From its very inception, this law was bad and remains bad for America. It was written in secret down at the White House. Now our committee has exposed all the secret deals that went on literally 3 years ago this month that led to the formation and the writing of the legislation behind closed doors--the very doors that the President, when he was running for office, said would always remain open. He said this would be an open and transparent process. But when it came time to actually write the law, they invited the lobbyists in, they closed the doors, and they wrote the law. We all remember the travesty of December 2009 when the Senate passed a bill out the day before Christmas, right before a snowstorm, and this bill that was hastily drafted, full of errors, full of problems, was passed out of the Senate, and that's what was signed into law. It wasn't even a good rough draft. It never came back to the House, and it never came to a conference committee. The dog ate our homework on the way to the President's office, and we just passed the rough draft and sent it on to the American people, and, by golly, they'll just have to live with it. Look, there were some promises made by the President 4 years ago. One of those promises was, if you liked what you had you could keep it. It turns out what he should have been saying was, do you know what? It's going to cost you a lot more to get a lot less.…
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I would just ask if the gentleman from Massachusetts has additional speakers. If not, I am prepared to close, and I reserve the balance of my time. Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I am prepared to close, and I yield myself the balance of my…
I thank my friend for yielding, and I certainly want to congratulate the gentleman from Georgia on leading his first rule as a member of the Rules Committee. While he is the newest member of the Rules Committee, he is a seasoned veteran…
I am prepared for the gentleman to close. Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time to close. Mr. Speaker, let us talk about priorities. My Republican colleagues have theirs all screwed up, and I am being really kind…
I reserve the balance of my time. Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, may I inquire whether the gentleman wants to answer the CBO question or whether he wants me to close?





