I have a fantastic studio in my home and it's my biggest toy. I have about a half a million dollars worth of musical equipment in my house.

I also rise today in strong support of forward movement on the implementation of health information technology which has the potential to save the United States billions of dollars in health care costs each year.

But the dollars spent on economic incentives and new investment strategies are wasted unless we seriously address the two most important economic issues in Kansas: education and health care.

In speech after speech on his health care plan the President has tried to convince us that what he is proposing will be good for America. But how can it be good for America if it raises taxes by a half trillion dollars and costs a trillion dollars or more to implement?

It is time to maximize and prioritize our health care dollars.

You bet every member of Congress who votes for this bill ought to read it read it thoroughly and understand that what we're looking at here amounts to nothing more than a government takeover of our health care economy paid for with nearly a trillion dollars in new taxes on individuals and small businesses. And it must be opposed.

But you say does it represent change? The change is that we are fighting an insurance industry that has killed health reform for generations. They're spending tens of millions of dollars right now to defeat this bill and we're on the doorstep of winning a great victory for the American people.

They said it was impossible to touch the third rail of politics to take on public-sector unions and to reform a pension and health benefits system that was headed to bankruptcy. But with bipartisan leadership we saved taxpayers $132 billion dollars over 30 years and saved retirees their pensions. We did it.

The federal government now spends one of every four dollars in the entire economy. It borrows one of every three dollars it spends. No nation no entity large or small public or private can thrive or survive intact with debts as huge as ours.

Every year the Federal Government wastes billions of dollars as a result of overpayments of government agencies misuse of government credit cards abuse of the Federal entitlement programs and the mismanagement of the Federal bureaucracy.