[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 130 (Friday, September 27, 2013)]
[House]
[Pages H5909-H5914]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       AFFORDABLE HEALTH CARE ACT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 3, 2013, the gentleman from California (Mr. Garamendi) is 
recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.
  Mr. GARAMENDI. Mr. Speaker, we just heard a remarkable hour of 
problems that were so overblown as to be really not worthy of much 
discussion. But I think the American public really needs to understand 
what this last hour was all about. In fact, the Affordable Health Care 
Act is working. And it's actually working very, very well for millions 
upon millions of Americans.
  I just want to read some facts and then move on to what is really 
going on here, which is an effort to try to leverage the necessity of 
funding the Federal Government, which is something we must do every 
year to provide the money to continue all of the work of the Federal 
Government. They're trying to use that as a lever to gain something 
that they've been unable to do in a Presidential election year.
  The last Presidential election year, the issue of the Affordable 
Health Care Act was front and center, and the American people heard 
more than a year of debate about the Affordable Health Care Act, 
whether it was good or not so good, all the benefits and all of the 
problems that it might be. At the end, in November of last year, the 
American public decisively said that the Affordable Health Care Act and 
President Obama should continue. That was the decision by Americans.
  In the House of Representatives we gained seats on the Democrat side, 
and I think about 2 million more voted Democratic than they voted 
Republican. Although, because of the redistricting and the 
gerrymandering, the House remained in Republican hands.
  Just understand what's going on here. What could not be achieved in 
the democratic process of an election is attempted to be achieved in 
two absolutely critical moments in the annual processing of the Federal 
Government.
  The first moment, which comes up on October 1, is the necessity to 
provide money to carry on all of the tasks of the Federal Government--
the Social Security Administration, the National Parks, and on and on. 
Nearly every aspect of the Federal Government has to be funded every 
year. That is a moment that is now being used as a lever to try to 
achieve what could not be achieved in an election. After all, America 
is a democracy. We make our decisions through the electoral process, 
not by trying to lever, using a critical moment, basically, the funding 
of the American Government.
  Now two or 3 weeks beyond October 1 there will be yet another moment 
of critical importance, and that is the ability of the American 
Government to continue to pay its bills. It's called the debt limit. 
Until 2011, this was a routine process in which the Congress would 
continue to say, Okay, we will increase the debt limit so that we can 
pay our bills.
  It was done during Democrat and Republican administrations routinely. 
There was always some discussion about the debt and the deficit, as it 
should be. In fact, the President, Mr. Obama, when he was in the 
Senate, railed against this issue of deficit. Now he's on the other 
side of that. That often happens.
  But the fact of the matter is that in this process, these two moments 
of time are now being used as a lever to achieve in the legislative 
process what could not be achieved in the electoral process. So much 
for democracy.
  Just a few facts about the Affordable Care Act, or ObamaCare, as it's 
become to be known.
  Nearly 13 million Americans have benefited from over $1.1 billion in 
rebates from insurance companies. I was the insurance commissioner in 
California in 8 years. And I knew then, as I know now, that the 
insurance companies were overcharging the public for their health 
insurance policies. However, I did not have any authority under 
California law to order rebates.
  The Affordable Health Care Act sets up a system that requires the 
insurance companies to pay at least 80 percent of the premium dollar 
for medical services. If they don't, they have to do a rebate. It's the 
law that they want to repeal. That's $1.1 billion.
  Also, 105 million Americans, including 71 million Americans in 
private plans and 34 million seniors in Medicare, have received access 
to free preventative services. Do you want to hold down the cost of 
medical services? Do prevention.
  The Affordable Health Care Act requires that every insurance policy, 
including Medicare, provide a free medical checkup every year. Guess 
what has happened? The cost curve has bent downward. Why? Because 
serious illnesses are either treated or delayed. Diabetes, strokes, and 
heart conditions are analyzed early and treated, reducing the cost of 
health care and, far more important, keeping people alive and healthy.
  Moving on. Thirty million women are receiving free coverage for 
comprehensive women's preventative services, including a well-woman 
visit and diabetes screening. They want to repeal that: 30 million 
American women receiving free diagnostic care. They want to repeal it.
  Seventeen million children with preexisting health conditions can no 
longer be denied coverage. I was the insurance commissioner. I cannot 
tell you the numbers of times that I begged for a law that would 
require insurance companies to continue or to provide insurance for a 
newborn child that had a serious illness, time after time, in 
California. Insurance companies would insure the mother for the 
delivery. And the moment that child was delivered, the child had no 
coverage. Bankruptcies and lack of medical care ensued. Seventeen 
million children will be denied health care coverage if they are 
successful in repealing the Affordable Health Care Act. That's 17 
million children.
  Also, 6.6 million young adults to the age of 26 have taken advantage 
of the ObamaCare law, the Affordable Health Care Act, to stay on their 
parents' health insurance plan. Do you have a kid in college or a kid 
that's graduated from college that's 21 or 22? They can stay on your 
plan. Before the Affordable Care Act, before ObamaCare, they had very 
little opportunity to get insurance. They would have to go out and buy 
their own policy. They were able to stay on their parents' policy. 
That's 6.6 million young adults that will not be insured if they are 
successful in repealing the Affordable Health Care Act.
  Also, 100 million Americans no longer have a lifetime exclusion. 
Previously, most health insurance policies in the United States set a 
limit on the amount of coverage that a person could have during their 
lifetime or in a given year. Now, 100 million Americans no longer have 
a lifetime exclusion, and 100 million Americans are able to get 
comprehensive coverage for the duration of their illness. They want to 
affect the well-being of 100 million Americans.
  You've heard about the senior doughnut hole, the drug coverage. 
Written into the law in 2003, providing drug coverage for seniors--
Medicare part D--was a doughnut hole. You got the first couple of 
thousand dollars covered. After that, 100 percent of the cost had to be 
paid by the seniors.
  The Affordable Health Care Act is shrinking the doughnut hole every

[[Page H5910]]

year. And in another 2 or 3 years, that doughnut hole will be closed, 
providing an extraordinarily important benefit to seniors. I know this 
problem in my communities. Before the Affordable Health Care Act, 
before ObamaCare, seniors would reach that doughnut hole threshold and 
they could not afford to continue to buy their pharmaceutical products. 
So what did they do? Their blood pressure went up, their diabetes was 
not treated, and they became seriously ill.
  They want to repeal the Affordable Health Care Act, and the doughnut 
hole will not be closed if they are successful.
  Shall we continue on?

                              {time}  1230

  In California, on October 1, 4 million Californians for the first 
time will have access to an insurance exchange, a marketplace, a free 
marketplace--which we talk about all the time. But one does not exist 
in California until October 1, where the uninsured in California, 
including this Member of Congress, will be able to go to a rational 
marketplace that lists numerous health care policies, five different 
levels of coverage, all of them uniform, all of them priced, where I 
and 4 million other Californians can select the policy of our choice--
not a government policy, but a private insurance company policy; a 
marketplace, a free market solution to the 40 million Americans that 
are not insured and the 4 million in California that are not insured 
today.
  We rail back and forth, Democrats and Republicans alike, about the 
necessity of a free market. For the first time ever in this Nation, a 
free market, rational market system is established, not only in 
California, but in every State in this Union. And thirty-three State 
Governors have refused to set up a free market rational system called 
an exchange--called an exchange in which insurance companies will lay 
out their policies, lay out their price, lay out their coverages, 
exclusions and the rest; and the public will be able to have price 
information, quality information, and make a choice. That's what's 
called a free market. And they want to repeal it. So what are those 
people to do?
  You know, 435 of us represent the people of America. I spent an hour 
listening to some 20 people who may, in their own mind, believe that 
they're representing their people. But I know, from my experience as 
insurance commissioner in California, that for the first time across 
this Nation, we have the opportunity to have a market system, a health 
insurance market system that is rational, that is sensible, in which 
prices are available, in which quality and multiple products are 
available--not a government-run health system, but rather a market 
system established by this government so that the people of this Nation 
can pick and choose which private policy they want.
  If you're over 65, you can get your Medicare; and you will continue 
to get it with the additional benefits that are in the Affordable Care 
Act. If you're not yet 65 and you happen to have been unemployed at the 
age of 50, prior to the Affordable Care Act you were in the deepest of 
trouble. You were virtually uninsurable. Why? Because you were 50 years 
of age. You were entering that period when you were expensive; you were 
likely to get health issues. Insurance companies routinely 
discriminated against you. If you happen to be a woman, you were in 
even deeper trouble. Those days are gone--unless the Republican Party 
succeeds in repealing, delaying, and defunding the Affordable Care Act.
  The American people have an opportunity today to get insurance--or 
they will on October 1. Exchanges will operate across the country, some 
run by States such as California and New York, where the Governor said 
this makes sense to the people in my State and we're going to do it. 
Others, like Texas and Montana, the Governor said, oh, we don't care 
about our people; therefore, the Federal Government is stepping in to 
set up exchanges.
  Whatever you may have heard over this last hour about a government-
run health care system, it is not true, except if you happen to be on 
Medicare. Medicare is a government-run health insurance program in 
which the delivery is not provided by the government, but provided by a 
multiplicity of health care providers. Individual doctors, groups of 
doctors, hospitals, big health care medical centers such as the 
University of California-San Francisco. Yes, Medicare is a government 
health insurance system; it is not a delivery system. There is one, 
however; it's called the U.S. military. Military hospitals and veterans 
hospitals, those are government delivery systems.
  So whatever you may have heard about the government takeover of 
health care, not true unless you happen to be in the military, a 
veteran, or on Medicare. Even the Medicaid program is State run, not 
run by the Federal Government.
  Oh, there are so many falsehoods. You could fill this entire room 
with the falsehoods that we've heard over the last months. But the 
reality is that the Affordable Health Care Act is good for America. It 
is reducing the inflation rate in health care. We've already seen the 
lowest inflation rate in the last 3 years, since the enactment of the 
Affordable Health Care Act, over the last 25 years.
  So are we going to shut down government so that the opponents who 
failed in an election, who failed in Congress in 2010 to stop the 
Affordable Care Act, failed in the Presidential election, in Senate 
elections, are we going to shut down government so that they can 
leverage something that they could not achieve in an electoral process? 
I don't think so. I don't think the American Government will stand for 
it. I don't think the American people will stand for it.
  I wanted to talk about jobs. I wanted to talk about my district. I 
wanted to talk about the necessity of a farm bill so that there will be 
food on the table for the poor, so that there will be a program that 
the farmers in my district will know what they will face as they begin 
to plant their winter crops. That bill languishes because of this 
process that we're seeing.
  I wanted to talk about a transportation bill that we must write and 
fund so that we can build the infrastructure, so that we can put people 
back to work. But, no, we're caught up here in this process.
  There are things that we need to do in America, and here we are. Here 
we are. This is not good for America. The Affordable Health Care Act is 
good for Americans. And when we provide health insurance for every 
American, we will be a much more just society, and we will have a 
stronger economy. This road is out ahead of us.
  I'm going to be joined by my colleagues. I yield to my colleague, the 
gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Wilson).
  Ms. WILSON of Florida. Thank you for sharing this hour with me, 
Representative Garamendi from California, my dear friend.

  Mr. Speaker, who could be against making every American eligible for 
health care insurance? I can't even imagine. So I'm here today to help 
set the record straight about ObamaCare. I'm here to explain what 
ObamaCare means to the people in my community and the people around 
this Nation. And I'm here to explain the truth--the real truth--behind 
the health care reforms that are moving ahead on Tuesday, October 1, 
simply because Obama cares.
  Mr. Speaker, this health reform is about making it easier and cheaper 
to get insurance if you don't have it. It's that simple.
  Our President, Barack Obama, cares and is making health care easier 
to obtain. He cares and is making health care more affordable. 
President Barack Obama cares and is making health care more accessible.
  Now, listen up: if you have Medicare, this does not apply to you. 
This has absolutely nothing to do with you. It will not affect your 
coverage. If you have Medicaid, this does not apply to you. If you have 
a job with health care coverage, this does not apply to you.
  ObamaCare only applies if you do not currently have insurance. You 
will finally have the opportunity to gain protection for your body. You 
will finally find peace of mind. You no longer have to live in fear of 
being bankrupted by a health emergency. You no longer will have to let 
your health suffer by avoiding the doctor. You no longer will have to 
fear for your family going without care.
  Mr. Speaker, there are very simple steps for getting started if 
you're insured. Because Obama cares, you can

[[Page H5911]]

get started with these simple directions. If you have access to the 
Internet, you can get started right away.
  Beginning Tuesday, October 1, Healthcare.gov will give you all the 
information you need to sign up for this program. Once you're there, go 
to the tab that says ``get insurance.''
  Mr. Speaker, this will take you to a page that will explain all the 
insurance marketplaces available to you. You will be able to compare 
all the plans available to you in your area.
  Mr. Speaker, the Internet is the best way to sign up; but if you're 
not comfortable using a computer, ask a friend, or ask a young relative 
to help you survey the choices. Young people know all about computers. 
If you need additional help, you can also call 1-800-318-2596. People 
are available around the clock to offer assistance in more than 150 
languages--and in Miami, that is very important. They can help you 
enroll by mail if you prefer.
  Mr. Speaker, Obama cares so much that there will also be expert 
advisers called ``navigators'' in your community. You can find them at 
community health centers, at the mall, in drugstores, and in many 
places of worship. In some States, traditional insurance agents and 
brokers will be able to help. But remember this: if someone tries to 
charge you money for advice on how to sign up, say ``no'' because it is 
a scam. No one should be charged for assistance in signing up.
  Mr. Speaker, Americans should take their time in completing the 
important task of choosing the right health insurance plan. I know 
sometimes it can take 2 hours to choose the right pair of shoes at the 
mall or 2 hours at the kitchen table to choose the right cable TV plan.

                              {time}  1245

  Be patient. Take your time in choosing the right plan to protect your 
body and your life. You won't regret it.
  Mr. Speaker, Obama cares because health reform is not only about 
making insurance simple, but also making it affordable. Let me just 
give you a couple of examples:
  A self-employed person with a spouse and two children and a household 
income of $33,000 would more than likely not be able to afford 
insurance at all today, but starting Tuesday, October 1, this person 
would be able to get insurance for his entire family for an average of 
$94 per month because of a government subsidy;
  A single mother with three children and a household income of $40,000 
will now be able to insure herself and her children for an average of 
$163 per month through ObamaCare.
  Mr. Speaker, it's affordable and it's essential to be covered. Young 
people under 26 will be able to stay on their parents' plans. For those 
young people without the opportunity to join their parents' plans, it's 
especially important for you to get insurance.
  If you're young, you're statistically more likely to end up in a car 
crash or a motorcycle crash or to experiment with drugs or other risky 
behavior that lands you into trouble. You need insurance as much or 
more than anyone else. You have to pay to insure that car, you have to 
pay to insure that motorcycle, so make sure that you pay a very small 
portion of that first paycheck you earn to insure your precious body.
  Mr. Speaker, no one said this would be easy. There will be challenges 
as the Federal Government implements the new insurance markets in 36 
States in the weeks ahead. But progress is never easy. Nothing this 
important and ambitious is easy. There will be needed tweaking and 
needed corrections. But that was also the case in 1935 when we rolled 
out Social Security and in 1965 when we rolled out Medicare.
  Mr. Speaker, we know that Obama cares because insurance companies can 
no longer deny 17 million children with preexisting conditions their 
health coverage. We know that Obama cares because 105 million Americans 
with life-threatening diseases like cancer no longer have to live in 
fear of maxing out on their lifetime dollar limits on their insurance 
coverage. We know that Obama cares because more than 3 million young 
people up to the age of 26 now have coverage because insurance 
companies can no longer remove them from their parents' plans.
  Yes, Mr. Speaker, we are well on our way to a healthier, more 
financially secure Nation. We refuse, we utterly refuse, to allow 
anyone to damage, repeal, or turn back ObamaCare. It is the law of the 
land and it is here to stay. We will stand up for those who cannot 
stand up for themselves. We will speak out for those who cannot speak 
for themselves. We will do all this and more because President Barack 
Hussein Obama cares. He cares for the people of this Nation.
  Mr. GARAMENDI. Thank you very much, Ms. Wilson. Thank you for laying 
out the way in which the Affordable Care Act will benefit and how 
people can use that act, how they can access the exchanges and the 
benefits that are found in it.
  I would like now to call on one of my colleagues from the Midwest, 
Mr. Ryan, if you would care to join us.
  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. I thank the gentleman; I thank the lady.
  This is, obviously, a very important issue for all of us around the 
country--in Ohio, especially. We have a very unique situation going on 
in Ohio. As I heard in the previous Special Order, I heard many members 
of the Tea Party Caucus come up here and talk about how bad the 
Affordable Care Act is, how it is going to end democracy as we know it, 
how the sky is going to fall, and it is troubling, I think, when you 
actually see what the benefits are.
  Let me be the first to say as, I think, even those of us who voted 
for the health care reform, there's a long way to go. We've got a lot 
of work to do. These things aren't easy. This is a very complicated 
situation, a very complicated program to try to cover all 313 million 
Americans, try to drive down health care costs, try to move towards 
more prevention and wellness--very big goals in the United States, 
goals that we can only really achieve if we work together.
  So to have one side trying to destroy what is now law in the United 
States, confirmed by the Supreme Court, passed by the House, the 
Senate, and signed by the President, approved by the Supreme Court, now 
as we try to stand it up, we have people trying to inject into the 
process not a helpful hand, not trying to make it work better, but 
trying to destroy it, trying to add more uncertainty here in the United 
States Congress, even to the brink of wanting to shut down the 
government or default on the credit, the full faith and credit of the 
United States.
  All the polls are saying 60 to 70 percent, maybe in the high 50s, 
most Americans say we do not want you to use shutting down the 
government or defaulting on our debt as a way to try to push back on 
ObamaCare or the Affordable Care Act.
  So what I'm saying is we have millions and millions of people--here's 
what really gets me. People walk up on the other side of the aisle, God 
bless them, and they act like prior to 2008-2009 we had a health care 
system that took care of everybody. Everybody was fine with the 
current. No businesses were calling our offices saying: Man, this 
health care is destroying my business; I can't plan ahead. It's a 30 
percent increase this year; it's 70 next year. We get one person sick 
in a small business of 20 or 30 people, we've got to go bankrupt.
  People forget. Millions of Americans. Prior to this health care law, 
1,700 families in my congressional district went bankrupt because of 
health care. So we are not even going to talk about that? Are we going 
to sweep that right under the rug, the kind of suffering that goes on 
in some of our communities? Are we going to drive around the problem 
and close our eyes?
  Everyone says this is a giveaway. This is not a giveaway. This is 
about giving people who go to work every day, sometimes two or three 
jobs, have a sick kid, we are just going to ignore them because we've 
got this bumper sticker on the back of our truck that has four little 
slogans on it and, boy, we can't deviate from that because we will get 
primaried by a Tea Party candidate because we can't check every box 
along the way.

  But, fine, let those 1,700 families go bankrupt. Let that kid with 
cancer and his parents who are at Akron Children's Hospital or some 
other children's hospital around the United States have to deal with 
the fact that they hit their lifetime cap because their child has 
cancer.
  Now, give me a break. Because you've got to stick with that bumper

[[Page H5912]]

sticker, you can't deviate from the bumper sticker that says ``less 
government,'' we want to go back to that great health care system that 
left 40 million people without any health care, that kept driving up 
prices for small businesses, small manufacturers in Ohio.
  We can maintain what is great about the American health care system. 
I represent a district not far from the Cleveland Clinic. We understand 
in northeast Ohio how powerful it is, some aspects of our health care 
system, but there are failures in our health care system, and we are 
here as Members of the United States Congress to try to fix those holes 
in the system and try to help our fellow citizens that may be sick, 
maybe can't afford it, but go to work every day just as hard as 
everyone else.
  I will say, before I kick it to my friend from New York, that I find 
it very interesting that we have some Governors in some of our States, 
Republican Governors in some of our States, conservative Republican 
Governors in some of our States, Tea Party Governors in some of our 
States, one in Ohio was the chair of the Budget Committee during the 
Gingrich revolution, Governor Casey, he makes the exact same arguments 
for expanding Medicaid in Ohio, which he is fighting for, along with 
Governor Brewer out in Arizona and some others. He makes the exact same 
arguments that it is immoral for us to have this level of sickness in 
our society with people not having access to health care, that it 
doesn't make any sense for us to wait for somebody to get so sick and 
then they dump themselves into an emergency room after weeks and weeks 
of sickness ending up there much sicker than they should be. He, as 
well as others, are making the argument that prevention is the way to 
go, wellness is the way to go. I commend these Governors, because it 
makes sense.
  So sit down and work with us to help stand this up to create more 
competition, to make sure that these young children and their families 
don't have to go to bed every night--and this is the last one, now 
trying to take any help we are giving to congressional staffers, which 
is floating around here. I know it's a political hot button. But my 
goodness gracious, we get young people that want to come to Capitol 
Hill, live in one of the most expensive cities in the world, make 
peanuts because they are ambitious and want to get ahead, and we are 
going to say, You are on your own with your health care, too. What are 
we doing? What are we doing? This doesn't make any sense.
  I'm sorry. I'm sorry you don't like President Obama. I'm sorry. I 
don't know what to say. But to come after health care reform where so 
many millions of people are going to benefit. In Ohio, we are saying 6 
out of 10 of the people who are uninsured in Ohio can get health care 
for less than 100 bucks a month. What's wrong with that? What's wrong 
with that?
  I yield to my friend.
  Mr. TONKO. Thank you, Representative Ryan. Thank you for expressing 
the tone of harshness that has prevailed in this Chamber.
  I don't know if I can remember when a law, a standing law in this 
country, was used as a reason to avoid paying our bills or keeping 
government running. I find it regrettable that we go after the law of 
the land, in this case the Affordable Care Act. They'll reference it as 
ObamaCare, and we will see how long that label stands when the program 
proves successful. It might be removed immediately.
  But, nonetheless, the harshness here is driven after a season, 
season's worth of activity on the Affordable Care Act.

                              {time}  1300

  We have voted for it in both Houses of the Congress and with 
bipartisan support in the Senate. The President stood for reelection, 
and was reelected amidst immense arguments and debates about repeal and 
replace by the opposition, by the candidate for President of the other 
major party. So the people have spoken. Then, when they elected Members 
to the House of Representatives, the cumulative total of votes for the 
Members of this House was, in the majority, calling for Democrats. The 
people have stated they support this. As Senator McCain indicated on 
the floor just this week, there are consequences to elections.
  It's not sinking in--or perhaps it has, but they refuse to allow 
their behavior to end. It's putting themselves first as political 
forces rather than the people, rather than what's in the best interest 
of the people. I'm convinced that this is driven by the fear that this 
ObamaCare, as they call it, will be successful and that this is their 
last effort possible to end the opportunity to provide affordable, 
accessible, quality health care for all. We know it. We see it in our 
States. We see it in Ohio. We see it in California. We see it in 
Florida. We are joined by our friend from Texas, who just visited my 
district this week in Albany, New York, Representative Castro from 
Texas. We see it in our home States. People have a need out there.
  In my case, I can cite some of the stats: 36,000 young people with 
preexisting conditions will not be biased against in having insurance. 
Take it away, why don't you. Take it away, and then put us at risk of 
defaulting with our credit rating. Take it away. Be harsh. We look at 
the 12,000-plus seniors who are receiving discounts for their 
pharmaceutical needs. Take it away, why don't you.
  It's unfair. It's un-American--immoral--to take it away, but we are 
going to use it as a pawn in a device here called ``negotiating'' on 
whether or not the government will continue to run or on whether we 
will keep the doors open and the lights or on whether or not we are 
going to pay our bills. Come on. Working families in this country 
understand it. They roll up their sleeves. They play by the rules. They 
work hard. They expect to taste success. They pay their bills on time, 
and they expect their government to do likewise.
  They don't expect us to put a roadblock in the way that says the law 
of the land--constitutionally tested in the highest Court of the land, 
in the Supreme Court, and that has been given the green light--we're 
going to put that in as a roadblock to stop progress because we know 
the October 1 starting date is quickly arriving. This is grossly unfair 
to the people of this country.
  When I look at the 124,000 seniors who are receiving free 
preventative services, I'm not ready to give that up. Repeal is not an 
answer--improving is an answer, and I will work with you--but we don't 
use this vehicle as a reason to stop government from running or as a 
vehicle from stopping us from paying America's bills. It goes on and 
on. There are 6,200 young people who now qualify to stay on their 
parents' policies for their health care coverage. This is a vast 
improvement. This is allowing the tens of millions of people who have 
been uninsured--and the many who are underinsured--to finally have 
access, connection, to a system.
  Aren't we in this business to respond to the needs of people? Are we 
in the business to take the facts, twist them, present them in a way 
that offers confusion, and only serve for political, partisan purposes?
  I think we can do better than that in this Chamber. We are going to 
work, and we are going to get to that finish line. I am convinced, 
Representative Garamendi, that we are going to stand for justice, for 
what is fairness in our society. Health care is a right. We should see 
it as an American right--the moral compass points in that direction--
and we ought not use it as a pawn in a political theater that allows 
for us to not have government funded or that allows for us not to pay 
our bills. Let's get on with business.
  What's happening in this Chamber? Are we so insensitive to the needs 
of people? What could be more important than responding to the health 
care needs of the people of this great country? Let's stop the 
brinksmanship. Let's get it done. Let's get business done here.
  I thank you for leading us in this discussion and for having served 
with our all of colleagues here.
  Mr. GARAMENDI. Thank you very much, Mr. Tonko.
  In previous weeks, you and I and Mr. Ryan and Mr. Castro have had the 
pleasure of talking on this floor about putting people to work, about 
jobs, about creating the infrastructure, the education, the training 
that's necessary to move Americans, but this week, we find ourselves 
caught up in this leveraging of the necessity of funding government and 
of paying our bills--the debt limit--and using that as

[[Page H5913]]

a lever to destroy a very important law that provides real benefits to 
every American.
  Mr. Castro, we thank you for joining us. We know that Texas was much 
discussed in the previous hour. I am sure that you have some thoughts 
about all of this, so please join us. Thank you very much.
  Mr. CASTRO of Texas. Thank you, Congressman Garamendi, and thank you, 
Congressman Tonko and Congressman Ryan, for your very eloquent words in 
describing the situation that we face today.
  I, like millions of Americans, hope that there will not be a 
government shutdown. I hope that we can get past the hostage politics 
that have prevailed over this place over the last few years. This is no 
way to run a government. Our Nation is the strongest nation on Earth, 
and we are the most exceptional nation on Earth. These wounds are self-
inflicted ones.
  I have said many times and have heard from my constituents that all 
of these fiscal fights, these self-inflicted wounds by Congress--when 
we get up to the limit where we are supposed to pass a budget or we are 
supposed to raise the debt ceiling limit--are causing the Nation high 
blood pressure. They are affecting the market in negative ways. The 
stock market is taking a hit. Our employment rates are taking a hit. In 
every way, this has been bad for the country.

  I would also remind our Members of Congress and the American people 
about what happened the last time brinksmanship was tried. The last 
time this happened, the sequester resulted--a bad way to do business. I 
think people on both sides of the aisle would agree that the sequester 
did not turn out well for our Nation, but that's the same road we are 
headed down again. The Republicans are taking us down the same road 
that gave us the sequester--the Budget Control Act. Then the cuts that 
really were across the board were not targeted and have hurt the 
military, have hurt education, have hurt health care, and we are headed 
down the same road.
  Congressman, the last time you and I spoke--I guess about a month ago 
here on the floor--I mentioned that, in politics, you are often asked 
whether you are a Republican or a Democrat. What is it that you stand 
for? I think, as Democrats, what we believe in are a few things that 
have made this Nation great.
  The first is freedom, because we are a free people. That freedom has 
been hard fought. I come from San Antonio, Texas--Military City USA. 
The people of San Antonio and the people of Texas know the high price 
of freedom.
  The second is democracy. We are a democratic Nation. Because we are 
free, we get to elect our leaders, and we get to kick them out of 
office when we no longer believe that they are representing our views 
and our values.
  But much of the politics of today is really fought over the third 
principle and value, which is opportunity. You see, what is special 
about this country and the reason that, for years and years, people 
from all over the world have wanted to come to America is that, as 
Americans, we have come together to build out what I call an 
``infrastructure of opportunity'' that enables each of us to pursue our 
American dreams. I want to remind you of what I mean by that.
  Just as there is an infrastructure of transportation--a system of 
streets and roads and highways that help all of us get to where we want 
to go on the road--in American society, we have built up together an 
infrastructure of opportunity that enables or at least helps each of us 
get to where we want to go in life, and that has to include certain 
things that are at risk when we get into hostage politics--great public 
schools and universities; a strong health care system so that, if you 
get sick, you don't become debilitated or die; and then an economy 
that's built around well-paying jobs so that people can support 
themselves and their family members. It's that second part that I 
mentioned--health care--that has been at issue in this debate.
  I just want to close by saying this, that the junior Senator from 
Texas, a few days ago, talked about how he was speaking for 26 million 
Texans when he was threatening to shut down the government over the 
Affordable Care Act, which he derisively calls ``ObamaCare.'' He does 
not speak for 26 million Texans. The fact is that Texas has the highest 
percentage of people who have no health care coverage at all. There are 
a lot of families who are having to take their kids to the emergency 
rooms, who are getting letters from their insurance companies because 
they have hit their lifetime caps. They are getting letters of their 
being denied coverage because they have preexisting conditions. The 
Affordable Care Act is going to change that. It's going to be a good 
thing for our State.
  So I would just note that there are a lot of people in Texas who are 
excited about the Affordable Care Act and about the fact that they are 
going to have a chance to afford to have insurance, some of them for 
the first time in their lives. Even of those who have insurance, many 
of them will no longer have to worry about being denied because of 
preexisting conditions, worry about hitting a lifetime cap or about 
going bankrupt because of health care.
  Mr. GARAMENDI. Thank you very much, Mr. Castro, and thank you for 
pointing out that one junior Senator doesn't represent all of Texas. I 
know you represent the heart of Texas--that is, the people of Texas.
  Mr. Speaker, may I inquire as to how much time I have remaining.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from California has 9 minutes 
remaining.
  Mr. GARAMENDI. Very good.
  We are joined here now by our distinguished senior Member from the 
State of New Jersey.
  Mr. PALLONE. I want to thank the gentleman from California and all of 
my colleagues who came to the floor in the aftermath of that hour from 
the GOP side of basically criticizing, on the Republican side, the 
health care reform--the Affordable Care Act, also known as ObamaCare.
  Sometimes, when I listen to what the Republicans say about ObamaCare, 
I am shocked because I don't think they understand how many people are 
out there who have already benefited from it and who are really looking 
forward to October 1 because they can sign up for the first time for 
health insurance. Let me tell you that, in my own district, I have had 
so many inquiries from people who are uninsured or underinsured or who 
can't afford the health insurance they have now.
  I just want to say that I agree with the gentleman from California in 
that this was basically resolved last November. It couldn't have been 
clearer that the President, for whom ObamaCare is now known, was out 
there in the Presidential election, saying that the Affordable Care Act 
was a great accomplishment on his part and that he was going to 
continue with it. Then you had Mitt Romney on the other side, saying 
that, if he were elected, he was going to repeal it. So my colleague 
from California is right--that was resolved in the election.
  So why is it that our colleagues on the Republican side are trying to 
hold the health care reform hostage by saying that, if we don't repeal 
it or delay it or defund it or whatever--we've had so many votes on 
this, over 40 now--that they're going to shut the government down? One 
has nothing to do with the other.
  I just want to talk about those three groups of people who will be 
the most positively impacted by ObamaCare beginning October 1.

  First of all, we know we have about 40 million Americans who are 
uninsured. Many of them are from New Jersey. They don't have health 
insurance options right now. This is going to be the first time, on 
October 1, that they will actually have a rational, legitimate option 
to get health insurance, and they are waiting for October 1 to come 
around.
  Secondly, we have just as many people--maybe 80 million people--who 
may have health insurance, but it's very skeletal. It doesn't provide 
much in the way of benefits, and they have to pay a lot of money out-
of-pocket if they get sick or if they have to go to the hospital or 
whatever. Those people will also benefit because every health insurance 
policy that's offered under the health exchange, as the gentleman from 
California talked about, will be a good benefit package, at least as 
good as what we know as, say, Blue Cross-Blue Shield.
  Then you have the third group of people who may have health 
insurance, but they're spending so much money in order to make sure 
that they have

[[Page H5914]]

health insurance that they can't pay for their rent or they can't pay 
for their mortgage or they can't put food on the table.
  All of these people are going to benefit come October 1, when they 
can sign up for a good package and an affordable package. One of the 
main reasons it's affordable is that the Federal Government is helping 
pay the premium--is helping subsidize the premium--with tax credits but 
not with tax credits that you have to pay up front and then get a 
refund for when you file next April 15, but a tax credit like a subsidy 
that goes directly to pay for the premium.
  We are already hearing--and I've said this to my colleagues in New 
Jersey--that the average health insurance policy is going to be about 
$350 a month. Some people say, ``Oh, $350 a month,'' but that is 
incredibly affordable for a lot of people in New Jersey who are paying 
a lot more right now, and that's without the subsidy. With the subsidy, 
that can go down to $100 a month depending upon your income.
  So I can't stress enough how important this is, and for the 
Republicans to try to hold this hostage, no one on our side of the 
aisle is going to give up on the Affordable Care Act, because we know 
people need it. We are going to move forward, and, hopefully, they come 
to their senses and don't keep trying to shut this government down.
  I want to commend the gentleman again. Thank you.

                              {time}  1315

  Mr. GARAMENDI. Mr. Pallone, thank you so very much for your comments 
about New Jersey.
  Mr. Ryan, I think we have maybe 2\1/2\ minutes left if you'd like to 
close, and I'll take the last 30 seconds and then we'll thank the 
public for their attention.
  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. I think the last couple of points I would like to 
make is that we have very conservative Republican Tea Party Governors 
saying, We want to expand Medicaid, and they make all of the same 
arguments that we made during the health care debate. Coming into an 
emergency room and getting your primary care does not make any sense; 
you get sicker and it costs more money. There is also a moral aspect 
that we've got millions and millions of people going bankrupt, children 
not getting treatment, hitting the ceiling when they have cancer or 
some other issue. Those problems have been fixed.
  Folks here in the House of Representatives, they need to recognize 
just how extreme their position is. When Karl Rove and John McCain and 
some of these other folks are saying, You folks are really out on a 
limb here, you're not making a lot of sense, that's not Tim Ryan and 
Mr. Garamendi and Mr. Pallone and others who they would call liberals. 
That's Karl Rove, Bush's brain, who is telling you you're way out on a 
limb on this one, and it doesn't make any sense. I think that's 
important. You have Republican Tea Party Governors making the same 
argument about expanding Medicaid. Critical, critical, critical points.
  Lastly, as we see the top 1 percent and the top one-tenth of 1 
percent garnering almost a third of the wealth created from 2009 to 
2012, we've got a problem in this country. If we can't step in and say 
at the very least we can give some of these folks some basic health 
care, then we have to ask ourselves what kind of country we really want 
to live in.
  Mr. GARAMENDI. Mr. Ryan and Mr. Pallone, thank you so very much for 
joining us on this discussion about the Affordable Care Act and the way 
in which the Republican Party here in the House is using its repeal as 
a lever to really shut down government. It's not a good situation.
  We normally spend our time here on the floor talking about jobs, 
infrastructure, how we can move this committee and this Nation forward. 
We hope to get back to that next week. We've got a critical vote coming 
in the next couple of days, or tomorrow or the next day, about the 
health care of America and more importantly about the way in which this 
government should operate.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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