Joe Barton: “Thank you, Mr. Chairman and Ranking Member Rush, for holding this hearing.”

Mr. Chairman, my time has expired. Next time I would ask unanimous consent if I could ask the question and then answer it myself so that I could make sure I get the right answer I want.

I was in Senate Chamber trying to prevent a hold on H.R. 7217. I was unavoidably detained. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea'' on rollcall No. 434. ____________________

It is not complicated if you are an elected member of Congress and all of a sudden Medicare recipients start showing up at their town, town hall.

I think it is a measure of President George H.W. Bush that we all think of him as a personal friend. It is literally true that he had tens of thousands, possibly hundreds of thousands, of men and women who considered themselves personal…