Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Look, here is an opportunity. There is an opportunity to find common ground. There is an opportunity to do something that makes common sense, that is not just common ground. It is common sense to require people, if…

I thank the chairman. Madam Speaker, a couple months ago I pick up the phone and I'm talking to one of your constituent companies in Naperville, Illinois. It's a company that you've represented well for the past 14 years. I was talking to…

So your testimony today is that the trustees, the people that are calling balls and strikes on this, are saying that in a period of 6 years, a third of the beneficiaries are going to be out of the system.

Mr. Cosgrove, in your testimony before the Government Reform Committee in July, and again before us today, you note that CMS enacted a demonstration that was seven times larger than any since 1995.

President Obama during the large discussions around the passage of the new health care law made much of the argument that if you like your plan you are going to be able to keep it.

I thank the chairman. I for the life of me don't understand why our friends on the other side of the aisle are defensive about this. This is nothing to defend. This is to say the White House made an error in engaging substantively in…

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express my support for H.R. 6118, the ``Taking Essential Steps for Testing Act of 2012'' or TEST Act. This legislation will give the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) greater leeway when dealing with…

Mr. Speaker, today, we take time to honor our friend and colleague Congressman Jerry Costello, who retires this year after 24 proud years representing the 12th District of Illinois. Throughout his career, Jerry earned the respect of his…

I thank the gentleman for yielding. Today is a day when we can celebrate accomplishment in the private sector and in the volunteer sector, and to celebrate a rich history and a century of accomplishment--accomplishment that is borne of…

I thank the gentleman for yielding. I was listening to the gentleman from New York, and I sincerely appreciate his warm, heartfelt advice for the Republican Party. I am amazed at the characterization of being in opposition to a President's…

Mr. Speaker, I demand a recorded vote. A recorded vote was ordered. The vote was taken by electronic device, and there were--ayes 150, noes 265, not voting 15, as follows: [Roll No. 556] AYES--150 Alexander Austria Bachus Barletta Bartlett…