Pete Sessions

At this time, I would like to yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Cravaack) who is a freshman who serves on the Transportation, Homeland Security, and Science Committees, and a man who understands what people back home are…

I appreciate that and thank you so much for asking the question. The gentleman was here in 1997. The exact same arguments took place as we worked with President Clinton, and we were told on this floor a capital gains tax cut will result in…

The answer is no. And I would reply to the gentleman, I saw in this House of Representatives when former Speaker Pelosi increased the amount of money that we had in our Member reimbursement account, we went out and did more, and I hired an…

Here's what I can give. Mr. Bartlett is wrong, because I know there will be at least one new net job created, and I know that because the testimony and information that I received last week as I was at the North Dallas Chamber, several…

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, for the purpose of debate only, I yield the customary 30 minutes to my friend from Florida (Mr. Hastings), pending which I yield myself such time as I may consume. During consideration of this…

I thank the chairman and join him in commending Ms. Smith for her many years of dedicated, faithful, and outstanding service to CBO, to the Senate through her work in the Parliamentarian's Office and the Budget Committee, and to the…

I would note that the Presiding Officer is a cosponsor with myself of S. 1792, the Strengthening Investigations of Sex Offenders and Missing Children Act of 2011, and perhaps we will be able to make that work sooner or later. I am sure we…

I appreciate the suggestion by the Senator from Illinois, as I believe I will be able to support all those bills, but I have information that Senators on our side oppose or have objections to two of them and would like to offer amendments…

No, although I wouldn't mind seizing the opportunity to speak about Senator Mikulski for a minute, but otherwise, if the Senator has no----

My understanding was that Senator Durbin is going to make a UC request, which I plan to object to, and there might be some brief discussion of that. But I don't see Senator Durbin on the floor.

That is a good point, because in the past we have attempted and claimed we were going to make savings in Medicare and they never occurred. What I am saying is if these savings were to occur and if the new taxes on Medicare go into effect…

I couldn't agree more about the concerns the Senator raised. Senator Johnson was a successful businessman. He provided health insurance for his employees. He had to purchase it. I will just ask him one quick question. Based on his…

It is not fully implemented yet. There are a lot of opportunities for us to get off this train before a disaster occurs. I truly believe it is not too late for us to alter the course. I think the American people have never been happy with…

I had a number of people in a meeting I was at explain the realities of it. They told us the whole fear of regulation and the health care bill and the revenue that is going to be extracted from them to pay for it would result in lesser…

What about a new business--some small business starts up, and they are thinking about whether they are going to provide health care for their employees, and they have the option of the exchanges. Do you think a new business would be even…

Where is the money coming from that will provide the extra money they will need to get full coverage?

So you are an employer. You have employees, and you have been helping them, you have been providing health coverage, and you realize, well, I can cancel my employer contributions, let the employee go to the exchanges, and they will be…

Well, a $111 billion error is a big deal. You think about it. We brought in $2,200 billion, and this is $100 billion--about 5 percent of the entire estimated revenue we had in the government last year. To miss that on one part of one bill…

Well, the Senator raised these issues with Secretary Sebelius last week in the committee, and the exchange has been on the TV and on the Web and has become a bit of a sensation, really. People have been looking at it, and it has been very…

Well, is it too late? Is this a fait accompli, this health care law that was passed? Can we not reverse it or is it, in the Senator's opinion, practical at this point for us to pull back from this path?

And it is not baked into the numbers now. We are not assuming it is going to be $4 trillion or $5 trillion more under Obamacare, we are assuming only 1, I guess.

Now, for example, $400 billion a year over a 10-year window would be $4 trillion. If the Budget Control Act that we worked on so hard last summer, which the President is already undermining, were to take place, it would only reduce…

Well, Senator Johnson has been talking about this issue for some time, and it looks as though reports are coming along to validate his concerns. But the administration estimated that only 1 million would go into the exchanges, and these…

The Senator is right. I was here. There was a promise made to achieve passage of the bill. A lot of Americans didn't believe these promises and thought they were inflated to begin with, and this promise--a fundamental promise--has already…

The Senator has been in the real world, having to make a payroll and manage a company. If he, as a CEO, made a representation that this was going to reduce the cost of insurance for your employees by $2,500, and it increases by 2,200, that…