[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 102 (Tuesday, July 10, 2012)]
[House]
[Pages H4770-H4772]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
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REPEALING AFFORDABLE CARE ACT
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of
January 5, 2011, the gentleman from New York (Mr. Tonko) is recognized
for 30 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.
Mr. TONKO. Madam Speaker, for a great number of hours today in this
Chamber, there has been a great debate on whether or not to repeal the
Affordable Care Act when we know fully that the chances are slim to
move forward and the measure would not be signed into law. Is it
political posturing? I believe it is, of a grand style.
There's a pattern being established here. There's been an attack--
outright attack--on Social Security, attempts to privatize the system.
It's been under attack for the last 76 years. It's been the
underpinning that provides stability for working families across this
great Nation. It has been a security piece that has enabled many to
have at least assurances that there would be some support in family
budgets as they move month to month. We know that that measure, Social
Security, has been dealing with its enemies for a long time--since
before it was made a law.
Likewise, Medicare, which came to us in the mid-sixties, enabled our
senior community to have its health care needs met, provided
predictability and stability for retired households, enabled people to
enjoy a quality of life, a better quality of health care. We know that
before Medicare, many of those who had retired expected to see their
economic security dip south because of the expected cost of providing
health care when they, perhaps, could not get that coverage in an
insurance context.
So Medicare, as we know it today, would be undone by the Republican
majority in this House. They would prefer to privatize Social Security,
allow us to reach to the financial sector to, perhaps, see a repeat of
what happened to so many individuals and families out there with this
past recession, where they saw their lifetime savings wiped away,
trillions lost in the American economy, pain and suffering endured by
families across this land. They'd rather see a voucher system for
Medicare, handing it over to the insurance companies, to leave seniors
digging deeper into their pockets.
So the pattern has been established here, and now a repeal of the
Affordable Care Act before its full implementation, before given a
chance as we arrive as the last industrialized Nation in the world to
provide a universal health care coverage program. Unacceptable.
Progress is struck. A decision is rendered by the highest court in the
land, a conservative-leaning Court. Before the ink is dry on that
decision, a move to repeal. The Court spoke. It has spoken to America
and said the litmus test for constitutionality was debated and a
decision rendered that said, yes, in fact, it meets the
constitutionality test.
And so this evening, on the eve of the attempts to repeal the
Affordable Care Act as it stands, is a very telling moment. It is one
that suggests to us that there is this outright attempt to undo
programs that serve our middle class so very well. And without a
thriving middle class, our Nation is not prosperous. Without that
thriving middle class, there's not purchasing power strong enough to
provide the recovery of our economy. Without a strengthening of our
middle class, there is not a confidence in the economy, a confidence
that is needed so as to grow more customers for our business base.
And so the Affordable Care Act is offering promise and hope to
millions, tens of millions, of Americans across this land. Whether
you're insured, underinsured, uninsured, all categories will see
strengthening because of this measure.
Think of it. I represent a large proportion of senior citizens who
are concerned about their pharmaceutical costs. Many dealing with that
doughnut hole have reached that threshold that requires them to dig
into their pockets. We close that doughnut hole. We make more
affordable the prescriptions that are required for people to stay well
and, in some cases, to have the medications that keep them alive. We
deny that opportunity to our Nation's seniors.
We deny the respect that we offer. We deny the dignity in the
equation that speaks to affordable outcomes for the pharmaceuticals
that our senior community requires. That doughnut hole would have been
closed by 2020.
Further, at the other end of the age spectrum, many young adults,
finding it difficult in this recession--and now the recovery period--to
gain a job as they perhaps leave high school or college, are given the
opportunity with the Affordable Care Act to remain on their family's
policy until the age of 26. Therein lies a strong benefit for some 6.6
million young adults, denied with the repeal measure, denying access
and affordability to health care situations. How many cases of young
adults impacted by catastrophic illness or accidents will it require to
turn the hearts and the minds in a positive direction, that would not
forego this opportunity for our Nation's young adults? A strong benefit
associated with this package.
What about those who have a preexisting condition? Some 17 million
children in that category. And that's not to account for the many
adults who would be denied because of preexisting conditions. Asthma in
children, diabetes in our senior community, being a woman, utilized as
a preexisting condition, an opportunity to deny coverage and the basic
core need that we should consider to be truly American. Another benefit
lost to the greedy notion of repealing success that was achieved in
this House and the United States Senate and signed into law by this
President.
What about the efforts to deny lifetime benefits as a threshold?
Cutting people off of an insurance coverage at perhaps a very demanding
time in their lives. Games played with people and their lives and their
recovery; hope pulled from working families across this Nation because
of an insensitivity of this Congress. A deplorable situation.
Assistance to our small business community. Now, if we profess our
small business community to be the economic engine that is part and
parcel of our economic comeback, our economic springboard, then would
we not want to provide assistance in that basic core need area? Would
we not want to allow tax credits to come the way of our small business
community? Many, a majority of those businesses will remind all of us
as Representatives that they want to provide for their employees.
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They want a productive workforce. That means a strong and well
workforce. And so they see it as a strong investment; one, however,
that they could not afford in recent years because of the escalating
costs, 18 percent larger bill than industry and perhaps weaker
coverage.
They wanted that turned around. They wanted a smart approach, a
businesslike approach, a sensitive response. They got it with the
Affordable Care Act.
Progress denied, the small business engine weakened by this sort of
neglect that could be advanced in this cited pattern of undoing Social
Security, privatizing Social Security, changing Medicare as we know it
forever, now repealing the Affordable Care Act. We see the pattern. We
see the gross neglect, the disrespect for America's middle class, her
working families.
So we go forward and we understand that, with the opportunities of an
exchange, small employers, our small
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business community understands that if they're unable to enter into an
exchange where all the private sector participants agree to play by the
rules, to sharpen their pencils, roll up their sleeves, provide the
service, live within the parameters, and allow for the many to enter
into a common exchange to provide corresponding benefits.
Think of it. If 1 of 10 in that employee firm of 20 were to be
impacted with catastrophic illness, it's devastating, an actuarial
impact that hits that small business owner hard in the pocketbook
because of the premium increase for that 1 person of the 10 you employ.
If those same 10 employees were allowed to enter the exchange, a
better outcome, a different outcome, a stronger outcome for the
economic recovery of this Nation because the gross majority of jobs
being produced in this comeback are being done by our small business
community.
And so, you know, the formula is quite obvious. We want a comeback.
We want that strongest response here from Washington for that kick that
we endured from a recession that drained us of 8.2 million jobs.
The best way to do it, first of three principles, small business.
Provide for the strengthening of small business, which the Affordable
Care Act does, because that small business community has forever been
the pulse of American enterprise.
Secondly, invest in that entrepreneur, the dreamer, the mover, the
shaker. It always stretched us, since our days of pioneer spirit with
the Industrial Revolution and the westward movement, very familiar to
the district I represent, which is the donor area to the Erie Canal in
upstate New York in the capital region, Mohawk Valley. That pioneer
spirit exists in our fabric today. It's our DNA. Invest in the
entrepreneur. To be the ideas economy kingpin, we rely on these wizards
to build us, sustain us, stretch us, empower us.
And then finally, invest in a thriving middle class, which the
Affordable Care Act does. It enables us, as a middle class community,
to be bolstered by the confidence, the security, the stability that has
come with this success story in guaranteeing access and affordability
to quality health care that will underscore the value of wellness and
not just deal with illness, that will put together efforts to cost
contain, that will bring people into a structured program so that we
can monitor their activities and connect them to a system.
You know, you'll hear from some on the floor, we don't want to pay
for this. It's going to cost us too much.
We're paying today for the neglect, for the consequences of a not-so-
perfect system. Status quo will not cut it, and so we need to go
forward with progressive policies, with the soundness of reform, with
the boldness of transition, with the confidence we can instill, with
the progressiveness of policies that we can draft.
And so it is a sad note here echoed in this Chamber, that would
attempt to unravel, dilute, destroy, deny the promise we can make to
America.
As I look at this effort for a comeback, the containment of health
care costs is just one of those areas that we need to help control.
Create that better environment in which to grow jobs, cultivate a
prosperity. It's important. It's important for us to understand that it
is part of an economic recovery equation.
But there's also the wisdom of investing in education, in higher
education, again, under attack by a system that does not always profess
the strength of research and education and patents and discovery.
We understand that we are in the midst of a global race on
innovation, clean energy and ideas and high tech. To be outstanding
competitors, to arrive at that race ready to conquer, we will need to
be strong and fit in order to be the winning agent on that global
scene.
We saw that order of passion. We saw that order of investment in the
global race on space just decades ago. This Nation, impacted by a
Sputnik moment, dusted off its backside and said, Never again. Never
again.
And what was the result?
Together, a Nation grew in its commitment to winning the global race
on space. We are going to be that agent, that Nation, that proud people
that would stake the American flag on the Moon. And we won that race
because of a commitment, because of investment in the soundness of the
people of this great country and her business community. We embraced
research. We embraced science. We believed in our strength as a people,
and the confidence exuded was the elixir that brought us to the
victory.
Where is that like passion today? Where is that leadership?
A rather youthful President that led us in the sixties and challenged
us, in almost replication today, finds us, interestingly, to be
challenged by a rather youthful President asking us to enter into the
global sweepstakes, committing with passion to the cause.
And so we need that investment in education, in higher education and
research. Just today, in Schenectady, New York, in the 21st
Congressional District of New York that I'm proud to represent, we
announced formally the creation of the advanced battery manufacturing
center at that facility of GE.
CEO Jeff Immelt traveled for the celebration, came to town to
announce this wonderful, wonderful addition. That is America at work
with her genius activity. That's America determined to win the global
race on ideas.
Advanced battery manufacturing, the battery, the linchpin to so much
potential out there, to grow domestic supplies of energy, to grow jobs
as we grow our energy future, to reduce the gluttonous dependency on
fossil-based fuels, oftentimes imported from some of the most
unfriendly nations to the United States, sending hundreds of billions
of dollars annually to those foreign treasuries that are then used to
train troops to fight against our own daughters and sons on the
battlefield.
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Unacceptable. There is a better way, and this Congress knows it.
We invest in jobs. We invest in health care. We invest in education.
We invest in research. We do it in a way that promises our best attempt
as a Nation to generations yet unborn. Someone was there for us, and we
need to be there for future generations of Americans to provide the
sort of cutting-edge opportunity that will spell America at her best. I
look at that opportunity for not only battery manufacturing but
nanotechnology and semiconductor signs, chip manufacturing.
The newly designed 20th Congressional District in New York that
comprises a good portion of the now existing 21st District that I
represent is probably one of the most technology invested-in
congressional districts in the country. It is happening because there
is this belief in the worker, a belief in the entrepreneur, a belief in
the small business community, a belief in the industrial context of the
district, and knowing full well that America's needs--be they for the
environment or energy's sake or business creation, job creation,
business opportunity--are inspiring this remarkable progress.
It requires our moving forward with a plan. It requires our moving
forward academically with the soundness of policy and with the
corresponding resource advocacy that will yield lucrative dividends. I
see it all the time. I see it in energy-efficiency programs that
produce jobs, that enable us to capture waste heat. That is part of the
energy process, enabling us to be much more efficient. Efforts that
enable us to create more and more patents in a world that has grown
much more competitive, much more sophisticated we can ill afford to
weaken in our attempts to be the kingmakers of the international
economy.
The old American spirit, the history of this Nation replete with
those rags to riches scenarios, that became the reason and the
inspiration for the compilation of journeys made by our ancestors to
these shores, because the opportunity called the ``American Dream''
became the prize for which they searched. I see it in my own roots. The
proudest label I carry in life is as the grandson of immigrants. Their
journey gave me great opportunity, and it gave my family great
opportunity. Those journeys chased after the American Dream.
We need, beginning in this House Chamber, to reignite the American
Dream, to go back to the core essence of who we are as a people, to
reach into that American heart and soul that has
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forever relied on its passion that we can achieve because we have
opportunity, and that we will not deny that opportunity, that we will
strengthen the boldness of those dreams and enable us to respond to the
needs of the moments and the future and to write our legacy as a
generation of Americans.
Let us not fail in that attempt. Let us continue to reach deep into
that American spirit. At a time when we were challenged and our economy
was brought to its knees by failed policies that did not manage well,
that did not provide for the stewardship of our resources, and when we
tripped and fell, let it be known that, in the recovery, we were
stronger than ever before. Because of that belief that our best days
lay ahead of us, the belief that those best days were in the future, we
moved forward, and we dug deep into that American spirit to respond
with the respect for America's middle class. Our middle class--all of
us in that middle class--have always understood if you play hard, if
you abide by the rules, if you roll up your sleeves and do your best,
you could rightfully anticipate the taste of success.
That is America in her most shining moments, and that is an economy
that we can produce. It begins with the soundness of a strong and
productive workforce that went through training and retraining, that
got to taste the potential for success by that self discovery that
comes with education, and to then understand our gifts so that we could
share them in the most profound way, and then to provide for the
wellness of that workforce so it could be most productive, so that the
conditioning that came with that sort of commitment and that order of
respect and that potion of dignity could then allow for us to speak to
a Nation that was humbled by its own beginnings, where the rightful
stories of so many who made it their journey were written by a Nation
that believed in her people.
So, tonight, on this eve of an attempt to repeal the Affordable Care
Act, let us understand that our budget here in Washington, our actions
with legislation, our responsiveness to the needs of the American
people are an establishment of our priorities--a prescription of what
we see our future to be--a reaching into the heart to say that we are a
truly caring lot. That's what separates us from other nations. It is
the uniqueness of America and her greatness. The Affordable Care Act is
a measurement of not only sound policy; it is a statement of a
compassionate society that understands it's not about oneself, that
it's about neighbors, that it's about community, that it's about The
Great Society.
It has been the history through the decades, through the vintages of
time, that has enabled us to reach to the greatness of our government,
to reach to the soundness of ideas and innovation, to respond to the
challenges that have enabled us to build upon those who preceded us,
always anticipating that the next generation would be made stronger.
We owe it to our children and grandchildren and generations yet
unborn. Let them look at this moment in history, American history,
knowing that America was challenged, that she stepped up to the plate
and said ``yes'' to her people and truly made a difference, and allowed
people to understand full well that the best days of this great Nation
lie ahead of us.
With that, Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
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