[Congressional Record: January 20, 2010 (House)]
[Page H243-H244]



                    TEAR DOWN THESE WALLS OF SECRECY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Poe) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, in the deep, dark dungeons of this
Capitol, the government trolls are writing bills behind closed doors.
Their aim has always been to take away our liberty one step at a time.
It's what bureaucrats do. They look for ways to grow and take over more
of our lives to justify their existence. So these elite government
trolls think they know better how to run our lives than we do, and they
keep their bills in secret so we, the people, won't know what's in them
until it's too late, until the legislation is forced upon an unwilling,
misinformed people.
  It has been decades since freedom and liberty faced a full frontal
assault from a single piece of legislation, a bill that is so damaging
in scope that by its passage, American freedom and American health will
be sacrificed on the altar of more government control. Of course I'm
talking about the universal government takeover of health care. This is
the most important piece of legislation in modern history, and we were
promised--we were promised that we in this House, we would have
transparency. We would see what is taking place.
  The administration promised us that transparency. In fact, the
administration invited interested parties in health care to the White
House to discuss health care. Of course, for some reason I wasn't on
that invitation list because I'm always willing to discuss my position
and the position of the people I represent. We were promised that
cameras would film the transparency, cameras like C-SPAN, cameras like
the ones here in the House of Representatives, down the hallway in the
U.S. Senate so the American people can see what takes place. I believe
in cameras so that the American public can see what happens in our
Republic.
  When I was a judge back in Texas, I was one of the first judges to
allow cameras into the courtroom so the American people could see what
took place in a criminal trial. I've offered legislation to have
cameras in the United States Supreme Court, in their hearings, so the
most important, most powerful Court in the United States and in the
world, the people can see what takes place over there. Of course, that
legislation hasn't gone anywhere.
  And C-SPAN, what do they do? Well, they're not a news organization in
the sense that they have commentators. They just film what takes place,
and the American public decides. C-SPAN wants to film what is taking
place somewhere in the dungeons of this Capitol where the trolls are
writing yet another health care bill.
  You know, Mr. Speaker, health care is more than about just government
control of health care. It's about government control of our lives.
It's more about government raising taxes, more government spending,
more borrowing from the Chinese and from the Japanese and more
oppression. A government takeover of health care is unhealthy, and it's
not going to make the American health better. It's going to make the
individual health of the American people actually worse, given that the
government control over health and health care is not compatible with
liberty.
  Mr. Speaker, if we love the competence of FEMA and the efficiency of
the post office and the compassion of the IRS, we're going to love
nationalized health care. Allowing our rulers to construct these bills
in secret is exactly how they will bring about these liberty-killing
laws.
  Patrick Henry, one of my heroes, said, ``The liberties of a people
never were, nor ever will be secure when the transactions of their
rulers may be concealed from them. Let me repeat that: ``The liberties
of a people never were, nor ever will be secure when the transactions
of their rulers may be concealed from them.'' And that's exactly what's
taking place in this third health care bill that is supposedly being
written by Members of the Senate and Members of the House somewhere in
this Capitol.
  When rulers plot against the people in secret, it makes it hard for
the people to fight back because they really don't know what's going
on. But, Mr. Speaker, the people are fighting back. They are fighting
back with ballots and not bullets. That was proven yesterday in
Massachusetts. The way things are running in Washington,

[[Page H244]]

D.C., these days, the proof is purposely hidden from the people. And
the question is why. Why can't the people see through C-SPAN what is
taking place behind closed doors? Because it's giving power to
government and not to the people. And that's why we're not being
allowed to see what's taking place.
  It's about changing the phrase ``We the People'' to ``We the
Subjects.'' And that's why We, the People, aren't allowed to see what's
taking place behind these closed doors in secret. So much for
transparency. Spending, taxing, regulating and borrowing, that's what's
taking place. There is nothing more these days that the taxocrats won't
try to tax or regulate.
  Ronald Reagan once said, ``Freedom is never more than one generation
away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the
bloodstream . . . It must be fought for, protected and handed on for
them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling
our children and our children's children what it was like once in the
United States where men were free.''
  Legislation, Mr. Speaker, especially the most important in recent
years, health care, should be done openly, openly so we can see what's
taking place. So I say, open up the steel gates, quit hiding the facts
from the citizens. Mr. President, open the gates of transparency and
openness. And, Mr. President, tear down these walls of secrecy.
  And that's just the way it is.

                          ____________________