Hank Johnson: “I will close and just say that this debate has been about whether or not we need a law that would stop Federal…”

“I will close and just say that this debate has been about whether or not we need a law that would stop Federal rulemaking in its tracks. This debate has been about whether or not, as we move forward into the future, as society advances, as technology takes us to places where we have never been before, as medical care and breakthroughs in the ability to keep people alive, as that explodes, as things change, as they do in the annals of human history, the question is whether or not we are going to have a Federal bureaucracy that keeps up with the change and keeps up with the need for an implementation regimen to enact or see that the laws that are enacted by Congress can, in fact, be accomplished. With no regulations to support the measures that Congress passes--but I will note that this Congress doesn't pass much, but that is what we are here for, to keep up with change and to legislate, so that change is good for Americans, their health, safety, and well-being. When we do that, if we have a regulatory regime that is gummed up and inoperable, then it hurts America's ability to compete in this global marketplace. It hurts America's economy to be an economy where all people can share in the prosperity of it. This is what this debate has been about. Are we going to change America?…”