Date: 2007-01-24
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

Thank you so much to our colleague. the gentlewoman from Florida. Congresswoman BROWN. And I am so pleased to join my 30Something colleagues here this afternoon. our newest 30Something colleague from Connecticut CHRIs MURPHY. With our newfound responsibility. I have been a little tied up the last couple times we have had this Special Order hour. so I am really pleased to be able to be with you. And we have some fresh blood and some new dynamics that we will engage in. It will be really fun to work with you and banter a little bit. But I will tell you that this being the day after the Presidents State of the Union Address. Mr. MURPHY. I was particularly disturbed listening to the President. The privilege that we have here in this House. and it was yours for the first time last night. and I remember 2 years ago. I am just 2 years ahead of you in this process. and I remember the feeling that I had sitting in this Chamber and the awesome responsibility that I felt on my shoulders being this far from the President and having the chance to listen to him deliver that address. and the expectation that I had as a representative of my constituents. that the expectation that he would say something more than words. And last year. if you recall. you were in your State legislature when he delivered last years State of the Union. He talked about the need to end Americas addiction to foreign oil. and subsequently that turned out to just be words because he ended up proposing in his budget. and they actually enacted. a cut in the. energy legislation. that this Republican leadership that is no longer in charge here. they actually cut the funding to alternative energy. exploring alternative -energy resources. Now. last night he says the same thing in a differentway. And we are just to the point. why should we expect that there is meaning and action coming down the pipe behind the words? On the war in Iraq. I know I have heard from my constituents. and it is just shocking that after the response from the voters on Novembgr 7. that this President would not get the message that the American people were sending him. They want a new direction. They want to move the troops from a combat focus to a training focus. get the Iraqi troops to stand up on their own so that that country can take care of itself. So it is just shocking the lack of understanding of his priorities and where he is on the issues that are most important to people: On health care. the health care priorities. There are 47 million people in this country. 3/2 million in Florida. that dont have health insurance. And his solution to that problem is a tax deduction. a tiny tax deduction that he thinks will spur people who benefit from it to take that money and buy health insurance. That just shows a callous indifference. And you are an expert in health care. that was your foc.s. That shows a callous indifference to what the problems that the uninsured and underinsured are really facing. You are probably familiar with the death spiral created by insurance companies where they cordoned off the people who are the most sick. Some States have adopted guaranteedissue policies and modified community rating like we did in Florida so that there were only a few things that were taken into consideration when rates were set. But for the most part that is not what people are able to get when buying health insurance. So the sickest of the sick get cordoned off into a group. that group is priced out of the market. and then they dont have the ability to afford that health insurance. A simple tax deduction is not going to make health insurance accessible and affordable for that group of people. It is just -unbelievable. Mr. MURPHY. And I fail to understand why this President only seems to keep his own counsel. It is just really unbelievable. So I will yield to you or to Mr. MEEK. but that was my feeling and my reaction in listening last night. And when I talked to our radio stations in south Florida this morning. I know the feedback that our radio hosts were getting was similar.