House Proceeding on Mar 12th, 2010 :: 0:31:20 to 0:51:20
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0:25:30 to 0:37:00( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: David Dreier

0:31:19 to 0:31:40( Edit History Discussion )

David Dreier: scheme to avoid a vote altogether, which is what the slaughter solution is. the so-called sluiter solution would allow the house to wait for -- the so-called slaughter solution would allow the house to wait for the senate. when the fix is passed by the senate, the bill would magically be deemed passed by the house without ever having a transparent up or down vote on

0:31:41 to 0:32:01( Edit History Discussion )

David Dreier: the original bill. and let's remind ourselves of a new direction for america, the document that then minority leader nancy pelosi put forward promising transparency, disclosure, accountability, the kind of openness that we all

0:32:02 to 0:32:22( Edit History Discussion )

David Dreier: aspire to but tragically has deteriorated over the past three years. the approach that we have with the slaughter solution is a hopelessly cynical attempt to completely up end the democratic process. but it also, madam speaker, i

0:32:23 to 0:32:43( Edit History Discussion )

David Dreier: believe creates the potential for a backfire. for months the democratic majority has blamed the senate for their own inability to provide leadership and decisive action on the pressing challenges that we face. and now they want to put the fate of their convoluted plan and the ability of the senate

0:32:44 to 0:33:04( Edit History Discussion )

David Dreier: to pass a clean fix-it bill. madam speaker, the senate has disappointed my democratic colleagues yet again. we got the report just yesterday that seemed to undermine the slaughter solution. it appears that the senate parliamentarian will insist on a senate health care reform bill before he will recognize the fix-it bill as

0:33:05 to 0:33:26( Edit History Discussion )

David Dreier: reconciliation. meaning that reconciliation can only be utilized to deal with existing law. that means that if the democrats won't take a straight up or down vote on the bill, their only option is the light version of the slaughter solution, having the bill deemed as passed by the rule and sending the senate bill to the president for his

0:33:27 to 0:33:48( Edit History Discussion )

David Dreier: signature. now, that's what the lawyers call, madam speaker, a distinction without a difference. the reity is that a vote on the rule will be a vote on the senate health care bill, complete with all of the special interest provisions that it contains. the cornhusker kickback,

0:33:49 to 0:34:10( Edit History Discussion )

David Dreier: gatorade, the louisiana purchase, these kinds of things that we have heard about. and then all sorts of hidden items in there that some friends of mine have been discussing to me like promises that there wouldn't be a middle-class tax increase. and what does the measure do? it slashes f.s.a.'s, flexible savings accounts, which have been utilized by people trying

0:34:11 to 0:34:32( Edit History Discussion )

David Dreier: to address their health care needs and by doing what tey do in this bill, it will be a slap at the taxpayers of this country who are middle-income wage earners. their problem didn't end there. thereill be, madam speaker, challenges to some proposed fixes, and, therefore, changes to the senate package.

0:34:33 to 0:34:53( Edit History Discussion )

David Dreier: and then there is the question of federal funding of abortion. if this cannot be banned through reconciliation, would the slaughter solution be further expanded to implement a fix on that issue as well? how would that fix make its way through the united states senate?

0:34:54 to 0:35:14( Edit History Discussion )

David Dreier: now, madam speaker, with serious unanswered questions like these, why would any member of this house take the bait and support the slaughter solution even in its light version by deeming a measure passed with passage o a rule?

0:35:15 to 0:35:35( Edit History Discussion )

David Dreier: there's a high probability that house democrats wille forced into taking the tough votes they tried so hard to avoid. after putting themselves on record as supporting an end run around a real transparent vote. in the end, madam speaker, rank and file democrats will be making themselves all the more

0:35:36 to 0:35:56( Edit History Discussion )

David Dreier: vulnerable for having suorted their leadership's egregious tactics. the slaughter solution is bad policy, bad process and bad politics. the fact that the democratic leadership is pursuing this option is exposing its unwillingness to abandon the most fundamental element of

0:35:57 to 0:36:17( Edit History Discussion )

David Dreier: legislating, the most fundamental element of being a deliberative body is a transparent up or down vote. and they're doing that, madam speaker, in order to achieve what everyone recognizes based on public opinion polling. i don't make my decisions based on public opinion lling. i make my decisions based on

0:36:18 to 0:36:39( Edit History Discussion )

David Dreier: what is right. but it happens that public opinion overwhelmingly has pointed to this as a very, very, very unpopular, unpopular proposal. today, they are hiding, as i have just had an exchange with my colleague from north haven on, they're hiding behind

0:36:40 to 0:37:01( Edit History Discussion )

David Dreier: blooming algae as they twist arms and try to work their back room deals. but, madam speaker, your leadership cannot hide forever. if the democratic majority proceeds wit its plan to ram through their health care bill without actually holding a vote, it's going to take more than algae to protect them from

0:37:02 to 0:37:23( Edit History Discussion )

Chellie Pingree: the american public's outrage. and with that i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentlewoman from maine is recognized. ms. pingree: thank you, madam speaker. i had no idea that we were here to debate health care this morning, but i appreciate the gentleman, my friend from california, bringing up -- mr. drei: will the gentlewoman yield? ms. pingree: not yet.

0:37:05 to 0:43:25( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Chellie Pingree

0:37:24 to 0:37:47( Edit History Discussion )

Chellie Pingree: i'd like to make a couple of points and the gentleman has plenty of time. ms. pingree: i was happy to yield under my -- mr. dreier: i was happy to yield under my time. ms. pingree: i appreciate that. this bill could have been done under suspension. as i understand my colleague voted no when this bill originally came to the floor which is why we are back here

0:37:48 to 0:38:08( Edit History Discussion )

Chellie Pingree: again today to pass what is a relatively simple piece of legislation but very important in coastal districts like mine. and, yes, we do have a disagreement on health legislation. and i wish that your caucus was doing what my caucus is doing right now and that is going through the health care legislation that we hope to bring to this floor soon line by line to make sure that we

0:38:09 to 0:38:29( Edit History Discussion )

Chellie Pingree: are confident that this is excellent legislation to move forward the cause of health care reform, something which he and i don't agree on. i support very strongly, and i am looking forward to the debate that we will have on this floor abou that health care legislation, and i am thrilled with the year and a half that i have spent here and the number of hours that

0:38:30 to 0:38:50( Edit History Discussion )

Chellie Pingree: committees and members on both sides of the aisle, republicans and democrats, have put in crafting health care legislation. now, we may not agree on the final product, and that will come down to a vote, and you're right, it will depend on making sure we have enough votes on this -- on each side of the aisle. i am glad that everyone feels

0:38:51 to 0:39:12( Edit History Discussion )

Chellie Pingree: confident about that vote. you know, it's interesting. i, as you know, am a freshman. i was not here in previous years where you were, but when you talk about arm twisting and getting votes, i am reminded of the story that i have heard about passing the prescription drug legislation and what it took for the other party in the

0:39:13 to 0:39:33( Edit History Discussion )

Chellie Pingree: middle of the night with a vote open for many hours to pass a piece of legislation that i have to say from my perch as a former state legislator, from the state where the cost of prescription drugs is crippling health care costs for many of our senior citizens, i was shocked to see what that final piece of legislation came to be. and i am thrilled that our

0:39:34 to 0:39:54( Edit History Discussion )

Chellie Pingree: health care legislation that i believe will be on this floor soon will fix some of the problems in there. i'm sorry to say not all, but i remember hearing about that legislation. was it two hours, was it three hours in the middle of the night, where people were convinced to change their vote, to get their vote, where everyone minute counted to get their vote, and that was the

0:39:55 to 0:40:15( Edit History Discussion )

Chellie Pingree: legislation that left us with this tremendous doughnut hole which senior citizens talk to me about every day. that's the public opinion mr. dreier: will gentwoman yield? ms. pingree: i will not yield. it's not a public opinion poll. it's senior citizens who come up to me and say, do you see what it costs me to buy my

0:40:16 to 0:40:37( Edit History Discussion )

Chellie Pingree: prescription drugs? do you see what happens when i get in the doughnut hole? they ask me, how could the republican party pass in the middle night, twisting arms for every vote, how could they pass a piece of legislation that didn't alw us to negotiate with the pharmaceutical manufacturers for the price of prescription drugs? i can tell you in my home state of maine, thisas an issue for years. when i first got elected in

0:40:38 to 0:40:59( Edit History Discussion )

Chellie Pingree: 1992 to my state legislature, senior citizens came up to me and said, you see what it cost me to buy my prescription drugs, and then every year it got worse and worse and worse. as the pharmaceutical manufacturers, some of the wealthiest corporations, multinational corporations in the country, was able to sell their drugs at the highest prices in the world to senior citizens in america.

0:41:00 to 0:41:20( Edit History Discussion )

Chellie Pingree: knows people had to pay cash for those drugs. those people had to decide whether they put heating oil in their tank to keep warm, whether to put food on the table. but when the republicans could have changed the law like they do in canada, like they do in virtually every other country in the world, what they could have done what they are always telling us, be like a good business. you know, i own a small

0:41:21 to 0:41:41( Edit History Discussion )

Chellie Pingree: business. i wouldn't think of buying something that i didn't negotiate for. well, that's what that bill said. it said we won't negotiate. in fact, we will give them the sweetheart deal. we will say to our senior citizens, you know what, we are going to pay the highest prices in the world so there will be no cost savings. these are the same republicans who tell us now that there isn't enough cost savings in our health care bill. they uset as an excuse.

0:41:42 to 0:42:02( Edit History Discussion )

Chellie Pingree: but that was what was done in the dark of the night three hours holding open a say, you know how i first found out about this? i got on a bus with senior citizens from the state of maine. let me tell you how it works. we stopped in betterford, maine and then go to portland, maine.

0:42:03 to 0:42:23( Edit History Discussion )

Chellie Pingree: we drive all the way up to the canadian border. no, i will not yield. we go all the way to mr. dreier: i didn't ask you to yield. ms. pingree: well, you had that look. we go to a duly licensed physician so they can rewrite their prescriptions and go across the border legally. this is a bus load of senior citizens.

0:42:24 to 0:42:45( Edit History Discussion )

Chellie Pingree: we go to that canadian drugstore and they buy their prescriptions. i want to tell you about one person i sat next to on one of the many bus trip i sat next to a person who hd to take a wonderful drug that we are glad we have for breast cancer but me take 30 pills a month. at that point i think it cost them about $150 a month for their 30 pills. but when we got across the

0:42:46 to 0:43:06( Edit History Discussion )

Chellie Pingree: canadian border, it was $12.35. that was highway robbery in my opinion. you know why that was? because the canadian government, just like every other western nation, requires that they -- that they negotiate for the best price possible mr. dreier: will the gentlewoman yield, madam speaker? ms. pingree: not quite. i'm almost done. they negotiate for the best price possible.

0:43:07 to 0:43:25( Edit History Discussion )

Chellie Pingree: as far as i'm concerned, that's what should have been in that prescription drug plan that was cided in the middle of the night when arms were twisted to get every last vote. that's what should be closing the doughnut hole, lowering prescription drug prices in the health care bill that we will debate soon. as far as i'm concerned, i am

0:43:26 to 0:43:47( Edit History Discussion )

David Dreier: thrilled that members of my caucus are here today to go through line by line to make sure that we're getting the best possible health care plan we can get. and i will say it's not going to be everything i want in a health care plan. i come from the state of maine. they think single payer, our doctors think that single payer ought to be the thing in main

0:43:30 to 0:45:30( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: David Dreier

0:43:48 to 0:44:08( Edit History Discussion )

David Dreier: that's what i think. i'm anxious to make sure that we get the best possible compromise. i would be thrilled if some of the members of your caucus would vote for that bill. mr. dreier: madam speaker, would the gentlewoman yi ms. pingree: i will not yield my time right now but i will reserve the balance of my time and turn it back to you. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman reserves. the gentleman from california.

0:44:09 to 0:44:33( Edit History Discussion )

David Dreier: mr. dreier: madam speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume and i'd like to yield to my colleague to engage in a colloquy, if i might, so we might have a discussion. i find it very interesting, very interesting, madam speaker, that she talked about that amazing drug that is used for breast cancer.

0:44:34 to 0:44:54( Edit History Discussion )

David Dreier: . and the difference in cost between canada and the united states of america. there is an important reason for that, madam speaker, and that is the fact that we want to make sure that there are more amazing drugs created. there are many very serious ailments that exist out there today. one of the things that we have as our great comparative

0:44:55 to 0:45:17( Edit History Discussion )

David Dreier: advantage here in the united states of america is that we are the center for research and inovation. unfortunately we have had to shoulder the fincial burden for that research so that that woman, riding on the bus, with my friend from north haven, was able to have a drug that would

0:45:18 to 0:45:30( Edit History Discussion )

David Dreier: never have been developed had it not been for the kind of innovation that exists here in he united states of america. i would like to yield to my friend to see if she would recognize that the innovation and creativity that exists in the united states of america is

0:45:31 to 0:45:45( Edit History Discussion )

Chellie Pingree: what allowed that friend of hers on the bus to have it. i yield whatever amount of time my friend consumes from my time. ms. pingree: thank you so much for yielding your time and allowing me to address this topic. even though we are here to

0:45:35 to 0:45:44( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Chellie Pingree

0:45:45 to 0:46:14( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: David Dreier

0:45:46 to 0:46:06( Edit History Discussion )

David Dreier: address this algae blooms, i appreciate the chance to go back and forth on this important topic. mr. dreier: i'm very grateful we are here to address an issue that is of concern to the american people. with all due respect to the importance of algal blooms and hypoxia research, i believe what we are talking about today is much more important. the thing that we should be

0:46:07 to 0:46:15( Edit History Discussion )

David Dreier: talking about is not something that happened five years ago. which frankly many, many seniors are benefiting from, but what we should talk about

0:46:15 to 0:46:34( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Chellie Pingree

0:46:16 to 0:46:36( Edit History Discussion )

Chellie Pingree: is what is about to happen and what is happening behind closed doors throughout this capitol at this moment. i'm happy tfurther yield to my friend. ms. pingree: thank you. just to answer your point, i, too, think it's essential we continue our research and development here in this country. frankly much of it is done around the world on research and development. but i don't think that

0:46:35 to 0:47:25( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: David Dreier

0:46:37 to 0:46:57( Edit History Discussion )

David Dreier: negotiating for a better price, that lowering the prices to our senior citizens, would cost us research and development. mr. dreier: reclaiming my time. just to say to my friend, she's right. she's right, madam speaker. there are other parts of the world where research and innovation is taking place. but it all pails, it pales in comparison to the kind of research and development that

0:46:58 to 0:47:18( Edit History Discussion )

David Dreier: takes place here in the united states. i would like to ask my colleague, madam speaker, if she would support making permanent the research and development tax credit so that we could have the kind of incentive for our pharmaceutical industry and others out there who are creating these innovative new ideas to deal with alzheimer's

0:47:19 to 0:47:25( Edit History Discussion )

David Dreier: and cancer and diabetes and other ailments that exist. madam speaker, would she be supportive of the notion of our

0:47:26 to 0:47:46( Edit History Discussion )

Chellie Pingree: pursuing that kind of incentive to deal with these problems that can play a role in driving costs down? ms. pingree: first, i would prefer to answer you on my own time because it seems to me when you yield me your time you usually answer for me. i would rather wait -- mr. dreier: i'm happy to yield to my friend.

0:47:30 to 0:47:55( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Chellie Pingree

0:47:47 to 0:47:55( Edit History Discussion )

Chellie Pingree: i asked a question. i would welcome your answer. ms. pingree: i have to say i'm unprepared to answer your question about the research and development tax credit for the pharmaceutical industry.

0:47:56 to 0:48:17( Edit History Discussion )

David Dreier: i know i have industries in my state that benefit from that tax credit. before i say yes or know about the solution you are proposing. mr. dreier: madam speaker -- mr. pingree: i don't think you are letting me finish. mr. dreier: i'm happy to yield to my friend further. she's chosen to ay she doesn't know whether or not she would support making permanent the research and development tax

0:48:00 to 0:49:50( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: David Dreier

0:48:18 to 0:48:38( Edit History Discussion )

David Dreier: credit when we all know that that would play a critical role in driving costs down for our seniors anothers. madam speaker, the fact of the matter is we are here at this juncture dealing with a measure that may be important to some, but th measure was considered, as i said, under an

0:48:39 to 0:49:00( Edit History Discussion )

David Dreier: emergency structure upstairs in the rules committee. i asked the question, when the president made his decision to delay his trip to indonesia and australia from march 18 to march 21 or 22, was that so he could deal with the emergency in signing legislation dealing with algal blooms and hypoxia research? i don't think so.

0:49:01 to 0:49:21( Edit History Discussion )

David Dreier: but that's the measure, as my friend said, she wanted to discuss here on the house floor today when in fact we know, we know that arm twisting is taking place and to liken the structure that is taking place today with what happened five years ago is preposterous.

0:49:22 to 0:49:42( Edit History Discussion )

David Dreier: it is true, it is true that under the rules of the house that vote may have been left opened. and as a byproduct of that we have seen literally billions and billions of seniors have access to affordable prescription drugs. madam speaker, i have to say

0:49:43 to 0:49:50( Edit History Discussion )

David Dreier: that that pales in comparison to this unprecedented and outrageous structure that is

0:49:51 to 0:50:12( Edit History Discussion )

Chellie Pingree: being utilized, that is being utilized to ram down the throats of the erican people something that they don't want. with that, madam speaker, i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentlewoman from maine is recognized. ms. pingree: thank you. i'll just say a couple more things. again, i'm thrilled that the president has decided to focus all of his energy on health care. i ink that the people of this

0:49:55 to 0:50:15( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Chellie Pingree

0:50:13 to 0:50:15( Edit History Discussion )

Chellie Pingree: country have waited long enough for health care reform.

0:50:16 to 0:50:41( Edit History Discussion )

David Dreier: and i am anxious to see it come to this floor. i am anxious to se it -- bring it to final passage. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman reserves. the gentleman from california. mr. -- does the gentleman from california seek recognition? mr. dreier: of course i do, madam speaker. thank you very much for recognizing me. let me say that as we have

0:50:20 to 0:53:10( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: David Dreier

0:50:51 to 0:51:11( Edit History Discussion )

David Dreier: looked -- i was just reminded by my staff, madam speaker, that -- i have a couple of articles that were handed to me here today, about this process issue. and i regularly argue that process is substance. i'm not talking, by the way, about gal blooms or hypoxia research. i'm talking about this convoluted process known as the

0:51:12 to 0:51:34( Edit History Discussion )

David Dreier: slaughter solution. for some strange reason the democratic leadership has said that regardless of what the senate is going to do, we are going to proceed with taking our action here when reconciliation itself is a senate process. and it was designed, as we all