burgess: it's not what i came to washington, d.c. to do. what i wanted to share with the house tonight, "the dallas morning news" runs a column every sunday by dave scott burns. he was quoting an economist in austin economist, laci hunt. er ving fisher saw it first. the man who may have been the greatest american economist wote the theory about the great depression in 1933. excess debt controls all of the economic variables. he went on to say, think about it for a minute. it's a very powerful statement. excess debt controls all of the economic variables. what does that mean? that means we cannot control the unemployment rate. that means we cannot control almost everything is out of our grasp because of the massive amount of debt that we have accumulated. a and on monday the president said he wanted to accelerate the price of spending because we weren't getting the money out the door fast enough. let me reiterate, excess debt controls every other economic variable. it was true in 1933 and i suspect the true is today. i think every member on

burgess. i'm very pleased, again, to welcome commissioner keith hall of the labor and statistics for the united states department of labor. thank you very much for being with us. i yield to you, sir. >> mr. chairman, members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to discuss the employment and unemployment data that we released this morning. nonforeign payroll employment declined by 345,000 in may. job losses averaged 643,000 per month during the prior six months. in may, the unemployment rate rose from 8.9 to 9.4%. since the recession began in december of 2007, payroll employment has fallen by 6 million and the unemployment rate has increased by 4.5 percentage points. job losses continue to be widespread in may but the rate of decline moderated in construction and several service-providing industries. large job losses continued in the manufacturing sector with employment declines in nearly all component industries. employment fell sharply in motor vehicles and parts, machinery and fab

burgess do you want to question now or do you want to come back? you only have five minutes so i wi have to hold you tight. >> i can be very brief. >> i have not seen it yet but go ahead. >> we have heard the discussion of the public option plan. what is your opinion of that? >> i oppose the public plan option. >> mr. collins? >> sir, i believe the reforms that have been proposed we can make the market work much better without a public plan. >> mr. sassi? >> we also oppose the public plan. >> i don't want to be the one to have to break this to you but the reality is you are very likely to get a public plan and not likely to get a deal struck by a hip at the white house. i would urge you to think outside the box on this when there are ways that we can solve this problem without going to a public plan, in my opinion and without leaving so many people uninsured inlet bell leaving so many people that fall to the cracks. clearly the situation as it stands now is unstable and untenable and we cannot continue it but you guys of that to be able succumb to

burgess, do you want to question now or come back after votes? we only have five minutes and i have to told you tight. >> you know me, i can be really brief. >> i have never seen it yet, but go ahead if you want to try. >> just ask you, all three of you briefly you, heard the discussion of the public option plan, what is your opinion of that? >> i oppose the public plan option. >> mr. collins? >> sir, i believe that the reforms proposed we can make the market work much better without a public plan. >> and mr. sassi? >> we also oppose a public plan, we also feel that -- >> i don't want to be the one to have to break it to you, but reality is you are very likely to get a public plan, you are not likely to get the deal struck by ahip and you can see the handled writing on the wall and i would urge you to be -- to think outside this box on this, for there are ways we can solve this problem. without going to a public plan, my opinion, and, without leaving so many people uninsured and without leaving so many people, that fall through the cracks as we h

burgess referred to it. and we've got situations where we're doing these modifications but if people don't have jobs, that's a real problem. do you see that -- that is the loss of housing, does that create a problem with regard to jobs too? >> i'm sure it does. i think it's the same sort of cycle that you see with consumption or anything else. when you have -- when you have foreclosures, when you have consumer spending down, it creates unemployment and en this the unemployment creates more -- bigger decline and consumer spending so it's a cycle. so it would be the same thing, i think, with foreclosures. >> i see my time has expired, mr. brady, for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. you were making the point that the job market is not improving. it's continuing to decline at a significant rate. thankfully, not as quickly as in the past months. what does the may decline in payroll say about the current economic conditions? >> although there's been some moderation in the job loss, there's still a signifi

burgess and i think that is good to have. i hope that some point come a given cms-- cms's role in overseeing hipaa and perhaps we have a family to see that has a role in this to come before our subcommittee as well to find out their take on what is happening. ms. horton he stated that you think the applications are deliberately confusing and i have looked through some of those and i understand what you mean. but could be of little bit more specific to the kinds of questions that you found difficult and confusing? >> i haven't looked at the application in four years since i first buildout so i can't be soopers specific but i do remember them, you know after looking at it again with my sister and brother-in-law of the votes said he would have to be a doctor or lawyer in order to figure out the up sulfation and fill it out to 100% accuracy. >> how would each of you improve that application process because it seems to me like that is kind of the crux of the argument here, is there are things that you didn't know that or run your

burgess. burgess. of course, a lot of other major leaguers have come out of high schools in and around tampa. garza falling behind most of his hitters here with the exception of adam dunn, had him 0-2. willingham has had a great base-on average lately. that's a good pitch, under his hands for a strike. he already tripled. >> rob: he only tripled the amount he has given up in his prior starts. >> bob: maybe he was due and so are the nats who have not scored many runs in the 1st inning this year. willingham, slicing away from gabe gross. this is one of the few ballparks where the bullpen is on the field of play. he did not have to contend with the mound but he was not far from it. >> rob: you see that warning track right there that's like crushed rubber, higher sneakers, et cetera. that's the warning track around the entire field. this is kicking up a little bit. one thing about being out here for the world series, that stuff is loose and it could kick up more like it does. you need that advanta

luke scott with a couple of home runs, batting .353, adam jones .333 and burgess son, striking out three and that's the past week in baseball. >>> looking at the american league score board. yankees have won. the 20th comeback victory. swisher with a home run. joe girardi with the win. texas win over boster, beating the red sox 6-3. nell on cruz with the 10th in the last 10 games. and toronto shut out kansas city, holliday with the 10th win. complete game, the first of the majors to win 10. overbay had a solo and the tigers defeated anaheim. and clete thomas for the tigers, grand slam. two against the orioles last weekend and detroit's 30th win for the season. >>> now when we come back, we'll look at brad burgess on, he'll be the starter on tuesday when they return back to camden yards. that story is next. ♪ what's great about the iphone on the nation's fastest 3g network... is if dinner turns into dinner and a movie, you can quickly download an app from the app store... see what's playing... watch a trailer... and buy tickets. all before you can say "check please". the iphone 3g on at

burgess for questions. >> thank you, mr. chairman. that's the last point of mr. deal's is excellent and likely would have eliminated the problem for at least one of the three witnesses we had in front of us this morning but let me just ask mr. hamm and mr. sassi, if you're to hear the witnesses of the individuals that testified, what do you think after hearing that? is that something that -- and again, coming from this at the perspective as a customer of the insurance market at one time and maybe again in the future. i recognize the value that you bring and i want you to be able to continue to do the type of business that you do but you heard the opening comments of the chairman of the subcommittee this morning. there is a move afoot to do things in a way that would be very difficult for you to do business in the future and i for one would not like to see that happen but tell me what your impressions are after hearing the testimony that you heard. >> i would be glad to respond to that and i have to say i felt bad and i have a lot of empathy for the people impacte

. >> in burgess for questions, please. >> thank you. ms. baiten, let me ask you. blue cross and blue shield came back to you after finding out you needed the surgery and said they were taking your insurance and the date of rescission was dated back to the date of enactment of the insurance, is that correct? >> i'm kind of hard of hearing. >> your rescission was effective on 12-07 which was the date the insurance was initiated? >> right. they gave me back my premiums. >> they refunded the -- >> i never cashed the check because mr. barton told me to the to cash it. they rescinded it back to the -- they wanted nothing to do with me and gave me back every penny that i had ever given them and considered never been insured by them. >> i see. and what about in your brother's situation. was there ever a refund of premium back to the date of the rescission? >> yes. they didn't actually get to that point because it got resolved before they refunded the money but they sent a letter saying you are se as i understanded to the date of original contract which was before my broth

burgess, thank you very much. there are other members waiting and the secretary will have to leave. >> i'll yield back. >> okay thank you, mr. care man and welcome, madam secretary. we're happy to see you here. >> thank you. >> i was pleased to see the components of legislation that i authored. the public health force workforce investment act were incorporated into the draft bill before us today. the creation of this is a major step forward and will revolutionize public health forever. we're starting a public health work crisis. and in order to satisfy the future needs we need to train three times as many public health workers as we are today. otherwise, the rates of obesity, diabetes and other chronic diseases will likely rise. and we need to reinvest in the crucial part of our public health infrastructure so that we can take community-based action to fruendt long-term public health crisis. secretary sebelius, you're the head of what i think is the largest public health agency in the world. you probably know as w

burgess, one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. burgess: madam speaker, last night i offered an amendment that would prohibit the transfer or receipt of carbon credit derivatives. why is that important? this bill will ensure the price for carbon and trading. this is a breeding ground. we are aware if there is a price, wall street will find a way to option swap or hedge and cease trading and the current financial crisis has heightened our use of the use of derivatives. here's the problem, none of us can visualize a ton of carbon dioxide, yet that's what we will be buying. where would you put it? what kind of container would it come in? in fact, we had hearings in our committee about problems with the futures market in trading oil, but at least someone has to take possession of that oil. no one has to take possession of that chunk of blue sky that we are going to call a ton of carbon dioxide. my amendment would vice president stopped the next enron before it starts. unfortunately, my attempt to prohibit this activity was denied. i ca

i've been watching you all all night and watching michael burgess from texas. he had a pretty good thing going on tonight about the joint economic committee. he was asking all these questions as far as this weather and all this going on. boy, he's supposed to be the scientific guy. all he could say is. i don't know what the story is today. that's all they are talking about. it's a story. life has been going on this earth for tens of,000s of years. >> let's move on to maryland with the republicans. >> yes, i'm a senior citizen. reisn'tly, my insurance bill has sky rocketed. i'm going on 69 years old. i'm considering dropping my insurance. a single payer system seems to be the only way to handle this. it's not just the insurance companies butt medical costs, the hospital costs. our government needs to research alternative therapies not being researched. >> how much do you think you would say? >> it all depeppeds what our charges would be per person. jite now, my costs are $2,000 a year in insurance premium. you figure a single payer system would decrease your med

burgess on will be on the mound against hernandez. coverage begins at 6:30. jim hunter saying so long for the oakland coliseum, this has been a masn presentation. tom davis and rick dempsey and o's xtra. >> the e's complete a three game sweep, and rick, before we get into the orioles we have to talk about vin mazzaro. he hasn't given up a run in two professional games in the major leagues. >> he was 15 and 6 comes into the game and he doesn't strike out a lot of people but he doesn't give up very many runs either and that tells you something about the movement on his fastball and today he shows it. if you were watching the ballgame, you saw a lot of ground ball outs but that movement on the fastball and mixing in the slider and the curveball, he showed me a little something. in fact all of the oakland a aspishers showed me something, all young guys and very up and coming guys that are scary rights now. >> as we look at the recap. this is a one-inning recap when you get down to it for the oars and it fun turns out to be -- it turns out to be too many walks. gi

burgess, do you have an opening statement? a yield for five minutes. >> thank you for the indulgence. each month's this committee receives the release of bureau of labor statistics, and each month we continue to fill the need for what president clinton used to call the laser light focus on the economy. this month we have seen significant job losses without any focus on economic priorities. perhaps congress needs to appoint someone solely responsible for focusing the efforts on domestic economic issues. we could use someone in the room who will say how exactly will this new initiative, this new czar, or a bill that will have causal relationships, how will this create new jobs? two years -- two weeks ago we heard a lot about cap and trade. the report released on tuesday by the council on economic advisers claims that the president's concept of health care reform will create 500,000 jobs a year. well, we can all look forward to those potential jobs in 2012, 2014, 2016 when they take effect, but where is the plan to build job grow

burgess. >> i have a map of the united states that pertains adjust to chrysler for the moment. it looks like what a republican and what would like the electoral map. [laughter] but it is chrysler dealers. my state of texas all the three happen brothers release baird in the economic downturn, our state has been hit pretty hard with the closings. there is a member in the northeast, as chairman of the house financial services committee able to make a phone call to get one of this dealerships or distributors to stay open. what is the number i need to call? is it 1800 car czar? celly who to call so i can help the dealers in my area that have been so badly hurt. >> i don't understand your question with all great respect to the office, i have to say i am not aware of any dealer that was ever removed from the list that was submitted to the judge. i have no knowledge of that. i would very much like to see if i could get that. >> it was in all of the paper's yesterday, at barney frank made a call to someone and got his dealer to stay open. it is unconscionable what is going on also is go

burgess had to leave, but i know he entered into that discussion with both you and mr. prez and mr. henderson about e-mail traffic to i think it's in the white house that might i understood you to indicate you would supply that e-mail dak george's approach would be to follow up in the letter of request but eissenstat isn't a problem for you to provide those e-mails. ms. sutton? >> thank you come mr. chairman. i want to add of course as you can see who stayed here at the end as was pointed out the car act we passed this week represent braley, and our original cosponsor and chairman stupak and chairman dingell were involved in the process of getting that bill done and it is intended to have a concrete impact because we do believe that mr. keikenapp said, we want for chrysler and gm to be a success because it is linked to our work communities and jobs and the food it puts on the tables of the people we are honored to represent and so it's painful for us to be here and in this position but the payment that we feel listening to this is nothing compared to what we have heard displayed her

burgess, three minutes for an opening statement, sir. >> let me say at the outset, i do believe in the individual markets. i believe it has a place in this country. and indeed, i was a client and a customer in the individual market for my family's coverage. for a period of time. but i also believe that the barriers that we, the federal government, the congress puts in place on the individual market sometimes creates unnecessary difficulties for the people who sell on the individual market or the people who wish to be their customers. but no one can defend, and i certainly cannot defend the practice of denying coverage after the fact. and i cannot be comforted by the fact, or the statements that are made that this is in fact an infrequent occurrence, because as the cases in front of us at the witness table demonstrate this morning, there is no acceptable minimums to denying coverage after the fact when the coverage was dully paid for. and entered into in an honest fashion, and then only when the coverage was required, was it found to be not there. now, i don't think anyone on either sid

and i think that was in reference to the fact that as you just testified to doctor burgess that you were on that waiting list at the county hospital. there was an alternative but, thank god that your congressman and my colleague, joe barton was able to intervene and you got the care at the private hospital and by your physician that you trusted and wanted to do the surgery. this statement you made is absolutely right. i don't know if you know it but i'm a physician, too. an obgyn doctor. your statement is a profound one, indeed. when you get an a waiting list, cancer grows. and when we look at statistics of countries where you routinely get put on a waiting list like the uk and others, and in particular, in the treatment of breast cancer, in our country, where you don't get put on a waiting list when you have breast cancer, you get operated on quickly the five-year overall survival right for breast cancer is 98%. but in the uk system, where you frequently get put on a waiting list, a five-year survival rate for breast cancer is 78%. that's a significant change. as you described to us, th

so in order to make themselves, i guess some people said, to atone for their sin of wealth, burgess gave a lot of their money away. they were big philanthropists. so smirnov being a very smart philanthropist, he didn't get his money away to use any charity. he actually went out and saw the charities at the sars favorite. he went out and saw the charities that had been started by the aristocrats and that had aristocrats on their boards. so he was very, very smart in making these connections with the leaders in russia at the time. so by the time 1886 came around and smirnov applied to be the czars purveyor, he became the czars purveyor. and this was a very, very big thing. czars had purveyors for everything. czars provided them pianos. there was even a real ontrack roil each man. so you could literally name anything and bazaar had a purveyor. but smirnov was the czars purveyor's as well you can well imagine in russia being a vodka purveyor was a very, very big deal. so what happens to smirnov though is that he gets to be so good at what he does, that he almost becomes a lightning rod for t

burgess, for questions. >> thank you, mr. chairman. and that is -- last point, mr. deal's is an excellent one and likely would have eliminated the problem for at least one of the three witnesseds that we had in front of us this morning. but, let me just ask, mr. hamm, and mr. sassi and mr. collins, after you were here and heard the testimony of the three individuals, who testified, what do you think, after hearing that? is that something that -- and began, i am coming from a perspective of someone who supports the individual insurance market, i was a customer of the individual insurance market at one time and may be again in the future. i recognize the value that you bring. and i want you to be able to continue to do the type of business that you do, but you heard the comments, the opening comments of the chairman of the subcommittee this morning, and there is a move afoot to do things in a way that would be very difficult for you to do business in the future, and i for one would not like to see that happen. but tell me what your impressions are, after hearing the t

burgess. >> thank you chairman. good to see you again. spent some time yesterday out at the fda's facility, and i will act on those comments of mr. boyer, you have a wonderful staff that you lead of there. they are obviously very, very dedicated individuals, sometimes working under the adverse conditions that we supply. but certainly i know you're very proud of the organization of which you lead and i believe that pride is justified. mr. chairman, i'm going to stipulate to all of the difficulties of the food and drug administration is encountering that have already been well document it, and i would ask unanimous consent to preserve my entire statement into the record let me just concentrate on the aspect that we are now finally after i don't know how many hearings on this, getting down to someone of the business of acting for the fda, and talking about legislation that would give the food and drug administration some tools. but we are also giving them a timeframe which may prove to be a very difficult time frame for them to mentation, an

burgess' mouth, but he comes down to this floor, republican from texas, he comes often and talks in an articulate way about the need to upgrade the information system. so there's a lot of potential agreement, but it didn't stop the sort of right wing in this country from going out and spreading lies that this investment in information technology was the federal government's attempt to have a big brother takeover of health care, and this was the federal government reaching in and controlling all of your health care information and knowing everything about every ill thans you've had or prescription drug you're on. it's the furthest thing from the truth. we're trying to standardize private health care investments that have been made by hospitals and doctors across this country. but i think it speaks to how difficult this debate is going to become. there is just a group of folks out there who are either jurs ideologically opposed to having the government have any role in health care or folks who are part of the status quo, who are making their fortunes off health care today, that don't wan