House Proceeding 02-22-10 on Feb 22nd, 2010 :: 0:49:10 to 1:07:05
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0:49:09 to 0:49:30( Edit History Discussion )

John R. Carter: care and we are now joined by the secretary of the republican conference, an esteemed member of this body, former judge from texas, mr. carter. i yield the evening to you. mr. carter: i thank the gentlelady for being here to take over and do such an eloquent job of assessing issues -- discussing issues in my absence and i apologize

0:49:10 to 1:07:05( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: John R. Carter

0:49:31 to 0:49:52( Edit History Discussion )

John R. Carter: profusely that i was not here when my name was called. so thank you for taking this hour for us and please stay and participate if you can. we're going to talk about the so-called health care summit that's coming up later this week and just exactly what it is and what we think it might be and we're hearing a lot of spin on

0:49:53 to 0:50:14( Edit History Discussion )

John R. Carter: this issue from a lot of sources close to the white house and i have a concern that what they are offering is nothing more than another precedent and so -- but let's talk about -- let's start off by talking about, just what is proposed to be happened?

0:50:15 to 0:50:37( Edit History Discussion )

John R. Carter: the white house this morning unveiled senate bill 2, if you will, but not really because they didn't give us a bill nor legislative language, they gave us about 12 pages of things that they said that this was obama's offer of compromising with the republicans. but the starting point it seems

0:50:38 to 0:50:58( Edit History Discussion )

John R. Carter: from what it says, because it references from place to place the senate bill, it seems the starting point for this, quote, bipartisan summit that is being offered by the white house, the starting point is going to be the senate bill which stands about three feet high when stacked on top of it and i

0:50:59 to 0:51:20( Edit History Discussion )

John R. Carter: think, you know, we don't need to really go into that. everybody in america has seen that bill and they've seen the house bill, too. it's so heavy that the average citizen couldn't lift it without a forklift and yet this seems still the starting point that the president is going forward with. but the first question we have

0:51:21 to 0:51:44( Edit History Discussion )

John R. Carter: to ask -- the speaker pro tempore: under the speaker's announced policy of january 6, 2009, the gentleman from texas, mr. caretter, is recognized for the balance of his time s the designee of the minority leader. mr. carter: thank you, madam speaker. you can tell me what kind of time that is? the speaker pro tempore: 55 minutes remaing. mr. carter: thank you very much.

0:51:45 to 0:52:05( Edit History Discussion )

John R. Carter: you know, we're starting off kind of -- the starting gate's been open now forever since the senate bill came out and that's the starting place. it's my position and i think we're trying, you hear people say, why can't we have bipartisan effort? and we're hearing, this is an attempt at a bipartisan effort.

0:52:06 to 0:52:27( Edit History Discussion )

John R. Carter: well, i would argue that there's a better way to show a bipartisan effort. but let's start with the work product that we have there place right now. we have a senate bill and we have a house bill. now, what have the american people said about these gigantic intrusions into their private life?

0:52:28 to 0:52:50( Edit History Discussion )

John R. Carter: they've said, we don't want the senate bill and we don't want the house bill. we don't want something that is so gigantic and creates so meap agencies and bureaus -- so many agencies and bureaus and groups and advisors and spends so much money, $1 trillion here and $1

0:52:51 to 0:53:11( Edit History Discussion )

John R. Carter: trillion there, we don't want that, we want some simple stuff we can understand, we would like to see something that we as the american people can clearly read and understand. they're asking us to let them be part of the process. let them be able to read without

0:53:12 to 0:53:32( Edit History Discussion )

John R. Carter: the leaguees, as we used to call it in the courtroom, which nobody can understand but the loyal who wrote it. no, that's not what the american people want. the american people want us to -- they are worried about the cost of health care. they're worried about the coverage of health care. and they want to se that we are

0:53:33 to 0:53:53( Edit History Discussion )

John R. Carter: -- get what they're worried about and we're trying to save money and not spend money, we're trying to give them opportunity rather than give them regulation because they want -- and they want to be able to pick u something about maybe the size of this half a dozen pieces of paper and read it and kind of

0:53:54 to 0:54:15( Edit History Discussion )

John R. Carter: get a concept of what the people they sent to washington are doing to start down the road to try to fix health care. and they don't want a bill that stands this high, they don't want that because they've gone by their congressman's office and some of them have actually gotten copies of that thing and tried to dig into it and, you

0:54:16 to 0:54:37( Edit History Discussion )

John R. Carter: know, it's driving them insane like it is everybody that's tried. you say, judge, howdo you sy people have spoken about it? well, let's look at what we got in the way of public opinion polls. polls, you can take them or leave them.

0:54:38 to 0:54:58( Edit History Discussion )

John R. Carter: right now, the public opinion poll on health care stands at 58% of voters nationwide oppose obama's health care reform plan. when i say that, they're talking about resurrecting either the house or senate bill and quite honestly, i don't think they

0:54:59 to 0:55:19( Edit History Discussion )

John R. Carter: even know what he proposed as of this morning because we didn't know until this morning. what they're saying is we don't like the omnibus style of health care bill. that's what they're saying. it's confusing, it's -- it scares us, we're afraid we're going to go bank result in this nation and why can't you guys narrow it down to the simple

0:55:20 to 0:55:41( Edit History Discussion )

John R. Carter: things that would bring down costs and get better coverage instead of these massive changing of 18% of the american economy. 50% of the voters strongly oppose anything to do with the senate or house plan, which is the obama health care reform plan and 78% of voters expect

0:55:42 to 0:56:03( Edit History Discussion )

John R. Carter: the plan to cost more than projected. and when you're in a world where people are talking about -- the people buying our debt, will they continue to be willing to

0:56:04 to 0:56:25( Edit History Discussion )

John R. Carter: buy our debt if we continue to go so far in the hole? what are we going to do about all this spending? what are we going to do about the huge amount of accumulated debt in the last few months and are projected to accumulate in the future? these are questions the ordinary guy on the street at the coffee shop on monday morning is talking about.

0:56:26 to 0:56:47( Edit History Discussion )

John R. Carter: this is what the guy at the cafe in the small town stops by after he finishing having his lunch, he and his friends sit around and talk about. they're worriedbout it. they know what happens to their lives when debt is over-consuming, they're concerned what's going to happen

0:56:48 to 0:57:09( Edit History Discussion )

John R. Carter: to the country when o debt is over-consuming. they're concerned that this proposal that's going to come forth from the white house in this summit on bartisanship, they're afraid it's going to cost more than projected. one thing i wondered about when i came to this place, it seemed to me as an ordinary citizen out

0:57:10 to 0:57:30( Edit History Discussion )

John R. Carter: there watching what goes on in congress, that one group says it costs x and one group says it costs y and nobody's saying who is telling the truth. x may be $1 trillion off from what y says. the american people look at that and say, that place is broken. they don't even -- one hand doesn't know what the other hand

0:57:31 to 0:57:51( Edit History Discussion )

John R. Carter: is doing. they say it's all politics. they're fed up to here with all politics. folks back home are saying, we're fed up with politics. we've got to get down to basics. it's time to go back to being basically not spending money you don't have, creating jobs that are real jobs.

0:57:52 to 0:58:12( Edit History Discussion )

John R. Carter: we don't want all the jobs that are created to be exist in washington, d.c. the only placen the country that's got positive job numbers is right here. why is that? because we're hiring a lot more federal employees and those federal employees are out there growing the size of this monster.

0:58:13 to 0:58:33( Edit History Discussion )

John R. Carter: that we live in the american people are worried about that they look at health care and they look at this so-called summit and say, why don't these guys do what they're say -- what they say they're goingo do and everybody push the stuff nobody likes off the table, let's have new stuff, new concepts on the table and let's have a work

0:58:34 to 0:58:54( Edit History Discussion )

John R. Carter: together session on coming up with solutions. that's what the american people thought was being proposed. but i would argue that that's not what we're seeing from the white house. and i think that it's something that concerns all of us greatly. because we are worried, the number one worry right now, i

0:58:55 to 0:59:17( Edit History Discussion )

John R. Carter: think, of the american people when you cut through stuff that you watch on 24 hour news, the number one concern of the american people is, we don't trust you to listen to us. anymore. and we want you to listen to what we're saying. and we've told you in our polls,

0:59:18 to 0:59:40( Edit History Discussion )

John R. Carter: but not just in the polls, now, the polls you know, somebody will say, one poll favors this group, one poll favors that group. there's another sort of poll that has taken place in just the recent past. that is, we've had three elections here and this is --

0:59:41 to 1:00:01( Edit History Discussion )

John R. Carter: the american people casting their opinion in the media of public opinion vote. you know, we used to tell jurors that the only thing more important than serving on a jury if you're a juror is casting your vote.

1:00:02 to 1:00:22( Edit History Discussion )

John R. Carter: because all of this freedom that we have depends upon your vote. all of this prosperity that we create depends upon your vote. so you should cherish that vote. americans do cherish that vote. i would argue that in new jersey , in virginia, and most recently

1:00:23 to 1:00:44( Edit History Discussion )

John R. Carter: in massachusetts, the polls are in. and what those polls say is, we don't like what's going on right now in the majority. and we are -- look at these colors, red, you know is the republicans.

1:00:45 to 1:01:05( Edit History Discussion )

John R. Carter: this is the most arguably the most democrat state in the entire country. and look what the polls show. the american people said, enough is enough. what we're looking for, we don't care what party this guy's in, we want a guy who will listen to us.

1:01:06 to 1:01:28( Edit History Discussion )

John R. Carter: brown is a man that will listen to them and they voted for him. and you can't have a state with the kind of democrat numbers that massachusetts has and not realize that democrats voted for him. had to. the numbers are overwhelmingly democrat in that state which is

1:01:29 to 1:01:50( Edit History Discussion )

John R. Carter: a message to us here, we want somebody we trust, not we don't care what party he's in. i would argue the same thing happened in virginia, and new jersey if you look at those numbers compared to presidential numbers. there was a great shift in the public saying, we don't trust the folks that are running the show right now and we want

1:01:51 to 1:02:11( Edit History Discussion )

John R. Carter: something else. and i really don't think -- i don't think they were thinking like politics, i really think they were thinking like americans. our founding fathers never told us to make our decisions based on what political party we belonged to.

1:02:12 to 1:02:33( Edit History Discussion )

John R. Carter: they wanted us to make a decision based on what's good for the country and what's good for the people of the country. i thin the message we're hearing from the tea party groups that you hear from, and from the other groups that are making very vocal, loud cries, outcries, saying to us, just listen.

1:02:34 to 1:02:54( Edit History Discussion )

John R. Carter: stop talking and start listening to what we're asking you. and the driver right now that they're asking us to listen to is their outcry against massive change in 18% of our economy in the health care field. they want to make sure they've

1:02:55 to 1:03:18( Edit History Discussion )

John R. Carter: got coverage for their families and that medical care is affordable and they don't need a million more bureaucrats to tell them how to do that. new regulations don't solve thr problem. common sense solutions solve their problem. the president has -- had, and i would argue still has, the

1:03:19 to 1:03:39( Edit History Discussion )

John R. Carter: timeline is getting short, has a golden opportunity to step up and make this a true summit of bipartisanship, but it should start at a minimum with him doing what john boehner did on the floor of this house and dropping those two bills in a

1:03:40 to 1:04:00( Edit History Discussion )

John R. Carter: trash can and saying, ladies and gentlemen, we are here to work out our issues. and all previous work is not on the table, we are here to start anew. and wean do it together and, hey, if that's what's coming, that's the way it ought to be.

1:04:01 to 1:04:22( Edit History Discussion )

John R. Carter: i will tell you i don't think that's what's coming. i think the indications are clear. just recently the white house made a statement that the bill passage is one thing and the media event is another. so it is a media event that's being created by the white house. the campaign is over.

1:04:23 to 1:04:45( Edit History Discussion )

John R. Carter: it's time for us to sit down and act like we're supposed to. you know, this is not a parliamentary government. this is a republic. our voices should be heard, not played with.

1:04:46 to 1:05:06( Edit History Discussion )

John R. Carter: so i have great concern about what we're getting ourselves into on thursday. there's a couple of might -- that have been said by the media and i'm not going to go into them in any detail but

1:05:07 to 1:05:28( Edit History Discussion )

John R. Carter: they're all basically saying, watch out. this is not really a bipartisan reach out. this is rlly performance. and because the bill -- and let me make something very clear. i don't want to use the term bill. what the president brought out

1:05:29 to 1:05:51( Edit History Discussion )

John R. Carter: this morning is not legislative language. it is not a bill. it is not a bill that says in black and white what changes need to be made. it is a series of suggestions and most of the references are to line and page and section of the senate version of the health care bill.

1:05:52 to 1:06:13( Edit History Discussion )

John R. Carter: so youe got to start with 2,000 pages. and then go in and tweak them. there's only one thing harder, only one thing harder than trying to sit down and read a 2,000-page bill. i used to do this kind of thing for a live, i can make this argument effectively. it's much harder to go through

1:06:14 to 1:06:34( Edit History Discussion )

John R. Carter: and comprehend the whole bill and then reference a change on line one, page seven, paragraph two. buzz then you've got to read what was there, read what was not there and figure out how it fits the context of 2,000 pages. amendments are even more difficult for the person who is in the business of doing it, we're in the business of doing

1:06:35 to 1:06:55( Edit History Discussion )

John R. Carter: it. but for the average citizen, it becomes, not that they're not smart enough to do it, iis so dad-blamed tedious that you don't want to do it. it'll drive you off a cliff. and that's the kind of thing that the american people are tired of.

1:06:56 to 1:07:05( Edit History Discussion )

John R. Carter: they want it to be simple. we're starting with 2,000 pages and tweakin 2,000 pages. this is not what we're asking for in the way of a summit.