Phil Gingrey: “it is indeed a coincidence today that Democrats in their one hour special order would be led by a Georgian, my…”

“it is indeed a coincidence today that Democrats in their one hour special order would be led by a Georgian, my colleague, the gentlewoman from Georgia (Ms. McKinney), and the Republican hour today would be led by myself, another Georgian. I am really, of course, pleased to have this opportunity. I am going to talk on an entirely different subject to my colleagues, Mr. Speaker, than what we just heard for the previous hour. This time is dedicated really to the Republican Conference Health Care Access and Affordability Public Affairs Team. We put together this team for the purpose of letting our colleagues know, letting the American people know, that the Republicans care deeply about the health of this Nation, particularly in regard to those who are the neediest, whether they are white, black or Latino. It does not matter. People in this country who need health care that really cannot afford it, who are struggling through no fault of their own, we are deeply committed to solving these problems, whether we are talking about Medicare, Medicaid or Social Security for that matter. These are the so-called entitlement programs, the mandatory spending. When we talk about a budget for fiscal year 2006 of $2.6 trillion, two- thirds of that budget goes to mandatory spending.…”