mr. speaker , i thank the chairman for yielding , and i want to commend him for producing a very good bill , and i want to commend the full committee chairman , mr. lewis .  i came to congress 11 years ago , and over that 11-year time period , i have seen the size of this bill more than double .  the working families in my congressional district have not seen their incomes double in that time period .  we have seen unprecedented challenges that we have had to face this year , hurricane katrina , recovery from that , hurricane wilma , which significantly affected my district and the state i live in , and then , of course , we are fighting a war , a war on terror in this country .  this is a very , very responsible bill .  it is a good bill .  i just ask all members to keep in mind , you will hear statements that this bill is going to devastate health care in america .  we have an over $ 13 trillion economy .  we spend more than 17 percent on health care .  the discretionary accounts in this bill represent less than one-tenth of 1 percent of total health care expenditures .  this is a very , very good bill .  it is a very responsible bill , and it is good policy .  i am a conservative .  i came here to act in a responsible fashion , and that is what this bill does .  i encourage all my colleagues to vote for it .  and i again commend the chairman .  