The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“THE WEEK IN REVIEW” mentioning the U.S. Dept of State was published in the House of Representatives section on pages H2098-H2101 on March 26, 2015.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
THE WEEK IN REVIEW
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of January 6, 2015, the Chair recognizes the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Gohmert) for 30 minutes.
Mr. GOHMERT. Mr. Speaker, first of all, I want to address this. The bill we passed today is something that needed to be addressed. It was a problem that has been growing for about 16 years, or so.
The cut that was put into law has been changed 17 times in the last 16 or so years. It made cuts to healthcare providers. We have caused some healthcare providers to retire early.
It was $716 billion that ObamaCare took from Medicare in order to, supposedly, fund 30 million or so that we were told didn't have insurance. Now we have cost millions their health insurance policy they liked. And I say ``we.'' Not a single Republican voted for that bill. It has cost Americans, millions of Americans, the doctor that they wanted to use.
We have seen promise after promise that was made about ObamaCare that was broken. It absolutely wasn't true. Then we find out that there were advisers around the White House who were advising all along: They are not going to be able to keep their insurance policy. They are not going to be able to keep their doctors.
Maybe we want to change the way that kind of thing is said. It did major damage--and continues to do major damage--to health care.
So, on top of that overlay, we had these ongoing cuts to the healthcare providers. If we didn't step in each year and temporarily pause them, it would have put so many healthcare providers out of business and made it extremely difficult for Americans to get the health care they need, even more than it already is, even more than ObamaCare has jeopardized. So something needed to be done.
My friend, Dr. Mike Burgess, had pushed through a fix, a remedy, last year of 63 pages. It was very well thought out. He is a very bright, terrific doctor, a great Congressman, and a friend. We have spent a lot of time this week talking about the fix to the cuts to reimbursement for physicians.
And the bill today, on the good side, provided a permanent fix. If this becomes law, if the Senate passes what we did, it stops the slow deletion of some healthcare providers' efforts and work.
This provides a framework from which Medicare can be reformed for the future. It is valued at $175 billion. And the best estimate we have gotten is that $140 billion of the $175 billion is not offset with any cuts anywhere else. This would be a straight addition of $140 billion to our children's and grandchildren's enormous debt--what some refer to as ``intergenerational theft.''
It does have Henry Hyde language protecting against Federal funds being used for abortion. I have always thought the world of Henry Hyde and was honored to overlap with him 2 years. His work in standing for the unborn children, the most innocent among us, is just an extraordinary life's work that he did.
I don't know that Federal funds for abortions for people on Medicare is as big an issue as some might think. Anyway, the Hyde language is in there. It puts it in the Tax Code. That is a big deal. Some of my Democratic friends were not big on that.
There is also reauthorization for CHIP. There are the secure rural schools. Our rural schools, especially those in national parks, have been cheated for many years from the income that they were supposed to have by giving up land they couldn't tax any more, by giving up other sources of revenue from the land.
They agreed to allow land to be used or become national forests, and they were to be reimbursed by proceeds from the sale of timber. But we have a Forest Service administration--not just this one; it has been going for a while--where production has either slowed dramatically or completely been eliminated, even though pine trees where I live are an entirely renewable resource. You plant them, and you are ready to harvest them in 15, 20 years. We are not talking sequoias. We are just talking a renewable resource. It is well managed in east Texas and other places around the country.
But since production has stopped and we are buying so much lumber from other countries now, it is not good for America, not good for our trade imbalance, but it has been a Federal Government policy. And it has put schools in an extremely detrimental position, especially in rural areas, especially in areas where there have been national forests.
So it is nice to have another bandaid, so to speak, to address that issue. It should have been in here. It should have been done before now.
But, on the other side, getting back to $140 billion that is not offset by cuts anywhere else, adding it into the intergenerational theft--and it also concerns me, we had 212 Republicans today that voted for this SGR fix. It would have been so easy to have enough of an adjustment into this bill that we could add six more Republicans, and it would have been able to pass without any Republican leader begging for support from the Democrats, without coming to support from conservatives.
With the vote on DHS funding, we saw 167 Republicans voted against it because it didn't keep our promise to stop the illegal, unconstitutional amnesty that DHS had done, as ordered by the President; and there were 75 Republicans, some of whom are very conservative, but they did vote with the Speaker on that bill and with the majority of Democrats to pass that funding.
But I think that gives us an indication that out of the Republican Conference--the massive portion of the Republican Conference represents very conservative districts, and there are Republicans that, thank God, we have that are from more moderate areas, but somewhere between one-
fourth and one-third, perhaps.
It just seems like this bill today was one of those bills where we would be better off if we negotiated a deal among the Republicans and go through regular order. That is what we promised. You put us in the majority; we will go through regular order. We will have hearings on this entire bill. There will be open opportunities to discuss it, to amend it, to have legislative hearings, before you even do the votes on it in committee. We didn't do that.
The bill was filed 2 days ago, on the 24th. We had a couple of days with this bill. That is not adequate for something this important.
It does add some means testing for seniors. It appears very clear it is going to cause healthcare providers to have to add more clerical workers--people that don't do health care; they just do paperwork. So there will be more costs.
So we didn't have a chance to adequately investigate the terminology of this bill and the long-term effects it will have on health care. It is kind of important.
This also came 1 day after we voted for a budget that was important to get to the point where we could have reconciliation that let us deal with important issues like ObamaCare. We passed the budget easily, and we had a number of different budgets we could vote for. I thought Tom Price did a good job of marshalling the efforts on that.
But the point is most of us were so focused on the budget through the vote yesterday that we really had one night to prepare on this SGR with the actual language that was filed on Tuesday.
I was good with the 63 pages Dr. Burgess had used last year, but there were over 200 pages. I really don't know the long-term effects of what we did; and that is why, though I have been clamoring for an SGR fix, I couldn't vote for it.
This isn't how we do things. We are supposed to first do no harm. We don't know what harm we may have done in that bill. We know we did some good, but we don't know what harm. We should have had some more time to analyze this and take the language back to our physicians, our healthcare providers, and say: You're the one doing this, you're the one trying to save lives, enhance lives, what will this do to you? What will this language do to you? Then come back and have the vote.
So I appreciate the work for those that have been spending so much time on what is often referred to as the ``doctor fix.'' We definitely needed that as another fix. This is more permanent. We don't know what the Senate will do, and that is another one of our problems.
There is some rather breathtaking news that has come out today about what the Obama administration has done in the way of damage to the nation of Israel--it sounds like this action was extremely petty--in an effort to slap Israel, without proper regard for the fact that they are the most important ally we have anywhere in the Middle East and one of the very most important allies we have in the world.
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It is just breathtaking what was done. Actually, to put this in perspective, this article, March 23, from Joel Pollak, says, ``Obama's Chief of Staff Fires up J Street: Israel's Occupation Must End.''
The article says:
White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough earned raucous cheers from the leftwing activists gathered at J Street's fifth annual conference in Washington on Monday when he attacked Israel's occupation of the West Bank. ``An occupation that has lasted almost 50 years must end.''
J Street was founded to disrupt the close U.S.-Israel alliance and to serve as an alternative to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the powerful pro-Israel group.
Well, that is interesting. If we use Mr. McDonough's rationale about the Israel occupation and how it must end, then that would mean that, at the turn of the 20th century, if he had been around clamoring for, on behalf of this President--were he President around the end of the 1800s--he would have been saying: it is time to end America's occupation of Texas.
Had he been around in, say, 1823, speaking for President Obama back then, had he been President then, if he used this same reasoning, he would have been saying: it is time for the occupation of our Thirteen Colonies to stop, and we give all the land back to England. This is no time for the Thirteen Colonies to continue to occupy what we are calling the United States.
It is time to give that back to England. It was theirs originally. The French had some at one time. There were differing claims, but basically time to quit occupying the United States and give this all back to England.
It is time to give the West of the United States, you might have heard him say, if he had been around in the early 20th century, time to give back all the West to whoever had it before, whether it was Mexico, Spain, whoever may have been claiming it; we have been occupying it.
That is not the way the world works. That is not the way the United States worked. Native American tribes were constantly taking each other on, different parts of the country, taking over others' land. That has gone on around the world.
When you have a group of people living in the nation of Israel saying, We refuse to ever recognize Israel's right to exist, we want to wipe the Jewish people off the map, we want to wipe Israel off the map, then that is not a nation that you sit down with.
Then when you have a nation like Iran, that is doing--they make clear, even as of last week, that the top leaders in Iran want death to America. Well, apparently, when this administration hears a religious fanatic that has killed American soldiers, killed American civilians, has really been at the lead of killing Americans wherever they could find them and have an opportunity to kill them and want to wipe Israel off the map, as the Little Satan, and wipe America off the map, as the Great Satan--they have continued to pursue nuclear weapons, and while this administration was rushing and continue to rush to talk to the leaders in Iran, it leaves some of us aghast at how blind the administration can be as to who is our friend and who is our enemy.
It was Denis McDonough, this article talks about, speaking to the group, according to this article, that was founded to disrupt the close relationship between U.S. and Israel, and he fired them up, saying the occupation that lasted almost 50 years must end.
It reminded me, oh, yeah, I remember another speech he gave, and this transcript is from the White House Web site. This was March 6 of 2011, and Denis McDonough, the same guy that thinks we need to run Israel out of the land of Israel, he said this--and I am quoting from the speech from the White House Web site.
``Thank you, Imam Magid, for your very kind introduction and welcome. I know that President Obama was very grateful that you led the prayer at last summer's Iftar dinner at the White House which, as the President noted, is a tradition stretching back more than two centuries to when Thomas Jefferson hosted the first Iftar at the White House. Thank you also for being one of our''--I might parenthetically interject here into Mr. McDonough's speech, glowing praise for Imam Magid, that actually this is Imam Magid who was president of the Islamic Society of North America.
The Islamic Society of North America, a little background on them, they were named as a coconspirator to fund terrorism in the largest prosecution in the United States history for funding of terrorism--this was in a United States district court in Dallas--in short, referred to as the Holy Land Foundation trial. They were the main defendant, their principals.
The list of unindicted coconspirators from that trial included the Council on American Islamic Relations, CAIR; the Islamic Society of North America, ISNA; and the North American Islamic Trust, NAIT. These coconspirators were not tried in the first round of prosecutions in Dallas under the Bush administration, but in November of 2008, all five defendants were convicted on a massive number of charges of supporting terrorism.
The evidence utilized in the first round of the prosecutions, some that participated anticipate would be used in another trial against other named coconspirators if they were successful in getting the first convictions, which they did.
However, before the convictions were finalized, there was an election. President Obama was elected President, and we got a new Attorney General, and they decided, despite what the evidence showed, despite what the courts had found, they are not going to prosecute the Islamic Society of North America and CAIR--CAIR has a very lovely building just down the street from us here. I can see CAIR from my window.
In the case in Dallas, CAIR, NAIT, ISNA, they filed pleadings demanding that the judge remove their names as coconspirators in supporting terrorism. The judge reviewed all the evidence, had the hearing, and he ruled that their names would not be struck as coconspirators because there was plenty of evidence to support them as coconspirators supporting terrorism.
They appealed that to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals for the United States, and the fifth circuit, in their order, confirmed that there was a prima facie case made that the entities, CAIR, NAIT, ISNA, those associations have strong associations with the Muslim Brotherhood, namely Hamas, its Palestinian branch, which was specifically designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S. Government.
Anyway, the organization here that the Federal courts found had plenty of evidence to make a case against them, as supporters of terrorism, have become partners with this administration, and that is why Denis McDonough, who was getting the acclaim for demanding Israel leave part of Israeli territory, he was there back in 2011, giving praise to Imam Magid, thanking him for his wonderful prayers at the White House.
This is a guy that is president of what two Federal courts have said had plenty of evidence to show they are coconspirators in supporting terrorism.
This business about, oh, the long tradition going back to Thomas Jefferson of Iftar at the White House, Iftar is the celebration during the month of August--or after the fasting during the month of August for the religious observance of Muslims, and Iftar is the feast after the fasting.
If you go back to what they say was the first Iftar under Thomas Jefferson, it doesn't appear to me that Jefferson realized he was having an Iftar dinner. He wanted to have a dinner with a Muslim leader, and he couldn't do it until the fasting was over, and so when he could eat, they had a meal.
It is kind of like hearing people say: Well, Thomas Jefferson, having a copy of the Koran shows how open-minded it was.
No, it shows the fact that he had been a diplomat negotiating with radical Islamists called Barbary pirates as to why they kept capturing United States Navy--not Navy--but seamen and holding them for ransom.
They had so many of our sailors that they held in captivity, we were paying a massive part of our budget for ransom to get these back. Jefferson was one of those that went over and negotiated and apparently asked: Why do you keep attacking us? We don't even have a navy. Why you are attacking us? We are not a threat to you.
He was reportedly told: In our religion, we believe that if we die while attacking you, an infidel, we go to paradise.
Jefferson was so well read, he couldn't believe there was a religion that thought you could go to paradise if you die killing innocent people, so he got his own English translation of the Koran.
His ultimate action was to create and send a new thing called United States Marines to the shores of Tripoli because he realized there is not going to be any negotiation that is adequate to deal with these radical Islamists. There is only one way to beat them, and that is to physically beat them in a fight to the finish. It kept them off our backs for some time.
Well, that is Denis McDonough, speaking for the President in 2011 and now. Then we know that the White House is doing everything it can to bend over backwards, the State Department: Oh, Iran, what can we do for you?
Okay. Now, we find out today they are going to let them have centrifuges spinning in their secret facility they didn't even disclose until we found out about it, and they are going to let them keep having centrifuges spin there.
Look, they will almost do anything to get them to sign some kind of agreement, bending over backwards; but they can't spare a minute to meet with the leader of Israel, can't spare the President, Vice President, or one of the Cabinet to come listen to Netanyahu--oh, no.
Then, today, this outrage has come to light, that the United States, the Obama administration, has declassified a document that reveals Israel's nuclear program to the world, especially to Iran and to those who want to destroy Israel, so they will know exactly what they are after, what they are up against.
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What has happened, what has come to light today of this administration declassifying a document, obviously, it is a slap at Netanyahu. It is a slap at the Israeli people for coming out in droves to support a group of representatives that this President doesn't approve of.
We are betraying this great ally of ours: Israel. If you believe the Bible, judgment will be coming down on our country for what our elected officials and appointed officials have done in betraying Israel. There will be problems for this.
If you don't believe the Bible, then just use common sense. When you betray your most trusted ally in this torn-apart Middle East, then you are going to have problems galore.
I have talked with leaders in those countries. I can't now because the Speaker won't let me go talk to them overseas anymore. That is what you call retribution if you don't support the Speaker. I get that. I am fine with that. As a result of him canceling my trip this weekend, I get to be on FOX News. Anyway, thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Somebody needs to be friendly to our allies and stand up against our enemies, and this administration is not doing it.
This betrayal is going to do more damage in the world than the snotty little act that was intended to slap at Netanyahu and the Israeli voters than we could possibly imagine. This is just unbelievable.
Now, if you believe that there are lessons worth noting in the Bible, you could go back to King Hezekiah, who entertained the Babylonian leaders. If you believe the account in the Bible, God sent Isaiah to Hezekiah and asked him: What have you done?
He already knew; but Hezekiah said, in effect--and this is Texas paraphrase--well, we met with these lovely, wonderful leaders from Babylon, and we showed them all of our treasure.
In the most correct translation, he adds: And we showed them all of the defenses we have in our arsenal.
Isaiah basically says: Because you have done that, you fool, you will lose the country.
This is the kind of thing that brings down nations. It was petty, and it was a betrayal, and people need to be called to account for it.
I yield back the balance of my time.
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