Greg Ganske: “I appreciate the fervor and emotion that my colleague just spoke about, especially in dealing with the death tax…”

“I appreciate the fervor and emotion that my colleague just spoke about, especially in dealing with the death tax situation, because we have many people back in my home State of Iowa that need this type of relief if, in fact, they are going to pass on their family farms to their children. The way that that tax is calculated and who the benefit goes to can be done many ways. One can say the benefit goes to the person who dies, and that person may have some considerable assets; but in actuality, it is the person who inherits that has to pay the tax, and if we look at who these people are, very, very frequently, they do not have assets. They are not rich, and then they end up having to sell off half of the farm in order to pay the Federal taxes. I think that needs to be fixed. Madam Speaker, I want to speak tonight on an issue that I find emotional too, and that has to do with the Patients' Bill of Rights and patient protections as it relates to HMOs. Madam Speaker, about a week ago I was in my apartment here in Washington watching C-SPAN; and there was a panel on, a panel of former Members of Congress, and they were being interviewed and giving comments about what they thought would happen this year in the legislative arena. And these pundits were giving their opinions on tax cuts and prescription drug benefits and other things, and then one of the panelists said something. He said, ``You know, I think this deal about patient protection doesn't need to be done.…”