[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 114 (Friday, August 2, 2013)]
[House]
[Pages H5362-H5374]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
KEEP THE IRS OFF YOUR HEALTH CARE ACT OF 2013
Mr. CAMP. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 322, I call up
the bill (H.R. 2009) to prohibit the Secretary of the Treasury from
enforcing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Health
Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010, and ask for its
immediate consideration.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to House Resolution 322, the bill
is considered read.
The text of the bill is as follows:
H.R. 2009
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Keep the IRS Off Your Health
Care Act of 2013''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) On May 10, 2013, the Internal Revenue Service admitted
that it singled out advocacy groups, based on ideology,
seeking tax-exempt status.
(2) This action raises pertinent questions about the
agency's ability to implement and oversee Public Law 111-148
and Public Law 111-152.
(3) This action could be an indication of future Internal
Revenue Service abuses in relation to Public Law 111-148 and
Public Law 111-152 given that it is their responsibility to
enforce a key provision, the individual mandate.
(4) Americans accept the principle that patients, families,
and doctors should be making medical decisions, not the
Federal Government.
SEC. 3. PROHIBITING ENFORCEMENT OF PPACA AND HCERA.
The Secretary of the Treasury, or any delegate of the
Secretary, shall not implement or enforce any provisions of
or amendments made by Public Law 111-148 or 111-152.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Camp) and
the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Levin) each will control 30 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Camp).
General Leave
Mr. CAMP. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have
5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and to
include extraneous material on H.R. 2009.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Michigan?
There was no objection.
Mr. CAMP. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
I come to the floor today in support of H.R. 2009, legislation that
will prevent the IRS from getting involved in Americans' health care.
The IRS is already out of control, abusing its power to tax and to
audit the activities of honest, hardworking Americans. The IRS has
betrayed the trust of the American people. Yet ObamaCare granted the
IRS 47 new powers, including giving confidential taxpayer information
to other departments and applying new taxes and penalties. Well before
the IRS started getting involved in your health care and sharing your
information and forcing people to pay even more taxes, let's first look
at the job the IRS is already doing.
Back in 2011, I investigated claims that the IRS was threatening with
higher taxes donors to conservative causes. It turned out to be true.
The IRS was abusing its authority, and it was harassing conservatives;
but that was just the tip of the iceberg. We soon learned of more
accusations about how the IRS was targeting Americans for their
political beliefs. What we have found so far--and we just have 3
percent of the documents from the IRS that we have requested--is that
the IRS did leak confidential taxpayer information, that they did delay
applications of groups supporting conservative causes, and that they
did threaten conservatives with higher taxes.
And Democrats want to give this agency more power and authority? They
want this agency involved in Americans' health care? No way.
Even the agency's own watchdog says the IRS cannot handle the job.
Less than 2 weeks ago, the independent Treasury Inspector General
stated that they are not confident about the IRS's ability to protect
confidential taxpayer information or to prevent fraud. Well, neither am
I; and by every indication, neither are the American people.
It has been 3 years since the health care law was passed, and in less
than 2 months, the administration claims it will be fully ready to
implement the law; but in the face of all of these failures, of all of
these breaches of the public trust, more Americans than ever want this
law to be repealed.
Why? It's simple: ObamaCare has brought increased health care costs
to families and individuals; it has stifled businesses from expanding;
and it has forced American job creators to cut jobs, wages, and hours.
Just yesterday, at a hearing in the Ways and Means Committee, a key
official from Health and Human Services could not confirm that the
health care law would lower the health care costs for hardworking
families in my home State of Michigan.
But wasn't this the signature promise of this administration, that
premiums would be $2,500 lower? And now the administration cannot make
good on that promise.
With so little time before the exchanges are set to open and for
families
[[Page H5363]]
to plan their health care spending for next year, it is extremely
concerning that the administration cannot tell the American people what
their health insurance will look like or what it will cost. Simply put,
this law is a failure and ought to be repealed, but it didn't have to
be this way.
The House Republican alternative to the Democrats' health care law,
which I authored, was the only legislation scored by the nonpartisan
Congressional Budget Office as meeting the top health priority of
American families because it was the only bill that actually lowered
the cost of health insurance premiums, and it didn't give the IRS a
single new power. It kept the IRS out of your health care, which is
exactly what this bill will do--keep the IRS off and out of your health
care.
We should be cutting the IRS, not expanding it. We should reduce its
power and authority and its ability to harass and abuse Americans.
That's exactly what this bill does. I urge my colleagues to join me in
voting ``yes'' on this legislation.
I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. LEVIN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
We are now 7 months into this House Republican session. It has been
nothing more than a bridge to nowhere. Nowhere on jobs. Nowhere on
immigration reform. Nowhere on a budget agreement. Nowhere on most
appropriations bills.
Instead, House Republicans today continue their obsession--so vividly
embraced by the chairman of our committee in his words--with trying to
destroy the bridge built by the President and the Democratic Congress
to somewhere vital--putting all Americans in charge of their own health
care.
This bill before us is nothing more than a continuation of the
Republicans' blind obsession with repealing the Affordable Care Act.
This is how Republicans have chosen to spend the last day here before
they recess this House for 5 weeks.
It's so clear. The Republican mission is to destroy, not implement,
health care reform. Rather than help leading on the issue, House
Republicans have spent the last 2-plus years trying to mislead
Americans about health care rights under the ACA. Now we can expect
more misinformation, and the statement of our chairman is loaded with
it.
Thirteen States, for example, published preliminary premiums for
marketplace coverage. Within those States, Americans will be able to
purchase insurance at a price that is, on average, 20 percent below
what the CBO estimated; and in Michigan, there will be 14 insurance
carriers in the marketplace--and someone comes up here and says health
care reform is failing.
So, to the American people, be prepared for more scare tactics and
other misguided efforts from Republicans to convince constituents that
applying for health care coverage will be time-consuming and
cumbersome, and be prepared for all kinds of misstatements about the
powers and the role of the IRS.
This should be said categorically. Neither the IRS nor the Department
of Health and Human Services will have access to medical records or
other personal history--no access whatsoever.
Five weeks of recess await Republicans when they adjourn this House
today. I hope when they return they will at last turn their attention
to the pressing economic issues that Americans expect the Congress to
address.
I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. CAMP. At this time, I yield such time as he may consume to the
gentleman from Georgia, Dr. Price, a distinguished member of the Ways
and Means Committee.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the gentleman from Georgia
(Mr. Price) control the remainder of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Without objection, the gentleman from
Georgia will control the time?
There was no objection.
Mr. PRICE of Georgia. I want to commend the chairman for his work on
this and in so many vital areas of the issue of health care on our
committee, and I want to thank him for the time and the opportunity to
bring this bill forward.
Mr. Speaker, the Republicans' goal in health care is to make certain
that we have the highest quality health care in the world. That's our
desire. We simply want it to be patient-centered health care, not
government-centered health care. We believe that patients and families
and doctors ought to be making medical decisions, not Washington, D.C.
So this bill, H.R. 2009, grows out of the IRS's activities that have
come to light in this country over the past number of months. As the
chairman mentioned, we've been doing a lot of oversight hearings in our
committee.
The American people have drawn a conclusion about the IRS at this
point, and that conclusion is that it cannot be trusted now. The
chairman mentioned that the IRS has targeted groups that have come to
the IRS asking for a tax-exempt status. It has targeted groups for
their political ideology. The IRS has leaked donor information to those
groups, and many of us believe--and I think it will come out--that the
IRS has, in fact, targeted donors to those groups for audits to those
individual Americans.
Mr. Speaker, this is chilling activity from the Internal Revenue
Service, so the American people have lost their faith and trust in the
Internal Revenue Service. That's why this bill is so important.
This is a very simple piece of legislation--two pages, in fact. All
it says, simply, is what the American people believe, and that is that
the IRS should not be charged and have the authority to either
implement or enforce the Affordable Care Act. I want to commend over
140 Members from this House of Representatives for being cosponsors,
and we have hundreds of citizen cosponsors from across the country.
Some say that this isn't necessary, that it is not going to
accomplish anything, that there is no reason the IRS would want that
information anyway. The fact of the matter is that that's exactly what
they said about what they did for the tax-exempt groups. They said,
Well, it wasn't necessary for them to get that information about
political ideology or beliefs or prayers that prayer groups were
offering. That wasn't necessary either.
So, if that were not necessary, Mr. Speaker, how can the American
people have faith and confidence that the IRS won't do something that
also is unnecessary, and that is to engage in implementing themselves
into that trusted relationship between patients and physicians?
{time} 1045
Then another piece of evidence, Mr. Speaker, I would suggest is the
individual who's running the IRS division that is charged with the
enforcement of the Affordable Care Act. Mr. Speaker, that individual is
Sarah Hall Ingram. You don't have to look too far back in her biography
to recognize that she was the individual who was, in fact, in charge of
the tax exempt group in the IRS at the time when the challenges to the
IRS had been focused.
Mr. Speaker, the overwhelming percent of the American people
understand and appreciate that the IRS should not be involved in the
health care of this Nation. We believe patients and families and
doctors ought to be making medical decisions, not Washington, D.C., and
certainly not the Internal Revenue Service.
I reserve the balance of my time
Mr. LEVIN. I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Washington (Mr.
McDermott), another member of the committee.
(Mr. McDERMOTT asked and was given permission to revise and extend
his remarks.)
Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker, I would remind my distinguished colleague
from Georgia of a story in the Bible about a king who was very famous
and one day noticed on the wall some writing. He had someone come in
and interpret for him, and the writing said: ``Your days are numbered
upon the Earth.''
Your days are numbered on this issue. You have 59 more days. I'm sure
you can bring up a bill every single day to try and repeal it. The
Speaker has announced there will be two more, but it will not work.
This is going to be the law on 1 October, and it's going to go into
effect. The Supreme Court has spoken. The Speaker has actually said,
``It's the law of the land.'' Yet we see this hopeless strategy--it's
worse than hopeless. It's weak and it's mean. What you're saying is you
want to take away
[[Page H5364]]
from people what they already have, guaranteed issue, coverage for
their kids to age 26, and lifetime limits will be gone. All of that you
want to take away.
Have a great break, because you're going to go back to your districts
and explain for 38 days why you will not provide health care coverage
for the people of America. I hear there's a mythical bill with 141
signatures. The Republicans have been running the Ways and Means
Committee for 16 out of the last 18 years, and we have never had a bill
put in front of us for a vote. It's never been through the Rules
Committee. It's never been out to the floor.
You have no plan. You have a piece of paper that you wave around, but
you won't go out and defend it. The President came and put a bill out
here, and we passed it, and we're defending it, and it's going to go
into effect and provide what all Americans want: security if they get
sick; they want to know they'll be covered; they want to know they
won't be bankrupted.
Vote ``no'' again today, and we'll be back after the break for a few
more ``no'' votes.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Members are advised to direct their remarks
to the Chair.
Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I insert into the Record a letter
from The Seniors Coalition in support of H.R. 2009.
The Seniors Coalition,
Washington, DC, July 30, 2013.
Hon. Dr. Tom Price,
Cannon House Office Building,
Washington, DC.
Dear Congressman Price: I am writing to you today on behalf
of the over four million members and supporters of The
Seniors Coalition in support of your bill H.R. 2009, ``The
Keep the IRS Off Your Health Care Act.'' The Seniors
Coalition was originally founded as a public advocacy group
fighting to repeal the Medicare Catastrophic Coverage Act.
Since 1990, TSC has grown rapidly and expanded its advocacy
to include any issue that concerns America's senior citizens.
Today the Coalition is one of the largest grassroots advocacy
organizations in Washington, D.C. in terms of number of
supporters nationwide. TSC currently has over four million
supporters representing every state in the union.
The Obama Administration, including the IRS, has betrayed
the trust of the American people. Allowing the IRS to enforce
ObamaCare is opening up the door to more abuse, more
targeting and more harassment of American citizens. The vast
majority of the American people do not support ObamaCare, and
President Obama is ignoring the will of the people.
That is why The Seniors Coalition is writing today to fully
support H.R. 2009. Clearly, the IRS has proven itself either
unwilling or unable to prudently and impartially enforce the
law, and we certainly cannot trust them with our health care.
Thank you for all your hard work Dr. Price, and please
don't hesitate to contact me directly if there is anything
that The Seniors Coalition and its over four million members
and supporters in all 50 states can do to assist you in your
effort to de-fund/repeal ObamaCare.
Sincerely,
Sean Ferritor,
Executive Director.
I'm now pleased to yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Texas
(Mr. Carter).
Mr. CARTER. I thank the gentleman for yielding, and I thank him for
bringing this bill forward.
Mr. Speaker, I'd be willing to bet if you took a poll in any
household in America and asked, Who do you trust, the IRS or your
doctor, doctors would overwhelmingly be trusted; the IRS would be
overwhelmingly distrusted.
I don't understand when we actually pass laws in this Congress
restricting the access to health care information and putting severe
penalties on our health care providers for releasing health care
information and these HIPAA laws--they've been around a while now, I'd
say--and then we write a bill that turns the entire health care system
administration over to the one agency that the American people hate
more than any other agency.
Some of the Democrats like it because they like to get other people's
money and spend it. The reality is the IRS is not trusted, and it
wasn't trusted before the events that have been described here today.
Today they're totally distrusted. In fact, they are totally feared
because of what they can do to the private lives of American citizens.
This bill speaks for the American people, and they say don't let the
IRS get their hands on our health care. They will destroy us.
Remember, they're the one agency that doesn't have to meet a burden
of proof. They require the public to meet the burden of proof.
Don't let the IRS get their hands on our health care.
Mr. LEVIN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 15 seconds.
Saying that the entire administration of health care is turned over
to the IRS is a big lie. The IRS will not have access to the medical
records or personal health history of a single American.
I now yield 2 minutes to a distinguished colleague of mine from
Oregon (Mr. Blumenauer).
Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Speaker, this is a fitting conclusion to a week
that has shown the collapse of the Republican legislative agenda.
Remember, this is the time we were supposed to be voting on budgets,
but the Republicans cannot even bring themselves to allow a vote on the
budget that they themselves have mandated. We're not voting on the
Transportation-HUD; we're not voting on Interior. They refuse to allow
a conference committee to be appointed so that we can reconcile
differences on the budget, setting up a showdown over a shutdown of the
government next month.
Now we're dealing with health care for arguably the 40th time that
they are going to ``repeal'' it. The bill is not going anywhere. They
repeatedly demonstrated at our hearing yesterday in Ways and Means that
my Republican colleagues don't even understand how the bill that they
are so adamantly opposed to works.
We have not seen any attempt to improve, to refine. What we have seen
is an unprecedented effort to sabotage legislation, to make it not work
for the American people, to confuse, to undercut. This is something
that is unprecedented, to the best of my knowledge, in what we have had
in Congress in the past. What more fitting illustration of a group
that's bankrupt of ideas and bent on simply attempting to force their
way for an agenda that is so extreme that they cannot agree to bring it
to the floor to vote on it.
I urge rejection of this charade.
Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I now insert into the Record a
letter from the group Let Freedom Ring that endorses H.R. 2009.
Let Freedom Ring,
July, 2013.
Dear Friend: You have no doubt heard by now that senior
members of the United States Internal Revenue Service were
involved in a politically-motivated effort to blunt the
impact of the tea party movement and other organizations not
in sync with President Barack Obama's agenda for America.
We don't yet know all the facts but we do know that some
groups had their applications for non-profit status ``slow
walked'' through the process, existing groups were subjected
to comprehensive audits, many were loaded down with intrusive
and inappropriate questions about the prayers of their
members and other activities, and that tax returns of major
donors and conservative operatives were audited.
Things are so bad that one senior IRS official who appears
to have been involved ``took the fifth'' before a
congressional investigating committee.
If that were not enough, some of the same people that look
to have been involved in the effort to politically harass
potential opponents of the president's agenda have now been
put in charge of expansion of the IRS's role in monitoring
individual and corporate compliance with Obamacare.
Our good friend Dr. Tom Price, who represents Georgia's 6th
Congressional District, is taking the bull by the horns--but
he needs our help. He has introduced a bill--H.R. 2009--that
would prohibit the Internal Revenue Service from implementing
or enforcing any provisions of the president's health care
law.
Congress needs to act--now--and they need pressure from you
to do so. They need to get behind Dr. Price's bill before the
IRS can do even more damage. Will you please take a moment to
write to your member of Congress and your two Senators and
urge them to support Dr. Price's legislation? Tell them to
cut off funding for the expansion of the IRS for Obamacare
unless and until the American people have all the answers
about how President Obama and his subordinates politicized
the IRS to harass their political opponents.
The whole business is suspicious, especially since the IRS
has for the last three years been denying to Congress that
any such activity or any activity like it was occurring.
Congress is now asking questions and the Obama Administration
has become evasive--despite a report by the IRS's own
inspector general that the agency had committed wrongdoing.
The IRS can no longer be trusted to behave in a non-
partisan manner. It should not be given extra authority until
it can prove once again that it will not abuse the public
trust.
[[Page H5365]]
Thank you for all you do on behalf of freedom.
Sincerely,
Colin Hanna,
President.
I'm pleased to yield 1\1/2\ minutes to a Member from the great State
of Michigan, Dr. Benishek, and a fellow physician.
Mr. BENISHEK. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 2009, the
Keep the IRS Off Your Health Care Act, and urge my colleagues to
support this necessary legislation.
The bill will keep the Internal Revenue Service from implementing any
aspect of the President's health care law. With the recent revelations
that employees of the IRS targeted U.S. citizens based on their
political views, it's imperative that we keep the IRS from being
further involved than it already is in the lives of the American
people.
This legislation would repeal both the individual mandate and the
employer mandate, while at the same time helping to shrink the IRS.
As a doctor, I've been taking care of patients for the last 30 years.
I know that putting the Federal Government between patients and doctors
will be disastrous. Many families in northern Michigan agree, and they
want to see this law repealed. This legislation is a good step toward
rolling back this massive expansion of Federal Government power.
I am proud to be a cosponsor of this legislation, and I urge all of
my colleagues to join me in voting in favor of it.
Mr. LEVIN. It's now a special pleasure for me to yield such time as
he may consume to the gentleman who presided over the passage of
Medicare 48 years ago and has worked on health care issues his entire
historic career, Mr. Dingell from the State of Michigan.
(Mr. DINGELL asked and was given permission to revise and extend his
remarks.)
Mr. DINGELL. I thank my beloved friend for yielding me this time, Mr.
Speaker.
I rise to ask: Aren't you embarrassed to go a 40th time in a
fruitless, hopeless act? This is the 40th time we've tried to kill the
legislation. It costs us $1.5 million every time, none of which have
been successful.
My Republican colleagues have never come forward with a proposal
which they have presented to this House, but they sit over there
railing and complaining about what is going on. They're going to take
the rights of the American people for protection against pre-existing
condition, bans on their insurance. They're going to take away from the
American people all kinds of protections which we have in the
Affordable Care Act.
The Speaker the other day said the Republicans were the party of
repeal. I think he's right. I suspect we don't want to call them the
Republicans anymore, but I think we ought to call them the
``Repealicans'' or perhaps the ``Repealican'ts,'' because they've never
been able to repeal anything, and they can't enact legislation.
There have been 12 bills, I think, that this Congress has sent to the
White House, and there is small prospect of anything more coming from
here. It's interesting to note they can't move a budget; they can't do
legislation on jobs; they're incapable of seeing to it that we do the
other things that are necessary to help the middle class. Yet we keep
coming over here with nonsense like this.
The Republican Party is like the Bourbons of France: they forget
nothing because they never learned anything.
Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I now insert into the Record a
letter from the group Americans for Prosperity which endorses H.R.
2009.
Americans for Prosperity,
Arlington, VA, July 15, 2013.
Dear Representative Price: On behalf of more than two
million Americans for Prosperity activists in all 50 states,
I applaud you for introducing the Keep the IRS Off Your
Health Care Act (H.R. 2009), which would prohibit the
Internal Revenue Service from implementing the President's
health care law.
The health care law grants the IRS an alarming expansion of
new power, essentially granting the agency the authority to
oversee every American's health insurance decisions. The IRS
will be responsible for enforcing the health insurance
mandates on individuals and employers, collecting the 21 new
taxes created in the law, and cross-referencing individuals'
health insurance exchange applications with IRS records.
AFP is deeply concerned that all Americans will now be
asked to turn over the private health insurance information
about their children and families to a disgraced organization
that has admitted to abusing its power and processing
applications in a biased, political manner. How can the
American people trust that the IRS won't also target American
citizens who disagree with the President when enforcing the
health care law?
Your legislation also affirms the common-sense principle
that control over health care decisions should remain between
American families and their doctors, not Washington
bureaucrats like the IRS. Americans for Prosperity is proud
to support H.R. 2009, your legislation to prohibit the IRS
from enforcing provisions of the health care law. I urge your
colleagues to support its passage, and I look forward to
working with you in the future.
Sincerely,
Christine Harbin Hanson,
Policy Analyst, Americans for Prosperity.
Mr. Speaker, I'm pleased to yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman
from Texas (Mr. Culberson), a gentleman who's a member of the
Appropriations Committee, a fellow who has led on this issue for his
entire career.
Mr. CULBERSON. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate very much the gentleman from
Georgia filing this important legislation. I feel my day is not
complete if we don't get a chance to vote to cut spending and abolish
ObamaCare.
We were sent here by our constituents to protect the Treasury and do
everything we can to keep the government out of their lives and out of
their pockets. Yet ObamaCare contains more than 20 tax increases and
gives the IRS unprecedented authority to collect personal health
information from more than 300 million Americans.
ObamaCare requires all insurance companies to report to the IRS the
name, address, identification number, and type of insurance policy
purchased by every customer, along with a determination of whether or
not the insurance was ``government approved.''
I'm very proud to be a co-author of Dr. Price's legislation that will
prohibit the IRS from collecting our personal health care information.
The IRS has proven they cannot be trusted by targeting organizations
based on their political affiliation. Since the IRS has admitted this,
I've heard from so many constituents who are members of patriotic
organizations. They've stepped up for the first time in their lives to
get involved in politics and organizations like the Texas Tea Party,
the Katy Tea Party, and the King Street Patriots. For standing up as
patriots and trying to do the right thing for the right reasons, they
were targeted by the IRS and harassed.
Today the IRS is spending 80 percent of its budget trying to
implement ObamaCare, and Treasury Secretary Jack Lew recently testified
the IRS has approximately 700 full-time staff working on ObamaCare
implementation. Now the IRS wants to hire an additional 2,000
bureaucrats to continue to implement ObamaCare.
I urge my colleagues to support this important bill.
Mr. LEVIN. I now yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey
(Mr. Andrews), who has been a leader on this issue.
(Mr. ANDREWS asked and was given permission to revise and extend his
remarks.)
{time} 1100
Mr. ANDREWS. Colleagues, somewhere in America today a family is going
to get the devastating news you all dread about your children: they're
going to hear that that lump in their daughter's stomach is cancer. And
they're going to go home and they're going to have all the agony and
they're going to have all of the unthinkable thoughts that parents are
going to have in that situation, but they are going to be faced with
another problem because they have no health insurance. Both the mom and
the dad work. They make about $40,000 a year between the two of them.
They don't get coverage at work, and they can't afford health
insurance. So their agony is not just being worried about the health of
their child, they are worried about the fact that if they give the
child the care that she needs, they'll lose everything that they have
and wind up in bankruptcy court.
The Affordable Care Act says to that couple that starting January 1,
for
[[Page H5366]]
about $40 a week, they can have health insurance coverage as good as
Members of Congress do. That's what the Affordable Care Act says.
This bill repeals that for that family. Those who are prepared to
vote for this bill should also be prepared to answer the following
question: If you want to say to that family that their concern isn't
important enough, what's your plan? What's your answer to them?
Now, we'll hear that people have introduced bills and sent around
letters. Here are the facts. It has been almost 1,000 days that the
Republican Party has been back in control of the House of
Representatives. The number of bills they have voted on to replace this
law is zero. Zero. Forty times to repeal it; zero times to replace it.
This debate is not about Republicans and Democrats; it's about that
family with that daughter that has no health insurance if you repeal
this law and pass this bill. This is no plan, this is no
responsibility, and this is no way to deal with the concerns of middle
class Americans.
Vote ``no.''
Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I insert into the Record a letter
of support for H.R. 2009 from the organization Restore America's Voice.
Restore America's Voice
Foundation,
Houston, TX, July 12, 2013.
Dear Representative Price: Our more than two million
supporters are grateful for your efforts to strip the IRS of
any authority over the Affordable Care Act as embodied in
H.R. 2009 which you have introduced. Our organization fully
endorses this legislation.
We note with discomfort that this agency seems not only
beyond the control of those tasked with oversight but
willfully resists full disclosure of questionable practices
and abusive methods in Congressional testimony. We have
concluded, based on the evidence at hand, that this agency is
being cynically used for political purposes to frustrate and
intimidate law-abiding citizens who disagree with
Administration policies.
This distortion of the proper role and functioning of the
IRS makes turning over responsibility for the Affordable Care
Act subsidies, penalties and, significantly, access to
private insurance and medical records, a frightening
prospect. We are therefore in complete agreement with the
purpose of H.R. 2009 and fully support passage as the only
responsible and prudent course of action.
Thank you for leadership and hard work in developing this
legislation and for representing the best interests of not
only your constituents but the American people.
Respectfully and gratefully yours,
Ken Hoagland,
Chairman.
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 1 minute to the gentleman from
Virginia (Mr. Cantor), the majority leader of the House of
Representatives.
Mr. CANTOR. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Georgia.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to support the Keep the IRS Off Your Health
Care Act, and I want to congratulate the gentleman from Georgia in his
leadership in bringing this bill to the floor. I think it is not only a
timely bill, but a bill that is essential to the health and well-being
of all Americans.
Mr. Speaker, in response to the gentleman's assertions, the prior
gentleman who spoke from New Jersey, I would simply say those scare
tactics do not have a place in legitimate debate on this floor. Scare
tactics to say that somehow Republicans on our side of the aisle don't
care about people's health care are just not true. We don't believe in
omnibus Washington-engineered health care. That's what's going on
here--Washington bureaucrats deciding what kind of health care you can
have, which doctors you can see, how much those doctors and hospitals
are going to get paid, and how the insurance companies have to act. All
of that is in the hands of Washington bureaucrats under ObamaCare,
which is why this bill and this law is suffering so much in the minds
of the public. This is not the right way to go.
We believe in patient-centered care. Republicans believe that it
ought to be about the doctor-patient relationship, not between the
bureaucrats and the doctor. It ought not be about the bureaucrats and
the insurance companies. It ought to start with the patients and their
families.
So these scare tactics, really, Mr. Speaker, are not relevant to this
discussion; and they are just that, scare tactics. We care about the
health and well-being of the American people, which is why this bill is
coming to the floor.
Recently, Mr. Speaker, we've learned that the IRS has been abusing
its power by targeting and punishing American citizens for their
political beliefs and then recklessly spending taxpayer dollars on
lavish conferences and bonuses for its employees. This kind of
government abuse must stop. The last thing we should do now is to allow
the IRS to play such a central role in our health care.
The IRS has a role in nearly 50 different aspects of ObamaCare. The
agency's involvement is so extensive that there is a designated office
within the IRS just to implement ObamaCare. The IRS will have access to
the American people's protected health care information. Given that
this same agency has illegally disclosed protected taxpayer
information, the privacy concerns raised by many are legitimate. This
is nothing short of an unwelcome, Big Government overreach into the
most personal aspect of our lives.
ObamaCare is bad for the economy and for working middle class
families. It increases costs, impedes innovation, and we know is now
turning full-time jobs into part-time jobs, which is why so many on
both sides of the political spectrum are now beginning to realize, in
the words of three Democratic union leaders, that this law is creating
nightmare scenarios in the health and well-being of millions of
hardworking Americans.
The legislation before us today will at least prevent the unnecessary
intrusion of the IRS into our health care. Members of both parties
should be focused on removing the Federal bureaucracy from the everyday
lives of the American people, and this act will do just that.
Again, I'd like to thank the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Price) for
his hard work on this issue, and I strongly urge my colleagues to
support this bill.
Mr. LEVIN. I now yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr.
Doggett), another distinguished member of our committee.
Mr. DOGGETT. The majority leader is absolutely right about scare
tactics. If you are an uninsured American and you get a diagnosis of
cancer this morning or you are hit in a head-on collision this
afternoon or you have a child born with a disability, you ought to be
very scared. He's also absolutely right about the need for patient-
centered health care. We're concerned about that. We're concerned that
patients without insurance today are centered--they're centered right
into bankruptcy court. More and more Americans are faced with a health
care crisis.
This bill has nothing to do with the Internal Revenue Service or the
Treasury Department or restricting their rights. It's about restricting
your rights. Now that we finally have a chance to protect Americans
from insurance monopoly price gouging, from fine print in the contract
for those who do have insurance that denies rights at the very time
that you need them the most, that kind of protection about to go into
effect, along with the right of so many Americans who are uninsured to
go to a competitive private insurance marketplace and pick the policy
that is best for their family, and for many Americans to have a premium
tax credit, a tax credit that they want to deny to you.
And what alternative do they offer? Well, the best source is the
official Republican Web site. I urge you--although you will find plenty
of misinformation there--to go to GOP.gov because you'll find one very
revealing fact. When you look there to see what the Republicans have to
offer as an alternative to ObamaCare, it says two words: ``in
progress.'' It's been in progress since 2 and a half years ago, when
they voted the first time to repeal ObamaCare, right up to today, when
they vote for the 40th time to do it.
They have only one alternative to ObamaCare, and it's called
NothingCare. It's called do nothing but allow these insurance
monopolies to continue to deny rights to our people.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Hastings of Washington). The time of the
gentleman has expired.
Mr. LEVIN. I yield an additional 15 seconds to the gentleman.
Mr. DOGGETT. The folks that I represent, the working families from
San Antonio to Austin, they deserve to have some assistance. We have
provided it to them with guaranteed
[[Page H5367]]
rights. Some are in effect now, and some are about to go into effect.
Don't let these Republicans deny those rights to our families and
replace it with NothingCare.
Mr. PRICE of Georgia. I include for the Record a letter endorsing and
supporting H.R. 2009 from the group FreedomWorks.
FreedomWorks,
Washington, DC,
Dear FreedomWorks Member: As one of our millions of
FreedomWorks members nationwide, I urge you to contact your
representative and urge him or her to co-sponsor H.R. 2009,
the ``Keep the IRS Off Your Health Care Act''. Introduced by
Rep. Tom Price (R-GA), this bill would stop the Internal
Revenue Service or any other Treasury department from
enforcing any part of ObamaCare.
Currently, the IRS will be the most crucial department for
actually enacting and enforcing ObamaCare. The premium
subsidies that are supposed to help individuals purchase
health insurance through the exchanges are actually tax
credits, distributed by the IRS. And most significantly, the
IRS is responsible for administering the ``tax'' upon
individuals who refuse to purchase a government-approved
insurance plan--the individual mandate.
More ominously, ObamaCare requires the IRS to collect a
vast amount of sensitive information about the kind of
insurance coverage you have, and will store this information
in a massive new database.
ObamaCare's supporters, of course, claim that the IRS would
never share the medical information they collect, and that
the agency would only collect the exact data necessary to
determine eligibility for premium subsidies. And yet, a
lawsuit filed in California alleges that the IRS illegally
seized the medical records of 10 million individuals in that
state.
Having the same organization that is both targeting
political opponents and stealing people's medical records in
charge of people's health care seems like a recipe for
disaster. Rep. Price's bill would stop the IRS in its tracks,
completely erasing their role in ObamaCare.
I urge you to contact your representative and urge him or
her to co-sponsor H.R. 2009, the Keep the IRS Off Your Health
Care Act today.
Sincerely,
Matt Kibbe,
President and CEO,
FreedomWorks.
Mr. Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Minnesota
(Mr. Paulsen), a fellow member of the Ways and Means Committee.
Mr. PAULSEN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.
Mr. Speaker, the health decisions of individual Americans should be
made between patients and their doctors. The Internal Revenue Service
should not be a part of that equation.
We all know, all Americans know now, that the IRS has inappropriately
used its authority to target and intimidate certain individuals and
organizations based on their personal beliefs. With 2,000 more IRS
agents, more Washington bureaucrats, we'll open the door to more abuse
under ObamaCare--more targeting, more harassment of American citizens.
Physicians know the best care for their patients, not unelected
bureaucrats in Washington. We should be encouraging patients to take
control of their own health care through consumer-directed health care
plans, not ceding control to the government.
I would encourage my colleagues to support this legislation, protect
the doctor-patient relationship, and do what is needed to make sure
that government overreach is not involved in American health care.
Mr. LEVIN. It is now my pleasure to yield 3 minutes to the gentleman
from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer), the minority whip, who has devoted so much
time to health care during his career.
Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.
What a perfect bill this is. Our Republican friends don't like taxes,
they don't like the collection of taxes, and, of course, none of us do.
And they don't like affordable care for our citizens, quality care for
our citizens, accessible care for our citizens. So, with this stroke,
they can attack both.
The gentleman who just spoke asserts that the American people know.
Republicans have made an assertion about the oversight of taxpayers to
see whether or not they are committing fraud, i.e., claiming to be
social welfare organizations when everybody in America knows they are
solely political organizations; and the Republicans never mention it
was across the board, not targeted. And the Affordable Care Act, they
don't like that either. They would, as my friend from Texas said, still
like to have the insurance companies in charge--not the patient, not
the doctor, but the insurance companies.
Mr. Speaker, less than 2 weeks ago, Republicans were on this floor
for the 38th and 39th times to repeal the Affordable Care Act, the
accessible care act, the quality care act. Now we have the 40th time
we've been at this.
The American people, of course, want to see us working on jobs. They
want to see us working on investment and education. They want to see us
being able to compete with the world. But what do we do? We continue to
beat this horse. And contrary to my Republican friends' assertion,
Americans say, overwhelmingly, when asked do you want repeal or do you
want a fix, make it better, do things better, make it more efficient,
they opt for the latter overwhelmingly.
But as the gentleman from Texas just said, you go to the Web site--
and not 2\1/2\ years; not 2\1/2\ years, I tell my friend from Texas, it
has been 7 years, since 2006 when we started working on this--but
there's no fix, no fix on the Web site, no fix on this floor.
Today, their newfound populism is nowhere to be seen as they vote to
repeal tax credits and subsidies designed to make health care more
affordable for those same people--working families and small
businesses--who haven't been able to get insurance and are left at risk
without the security of it.
Suddenly, the party that never met a tax break it didn't like is
pursuing a tax increase of more than $1 trillion on small businesses
and the middle class. As a result, they are making health care more
expensive, and millions of Americans will no longer be able to access
affordable health care.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentleman has expired.
Mr. LEVIN. I yield the gentleman an additional 30 seconds.
Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, this bill makes all those folks pawns in
Republicans' single-focused quest to undo health care reform at the
expense of every other pressing challenge we face as a Nation.
It's shameful, Mr. Speaker, that this House continues to waste the
American people's times on health care repeal votes that won't go
anywhere, and they know it. The Senate will not pass this bill and the
President will not sign it.
We have pressing business before us that needs immediate attention:
finishing appropriations bills, completing our work on the budget that
provides a balanced alternative to the sequester, ensuring America can
pay its bills, and taking action to create jobs. That's what we ought
to be doing, not this continued foolishness.
{time} 1115
Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, may I inquire as to the time
remaining on each side?
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Georgia has 16 minutes
remaining, and the gentleman from Michigan has 13\1/2\ minutes
remaining.
Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I'm pleased to yield 1\1/2\
minutes to the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Bridenstine), a freshman
Member.
Mr. BRIDENSTINE. Mr. Speaker, it is interesting that the minority
whip would like Republicans to help in fixing this bill, considering
that they weren't interested at all in Republican input when they
passed it in the middle of the night with a pure party-line vote.
I think everybody understood that the promise of ObamaCare has been
thoroughly discredited, but the worst is yet to come.
The authors of the bill promised that it would bring down the cost of
health care, but premiums have gone up substantially. They promised
that if you like your health care plan and the doctor you have, you can
keep it.
Now, when you go to the President's healthcare.gov Web site, it says
that ``Depending on the plan you choose in the marketplace, you may be
able to keep your current doctor.''
Many supporters promised that the bill would actually create jobs,
but even Teamsters Union President James Hoffa has now said that the
bill will ``destroy the foundation of the 40-hour workweek.''
A small group of Members, in 2010, led by former Congressman Bart
Stupak, had the chance to inviolably prohibit any funds in ObamaCare
from being used to pay for abortions or abortion-inducing drugs.
Unfortunately, they caved.
[[Page H5368]]
And now, companies like Hobby Lobby are being forced into court to
prevent ObamaCare from requiring that they provide health care services
which directly violate their conscience and their religious principles,
values and rights that are enshrined in the First Amendment.
The IRS, too, has irrefutably proven the political nature and
intimidation tactics of the work it performs every day, an attitude
that will, beyond a shadow of a doubt, carry over into its tag-team
partnership with HHS in enforcing ObamaCare.
Let's pass H.R. 2009 and start putting a stop to this madness before
it gets even worse.
Mr. LEVIN. I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr.
Kind), another distinguished member of our committee.
Mr. KIND. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend from Michigan for yielding.
Mr. Speaker, what turned out to be a silly exercise has suddenly
turned into an insane exercise. We find ourselves, for the 40th time in
the House of Representatives, debating repeal of the Affordable Care
Act.
We understand they don't like it. But I beseech my colleagues on the
other side to start working with us to improve a system that's in
desperate need of reform, and make changes and adjustments along the
way as we learn what's working and what isn't. That's the only way this
can work.
But let me just inject a few facts into this debate, especially for
the benefit of the previous speaker. Since the passage of the
Affordable Care Act, U.S. health care spending grew at 3.9 percent for
the last 3 years, the lowest growth rate in over 50 years.
Medicare per beneficiary spending rose just 0.4 percent last year,
the lowest rate since it was created in 1965. Medicaid per beneficiary
spending dropped by 1.9 percent in 2012. And according to the
Congressional Budget Office, Medicare and Medicaid will now spend $1
trillion less over the next 10 years than previously projected.
Nearly $15 billion in fraudulent Medicare payments have been
recovered and recaptured under the Affordable Care Act. Hospital
readmissions under Medicare have fallen for the first time on record,
resulting in 70,000 fewer readmissions in the second half of last year
alone.
And more than 250 new Accountable Care Organizations, under the
Affordable Care Act, serving over 4 million Medicare beneficiary
enrollees are getting paid now according to the quality of health care
being delivered, and no longer the quantity of services being rendered.
Finally, the growth in private plan premiums has also slowed, Mr.
Speaker. Annual premiums for employer-sponsored family health care
increased by only 4 percent in 2012, the smallest increase in the last
13 years.
We still have more work to do, but this debate and effort to delay
and to defund and to dismantle and to destroy the Affordable Care Act
is not where we need to go as a nation.
I encourage my colleagues to once again vote ``no'' on this ill-
conceived legislation.
Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the comments from my
friend from Wisconsin. His chastising us for voting to repeal or change
portions of the Affordable Care Act is curious, in light of the fact
that the gentleman, himself, I believe, supported one of our efforts
just 2 weeks ago on delaying the employer mandate. But hope springs
eternal that he'll be able to support our efforts in this endeavor on
H.R. 2009.
I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. LEVIN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from
California (Mr. Thompson), another distinguished member of our
committee.
Mr. THOMPSON of California. I thank the gentleman for yielding.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to this misnamed piece of
legislation. It actually should be called The 40th Time We've Wasted
the Taxpayers' Time and Money Act.
This is a bill that's not new to us. We've seen it before. We've seen
this movie before, 39 times as a matter of fact, and we know how it
ends.
This is just another attempt to dismantle the Affordable Care Act,
and we've wasted too much time and too much money on this already. What
we should be doing is working to make the ACA better, or spending our
time trying to help pass some jobs legislation.
This bill is particularly cruel because it hits the poorest among us
the hardest, and we've seen that movie before also. And we saw it play
out--that's why we have this piece of legislation.
This is in response to a national crisis. This just didn't come about
by itself. Hospitals and doctors and clinics in all of our districts,
they provided $100 billion a year in uncompensated care. Families were
one layoff away from not having access to health care. People with
preexisting conditions that occurred through no fault of their own,
maybe they had bad luck with having cancer, or gave birth through a C-
section, a preexisting condition, and they could not get coverage.
People in all of our districts were hitting the lifetime cap on their
health care.
This was no accident. It was in response to a crisis.
Let's get to work. Let's get this thing improved. Let's put people
back to work and stop messing around with this foolishness.
Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I will insert a letter in support
of H.R. 2009 from the Americans for Tax Reform into the Record.
I reserve the balance of my time.
[From Americans for Tax Reform, June 20, 2013]
ATR Supports H.R. 2009, the ``Keep the IRS Off Your Health Care Act of
2013''
(By Ryan Ellis)
ATR supports H.R. 2009, the ``Keep the IRS Off Your Health
Care Act of 2013,'' sponsored by Cong. Tom Price (R-Ga.)
ATR is pleased to announce its support for H.R.. 2009, the
``Keep the IRS Off Your Health Care Act of 2013.'' The bill
is sponsored by medical doctor and Congressman Tom Price (R-
Ga.) We would urge all Congressmen to co-sponsor and support
the bill.
GAO has reported that there are 47 new powers the IRS has
acquired under the Obamacare law. We here at ATR have pointed
out time and again the 20 new or higher taxes that are
contained in Obamacare. With a new scandal coming out of the
IRS seemingly every day, the last thing that agency should be
doing is snooping into the personal health care lives of over
300 million Americans.
Yet that's just what the IRS is about to do. They will be
the agency tasked with implementing the individual mandate
and the employer mandate. They will force all of us to
disclose our personal health identification information to
them when we file our 1040s every April. They will be talking
to our insurance companies and the Department of Health and
Human Services about our health insurance packages.
This is outrageous. The IRS should have nothing to do with
our health care. Passage of H.R.. 2009 would ensure that the
agency which gave us Star Trek videos and Tea Party
harassment keeps its hands off our health care.
Mr. LEVIN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from
New York (Mr. Crowley), another member of our committee.
Mr. CROWLEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of America's working
families, and against this bill.
I'm just baffled as to why we would take away tax credits that help
working families, for the first time in many instances, afford
insurance, particularly as this majority seems to have never met a tax
break they didn't like. Well, at least not until today.
Time after time, the Republican majority defends special interest tax
breaks, tax breaks provided to owners of corporate jets, subsidies for
Big Oil, tax writeoffs for big corporations, even as they're laying off
American workers, and moving more of their operations overseas.
But where is that same zeal today in defending middle class tax cuts
for middle class Americans?
Maybe I shouldn't be surprised. After all, this majority has
repeatedly tried to undermine this tax credit since its inception.
They've even sought to require hardworking Americans to pay the entire
credit back if they get a slight increase in pay or a bonus for good
work.
My colleagues, the majority has crossed some bizarre threshold today,
going from principled opposition to dangerous obsession.
Now, I know some Republicans will say they're doing this because they
have issues with the IRS. Should we expect a bill on the floor when we
come back after the August break to stop the IRS from sending people
their income tax refunds?
No, because this is just an excuse they're using.
This bill is 100 percent about denying Americans access to affordable
health care.
[[Page H5369]]
In New York 1.5 million people will be denied tax credits if this
bill is enacted.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentleman has expired.
Mr. LEVIN. I yield the gentleman an additional 30 seconds.
Mr. CROWLEY. My colleagues, I am tired of this dog-and-pony-show.
Yes, Members return to their districts for a few weeks, but political
red meat is not what this country needs.
We need a Congress with a vision for tomorrow, a vision focused on
creating jobs and strengthening our economy, not a 40th vote on a new,
even more dangerous way to repeal the Affordable Care Act.
Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I will include into the Record a
letter endorsing H.R. 2009 from a group of six taxpayer advocate
organizations.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
August 2, 2013.
Hon. Tom Price,
Cannon House Office Building,
Washington, DC.
Dear Representative Price, We the undersigned groups,
representing millions of Americans, strongly support your
legislation, H.R. 2009, the Keep the IRS Off Your Health Care
Act of 2013. This bill would prohibit the U.S. Treasury
Department from enforcing any provision of the Affordable
Care Act (aka Obamacare), ensuring that the Internal Revenue
Service (IRS) would be removed from implementing or enforcing
any component of Obamacare.
The last several months have proven to be an eye opening
experience for those who are concerned with the growing power
of the federal government, especially the IRS. Repeated and
systemic encroachment into the lives of American citizens by
targeting the very thing they cherish the most, the freedom
of speech, is a cause of great concern among many people from
all sides of the political spectrum. It is imperative to take
steps to ensure we rein in the power of an organization that
has proven to be incapable of handling the authority they
have right now with the responsibility and dignity the
American people expect. New developments on the unnerving
offenses have been uncovered on a regular basis for the last
few months and it is time to make certain that the IRS is
unable to extend these offenses into the lives of citizens
when it comes to their health care.
This legislation makes explicitly clear that the neither
the Treasury Department, nor ``any delegate'' shall have the
power to enforce any provision or amendment from Obamacare at
anytime going forward as the Administration moves to
implement the law. It is paramount that this legislation
passes, with overwhelming support, as it is clear that the
American people have no desire to have the IRS involved in
the decisions they and their families are making when it
comes to their health care. We have already seen the
consequences of the President's health care law on premiums
and job creation and it would be catastrophic to allow the
IRS to contribute to the chaos, considering their recent
record of abuses and mismanagement.
The American people deserve to be trusted with their own
decision making when it comes to their lives, including their
health care choices. The last thing anyone wants is to have
an agency they are already afraid of to be granted more.
We thank you for offering this commonsense language and we
urge all members of Congress to vote ``yes'' on H.R. 2009.
Sincerely,
David Williams,
President, Taxpayers Protection Alliance.
Grover Norquist,
President, Americans for Tax Reform.
Jeff Mazzella,
President, Center for Individual Freedom.
Carrie Lukas,
Managing Director, Independent Women's Forum.
Seton Motley,
President, Less Government.
Pete Sepp,
Executive Vice President, National Taxpayers Union.
Mr. LEVIN. Mr. Speaker, could I ask for the amount of time on both
sides, please?
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Michigan has 8 minutes
remaining. The gentleman from Georgia has 14 minutes remaining.
Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I would tell the gentleman that I
have other speakers that may be coming, but at this point, I have no
other speakers on the floor. I am prepared to close at any point.
Mr. LEVIN. Okay. We have other speakers. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from New York (Ms.
Velazquez), who is the ranking member on the Small Business Committee.
Ms. VELAZQUEZ. I thank the gentleman for yielding.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to the bill before us today. Sadly,
we find ourselves in another redundant and unproductive debate over the
Affordable Care Act. The estimated cost of today's vote is over $1
million, paid by hardworking taxpayers. But instead of focusing on jobs
and economic growth, we're wasting time and money on denying health
coverage to small businesses and their employees.
Not even half of the appropriations bills have been passed, and yet,
Republicans continue their attempt to undermine health reform. This
obsession must end. It is time to move on and start tackling the
challenges the American people care about--jobs, jobs, jobs, the
economy.
Blocking the IRS from implementing provisions of the Affordable Care
Act does nothing to help our Nation's small businesses. Rather, today's
bill will keep small employers from taking advantage of the small
business health care tax credit, which has already helped over 360,000
small employers and 2 million workers.
This bill prevents these businesses from utilizing the 50 percent tax
credit in the new SHOP exchanges next year. That is why today's vote is
irresponsible and out of touch with American firms.
We must continue to ensure quality health coverage is available and
utilized by the businesses that are the cornerstone of the American
economy.
I urge Members to vote ``no.''
Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I continue to reserve the balance
of my time.
Mr. LEVIN. Mr. Speaker, it's now my special privilege to yield 1
minute to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Pelosi), the person who
led our efforts, and the health care reform is a testimony to her
career, our leader.
Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding, and for
his leadership of importance to the American people, the creation of
jobs, growing our economy and, in the case of what is on the floor
today, the 40th attempt--the 40th attempt--to harm the health and
financial well-being of the American people.
Forty is a number that is fraught with meaning in the Bible: 40
hours, 40 days, 40 years in the desert, but it's fraught with nothing
when it comes to overturning the Affordable Care Act, as they're trying
to do for the 40th time today.
When our Republican colleagues vote for this bill, they will vote to
put insurance companies back in charge of people's health. When they
vote for this bill, they will be voting for an initiative that deprives
patients of their rights, of making a preexisting condition a reason
for discrimination. That's what a vote for this does.
That's the joy of the Affordable Care Act. No longer will being a
woman be a preexisting condition. People with preexisting conditions
can no longer be denied coverage. Annual or lifetime limits are
eliminated.
{time} 1130
Insurance companies must spend their money on insurance, and they
must do it in a way that focuses on health care, not on CEO pay,
advertising, and the rest. It's an 80-20 ratio. Many people in our
country have received some of the money insurance companies have had to
refund because they were spending too much on themselves and not enough
on policyholders.
So here we are for the 40th time. What is really sad about it is the
violence that it does to the health of the American people and to a
policy that enables them to have prevention and wellness. It's about
the health of America, not just the health care. What's sad about it is
that for those 40 times we've lost the opportunity to bring a jobs bill
to this floor--a jobs bill that is very needed--a jobs bill that says,
Let's make it in America, manufacture in America, build the
infrastructure of America, strengthen our communities with education
and public safety.
Instead of even passing appropriations bills, the Republicans are on
this aimless path of taking us into chaos as we go into August. In
September, the moment of truth will be here. The fiscal year will end
on September 30. Instead of preparing for that, the Republicans are,
once again, on this fools' errand of making matters worse for the
[[Page H5370]]
American people, putting insurance companies in charge of people's
health, and depriving patients of their rights.
This budget challenge that we have is a very serious one. We
shouldn't even be leaving here today because we haven't done the work
necessary to prepare us for the end of the fiscal year. Instead, we are
wasting the taxpayers' time and money.
I urge our colleagues to vote ``no'' on this legislation. I urge the
America people to insist that we get down to the people's business of
job creation and to find a budget that will not destroy and question
the full faith and credit of the United States of America; to find a
budget that will create jobs, grow the economy, and reduce the deficit.
If we shut down government, as some on the Republican side have said,
unless we repeal the Affordable Care Act, what does that mean to you?
It means to you that the success of your 401(k) is in jeopardy. It
means if you have mortgage interest payments, you will probably pay
more. Your credit card bills will probably go up because of the
increase in interest.
It's just not right for what it does. It does not understand the
economic challenges faced by America's families who want jobs, want to
educate their children, want to maintain their homes, and want to have
secure pensions for the future. It's just silliness, and it does not
deserve even the time we're taking on the floor, much less rise to the
dignity of deserving a vote by Members of Congress.
I urge a ``no'' vote.
Mr. PRICE of Georgia. I continue to reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. LEVIN. Mr. Speaker, as I think everybody knows, the two
committees, Energy and Commerce and Ways and Means, work closely
together, and as chairs, Mr. Waxman and I were able to, with others,
work so closely.
I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Waxman), the
ranking member on Energy and Commerce.
Mr. WAXMAN. Mr. Speaker, this is a do-nothing Congress. It is
absolutely pathetic. There are millions of people unemployed. Are we
working to create jobs for them? No. If they don't have jobs, we're not
trying to help them. But what we're doing today for the 40th time is to
make sure they can't get health insurance.
This is an obsession on the part of the Republicans. I was commenting
on it the other day in committee, and I said there's such opposition
that the law has become the Republicans' great white whale. They'll
stop at nothing to kill it.
And so here we are with their 40th attempt to repeal the Affordable
Care Act. I think it's a disgrace. Is this all we have to do--spend 40
separate times trying to repeal a law that is going to bring health
care to millions of Americans who have been denied health care
opportunities because of preexisting conditions, because their employer
doesn't provide it to them, or because they otherwise couldn't afford
it? It will give people in the middle class choices. And with
competition between choices of health insurance, the prices will drop,
the quality will improve.
This whole health care bill was based on Republican ideas, including
a requirement that everybody get health insurance. That was endorsed by
The Heritage Foundation.
So I'm astounded that we're back here today and this is the last
thing we're going to do before we go take our recess, our vacation, and
go home and tell people, Sorry, we can't help you. We're trying again
in the House of Representatives to repeal one bill that has been passed
that can mean so much to so many.
I urge that we defeat this legislation.
Mr. PRICE of Georgia. I continue to reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. LEVIN. I now yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Washington (Mr.
McDermott), the ranking member on the Health Subcommittee of our
committee.
(Mr. McDERMOTT asked and was given permission to revise and extend
his remarks.)
Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker, as I listened to Mr. Waxman, it's clear
he was talking about obsession. And you might ask, Well, why is this
happening here and what's going on?
This has happened before. This is the worst nightmare for the
Republican Party. In 1964, the American Medical Association was flat
out against the institution of Medicare. When I was in medical school,
the president said, Boys, there isn't going to be any medicine in this
country. We're having that socialized medicine come in. It's a terrible
thing.
And you know what happened? They made the people so afraid that when
they went out to enroll people in Medicare, people said, Well, I don't
want any of that government medicine in my house. Look at Medicare
today. Nobody on that side would dare take out Medicare because the
American people found out that what they were told in the advertising
campaign leading up to it was not true. And that's what you are getting
here today--untruths.
Vote ``no'' on this.
Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I will submit a letter from 22
organizations from around the country endorsing H.R. 2009, and I
reserve the balance of my time.
August 1, 2013.
Dear Congressmen: We, the undersigned organizations and
free market leaders write in united support of House efforts
this week to get the IRS out of Obamacare.
The House will consider a measure on Friday sponsored by
Congressman Tom Price (R-Ga.) to remove the IRS from any role
in the implementation of the Obamacare law.
It's a basic belief of most Americans that patients,
families, and doctors--not IRS bureaucrats--should be making
health care decisions. While this has always been the case,
its importance has been heightened in recent months by the
uncovered political targeting by the IRS of Tea Party and
other free market groups. The IRS should not be anywhere near
people's medical decisions until this black cloud of
political scandal has been lifted.
Unfortunately, the GAO reports that the IRS has no fewer
than 47 powers to implement Obamacare. That's 47 too many.
Allowing the IRS to enforce Obamacare is opening up the door
to more abuse, more targeting, and more harassment of
American citizens. The myriad of new taxes the IRS will
impose under the guise of health care reform will destroy
jobs, stifle economic growth, and impede medical innovation
in this country.
With Obamacare coming fully online in 2014, now is the time
to stop the IRS from becoming a full partner in our families'
healthcare decisions. House efforts to prevent this from
happening are welcome and all Members of Congress should
support these efforts.
Sincerely,
Grover Norquist, Americans for Tax Reform; Dean Clancy,
Freedom Works; Al Cardenas, American Conservative
Union; Amy Kremer, Tea Party Express; Jenny Beth
Martin, Tea Party Patriots; Heather Higgins,
Independent Womens' Voice; Steven J. Duffield,
Crossroads GPS; Brandon Arnold, National Taxpayers
Union; Colin Hanna, Let Freedom Ring; Jim Martin, 60
Plus Association; Grace-Marie Turner, Galen Institute;
Phil Kerpen, American Commitment; Penny Nance,
Concerned Women for America; Ken Hoagland, Restore
America's Voice; John Tate, Campaign for Liberty; Peter
Ferrara, National Center for Policy Analysis; Ari
Winkour, Harbour League; Gregory T. Angelo, Log Cabin
Republicans; Mark Schiller, MD, Doctor-Patient Medical
Association; Betsy McCaughey, Ph.D, author of Beating
Obamacare; Brian Baker, Ending Spending; David Wallace,
Restore America's Mission.
(Signatures are for information purposes only).
Mr. LEVIN. Mr. Speaker, how much time is remaining?
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Levin) has
2 minutes remaining. The gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Price) has 14
minutes remaining.
Mr. LEVIN. I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr.
Andrews).
(Mr. ANDREWS asked and was given permission to revise and extend his
remarks.)
Mr. ANDREWS. Mr. Speaker, I've sat and listened to the debate this
morning and heard a lot of the slogans that we hear on this repeated
again and again and again. I would simply return to the point that I
made earlier: for a family that makes $40,000 a year, has two adults
working, and two children, that doesn't get coverage at work, which is
true for many, many Americans--maybe 35 million Americans have a
situation something like that--the Affordable Care Act says that
starting January 1, for about $40 a week they can buy health insurance
from a private insurance company as good as the Members of Congress
have.
What is the plan from the other side, since they're repealing this?
This bill
[[Page H5371]]
takes that away. What is the plan from the other side to provide for
that family?
Now, they'll talk about bills they have introduced and letters they
have written. There's not been one bill, one vote, one day that would
answer that question. After a thousand days of the Republican majority,
the American people eagerly await that answer.
Mr. LEVIN. I yield myself the balance of my time.
From the outset, I made clear my reaction to IRS mismanagement that
called for relieving of duties of two people. But what the Republicans
today are doing is using the IRS as a bootstrap to express their hatred
of health care reform.
I want to say this and challenge anybody to refute it: assertions
that the IRS will have access to personal health information are wrong
and are deliberately misleading. The IRS will only receive routine
information--name, address, family size, incomes, coverage status--
needed to provide tax credits. That's it. The rest are falsehoods.
I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Again, it's important for folks to appreciate that the Republican
goal in health care is to make certain that every single American has
the highest quality health care. We simply believe it ought to be
patient-centered health care. And my friends on the other side of the
aisle talk about patient-centered health care, but what they support is
health care with Washington making decisions. We believe patients and
families and doctors ought to be making medical decisions.
Now, what have we heard in opposition to this piece of legislation
today? We've heard that Republicans have no plan. Well, on the
contrary, Mr. Speaker, we have multiple pieces of legislation. I, in
fact, have H.R. 2300, which is a patient-centered bill that makes
certain that everybody has affordable coverage; that they are able to
have the financial feasibility to purchase the coverage that they want,
not that the government forces them to buy. And portability is solved.
You don't lose your insurance if you change your job or you lose your
job. We solve the whole challenge of preexisting illnesses and
injuries, but in a patient-centered way, not a way that the government
forces you to purchase what they want you to purchase. And it would
provide insurance for every single American.
Second, we've heard this isn't a responsible piece of legislation.
Mr. Speaker, let me suggest that the American people think this is a
responsible piece of legislation, where over 80 percent don't think the
IRS ought to have a thing to do with their health care.
We've heard that this bill isn't going anywhere at all. Why do it?
It's a futile attempt. Well, I'll remind my colleagues of seven pieces
of legislation--bills passed in this House, bills passed by the United
States Senate, and signed into law by President Obama--that either
repealed or defunded portions of his own health care law.
H.R. 4 repealed the small business paperwork mandate; H.R. 1473 cut
$2.2 billion from the ``stealth public plan'' and froze the IRS budget;
H.R. 674 saved taxpayers $13 billion by adjusting eligibility for
ObamaCare programs; H.R. 2055 made more reductions to the Independent
Payment Advisory Board and the IRS; H.R. 3630 slashed billions of
dollars from ObamaCare slush funds; H.R. 4348 saved another $670
million from the boondoggle, ``the Louisiana Purchase,'' that was
included in the original bill; and H.R. 8 repealed the unsustainable
CLASS programs.
All of those repealed or changed portions of the Affordable Care Act
signed into law by the President of the United States.
We've heard heart-wrenching stories from our friends on the other
side about health challenges and illnesses. And, yes, Mr. Speaker,
there are real challenges out there. As a physician, I can attest to
that, having spent over 20 years taking care of patients. But the
American people don't want Washington deciding what kind of health care
they must have or can't have. We need patients and families and doctors
making those medical decisions.
And then there's the preposterous assertion from the other side that
Republicans don't like affordable care, quality care, accessible care.
Nonsense, Mr. Speaker. Nonsense. What we want is the highest quality of
care that respects the principles of affordability and accessibility
and quality and choices and responsiveness and innovation. We simply
want patients and families and doctors to be in charge of health care,
not Washington, D.C., and not the IRS.
I urge support of H.R. 2009, and I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. GINGREY of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R.
2009, the Keep the IRS Off Your Health Care Act of 2013. The IRS was
granted 46 new powers in Obamacare including the collection of 21 new
taxes, the distribution of 13 new subsidies, 6 new information
collection responsibilities, and an additional 6 new powers to enforce
compliance. As the Treasury Inspector General said earlier this year,
``It is unprecedented in recent history, the amount of responsibility
the IRS is being given in an area that most people don't think of as an
IRS function.''
Mr. Speaker, the bill before us today will seek to rectify this
situation and force this Congress to think of better options to reform
our health system. Obamacare has given the American people the largest
tax increase in our country's history and will take over 80 million
hours annually to follow the law. This bill will get the IRS out of
health care, thereby allow businesses to focus on creating jobs and
succeeding as opposed to trying to comply with overreaching regulatory
enforcement by the federal government, and stop the implementation of
the misguided health care bill.
I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of H.R. 2009.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. All time for debate has expired.
Pursuant to House Resolution 322, the previous question is ordered.
The question is on the engrossment and third reading of the bill.
The bill was ordered to be engrossed and read a third time, and was
read the third time.
{time} 1145
Motion to Recommit
Mr. NOLAN. Mr. Speaker, I have a motion to recommit at the desk.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is the gentleman opposed to the bill?
Mr. NOLAN. I am opposed.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Clerk will report the motion to
recommit.
The Clerk read as follows:
Mr. Nolan moves to recommit the bill H.R. 2009 to the
Committee on Ways and Means with instructions to report the
same back to the House forthwith with the following
amendment:
SEC. 4. PROTECTING MIDDLE CLASS FAMILIES AND SMALL BUSINESSES
FROM TAX INCREASES.
Nothing in this Act shall be construed to alter, impact,
delay, or weaken--
(1) section 1401 of the Patient Protection and Affordable
Care Act that provides tax credits for middle class families
(earning up to $94,200 for a family of four) for the purchase
of health insurance coverage in Exchanges; and
(2) section 1421 of the Patient Protection and Affordable
Care Act that provides tax credits to small businesses (up to
50 percent of the cost of coverage for two years beginning in
2014; up to 35 percent for prior years) for the purchase of
health insurance coverage for employees.
Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I reserve a point of order against
the motion to recommit.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. A point of order is reserved.
The gentleman from Minnesota is recognized for 5 minutes on his
motion to recommit.
Mr. NOLAN. Mr. Speaker, my final amendment would protect important
tax credits and tax breaks for middle-income families and for small
businesses. It will not kill or send this bill back to committee. It
will allow us to proceed with final passage, should it pass.
Now, to the heart of what this is really all about, I thought our
colleague from California (Mr. Thompson) here a few minutes ago
characterized it quite well when he said this should be called the
``40th Waste of Taxpayers Time and Money Act,'' not an alternative to
the Affordable Care Act.
The fact is that the Republican opposition here is engaged in their
40th political attempt to undo the Affordable Care Act and offering us
no alternatives to the time when 46 million Americans have no
insurance, when health care and insurance rates were rising at a rate
of 20 percent per year.
Mr. Speaker, my colleagues, ``no'' is not a plan; ``no'' is not an
answer.
President Harry Truman was fond of saying--and forgive me for quoting
him
[[Page H5372]]
directly, but he used to like to say, ``Any jackass can tear down a
barn, but it takes a carpenter to build one.'' I'm challenging my
colleagues: Are you here to tear down the barn or are you here to build
one?
Mr. Speaker, I feel compelled to ask, are you really serious when you
come before us here and you say you really, truly want to increase
taxes on families and small businesses, as this bill would do? Are you
really serious when you say you want to take away from students the
right to stay on their parents' insurance policy while they're
struggling with the difficulties of the increased cost of education?
The American people don't want that. What is your plan?
Mr. Speaker, are you really serious when you say you want to deny
people with preexisting conditions the right to have health insurance?
The American public doesn't want that. What is your plan?
Are you really serious when you want to continue this de facto notion
that women somehow, by definition, are living with preexisting
conditions and are charged more for the exact same policies as men
would pay for? The American people are not. What is your plan?
Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues, are you really serious when you
want to vote to eliminate free prevention care, which saves lives,
which helps save costs in our medical system? The American people are
not. What is your plan?
Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues, are you really serious when you say
you want to remove the cap on insurance companies' liabilities, the
very cap that forces people with serious accidents and illnesses into
bankruptcy? The American people don't want that. What is your plan?
Last but not least, Mr. Speaker, are you prepared to vote to deny
senior citizens the relief from the increased costs in pharmaceuticals
as a result of that doughnut hole? The seniors in this country are not.
Again I ask you, what is your plan?
Mr. Speaker, that's what's at heart here. We have had 40 attempts to
repeal this bill, and we haven't seen one single plan offered forward
here.
This is a waste of time. Let us get serious. Let us start to show
some bipartisanship. And let's start with it here today by passing my
amendment.
Mr. Speaker, it's no secret; the public has weighed in on this. This
Congress is acknowledged by all parties and all spectrums as the most
unproductive Congress in the history of this country. That's shameful.
Polls show us 25 points behind cockroaches in popularity, 23 percentage
points behind--what was the last one?--oh, root canals. We're just
slightly ahead of Genghis Khan and the Communist Party in popularity.
It's time that we put an end to this nonsense, put this Congress to
work, postpone/cancel this recess. Let's put an end to this nonsense,
get America working again, and get this country working again.
Mr. CAMP. Mr. Speaker, I withdraw my point of order and seek time in
opposition to the motion.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The point of order is withdrawn.
The gentleman from Michigan is recognized for 5 minutes.
Mr. CAMP. I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I would just say there's nothing in this bill that
prevents middle class families or individuals from receiving subsidies
to which they're entitled. So I think it's just important to understand
what the facts are. But what we want to do is keep the IRS out of
control of your health care. Talk about unpopular items.
Look, businesses have gotten a waiver from the mandate--1,300
organizations, businesses, unions have gotten waivers from this law.
What about individuals? What about American families?
If you want to keep the IRS out of control of your health care, vote
``no'' on this motion to recommit.
I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Without objection, the previous question is
offered on the motion to recommit.
There was no objection.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion to recommit.
The question was taken; and the Speaker pro tempore announced that
the ayes appeared to have it.
Recorded Vote
Mr. CAMP. Mr. Speaker, I demand a recorded vote.
A recorded vote was ordered.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 9 of rule XX, the Chair
will reduce to 5 minutes the minimum time for any electronic vote on
the question of passage.
The vote was taken by electronic device, and there were--ayes 186,
noes 230, not voting 17, as follows:
[Roll No. 446]
AYES--186
Andrews
Barber
Barrow (GA)
Bass
Beatty
Becerra
Bera (CA)
Bishop (GA)
Bishop (NY)
Blumenauer
Bonamici
Brady (PA)
Braley (IA)
Brown (FL)
Brownley (CA)
Bustos
Butterfield
Capps
Capuano
Cardenas
Carney
Carson (IN)
Cartwright
Castor (FL)
Castro (TX)
Chu
Cicilline
Clarke
Clay
Cohen
Connolly
Conyers
Cooper
Costa
Courtney
Crowley
Cuellar
Cummings
Davis (CA)
Davis, Danny
DeFazio
DeGette
Delaney
DeLauro
DelBene
Deutch
Dingell
Doggett
Duckworth
Edwards
Ellison
Engel
Enyart
Eshoo
Esty
Farr
Fattah
Foster
Frankel (FL)
Gabbard
Gallego
Garamendi
Garcia
Grayson
Green, Al
Green, Gene
Grijalva
Gutierrez
Hahn
Hanabusa
Hastings (FL)
Heck (WA)
Higgins
Himes
Hinojosa
Honda
Hoyer
Huffman
Israel
Jackson Lee
Jeffries
Johnson (GA)
Johnson, E. B.
Kaptur
Keating
Kelly (IL)
Kennedy
Kildee
Kilmer
Kind
Kirkpatrick
Kuster
Langevin
Larsen (WA)
Larson (CT)
Lee (CA)
Levin
Lewis
Lipinski
Loebsack
Lofgren
Lowenthal
Lowey
Lujan Grisham (NM)
Lujan, Ben Ray (NM)
Lynch
Maffei
Maloney, Carolyn
Matheson
Matsui
McCollum
McDermott
McGovern
McNerney
Meeks
Meng
Michaud
Moore
Moran
Murphy (FL)
Nadler
Napolitano
Neal
Negrete McLeod
Nolan
O'Rourke
Owens
Pascrell
Pastor (AZ)
Payne
Peters (CA)
Peters (MI)
Peterson
Pingree (ME)
Pocan
Polis
Price (NC)
Quigley
Rahall
Rangel
Roybal-Allard
Ruiz
Ruppersberger
Rush
Ryan (OH)
Sanchez, Linda T.
Sanchez, Loretta
Sarbanes
Schakowsky
Schiff
Schneider
Schrader
Schwartz
Scott (VA)
Scott, David
Serrano
Sewell (AL)
Shea-Porter
Sherman
Sinema
Sires
Slaughter
Smith (WA)
Speier
Swalwell (CA)
Takano
Thompson (CA)
Thompson (MS)
Tierney
Titus
Tonko
Tsongas
Van Hollen
Vargas
Veasey
Vela
Velazquez
Visclosky
Walz
Wasserman Schultz
Waters
Watt
Waxman
Welch
Wilson (FL)
Yarmuth
NOES--230
Aderholt
Alexander
Amash
Amodei
Bachmann
Bachus
Barletta
Barr
Barton
Benishek
Bentivolio
Bilirakis
Bishop (UT)
Black
Blackburn
Bonner
Boustany
Brady (TX)
Bridenstine
Brooks (AL)
Brooks (IN)
Broun (GA)
Buchanan
Bucshon
Burgess
Calvert
Camp
Cantor
Capito
Carter
Cassidy
Chabot
Chaffetz
Coble
Coffman
Cole
Collins (NY)
Conaway
Cook
Cotton
Cramer
Crawford
Crenshaw
Culberson
Daines
Davis, Rodney
Denham
Dent
DeSantis
DesJarlais
Diaz-Balart
Duffy
Duncan (SC)
Duncan (TN)
Ellmers
Farenthold
Fincher
Fitzpatrick
Fleischmann
Fleming
Flores
Forbes
Fortenberry
Foxx
Franks (AZ)
Frelinghuysen
Gardner
Garrett
Gerlach
Gibbs
Gibson
Gingrey (GA)
Gohmert
Goodlatte
Gosar
Gowdy
Granger
Graves (GA)
Graves (MO)
Griffin (AR)
Griffith (VA)
Grimm
Guthrie
Hall
Hanna
Harper
Harris
Hartzler
Hastings (WA)
Heck (NV)
Hensarling
Holding
Hudson
Huelskamp
Huizenga (MI)
Hultgren
Hunter
Hurt
Issa
Jenkins
Johnson (OH)
Johnson, Sam
Jones
Jordan
Joyce
Kelly (PA)
King (IA)
King (NY)
Kingston
Kinzinger (IL)
Kline
Labrador
LaMalfa
Lamborn
Lance
Lankford
Latham
Latta
LoBiondo
Long
Lucas
Luetkemeyer
Lummis
Maloney, Sean
Marchant
Marino
Massie
McCarthy (CA)
McCaul
McClintock
McHenry
McIntyre
McKeon
McKinley
McMorris Rodgers
Meadows
Meehan
Messer
Mica
Miller (MI)
Miller, Gary
Mullin
Mulvaney
Murphy (PA)
Neugebauer
Noem
Nugent
Nunes
Nunnelee
Olson
Palazzo
Paulsen
Pearce
Perry
Petri
Pittenger
Pitts
Poe (TX)
Pompeo
Posey
Price (GA)
Radel
Reed
Reichert
Renacci
Ribble
Rice (SC)
Rigell
Roby
Roe (TN)
Rogers (AL)
Rogers (KY)
Rogers (MI)
Rohrabacher
Rokita
Rooney
Ros-Lehtinen
Roskam
Ross
Rothfus
Royce
Runyan
Ryan (WI)
Salmon
Sanford
Scalise
Schock
Schweikert
[[Page H5373]]
Scott, Austin
Sensenbrenner
Sessions
Shimkus
Shuster
Simpson
Smith (MO)
Smith (NE)
Smith (NJ)
Smith (TX)
Southerland
Stewart
Stivers
Stockman
Stutzman
Terry
Thompson (PA)
Thornberry
Tiberi
Tipton
Turner
Upton
Valadao
Wagner
Walberg
Walden
Walorski
Weber (TX)
Webster (FL)
Wenstrup
Westmoreland
Whitfield
Williams
Wilson (SC)
Wittman
Wolf
Womack
Woodall
Yoder
Yoho
Young (AK)
Young (IN)
NOT VOTING--17
Campbell
Cleaver
Clyburn
Collins (GA)
Doyle
Fudge
Herrera Beutler
Holt
Horsford
McCarthy (NY)
Miller (FL)
Miller, George
Pallone
Pelosi
Perlmutter
Richmond
Young (FL)
{time} 1216
Messrs. NUGENT, DENHAM, SANFORD, and BISHOP of Utah changed their
vote from ``aye'' to ``no.''
Messrs. VISCLOSKY and HUFFMAN changed their vote from ``no'' to
``aye.''
So the motion to recommit was rejected.
The result of the vote was announced as above recorded.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the passage of the bill.
The question was taken; and the Speaker pro tempore announced that
the ayes appeared to have it.
Recorded Vote
Mr. LEVIN. Mr. Speaker, I demand a recorded vote.
A recorded vote was ordered.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. This is a 5-minute vote.
The vote was taken by electronic device, and there were--ayes 232,
noes 185, not voting 16, as follows:
[Roll No. 447]
AYES--232
Aderholt
Alexander
Amash
Amodei
Bachmann
Bachus
Barletta
Barr
Barrow (GA)
Barton
Benishek
Bentivolio
Bilirakis
Bishop (UT)
Black
Blackburn
Bonner
Boustany
Brady (TX)
Bridenstine
Brooks (AL)
Brooks (IN)
Broun (GA)
Buchanan
Bucshon
Burgess
Calvert
Camp
Cantor
Capito
Carter
Cassidy
Chabot
Chaffetz
Coble
Coffman
Cole
Collins (NY)
Conaway
Cook
Cotton
Cramer
Crawford
Crenshaw
Culberson
Daines
Davis, Rodney
Denham
Dent
DeSantis
DesJarlais
Diaz-Balart
Duffy
Duncan (SC)
Duncan (TN)
Ellmers
Farenthold
Fincher
Fitzpatrick
Fleischmann
Fleming
Flores
Forbes
Fortenberry
Foxx
Franks (AZ)
Frelinghuysen
Gardner
Garrett
Gerlach
Gibbs
Gibson
Gingrey (GA)
Gohmert
Goodlatte
Gosar
Gowdy
Granger
Graves (GA)
Graves (MO)
Griffin (AR)
Griffith (VA)
Grimm
Guthrie
Hall
Hanna
Harper
Harris
Hartzler
Hastings (WA)
Heck (NV)
Hensarling
Holding
Hudson
Huelskamp
Huizenga (MI)
Hultgren
Hunter
Hurt
Issa
Jenkins
Johnson (OH)
Johnson, Sam
Jones
Jordan
Joyce
Kelly (PA)
King (IA)
King (NY)
Kingston
Kinzinger (IL)
Kline
Labrador
LaMalfa
Lamborn
Lance
Lankford
Latham
Latta
LoBiondo
Long
Lucas
Luetkemeyer
Lummis
Marchant
Marino
Massie
Matheson
McCarthy (CA)
McCaul
McClintock
McHenry
McIntyre
McKeon
McKinley
McMorris Rodgers
Meadows
Meehan
Messer
Mica
Miller (MI)
Miller, Gary
Mullin
Mulvaney
Murphy (PA)
Neugebauer
Noem
Nugent
Nunes
Nunnelee
Olson
Palazzo
Paulsen
Pearce
Perry
Peterson
Petri
Pittenger
Pitts
Poe (TX)
Pompeo
Posey
Price (GA)
Radel
Reed
Reichert
Renacci
Ribble
Rice (SC)
Rigell
Roby
Roe (TN)
Rogers (AL)
Rogers (KY)
Rogers (MI)
Rohrabacher
Rokita
Rooney
Ros-Lehtinen
Roskam
Ross
Rothfus
Royce
Runyan
Ryan (WI)
Salmon
Sanford
Scalise
Schock
Schweikert
Scott, Austin
Sensenbrenner
Sessions
Shimkus
Shuster
Simpson
Smith (MO)
Smith (NE)
Smith (NJ)
Smith (TX)
Southerland
Stewart
Stivers
Stockman
Stutzman
Terry
Thompson (PA)
Thornberry
Tiberi
Tipton
Turner
Upton
Valadao
Wagner
Walberg
Walden
Walorski
Weber (TX)
Webster (FL)
Wenstrup
Westmoreland
Whitfield
Williams
Wilson (SC)
Wittman
Wolf
Womack
Woodall
Yoder
Yoho
Young (AK)
Young (IN)
NOES--185
Andrews
Barber
Bass
Beatty
Becerra
Bera (CA)
Bishop (GA)
Bishop (NY)
Blumenauer
Bonamici
Brady (PA)
Braley (IA)
Brown (FL)
Brownley (CA)
Bustos
Butterfield
Capps
Capuano
Cardenas
Carney
Carson (IN)
Cartwright
Castor (FL)
Castro (TX)
Chu
Cicilline
Clarke
Clay
Cohen
Connolly
Conyers
Cooper
Costa
Courtney
Crowley
Cuellar
Cummings
Davis (CA)
Davis, Danny
DeFazio
DeGette
Delaney
DeLauro
DelBene
Deutch
Dingell
Doggett
Duckworth
Edwards
Ellison
Engel
Enyart
Eshoo
Esty
Farr
Fattah
Foster
Frankel (FL)
Gabbard
Gallego
Garamendi
Garcia
Grayson
Green, Al
Green, Gene
Grijalva
Gutierrez
Hahn
Hanabusa
Hastings (FL)
Heck (WA)
Higgins
Himes
Hinojosa
Honda
Hoyer
Huffman
Israel
Jackson Lee
Jeffries
Johnson (GA)
Johnson, E. B.
Kaptur
Keating
Kelly (IL)
Kennedy
Kildee
Kilmer
Kind
Kirkpatrick
Kuster
Langevin
Larsen (WA)
Larson (CT)
Lee (CA)
Levin
Lewis
Lipinski
Loebsack
Lofgren
Lowenthal
Lowey
Lujan Grisham (NM)
Lujan, Ben Ray (NM)
Lynch
Maffei
Maloney, Carolyn
Maloney, Sean
Matsui
McCollum
McDermott
McGovern
McNerney
Meeks
Meng
Michaud
Moore
Moran
Murphy (FL)
Nadler
Napolitano
Neal
Negrete McLeod
Nolan
O'Rourke
Owens
Pascrell
Pastor (AZ)
Payne
Pelosi
Peters (CA)
Peters (MI)
Pingree (ME)
Pocan
Polis
Price (NC)
Quigley
Rahall
Rangel
Roybal-Allard
Ruiz
Ruppersberger
Rush
Ryan (OH)
Sanchez, Linda T.
Sanchez, Loretta
Sarbanes
Schakowsky
Schiff
Schneider
Schrader
Schwartz
Scott (VA)
Scott, David
Serrano
Sewell (AL)
Shea-Porter
Sherman
Sinema
Sires
Slaughter
Smith (WA)
Speier
Swalwell (CA)
Takano
Thompson (CA)
Thompson (MS)
Tierney
Titus
Tonko
Tsongas
Van Hollen
Vargas
Veasey
Vela
Velazquez
Visclosky
Walz
Wasserman Schultz
Waters
Watt
Waxman
Welch
Wilson (FL)
Yarmuth
NOT VOTING--16
Campbell
Cleaver
Clyburn
Collins (GA)
Doyle
Fudge
Herrera Beutler
Holt
Horsford
McCarthy (NY)
Miller (FL)
Miller, George
Pallone
Perlmutter
Richmond
Young (FL)
{time} 1224
So the bill was passed.
The result of the vote was announced as above recorded.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
Personal Explanation
Mrs. McCARTHY of New York. Mr. Speaker: I was unavoidably absent
during the week of July 29, 2013. If! were present, I would have voted
on the following:
Rollcall No. 419: Gallego of Texas Amendment, ``aye'';
Rollcall No. 420: Young of Alaska Amendment, ``aye'';
Rollcall No. 421: Grayson of Florida Amendment, ``no'';
Rollcall No. 422: McClintock of California Amendment No. 4, ``no'';
Rollcall No. 423: First Hastings of Florida Amendment, ``aye'';
Rollcall No. 424: Second Hastings of Florida Amendment, ``no'';
Rollcall No. 425: Third Hastings of Florida Amendment, ``no'';
Rollcall No. 426: Motion to Concur in the Senate Amendment to H.R.
1911--Smarter Solutions for Students Act, ``yea'';
Rollcall No. 427: H.R. 850 Nuclear Iran Prevention Act, ``yea'';
Rollcall No. 428: Waxman of California Amendment No. 1, ``yea'';
Rollcall No. 429: Connolly of Virginia Amendment No. 3, ``yea'';
Rollcall No. 430: Murphy of Pennsylvania Amendment No. 6, ``nay'';
Rollcall No. 431: Motion to Recommit with Instructions for H.R. 1582,
``yea'';
Rollcall No. 432: Final Passage H.R. 1582--Energy Consumers Relief
Act, ``nay'';
Rollcall No. 433: Motion on Ordering the Previous Question on the
Rule providing for consideration of H.R. 2879, H.R. 367, and H.R. 2009,
``nay'';
Rollcall No. 434: H. Res. 322--Rule Providing for consideration of
H.R. 367, H.R. 2009, and H.R. 2879, ``nay'';
Rollcall No. 435: H.R. 1897--Vietnam Human Rights Act of 2013,
``yea'';
Rollcall No. 436: H.R. 2879--Stop Government Abuse Act, ``nay'';
Rollcall No. 437: Scalise of Louisiana Amendment, ``no'';
Rollcall No. 438: Smith of Missouri Amendment, ``no'';
Rollcall No. 439: Latham of Iowa Amendment, ``no'';
Rollcall No. 440: Nadler of New York Amendment, ``aye'';
Rollcall No. 441: Johnson of Georgia Amendment, ``aye'';
Rollcall No. 442: Jackson-Lee of Texas Amendment, ``aye'';
Rollcall No. 443: Moore of Wisconsin Amendment, ``aye'';
Rollcall No. 444: Motion to Recommit With Instructions for HR 367,
``aye'';
Rollcall No. 445: Final Passage of HR 367, ``no'';
[[Page H5374]]
Rollcall No. 446: Motion to Recommit with Instructions for HR 2009,
``aye'';
Rollcall No. 447: Final Passage of HR 2009, ``no'';
____________________