mr. speaker , i appreciate this opportunity to speak on behalf of the rule and the underlying legislation . 
mr. speaker , i would like to just mention a personal story . 
i have a son-in-law who manages 150 stores . 
they are part of a franchise and are spread across 40 different states . 
if they have to purchase health care store by store , it is prohibitively expensive . 
their costs are going up 10 to 20 percent a year . 
one of the previous speakers said it may not add a whole lot of people , but what is happening is we are losing more and more people out of health care plans each year because small businesses simply can not afford it . 
if they can band together , those 150 stores , and pool their resources and have 500 employees in a pool , they have a chance to keep their health care . 
i think it is critical . 
mr. speaker , 60 percent of all americans work for small businesses , and this is key to this legislation . 
small businesses are particularly important to rural areas like nebraska . 
the measure would do three things : one , increase small business ' bargaining power with health care providers ; number two , give them freedom from costly state-mandated benefit packages . 
in many cases , the state regulations simply stifle the health care packages . 
and , number three , lower their overhead cost by as much as 30 percent . 
republicans and democrats alike have joined together in each of the last two congresses to pass this legislation . 
i urge support of the underlying rule and the bill . 
