 3:52:51( Edit History Discussion )

Michael C. Burgess: instead, they would rather villify republicans because that's what helps them raise money and win votes and isn't it about winning votes and maintaining your majority. you're not really held to account by the american account as to whether or not you pass your agenda or not apparently if we are to believe the poll numbers. i don't believe this can be done

3:52:52 to 3:53:13( Edit History Discussion )

Michael C. Burgess: from the top down. this has to come from the grassroots up. we saw a member of congress, a democrat in one of the midwestern states ask her constituents during one of the august town halls, don't you trust me? and the response she got back from her awed yns well, apparently not.

3:53:14 to 3:53:34( Edit History Discussion )

Michael C. Burgess: -- audience, well, apparently not. the question is, the real question for this house, was anyone listening to those voices as they were speakinto us? right now, this congress has historic low credibility ratings. we have some of the lowest credibility ratings in the last 26 years.

3:53:35 to 3:53:57( Edit History Discussion )

Michael C. Burgess: two years ago, 2 1/2 years ago when the senate tried to pass massive immigration reform, they found because of the low credibility levels they had that no one trusted the united states senate to pass this type of immigration reform and as a consequence, despite the backing of two powerful senators, one on the republican side, one on the democratic

3:53:58 to 3:54:18( Edit History Discussion )

Michael C. Burgess: side, despite that powerful backing, they were unable to pass sweeping immigration reform in 2007. the american people recoiled in horror when they saw what was happening, flooded the switchboard and the senate got the message and went on to other things that might occupy their time for the rest of that summer. this summer has been no

3:54:19 to 3:54:40( Edit History Discussion )

Michael C. Burgess: different. switchboards have been shut servers have been overwhelmed. the american people have weighed in on this issue and it is overwhelmingly opposed to what the speaker of the house has pushed through the three committees here on the house side. . ify d not have the credibility

3:54:41 to 3:55:02( Edit History Discussion )

Michael C. Burgess: to do -- if we do not have the credibility to do the sweeping reform proposed, if we don't have the credibility to do that, should we do nothing? or should we in fact try to achieve some deliverable results for the american people. i think every one of us heard the american people are interested us in effecting some

3:55:03 to 3:55:23( Edit History Discussion )

Michael C. Burgess: reform. we heard some mention on the democratic side, there are things on which we do agree. there are things on which we can work and there are deliverables we can accomplish for the american people. but the fact of the matter is, the american people do not trust us, do not trust us to undertake this type of sweeping reform and transform the way health care is delivered in

3:55:24 to 3:55:44( Edit History Discussion )

Michael C. Burgess: this country such that many people may not even recognize it. i do take some exception to some of the comments that i heard in the last hour. i was a physician for 25 years. i practiced medicine. there were plenty of times i got up in the middle of the night and i knew that delivery

3:55:45 to 3:56:06( Edit History Discussion )

Michael C. Burgess: i was going to do and the operation i was going to perform was something i would never be compensated for. that's just part of the job. physicians show up to render this type of care and don't ask where the payment is coming from. people get taken care of in a timely and respectful manner and it happens every day of the

3:56:07 to 3:56:27( Edit History Discussion )

Michael C. Burgess: week and i'm tired of hearing the type of rhetoric we just heard where american physicians are seemingly indifferent to the flights of people who happen to be ill and uninsured. patients are taken care of all the time aoss this country in clinics, in hospitals, in emergency rooms by caring physicians and caring nurses and caring hospital staff without regard for that

3:56:28 to 3:56:50( Edit History Discussion )

Michael C. Burgess: patient's ability to pay. it happens every day. it happens every day of the week system of frustrate to hear people talk about the only way to pay for health care in this country is either through a private insurance or a government program. there's plenty of care that is just donated by the yen rossity of america's physicians, america's nurses and america's hospitals.

3:56:51 to 3:57:13( Edit History Discussion )

Michael C. Burgess: well, in fact, the only thing standing away from this sweeping reform that the president is going to come talk to us about tomorrow night is an internal conflict on the democratic side. if we had done this bill in july as had been proposed, if we'd voted on this bill on july 31, which is what the chairman of the three committees

3:57:14 to 3:57:34( Edit History Discussion )

Michael C. Burgess: desired, which was was the president and white house desired, had we voted on this bill by the 31st of july, we'd have gone home to face our town halls, but it would have been a different equation. because the bill would have already been passed and would be off to the senate. but we didn't do that a funny thing happened on the way to ramming this thing through and

3:57:35 to 3:57:55( Edit History Discussion )

Michael C. Burgess: many members on the democratic side began to hear from their constituents and began to hear that this was not perhaps such a good idea after all. but do bear in mind, madam speaker, 218 votes are what is required to pass any vote out of ts house. the rules committee is the speaker's committee, the speak

3:57:56 to 3:58:16( Edit History Discussion )

Michael C. Burgess: hears a 9-4 advantage, the speaker can get any rule pushed through committee that she wish, bring any bill to the floor she wishes, we've seen it time and time and time again. 218 votes are all that are required. do not tell me and do not continue to per pitch wa the fantasy that somehow 178 republicans are table prevent

3:58:17 to 3:58:37( Edit History Discussion )

Michael C. Burgess: this bill coming to the floor. i would reiterate, you have the magic 60 votes in the senate you don't need reconciliation or a fancy procedural maneuver. you have the votes to pass in the senate whatever you care to pass and of course you have a president who already committed to signing this bill. one of the things that i heard

3:58:38 to 3:58:58( Edit History Discussion )

Michael C. Burgess: a lot back home was a concern about the cost and this is something that is going to continue to come up and continue to be problematic for anyone who wants to undertake a bill that's as sweeping as the one we had before our committees last month, thebill itself had very little in the way of cost containment contained been the -- within

3:58:59 to 3:59:19( Edit History Discussion )

Michael C. Burgess: the bill. there were some physician cut, we always rely on those. there were some cuts to home health care, cuts for diologists and imaging. in general, there was little in the way of cost containment in the bill. now we do hear a lot of talk and there's a lot of rhetoric on the issue of preventive care. preventive care, preventive

3:59:20 to 3:59:41( Edit History Discussion )

Michael C. Burgess: medicine, you bet, i'm for that. the cost savings from certain and the timeline to achieving those cost savings is also uncertain. and in fact, the cgressional budget office in its report to our committee in july delineated the very low rate of return on those savings and the

3:59:42 to 4:00:03( Edit History Discussion )

Michael C. Burgess: act that it might be years before those cost containments were achieved. doesn't mean it's not worthwhile. it doesn't mean it's not worth doing. but to go to the american people with the statement that we're going to do all these things and we're going to be able to pay for all this additional care by not cutting anyone's services but because we're going to do things

4:00:04 to 4:00:27( Edit History Discussion )

Michael C. Burgess: better, faster, cheaper, smarter does not square with the facts. and the american people have seen through that. many of the studies have shown that in the early year, by increasing the preventive regimen, the cost may increase. you would expe this to be the case, there's going to be more spent on the infrastructure necessary, more spent on the

4:00:28 to 4:00:48( Edit History Discussion )

Michael C. Burgess: clinics, the exam rooms, professional personnel, nurse practitioners, paramedics, physician extenders necessary to see the increased numbers of patients coming through the clinics as we increase the through put through those clinics. it's going to cost more up front.

4:00:49 to 4:01:10( Edit History Discussion )

Michael C. Burgess: i think there's recognition of that we did hear concern about the medicare mart d program. i would remind people medicare part d, when it was passed in this house of representatives back in 2003, medicare part d was a provepks-based strategy. it only made sense, if you were going to cover the doctor's expense, cover the hospitalization, as was covered under medicare part a and b at

4:01:11 to 4:01:32( Edit History Discussion )

Michael C. Burgess: the time and you did not allow for the coverage of a prescription drug benefit, that it was going to be harder to deliver on the promise of preventive care without the medicines available to prevent the illnesses you wished to prevent. it seemed relatively simple and straightforward in 2003, it

4:01:33 to 4:01:53( Edit History Discussion )

Michael C. Burgess: seems relatively straightforward now. i think the people who have run written -- written this bill would have done well to look at some things from the medicare part d program that have worked well. there were some problems with medicare part d as it was passed. there were some problems with implementation. i don't think anyone would deny that. but the fact of the matter is

4:01:54 to 4:02:15( Edit History Discussion )

Michael C. Burgess: that under the medicare part d program, remember, there was no mandate. there was never a mandate that said a senior had to take a certain type of prescription drug coverage. different levels of coverage were available to every senior. every senior was encouraged to have some type of credible coverage for prescription drugs. there was a cutoff date beyond which there would be an increased cost for buying into the insurance program if

4:02:16 to 4:02:40( Edit History Discussion )

Michael C. Burgess: someone did not enroll during the open enrollment period. but it did not come to us under the themontle of a mandate. there was no requirement that every senior buy coverage, there was a recommendation that every senior have credie coverage under the plan and there were some benefits for people if they went ahead and established that credible coverage by a certain cutoff

4:02:41 to 4:03:02( Edit History Discussion )

Michael C. Burgess: date. what that meant was the companies involved in providing the coverage were competitive on the basis o providing programs people actually wanted rather than saying we know you've got to buy this, so we're going to put one or two programs out there and you can ping or choose from one or two

4:03:03 to 4:03:24( Edit History Discussion )

Michael C. Burgess: and take it or leave it. dr.mark mcclellan, who was a the head of medicare service, said there are six classes of drugs, wit there have to be two different choices and with those parameter the companies were allowed to construct programs and compete in the marketplace. we were told early on when we talked about this type of change in the medicare part d

4:03:25 to 4:03:45( Edit History Discussion )

Michael C. Burgess: program that in fact you will never, you will never get companies showing up to provide these products. you'll have to main date -- mandate something or people won't have any program at all from which to choose. but dr. mcclellan stuck to plan and as a consequence, in some states we had well over 40

4:03:46 to 4:04:06( Edit History Discussion )

Michael C. Burgess: different plans that were there selling -- making available different types of medicare part d coverage. we were criticized a year into the plan that there were too many choices. people couldn't possibly decide what to die bye because there was too much choice out there. well in fact it was a go problem to have. as a consequence now we have

4:04:07 to 4:04:29( Edit History Discussion )

Michael C. Burgess: the medicare part d program, where the coverage rate is in excess of 90%. the satisfaction rate is in excess of 09%. it rivals any insurance program with a coverage mandate whether it be an individual or employer

4:04:30 to 4:04:50( Edit History Discussion )

Michael C. Burgess: mandate by providing coverage that people want, we have been able to provide more coverage to more people at lower cost than anyone ever thought possible back in wee when the legislation was passed. we heard very many compelling anecdotes in the past 45 minutes about people with difficult problems in tough medical situations. no one would argue that those

4:04:51 to 4:05:12( Edit History Discussion )

Michael C. Burgess: are not compelling stories. i would just remind people that our -- that are studying this issue that the bill we have before us that came out of the three committees, the bill that will likely come to the floor sometime this month, while it does provide for a public option and does provide for a public option for coverage, those methods of coverage do

4:05:13 to 4:05:34( Edit History Discussion )

Michael C. Burgess: not become generally available to the general population until 2013. three years after the enactment of the bill. so those are not going to be immediate benefits that are going to be accessible by any of the tough situations you heard described here in the last hour. in fact, those programs are going to lag significantly behind the startup time of that bill.

4:05:35 to 4:05:56( Edit History Discussion )

Michael C. Burgess: what can we expect in january when the bill start, if the bill is passed and signed as is planned? what can we count on in january? you can count on the tax os curring. those certainly will. the taxes will begin january 1 of 2010. an 8% payroll tax on small business in this country. an 8% payroll tax may well be the largest single employment

4:05:57 to 4:06:18( Edit History Discussion )

Michael C. Burgess: tax that's ever been passed in this country. this may be the largest single job killing event to occur in this young century. this is something we need to be very, very careful about as we go about enacting this legislation because we are in the midst of a recession. we are hopeful that the recession is ending, but one of the difficult ings about

4:06:19 to 4:06:40( Edit History Discussion )

Michael C. Burgess: ending a recession, as we found in my early year here's in 2003 and 2004, that as the recession ends, job growth does not necessarily follow immediately. what is the major engine of job growth in this country? it's small business. if we don't do anything to encourage small business and in fact we go so far as to hurt small business, it will be very, very difficult to grow

4:06:41 to 4:07:01( Edit History Discussion )

Michael C. Burgess: those jobs that are actually going to be what lifts us out of ultimately lifts us out of this recession. none of us likes to look forward to a job less -- jobless recovery yet that s to be what's in the cards for us right now. this is a very serious situation and something to which this congress should best pay some heed because the

4:07:02 to 4:07:22( Edit History Discussion )

Michael C. Burgess: absence of job growth in this economy will lead to that double dip or w-shape red session many economists talk about. the -- i did have several meeting owners in my district. i conducted forums with small business owners just to hear their concerns about what congress was going.

4:07:23 to 4:07:46( Edit History Discussion )

Michael C. Burgess: -- was doing. yes we heard some on the energy bill and how that would be a job-killing piece of legislation. but a lot of concern over what is happening in health care. and even more to the point, there is so much uncertainty out there in the country right now, no one know what is we're going to do, madam speaker. are we going to pass this bill?

4:07:47 to 4:08:07( Edit History Discussion )

Michael C. Burgess: are we going to put an 8% payroll tax on top of the taxes that small busisses already pay? many employers that i spoke with told me that, yeah, the recession may be ending. we see sig, things seem to be easing up a little bit. are you going to expand your business? are you going to be bringing back some of those jobs you

4:08:08 to 4:08:28( Edit History Discussion )

Michael C. Burgess: outsourced or laid off? i'm not so sure about that because the environment out there is kind of unsettled right now. we don't know what you're going to do with this health care bill. we don't know what you're going to do with that energy bill. as a consequence, we're going to put our expansion plans on hold for right now and i heard this other and over and over again. to be sure, every business that

4:08:29 to 4:08:49( Edit History Discussion )

Michael C. Burgess: i talked to was perhaps talking about adding one or two or three jobs and that they'd put those plans on hold but small businesses across the country that are putting on plans of adding one, two, or three jobs spread over the entire country and the tire economy, that's a significant number of jobs that are right now, right now

4:08:50 to 4:09:10( Edit History Discussion )

Michael C. Burgess: being he again, employers are not certain about what congress is going to do next. . one of the things that came loud and clear to me from my constituents during the month of august is that congress lacks

4:09:11 to 4:09:31( Edit History Discussion )

Michael C. Burgess: the trust of the american people to do something this large and it is very difficult to do this in a top-down sentalized fashion and we need to recruit and encourage the american people of what we are trying to do, what the value is in it for what we are trying to do rather than

4:09:32 to 4:09:52( Edit History Discussion )

Michael C. Burgess: superthis large government program on the american people. have you read the people? who can read the bill? it's too big and complex. this is a valid complaint and it's reflecttive of the fact that this legislation is large and sweeping and people do not trust the congress to make those

4:09:53 to 4:10:14( Edit History Discussion )

Michael C. Burgess: kinds of changes on a portion of their life that is that important to them. people do not trust the congress to be able to do the right thing. we have heard over and over again from our constituents that hey, if this isn't good enough for members of congress, why should wsign up for it and why

4:10:15 to 4:10:35( Edit History Discussion )

Michael C. Burgess: should we accept something that you won't take yourselves. during the debates in the committees, there were a number of amendments offered. some suggested that whatever the public option is, whatever it turns out to be should be the type of insurance that members of congress and members of the administration and their staffs are required to take, that is,

4:10:36 to 4:10:58( Edit History Discussion )

Michael C. Burgess: if it is good enough for the american people, it ought to be good enough for the governing class as well. i don't disagree with that. that was knocked out in our committee and we never had a chance to vote for it. that ruling was appeal and the appeal of the motion of the chair was upheld on a party-line vote.

4:10:59 to 4:11:19( Edit History Discussion )

Michael C. Burgess: so every democrat said, hey, we don't want this coverage for ourselves. every republican said, we should at lst have the debate and have the amendment and hear out both sides, but we weren't ahollywood to do that and shut down on a party-line vote. i would have had an amendment to

4:11:20 to 4:11:41( Edit History Discussion )

Michael C. Burgess: have medicaid available to every member of congress. so every member of congress would be covered under the medicaid system and every member of congress would then understand what it is like to try to find a physician for themselves or for a family member in the medicaid system. it can be very difficult to do that. why is that?

4:11:42 to 4:12:04( Edit History Discussion )

Michael C. Burgess: because reimbursement rates under medicaid are so low, so low that members of the medical profession simply cannot afford to take large members of medicaid patients into their practice for fear they won't be able to cover their overhead and fear they won't be able to keep their practices open. this was prevent odd a vote of

4:12:05 to 4:12:25( Edit History Discussion )

Michael C. Burgess: technicality and underscores the huberous when it considers doing things to the american people that it wouldn't consider doing things to member of congress. people can see that and feel that it is not right that a member of congress would vote on a type of bill that would require americans to take a certain type of insurance when

4:12:26 to 4:12:48( Edit History Discussion )

Michael C. Burgess: that member of congress would have no intention of taking that insurance themselves. we heard it in the town halls that were calkt conducted by the white house. this is insurance that will be good enough for members of the white house and members of their staff? not necessarily. we want something good for members of the white house, but it is that type of thing that

4:12:49 to 4:13:11( Edit History Discussion )

Michael C. Burgess: has people gotten so upset. we could deal with that by requiring any public option or even medicaid is something that is just not made available but required of members of congress, but we won't have that discussion. we won't have that debate. it seemed to be beneath us to have that debate, but that's a

4:13:12 to 4:13:37( Edit History Discussion )

Michael C. Burgess: problem we could fix and fix pronto. as a physician, one of the single largest issues that faces physicians in this country, the constant threat of medical litigation, the expense of medical liability insurance, the cost of defensive medicine that drives the cost of the practice of medicine literally through the roof.

4:14:26 to 4:14:46( Edit History Discussion )

Michael C. Burgess: study back inno carrierringconnect 1200 we don't trust you to have a rational discussion about this. i dare say if liability reform and fairness in the physician' compensation system had been on the table, you might have had some republicans be on board. what i do know is you never tried.

4:14:47 to 4:15:08( Edit History Discussion )

Michael C. Burgess: never did any of the committee chairmen or the president of the white house seriously try to achieve any type of bipartisan balance in this bill. it simply was of interest to them because i will go back to my early remarks, they could lose 40 votes in the house and still pass a bill. they have 60 votes in the senate.

4:15:09 to 4:15:29( Edit History Discussion )

Michael C. Burgess: they can cut off debate at any time and pass the bill and send it down to the white house and get it signed into law. we have heard over and over again in our town halls this summer about the problems with pre-existing conditions, about the problems with insurance. we are talking about insurance reform. that is something we could

4:15:30 to 4:15:50( Edit History Discussion )

Michael C. Burgess: accomplish. yes, there are some thorny issues to be addressed, but it's no more difficult than anything else we have taken on. and we could have solved that problem. we could have debated that problem. we could have voted on that problem before we went home for the august recess and shown the american people we were serious about taking care of a very

4:15:51 to 4:16:13( Edit History Discussion )

Michael C. Burgess: serious problem that affects eight to 10 million people in this country and prevents them from deathing the health care coverage they would like to have. there will be difficult debate on rating bans and whether or not there is a premium cap or whether or not there is a premium to be paid on someone not having insurance before they

4:16:14 to 4:16:36( Edit History Discussion )

Michael C. Burgess: got the tough diagnose. perhaps there will be new monies made available in state and federal subsidies for people who can't afford the cost of a high-risk pool. nevertheless, we could have those debates and arguments and look at the figuresnd decide what a correct number would be. anagain, that is something that is easily within our level of achievement and this house

4:16:37 to 4:16:57( Edit History Discussion )

Michael C. Burgess: could have done it before we went home for august, but for some some reason we chose not to. on the issue of port built, we could have dealt with that. one of the biggest problems that people are having right now is because of job loss because of the recession. if someone loses their job, it

4:16:58 to 4:17:18( Edit History Discussion )

Michael C. Burgess: becomes tough to contin that insurance. under cobra, government-offered insurance has to be offered but it is extremely expensive and someone who just lost their job to cover their portion and the employer's portion and administrative fee becomes terribly difficult, but we could have dealt wh that.

4:17:19 to 4:17:40( Edit History Discussion )

Michael C. Burgess: buwe chose not to. we chose to go home with our work not being done and the american people saw through that. that's why they were frustrated with us. we heard on one of the sunday shows this weekend the president's main adviser said in some states, there is no competition. there is only one insurer.

4:17:41 to 4:18:01( Edit History Discussion )

Michael C. Burgess: how do you deal with that? if there is only one insurer in some states, do you really make the situation better by adding a second insurer? well, maybe, if that's a government-run program, then maybe that's a good thing, maybe it's a bad thing. maybe you run up the one insurer and now back to one insurer, which is the public option.

4:18:02 to 4:18:22( Edit History Discussion )

Michael C. Burgess: but there are 1300 different insurance companies out there if we would simply relax some of the restrictions against selling across state lines, we could open those markets up not to one insurer or 10 other insurers, but to hundreds of other insurers. that's real competion in the

4:18:23 to 4:18:44( Edit History Discussion )

Michael C. Burgess: marketplace, the same type of competition you see today for car insurance, life insurance and with the power of the internet, those costs ha come down significantly for those two products. we could achieve the same type of success in the health insurance market if we were just clever enough to have th discussion and begin to negotiate how we would go about

4:18:45 to 4:19:05( Edit History Discussion )

Michael C. Burgess: putting the protections in place so that people weren't taken advantage of in that situation and that's well within our power to do that, madam speaker. i again come back to the concept that members of congress were not willing to take the very insurance that they were requiring the american people to take.

4:19:06 to 4:19:26( Edit History Discussion )

Michael C. Burgess: when you talk about issues, that's one of the things i heard about over again, the bill's too big, you haven't read the darn thing and if it's so darn good, why won't a member of congress sign up for it. we heard those comments over and over again. it's a big bill. people are frightened of congress's ability to deliver on

4:19:27 to 4:19:48( Edit History Discussion )

Michael C. Burgess: big bill or promise like this. if it is so darn good, why aren't you willing to step up and take it yourselfs. and that distills the arguments we heard during the arguments we heard. and we heard some of the comments in the last hour the democrats had the floor. you heard the comment made that

4:19:49 to 4:20:11( Edit History Discussion )

Michael C. Burgess: it's right-wing talk radio crowd that caused the objections to this health care bill. i submit to you the right-wing talk radio crowd is my crowd, but only 177 republicans in the house of representatives. you have 258 democrats. the right-wing talk radio crowd doesn't talk to the 258

4:20:12 to 4:20:33( Edit History Discussion )

Michael C. Burgess: democrats and you can still lose 39 democrats and pass almost any bill you want out of the house. so, please, it is not a republican that is you from doing this. recognize what's haening here. it is the fact that you have not sold this bill to the american people. that's what's preventing this from being done. now, the other unfortunate thing

4:20:34 to 4:20:56( Edit History Discussion )

Michael C. Burgess: this summer was the speaker of the house took it upon herself and the majority leader took it upon himself to write a piece for the "usa today" where they villified the american people. if you are trying to build a grass-roots consensus transforming the delivery of health care in this country, is

4:20:57 to 4:21:19( Edit History Discussion )

Michael C. Burgess: it a smart idea to villify the very people you are trying to recruit to get this project done? i don't think so. that is politics 101. you don't, you don't irritate the very people that you are going to be asking to help you pass a bill of this magnitude.

4:21:20 to 4:21:40( Edit History Discussion )

Michael C. Burgess: i do believe that it is possible that it is reasonable for us to get down and work on some of these things that i've outlined tonight. i suspect there are others out there tonight that other side would like to see. these came up during my town halls. i would like to have serious

4:21:41 to 4:22:02( Edit History Discussion )

Michael C. Burgess: discussions on this. i think the american people do want to see this done in a bipartisan fashion. tomorrow night, we will have a very big speech here in the house. the president will come down. all of our friends from the senate will be here. we may well have members of the cabinet here as well to he what the preside's going to say. will there be something new brought up tomorrow night?

4:22:03 to 4:22:23( Edit History Discussion )

Michael C. Burgess: i don't know. will we hear a rehash of the same things and criticisms of republicans not working with democrats on this issue? we might. i might offer, that we don't have the numbers to stop anything. and when i made overtures to the other side earlier this year even during the transition

4:22:24 to 4:22:46( Edit History Discussion )

Michael C. Burgess: period when the president was sworn in on inauguration day, rebuffed by the chairman of my committee and the president's transition team, no one seemed interested in republican input. we won the election and so we shall. it's august. it was a hot month. things got heated at home. and now that we are back here in

4:22:47 to 4:23:09( Edit History Discussion )

Michael C. Burgess: the fall, perhaps it is time to rethink this. i saw on one of the web sites the other day, maybe it's time for the president to hit the reset button. that's not a bad idea. this is a big change in the way americans handle health care. the benefits don't go into

4:23:10 to 4:23:30( Edit History Discussion )

Michael C. Burgess: effect for three years'. there is no rush. there is time for us to get this right. and the old saying, if you don't have time to do it right, when do you have time to do it over? or one of my sg surgery professors used to say, if is so imptant, let's go slowly. we don't have time to be in a hurry.

4:23:31 to 4:23:52( Edit History Discussion )

Michael C. Burgess: i think those are words that might serve us well as we continue to work on this legislation. we will hear from the president tomorrow night. i look forward to what he's going to say. i would welcome the fact that perhaps we could get back together and work on some of these things. my concept would be on let's keep it simpler so we do build trust back with the american people.

4:23:53 to 4:24:06( Edit History Discussion )

Michael C. Burgess: the president enjoys a much higher poll numbers than any of us in the united states house of representatives have, but on the other hand, that popularity is wanning as well. it's important that the american