[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 18 (Tuesday, February 3, 2015)]
[House]
[Pages H723-H742]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        REPEAL OF THE PATIENT PROTECTION AND AFFORDABLE CARE ACT

  Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 70, I call up 
the bill (H.R. 596) to repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable 
Care Act and health care-related provisions in the Health Care and 
Education Reconciliation Act of 2010, and for other purposes, as 
amended, and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Simpson). Pursuant to House Resolution 
70, the amendment printed in House Report 114-13 is adopted, and the 
bill, as amended, is considered read.
  The text of the bill, as amended, is as follows:

                                H.R. 596

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. REPEAL OF PPACA AND HEALTH CARE-RELATED PROVISIONS 
                   IN THE HEALTH CARE AND EDUCATION RECONCILIATION 
                   ACT OF 2010.

       (a) PPACA.--Effective on the date that is 180 days after 
     the date of the enactment of this Act, the Patient Protection 
     and Affordable Care Act (Public Law 111-148) is repealed, and 
     the provisions of law amended or repealed by such Act are 
     restored or revived as if such Act had not been enacted.
       (b) Health Care-Related Provisions in the Health Care and 
     Education Reconciliation Act of 2010.--Effective on the date 
     that is 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, 
     title I and subtitle B of title II of the Health Care and 
     Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 (Public Law 111-152) are 
     repealed, and the provisions of law amended or repealed by 
     such title or subtitle, respectively, are restored or revived 
     as if such title and subtitle had not been enacted.

     SEC. 2. BUDGETARY EFFECTS.

       The budgetary effects of this Act shall not be entered on 
     either PAYGO scorecard maintained pursuant to section 4(d) of 
     the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010.

     SEC. 3. REPORTING REPLACEMENT LEGISLATION.

       The Committee on Education and the Workforce, the Committee 
     on Energy and Commerce, the Committee on the Judiciary, and 
     the Committee on Ways and Means of the House of 
     Representatives shall each report to the House of 
     Representatives legislation proposing changes to existing law 
     within each committee's jurisdiction with provisions that--
       (1) foster economic growth and private sector job creation 
     by eliminating job-killing policies and regulations;
       (2) lower health care premiums through increased 
     competition and choice;
       (3) preserve a patient's ability to keep his or her health 
     plan if he or she likes it;
       (4) provide people with pre-existing conditions access to 
     affordable health coverage;
       (5) reform the medical liability system to reduce 
     unnecessary and wasteful health care spending;
       (6) increase the number of insured Americans;
       (7) protect the doctor-patient relationship;
       (8) provide the States greater flexibility to administer 
     Medicaid programs while reducing costs under such programs;
       (9) expand incentives to encourage personal responsibility 
     for health care coverage and costs;
       (10) prohibit taxpayer funding of abortions and provide 
     conscience protections for health care providers;
       (11) eliminate duplicative government programs and wasteful 
     spending; or
       (12) do not accelerate the growth of entitlement programs 
     or increase the tax burden on Americans.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The bill shall be debatable for 90 minutes, 
equally divided and controlled by the chairs and ranking minority 
members of the Committees on Education and the Workforce, Energy and 
Commerce, and Ways and Means.
  The gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Byrne), the gentleman from Virginia 
(Mr. Scott), the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Pitts), the gentleman

[[Page H724]]

from New Jersey (Mr. Pallone), the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Brady), 
and the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Levin) each will control 15 
minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Pennsylvania.


                             General Leave

  Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may 
have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to 
include extraneous material on H.R. 596.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Pennsylvania?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  I rise today in support of H.R. 596, sponsored by Bradley Byrne of 
Alabama.
  Today, the House acts, once again, to repeal ObamaCare. Millions of 
Americans continue to feel the harmful effects of the President's 
health care law in almost every corner of their lives.
  Recently, I heard from a public schoolteacher who told me that many 
of our local schools are having trouble finding long-term substitutes 
for specialty classes such as art, music, and physical education. Under 
ObamaCare's new definition of full-time work, substitute teachers are 
strictly limited to 3\1/2\ days a week. Children are simply missing out 
on these important classes or are being pushed into packed, combined 
classes. Many of our local schools have already had to outsource 
cafeteria workers and other part-time positions. School districts are 
spending too much time worrying about Federal mandates rather than the 
best way to teach children.
  Republicans have no shortage of good ideas with which to replace the 
President's health care law. Last session, there were hundreds of bills 
introduced to reform health care with more affordable choices. We will 
hear many of these good ideas and other reasons for repeal today, and I 
look forward to hearing from my colleagues. The American people 
continue to oppose the President's health care law, and, today, House 
Republicans will stand with them again.
  I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  I have great respect for my colleague from Pennsylvania, but I just 
think more and more what I am hearing from my Republican colleagues is 
what I call ``fantasy land.'' This isn't the America we know.
  In the past few years, since the Affordable Care Act has taken 
effect, so many Americans who didn't have health insurance now have it. 
Something like 19 million Americans who were uninsured now have health 
insurance. Millions of young adults have health insurance because they 
are able to stay on their parents' plans. There are 129 million 
Americans who can no longer be denied health insurance for having 
preexisting conditions. Seniors have saved so much money on the 
prescription drugs. I could go on and on, but I don't need to.
  Americans like the Affordable Care Act. It is working. We cannot go 
back. We cannot turn over the health care system again to the insurance 
companies, which are going to have skeletal plans, not provide good 
benefits, raise premiums to whatever they want, and not actually have 
any help from the Federal Government. When you repeal ObamaCare, or the 
Affordable Care Act, you are basically giving Americans a tax increase 
because they are not going to be able to get the tax credits or the 
subsidies that help them pay for their premiums and make those premiums 
affordable. This is working. This is happening. This isn't something we 
can just throw away.
  The Republicans say--what did my colleagues say?--that the GOP has no 
shortage of good ideas. What ideas? Four years ago, when they first 
took the majority in this House, the House Republicans passed a similar 
repeal bill and instructed the committees to come back with 
alternatives. It never happened, and it will never happen again. They 
might have a few good ideas here and there, but they have never come up 
with a comprehensive plan to provide Americans with low-cost health 
insurance and to insure most Americans.
  That is what we have done with the Affordable Care Act. We are not 
going to go back. We are not going to repeal. This is fantasy. The 
President will never sign it, and I just wish that they would stop 
wasting our time and would get to things that are actually going to 
make a difference to the American people.
  I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 2 minutes to the 
gentlewoman from Tennessee (Mrs. Blackburn), the vice chair of the 
Energy and Commerce Committee.
  Mrs. BLACKBURN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
  Mr. Speaker, talk about fantasy. I think that it finds its root in 
this comment from Jonathan Gruber, who was the architect of ObamaCare:

       If you had a law which said that healthy people are going 
     to pay and sick people would get money, it would never have 
     passed. Lack of transparency is a huge political advantage. 
     Call it the stupidity of the American voter or whatever, but 
     that was critical for the thing to pass.

  Mr. Speaker, that is the fantasy on which this was based. It does not 
work. It has driven up costs. Indeed, we know that 70 of our Democrat 
colleagues have crossed the aisle and have voted with us to repeal 
different provisions of this law because it does not work. It is not 
making insurance more affordable. It is costing more.
  One of my constituents is Emily. Her insurance was $57 a month before 
ObamaCare. After ObamaCare, with the subsidies, it was $373 a month. 
Another constituent, Jimmy, is saying he can't afford to offer the 
benefits now because of the way ObamaCare has driven up the cost of 
insurance. It is offer insurance or close his business. Those are the 
choices. That is why we are here. It does not work, and it is time to 
get this law off the books.
  Yes, there are lots of ideas. Mr. Speaker, just for my colleagues to 
know, at Energy and Commerce, we have over 100 bills that have been 
filed that would repeal different provisions of this law, and we are 
doing it because the American people have said, We are tired of this. 
It is damaging health care. It is returning us to the day of the old 
major medical when you had higher premiums, when you had higher out-of-
pocket costs, and when you had fewer benefits.

                              {time}  1430

  Now, our colleagues across the aisle, Mr. Speaker, may say that those 
are not suitable plans, but guess what? That is what ObamaCare plans 
are becoming. It is time to get it off the books and restore choice and 
option for the American people.
  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from 
Maryland (Mr. Hoyer), our Democratic whip.
  Mr. HOYER. This bill is about restoring choice not to have insurance, 
not to have the assurance that if you get sick, you are going to be 
able to not go bankrupt. That is what this bill is about.
  Mr. Speaker, this House is about to hold its 56th vote to undermine 
or repeal the Affordable Care Act, which came to us, by the way, by 
route of The Heritage Foundation, as I think probably most of you 
recall.
  But this vote is different than the previously full repeal votes for 
one significant reason. Since the last repeal vote, the health 
insurance marketplace has opened and is working. Over 9\1/2\ million 
Americans have signed up through these marketplaces for health care 
coverage for 2015 so far. That means that with today's vote, 
Republicans are choosing to take away health care coverage from 
millions of Americans.
  This vote will also remove patient protections and cost savings 
reforms. To make matters worse, today's vote would also defund the 
bipartisan popular CHIP program that helps States cover uninsured 
children. So it abandons children as well.
  In 2011, when House Republicans voted to repeal the Affordable Care 
Act, they included language that said they would replace it with 
something else; and I say to my friend, Mr. Pitts, Mr. Speaker, 
notwithstanding that, they have not done so. However, they still have 
failed to give us an alternative.
  I urge my colleagues to vote ``no.''
  Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 2 minutes to the 
gentlelady from North Carolina (Mrs. Ellmers), a member of the 
Subcommittee on Health.

[[Page H725]]

  Mrs. ELLMERS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman for this very 
important discussion that we are having today.
  Yes, I rise in support of H.R. 596, which aims to repeal the Patient 
Protection and Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as ObamaCare. 
ObamaCare has been a costly disaster to my constituents in the Second 
District of North Carolina and across this country.
  I have heard numerous stories, ranging from young women to senior 
citizens, and they all touch on the same underlying problem: ObamaCare 
is unaffordable and results in severe consequences.
  As a nurse, I know that repeal alone is not enough because the 
American people need high-quality, patient-centered health care. I am 
so proud to be standing with my Republican colleagues and many of the 
Democrats that we serve with who are now going to say to the American 
people, not only are we against this awful law, but we are for good, 
patient-centered health care, and we are going to provide that plan of 
action for the American people to see.
  We need to stand with the American people, who overwhelmingly 
disapprove of ObamaCare.
  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from 
Texas (Mr. Gene Green), ranking member of the Subcommittee on Health.
  Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express my 
staunch opposition to H.R. 596, legislation to repeal the Affordable 
Care Act.
  Yesterday was Groundhog Day, yet it is today's vote that really feels 
familiar. The House has now attempted to repeal or undermine the 
Affordable Care Act for 56 times. It is disappointing that the 
Republican leadership continues its partisan campaign to undermine the 
ACA and create barriers for millions of uninsured Americans having 
access to health insurance.
  Based on the latest estimate from the Congressional Budget Office, 19 
million Americans--and 20,000 in our Houston area district--would lose 
their health insurance this year if the ACA is repealed. These are 
people who would be without coverage today if it were not for the ACA.
  H.R. 596 would take away critical benefits and health care coverage 
for hardworking families. Not only that, this bill would increase the 
deficit, repeal reforms that help slow the growth in health care costs, 
and undo basic protections that provide security for the middle class.
  It is long past time to stop playing political games on health 
reform. We need to work to enact reforms that improve and build on the 
ACA for the good of the American people.
  Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, a lot of those people are on Medicaid and 
can't even see a doctor.
  I am pleased to yield 2 minutes to an outstanding Member from 
Pennsylvania (Mr. Rothfus).
  Mr. ROTHFUS. Mr. Speaker, I have sat here today listening both to the 
rule debate and the debate we are having right now, to my colleagues on 
the other side of the aisle who ridicule our relief efforts and joke 
about the number of votes that we have taken to repeal ObamaCare.
  Mr. Speaker, my friends across the aisle may think this is funny, but 
it is no joke to the folks I represent back in Pennsylvania. It is not 
a joke to the mother who walked into a pharmacy and found out a drug 
that cost $40 under her old plan, the one that the President promised 
she could keep, now costs $700 because of the skyrocketing deductibles 
that she has. It isn't funny to people who have received a cancelation 
notice in the mail and have been forced onto plans with ridiculous out-
of-pocket costs. A woman I spoke to who can't go to a doctor she has 
seen for 20 years definitely isn't amused by ObamaCare.
  There wasn't one single Republican who voted to create the train 
wreck that is known as ObamaCare, and we made our opposition abundantly 
clear to voters before we went to the ballots last November.
  I urge my colleagues to give Americans what they asked for and 
support this legislation. Do it for every American who was lied to 
about the real cost of this law. Do it for the millions who have been 
hurt by this law, and let's find a better way forward.

  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from 
California (Mrs. Capps).
  Mrs. CAPPS. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for yielding.
  It is not a joke. It is disheartening that here we are for the 56th 
time again considering a bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act.
  This time it is different. This time repeal will do more than simply 
take away the important consumer protections that hold insurance 
companies accountable and make sure everyone is insurable.
  This time it will actually take health insurance away from millions 
of families, plans they have both chosen and paid for. This time it 
will hit families where it hurts, raising their costs by erasing the 
benefits that make their insurance more affordable, as well as raising 
Medicare prescription drug costs.
  This time small businesses who have received tax credits to make 
insurance affordable will lose them, leaving employees without coverage 
and few, if any, affordable options.
  We all know that the Affordable Care Act is not perfect and there are 
clear areas where we could work together to build on and improve this 
law, but today's repeal vote would turn back time, reverting back to a 
system everyone agreed was broken. The American people deserve better 
than that from us. I ask for a ``no'' vote.
  Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, at this time, I am pleased to yield 2 minutes 
to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Moolenaar).
  Mr. MOOLENAAR. Mr. Speaker, this is my first speech on the House 
floor, and today I am here speaking because we are voting to repeal the 
unpopular and unaffordable Affordable Care Act.
  Our Nation has over $18 trillion in debt, and this law adds to it by 
spending more money we don't have. The cost of coverage subsidies alone 
is expected to quadruple over the next 10 years, according to the CBO.
  The Federal Government is picking up the tab for Medicaid expansion, 
and it will eventually pass the enormous financial burden on to State 
budgets. In the last decade alone, Michigan has gone from one in eight 
residents enrolled in Medicaid to approaching one in four enrolled in 
this unsustainable government program.
  What is more, this law has the effect of throwing a wet blanket on 
the economy. Small business owners say rising health insurance costs 
are their biggest concern, and the health insurance tax costs them $688 
per employee. School districts have cut the hours of part-time 
employees, and businesses can't afford to hire more employees because 
of the costs of mandated coverage. We have even seen colleges and 
universities cut back hours for student workers, and now they earn less 
money to pay for their classes.
  Individuals, families, and businesses all face continuing uncertainty 
over health care coverage and its costs. The administration, alone, has 
made 28 changes to the law, including delaying mandates, changing 
verification requirements, pushing back enrollment dates because the 
Web site wasn't ready, and expanding waivers to deal with the 
cancelation of millions of health care plans.
  Five years after it was signed, the President's health care law is 
still changing, and last November the Department of Health and Human 
Services proposed 35 more revisions. It is time to permanently repeal 
the excessive spending, the economic pain, and the continuing 
uncertainty caused by this law and replace it with patient-centered 
alternatives with lower premiums that allow individuals to choose the 
coverage they want. It is time to empower patients to take control of 
their health care choices.
  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from 
Illinois (Ms. Schakowsky).
  Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Mr. Speaker, here is what my constituent Laurel wrote 
me from Wilmette, Illinois:

       Thank you. I am tired of all this bellyaching about health 
     care, so I want to share our story. We are small business 
     owners and have a very expensive policy for our two 
     employees, but we have been stuck with that approach because 
     my husband and one of our kids has asthma and are therefore 
     uninsurable.
       Our health care broker just sent us all the health care 
     information for the next year, and our yearly costs will go 
     down if we switch to one of the ObamaCare options in

[[Page H726]]

     Illinois. Although we don't qualify for subsidies, it is 
     cheaper in all scenarios. In fact, if our usage is similar to 
     what it was the last 3 years, our costs go down 20 percent. 
     The policy is better. Everyone in our family is now 
     insurable. My kids who are still under 21 may be able to get 
     dental insurance, and the out-of-pocket maximum is lowered if 
     someone really gets sick. Wow.

  She says:

       These savings don't include the benefit of the no-
     deductible checkups and preventive drug benefits, which have 
     already saved us $1800 this year. Our health care broker and 
     his partner are signing up for ObamaCare options themselves.

  She says:

       I would like to know what all those Republican 
     grandstanders who have blocked action at every turn and are 
     now wringing their hands have done for me lately.

  Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, may I inquire of the time remaining?
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Pennsylvania has 6\1/2\ 
minutes remaining. The gentleman from New Jersey has 9 minutes 
remaining.
  Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, at this time, I yield 2 minutes to the 
gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Palmer).
  Mr. PALMER. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 596, a bill 
that would fully repeal the Affordable Care Act offered by Mr. Byrne of 
Alabama.
  Right now, Americans are being forced to buy a government product or 
pay a penalty. The Constitution mandates freedom, not the purchase of 
health insurance or any other product.
  We all remember this promise: ``If you like your health care plan, 
you can keep it.'' In 2013, a reported 4.7 million people in 32 States 
lost their health insurance when their plans were canceled. That is 
just the beginning. The Congressional Budget Office projects that 7 
million more Americans will lose their health-sponsored coverage in 
2016.

  Americans were promised that with ObamaCare their premiums would be 
lower. Instead, premiums have skyrocketed. Some groups have seen their 
premiums increase by 78 percent. At the same time, household incomes 
have gone down.
  Today, 4 years after the passage of ObamaCare, there are still more 
than 41 million people without health coverage. There are millions of 
people out of full-time work and millions more forced into part-time 
jobs.
  ObamaCare must be repealed and replaced. Americans should be allowed 
to buy the health insurance they want and need. We need market 
competition between health insurance providers, and people should be 
able to buy their health insurance across State lines. This would 
result in more choices for plans and at lower costs.
  We need portability so that when a person changes or loses a job, 
they don't lose their health insurance. We need innovative reforms for 
Medicaid and reforms that create incentives for controlling costs, 
promoting healthier lifestyle choices, and reforms that treat people 
with dignity.
  H.R. 596 starts the process of reforming our health care system by 
repealing ObamaCare. This is the first step toward true affordable 
health care that puts people back in charge of their health care 
choices.

                              {time}  1445

  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from 
North Carolina (Mr. Butterfield).
  Mr. BUTTERFIELD. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong opposition to this 
bill.
  This vote today marks the 56th attempt by House Republicans to 
dismantle the ACA. If enacted, more than 19 million people who were 
previously uninsured would lose tax credits and subsidies that make 
insurance affordable.
  Members who voted for this bill are telling the American people that 
access to affordable, quality health care should be reserved for only 
those who have the means to afford it. Let me just tell you a very 
brief story about a man named Carlton Stevens, Jr., from my hometown of 
Wilson, North Carolina.
  Last year was a very challenging year for the Stevens family of five 
as they found themselves uninsured. As Mr. Stevens and his wife found 
themselves between jobs and in a new town, they prioritized finding 
health coverage for their family.
  Mr. Stevens visited the Federal Health Insurance Marketplace to 
search for coverage and was surprised and elated to know that he and 
his family qualified for a credit of approximately $800. He and his 
wife were able to purchase insurance for his entire family for less 
than $200.
  Mr. Speaker, this bill would deprive families like the Stevens family 
of affordable health care in a time of need. I wonder why my Republican 
friends are doing this again.
  Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, the number one health care concern of the 
American people is cost. The President promised American families that 
they would see a $2,500 reduction in premiums. President Obama was 
wrong.
  According to one study from the Manhattan Institute, American 
families are seeing premium increases on an average of 49 percent.
  At this time, I am pleased to yield 1 minute to the gentleman from 
Arkansas (Mr. Hill).
  Mr. HILL. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for yielding.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 596 which repeals the 
President's flawed health care law in its entirety and provides the 
Congress with a clean slate to implement the real, patient-centered 
health care reform that this Nation needs and deserves.
  The majority of Americans are opposed to ObamaCare and its harmful 
intended or unintended side effects which have increased costs, 
decreased health care access, and lost jobs, work hours, and wages for 
many of our hardworking families.
  This is an opportunity to recognize the flaws of mandates and a top-
down approach to health care and allows us to finally consider ideas 
that will result in a health care system that empowers and encourages 
individuals to take control of and responsibility for their health care 
through the use of tools like health savings accounts and incentives 
that reward healthy behaviors.
  We need targeted, transparent, well thought out reforms that 
acknowledge the complexity of our health care system, and with the 
right kind of reforms, we can get the right kind of health care that is 
affordable and accessible.
  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from 
Florida (Ms. Castor).
  Ms. CASTOR of Florida. Mr. Speaker, the Affordable Care Act is a 
great help to American families.
  Most Americans have health insurance through their employer. The ACA 
provides important consumer protections for those families. They cannot 
end your policy if you get sick, your copayments and premiums have to 
go to health services and not to profits for insurance companies, and 
kids aged 26 or younger can stay on your own health insurance plan.
  For Americans on Medicare, the ACA is saving you money. In fact, 
since passage of the ACA, more than 7.9 million people who rely on 
Medicare have saved almost $10 billion on prescription drugs. You have 
new wellness checkups, and the Affordable Care Act extended the life of 
the Medicare trust fund for more than a decade.
  Finally, before the ACA, many Americans were barred from health 
insurance because of a previous diagnosis of cancer, diabetes, or 
something else. The Affordable Care Act has been a lifeline for them 
because it ended discrimination and created new marketplaces for 
Americans to shop for the best plan for their families.
  In Florida alone, my home State, 1.5 million Floridians have already 
signed up for a plan in the marketplace in the upcoming year. That is 
1.5 million Floridians.
  Please, colleagues, don't take this away. Vote ``no'' on this bill.
  Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, at this time, I am pleased to yield 2 minutes 
to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Jody B. Hice).
  Mr. JODY B. HICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for 
yielding time, and I rise in strong support of H.R. 596, the 
legislation that will repeal ObamaCare.
  Mr. Speaker, since its passage in 2010, ObamaCare has put us on the 
path toward a full government takeover of the health care industry. The 
American people were sold on this by false promises that ObamaCare 
would lower the costs and increase access to care.
  The first and most egregious false promise came when the President 
himself said:


[[Page H727]]


       If you like your health care plan, you'll be able to keep 
     your health care plan, period. No one will take it away, no 
     matter what.

  In reality, some 5 million Americans have lost their plans since that 
time and have suffered needlessly.
  Furthermore, Mr. Speaker, we were promised that premiums would go 
down; instead, premiums in the individual marketplace have increased by 
an average of 49 percent across the country. This is one of the main 
reasons that only 7 percent of Americans believe that ObamaCare will 
actually reduce the cost of care.
  ObamaCare has also been a drag on the economy. The nonpartisan 
Congressional Budget Office has estimated that this law will reduce the 
full-time workforce by some 2.5 million people. The American Action 
Forum reported that small business wages have already decreased by 
$22.6 billion a year.
  Mr. Speaker, with its $1 trillion in new taxes and $2 trillion in new 
entitlement spending, we must repeal ObamaCare, and H.R. 596 does 
exactly that.
  Additionally, we must replace this law with patient-centered, free 
market solutions to the problems that exist in our health care system. 
H.R. 596 takes the important step of directing the committees of 
jurisdiction to develop legislation that will do just that.
  I ask all of my colleagues to support H.R. 596.
  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from 
New York (Ms. Clarke).
  Ms. CLARKE of New York. Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to H.R. 
596, a bill that will completely repeal the Affordable Care Act, which 
was signed into law in 2010 and was declared constitutionally sound by 
the U.S. Supreme Court.
  The Affordable Care Act extends health care coverage to all 
Americans, regardless of their gender, health condition, or ability to 
pay.
  Unlike other Republican repeal efforts, H.R. 596 does have a bit of a 
new twist. This legislation instructs the appropriate committees to 
draft a Republican alternative to the Affordable Care Act and directs 
them to include provisions that will provide people with preexisting 
conditions access to affordable health coverage and provisions designed 
to increase the number of insured Americans.
  I am not sure where the Republicans have been over the past 5 years, 
but those two provisions are already in the Affordable Care Act which 
is already the law of the land. In fact, the number of uninsured 
Americans has steadily decreased under the Affordable Care Act to a 
record low of 13.4 percent by the second quarter of 2014, and Gallup's 
quarterly trends projected that the uninsured rate will continue to 
drop over all age groups.
  The Affordable Care Act is good law. It should not be repealed, and 
that is why I vehemently oppose H.R. 596. It is another very cynical 
attempt to take our Nation backward.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair would inform the managers that the 
gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Pitts) has 1 minute remaining. The 
gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pallone) has 6 minutes remaining.
  Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from 
Oregon (Mr. Schrader).
  Mr. SCHRADER. Mr. Speaker, I have to say that I am very surprised to 
have to be here today. I thought after millions of Americans said loud 
and clear this past November that they wanted us to work together and 
find common ground, we could put divisive bills like this behind us.
  When I speak to voters in my district in Oregon, none of them ask me 
to raise taxes on the middle class which, effectively, this bill does. 
None of them have asked me to let health insurance plans discriminate 
against women or those with preexisting conditions, something this bill 
does. I don't know any seniors that want to pay more for prescription 
drugs, something that will happen if this bill becomes law.
  Nobody I speak with wants the most vulnerable children to go without 
health insurance which will happen if this bill goes into effect, 
ending bipartisan support for the Children's Health Insurance Program.
  Nobody I know wants to see the deficit grow, to pass on more debt to 
our future generations, or reduce the solvency of the Medicare trust 
fund--again, something that will happen if this bill becomes law.
  Mr. Speaker, I don't think my constituents are alone in this. 
Americans want us to stop wasting time and come together and put this 
partisan nonsense behind us.
  I urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on this bill and get our 
priorities in line.
  Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, I continue to reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to my colleague from 
Massachusetts (Mr. Kennedy).
  Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in proud support of the 
Affordable Care Act and the millions of Americans that have received 
coverage under this law.
  I rise today in support of the idea that in this country, the most 
powerful in the world, every citizen deserves access to quality 
affordable health care, and I rise today on behalf of the millions of 
children who get health insurance through the Children's Health 
Insurance Program which is also at risk today.
  Mr. Speaker, one in five children today are on food stamps, 16 
million kids under the age of 18. For the first time in 50 years, the 
majority of U.S. public school students live in poverty. CHIP was 
designed in the 1990s to try to address these kids and make sure that 
they had access to health care. Since then, the uninsured rate for 
children has dropped from 14 percent to 7 percent.
  CHIP funding expires later this year and is included in this bill. 
More than 8 million children will lose access to health insurance. That 
is 150,000 children in Massachusetts alone.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to hear those 8 million voices and 
vote ``no'' on this bill.
  Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, I continue to reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Cardenas).
  Mr. CARDENAS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to strongly oppose H.R. 596, 
a bill to deny access to health care to tens of thousands of Americans 
with preexisting conditions.
  Americans should know that these same fear-mongering comments were 
made when Congress created Medicare. Today, we have millions of 
grandmothers and grandfathers who would not be alive today had Congress 
abandoned this critical lifesaving law.
  I am proud to have supported the Affordable Care Act last year in the 
San Fernando Valley which I represent. My office helped experts sign up 
over a thousand families. Family after family sat there, nervous at 
first, but after realizing that now their family could afford to see a 
doctor, I personally witnessed tears of joy.

  Republicans need to stop playing games with people's lives. The 
Affordable Care Act saves lives. ObamaCare never existed. ObamaCare is 
just a form of a lie. Americans need to learn that the Affordable Care 
Act is not what people call ObamaCare.
  Millions of people will be alive today and tomorrow, and we just have 
to look at history in Congress to know that fear-mongering should not 
intimidate elected officials.
  Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, I continue to reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Thompson).
  Mr. THOMPSON of California. I thank the gentleman for yielding.
  Mr. Speaker, it is said that insanity is doing something over and 
over again and expecting a different result. Well, here we go again, 
the 56th bill to repeal or undermine the Affordable Care Act.
  We all understand that the majority needs to give their freshmen 
Members an opportunity to say that they voted to repeal ObamaCare, so 
let's call this what it really is: an exercise in futility.
  It may make for good talking points in your districts, but it is bad 
for our country, and it is a waste of time and a waste of tax dollars. 
You are in charge with the biggest majority in decades, and this is 
what you decide to do with it?
  Folks on my side of the aisle are willing to work with you on things 
like investing in roads, growing our economy, creating jobs, and even 
making improvements in the Affordable Care Act.
  Our constituents sent us here to get something done, not to pass 
bills that

[[Page H728]]

are never going to become law. So let's do something meaningful. Let's 
say ``no'' to this bill and get on to the work of the people.
  Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, might I inquire how many speakers the 
gentleman from New Jersey has remaining. We are prepared to close, Mr. 
Speaker, and I reserve the balance of my time.

                              {time}  1500

  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, may I ask how much time I have?
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from New Jersey has 2 minutes 
remaining.
  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
  Mr. Speaker, I have listened very carefully to what my colleagues 
said on the other side. They keep saying they are going to come up with 
an alternative to the Affordable Care Act, and yet not one speaker 
mentioned an alternative that they have, and that is because it doesn't 
exist.
  As I said before, 4 years ago they came up with a similar repeal 
bill. They said they were going to instruct the committees to come back 
with an alternative, and they never did, and they never will.
  The fact of the matter is, if you listen to my colleagues on the 
Democratic side, they talked about all the positive things that have 
occurred because of the Affordable Care Act. Millions--almost 20 
million people--who didn't have insurance before now have insurance.
  Preexisting conditions, out the window. How many people weren't able 
to get insurance before because they had cancer or they had other 
preexisting conditions that made it impossible for them to get 
insurance, and that is not the case anymore?
  Kids who are on their parents' policies, seniors who benefited from 
the fact that now there is no doughnut hole, and they can basically get 
their prescription drugs. How in the world do my Republican colleagues 
come here on the floor and know that all these positive things have 
resulted because of the Affordable Care Act and just in a moment's 
notice say they are going to simply repeal it and not even have an 
alternative to come up with at any point?
  It is incredible to me that they want to turn the clock back and 
don't understand that people have benefited greatly from the Affordable 
Care Act.
  Well, the bottom line is that we, as Democrats, are not going to turn 
the clock back. We are very proud of the fact the Affordable Care Act 
has accomplished so much to reform the health care system, to deal with 
preventative care, to make changes to the health care system that are 
providing good quality care, good benefits at an affordable price.
  The President has said that this bill is dead on arrival. He will 
veto it. He will take out his veto pen.
  So let's not waste our time. Fifty-six votes to repeal; I hope we 
don't see another one. It is simply a waste of time, and I think that 
my Republican colleagues, hopefully, understand that.
  So, if you have some ideas for the future that you want to make 
improvements, you want to improve quality, you want to improve access, 
we will listen to them. We are more than willing to work with you on a 
bipartisan basis.
  But we are not going back to the system that existed before where the 
insurance companies ran the system. We are not giving it back to the 
insurance companies.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, as I said before, we have several hundred 
bills, a menu of options to repeal, to replace, some comprehensive, 
some targeted.
  And I would remind the Democrats that ObamaCare cut $716 billion out 
of Medicare to fund ObamaCare.
  Mr. Speaker, I am pleased now to yield 1 minute to the gentleman from 
California (Mr. McCarthy), our great majority leader.
  Mr. McCARTHY. I thank the gentleman for yielding.
  Mr. Speaker, today the House will vote on a bill that we have voted 
on many times in this Chamber.
  Mr. Speaker, you want to know why?
  The answer is very simple. The law is a disaster. We still can't 
afford its costs, and the American people still don't want it.
  The House, on both sides, is intimately tied to the will of the 
people. We talk to, we listen to our constituents every day. In our 
districts, we listen to them at meetings, in the grocery store, at the 
gas station, and in our houses of worship. And every 2 years our 
neighbors either send us back to Washington to fight for them or send 
someone else.
  In the most fundamental way, their priorities are our priorities 
because we directly represent them. When it comes to ObamaCare, the 
people could not be clearer.
  Mr. Speaker, you know what they have said?
  They said, We don't want it. We don't want higher premiums. We don't 
want to be forced to buy all sorts of coverage that we don't need and 
can't afford.
  Mr. Speaker, they have also said, We don't want to lose our doctors, 
as millions have. We don't want to give control over our health care 
decisions to Washington bureaucrats. They have simply said, We don't 
want it.
  But for years, the President hasn't listened.
  Now, House Republicans have three priorities. We want to increase 
freedom, promote opportunity, and hold government accountable.
  ObamaCare is against all those goals with its outdated, top-down 
approach. It limits opportunities by destroying the 40-hour workweek 
and saddling Americans with more costs. It empowers a government that 
mismanaged the VA and gives them even more control over American health 
care systems.
  We need a new system. We need a system that puts the patients first, 
one that controls costs through competition and expands coverage by 
choice, not coercion. That is the system the House is developing right 
now.
  So if you ask why we are voting to repeal this law again, we are 
doing it for the people.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask that every Member of this House who has a direct 
relationship with their district to listen. But, at the end, have the 
wisdom to listen but the courage to lead and vote ``yes.''
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time has expired for the Energy and 
Commerce Committee.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Brady).
  Mr. BRADY of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 596, legislation to 
repeal the President's controversial and expensive health care law, a 
law that put 159 Federal agencies, commissions, and bureaucracies in 
between you and your physician.
  Mr. Speaker, today the House of Representatives again acts to repeal 
the costly mistake known as the Affordable Care Act. In the years since 
the law's passage, too many Americans have discovered the reality 
behind the President's promises.
  Americans lost plans that they liked and wanted to keep. They saw 
their premiums soar, and their deductibles, and they discovered their 
family doctor was suddenly out of network and unaffordable.
  They saw their hours reduced at work, and hiring slowed as a result 
of the law's $1 trillion in new taxes. They realized that, under the 
law, more work doesn't necessarily mean more pay.
  They saw their tax dollars risked on insurance organizations that are 
now failing. They tried, frustratingly, to navigate the complicated 
health care site to get help buying what turned out to be more costly 
coverage. And soon, millions of unsuspecting Americans may learn that 
errors beyond their control could leave them on the hook to the IRS.
  Today's action is not simply opposing the Affordable Care Act. It is 
about standing up for our families, patients, small businesses, and 
local health care providers who have been hurt by this law.
  The American people deserve better than this. We need to start over, 
and that begins with the full repeal of the President's health care 
law.
  But we can't just stop there. We also have to continue to advance our 
own patient-centered solutions to the problems in health care, 
solutions that actually lower the cost of health care; to make our 
current system more fair; to

[[Page H729]]

protect the most vulnerable; and put our crucial safety net programs on 
a path to sustainability for the long term.
  I am pleased, Mr. Speaker, that this bill will allow us another 
opportunity to put forward these ideas, and I encourage my colleagues 
to support this bill.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  (Mr. LEVIN asked and was given permission to revise and extend his 
remarks.)
  Mr. Speaker, well, the majority leader says we need a new system. 
This has been for 4 years their new system--a total blank page.
  Their problem is that it is working, that health care is working. It 
is working for these people: 12 million uninsured Americans who got 
coverage; over 10 million enrolled in Medicaid and CHIP; 3 million 
young adults, 3 million who are now covered because of their parents' 
health policy.
  It is working. It is working for the 129 million Americans with 
preexisting health conditions, so many of whom were out in the cold; 
for 105 million Americans who no longer have a lifetime limit or an 
annual limit; and for seniors who got the benefit of filling the 
doughnut hole.
  There is some reference here to increased health care costs. It is a 
lie. Health care costs have been going down. It is a fib. It isn't 
true.
  I think what bothers Republicans most of all is that it is working, 
and their ideology is blind to success, or they don't want to see it.
  We are going to vote ``no.'' What is this, the 56th time? We have 
lost track of how many times we voted ``no.''
  We are voting ``no'' because of the millions of people who were left 
out by our insurance coverage, who now have the decency of health care 
coverage and the protection of health care coverage.
  We are proud of health care reform, so we stand up to say ``yes'' to 
it by voting ``no.''
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. BRADY of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 1 minute to 
the gentlewoman from Tennessee (Mrs. Black), one of the health care 
leaders on the Ways and Means Committee.
  Mrs. BLACK. I thank the gentleman for yielding.
  Mr. Speaker, as a nurse for over 40 years, I saw how decisions in 
Washington affected the real people. I witnessed the effects of 
Congress' action on my patients' faces and in their billing statements.
  I understand better than most the need for health care reform, but 
ObamaCare was never the way to do it. Just ask the 16,000 Tennesseeans 
who lost their health insurance through Cover Tennessee, despite the 
President's promise ``if you like what you have, you can keep it,'' or 
the 11 million small business employees who CMS says will see their 
premiums spike because of the law.
  The results are in. ObamaCare was a mistake that hurts the very 
people it pretends to help. And that is why, today, I will vote to 
repeal this law once and for all.
  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the distinguished 
gentleman from New York (Mr. Rangel) who has worked on health care for 
how many years, Mr. Rangel?
  Mr. RANGEL. A million and one.
  Thank you for this opportunity to try to figure out what is going on 
on the floor today. Normally, Republicans are rational, intelligent 
people, and that is the reason why they keep talking about ObamaCare.
  It is clear to me that we are not voting on ObamaCare. I haven't seen 
ObamaCare in any of the papers we have today, so they must be saying 
that they want to repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care 
Act. That makes it easier to understand what they want to do.
  They want to repeal health care, and they want to replace it with, 
well, they want to--I don't know what they want to do, quite frankly, 
but I know they want to get rid of this.
  I think we have reached the point that we have exhausted the 
legislative process. I have figured it out. This Senate is prepared to 
join with them in this insanity. The only thing missing is the 
President of the United States.

  Now, they must have a plan how they are going to pick up two-thirds 
of this House and two-thirds of the Senate to tell the world: We don't 
want Americans to have health care.
  Now is the time for the spiritual leaders to come in, because I have 
been reviewing the Bible, and Christians, Jews, everybody says that we 
have a moral obligation, far beyond our legislative responsibility, to 
give the sick an opportunity to get well, to allow children the 
opportunity to breathe.
  And I know the concerns for the unborn that we all have. But what 
about the born, the aged, the disabled?
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentleman has expired.
  Mr. LEVIN. I yield the gentleman an additional 30 seconds.
  Mr. RANGEL. So collectively, we all have to--in God we have to trust. 
This means we have given up on the process--55, 56 times. It is time to 
trust in God.
  So I am calling upon all of those solid voices there that were 
waiting to see whether sanity could ever come to the well of this 
House, and I think we have proven today, don't count on us, God. We 
need your help. And only God can get us out of this rut.
  Thank you for the opportunity.

                              {time}  1515

  Mr. BRADY of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 1 minute to 
the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Emmer), one of the new Members of the 
House of Representatives.
  Mr. EMMER. I thank the gentleman from Texas, Representative Brady, 
for his leadership on this issue.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today to address the urgent health needs of this 
Nation. I asked my constituents to share with me how ObamaCare has 
affected them, and I want to share a few of their stories with you 
today.
  Troy, from Norwood Young America, wrote that his family's premium 
went up and coverage went down, drastically affecting the cost of his 
son's hearing aid.
  Brian, from Albertville, said his wife's mental health clinic has 
steadily lost clients due to regulations.
  Today, Congress will vote to get rid of this fundamentally flawed and 
unworkable law, but this cannot be for show. It is not enough for 
Congress to simply be against ObamaCare. We need to offer alternatives. 
By offering market-based, consumer-focused reforms, we can find real 
solutions, and I am committed to working with my colleagues to get it 
done. It is time to stop playing party politics with the public's 
health.
  Mr. LEVIN. I now yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Washington, 
Dr. McDermott.
  (Mr. McDERMOTT asked and was given permission to revise and extend 
his remarks.)
  Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker, I feel like I am telling a story told to 
children. The story to the children is this:
  When President Obama became President, most people didn't live in the 
house of health. There were 30 million people who were out in the 
street who had nothing. So President Obama built them a house and said 
everybody can live in the house of health and have health care.
  Their next-door neighbor didn't like the house, complained about the 
house, said there was everything wrong with the house, and has tried 55 
times to blow the house down, just like the Big Bad Wolf in the ``Three 
Little Pigs.'' This time, they have come with a bulldozer, and they 
want to knock the house down and put everybody out in the street again.
  Now, this would be not so silly if it wasn't for the fact that they 
have no plans to build anything for the people to live in. They have 
talked for 5 years: We have plans. We have a committee. We are going to 
have plans here any day now.
  The fact is they have no plan for the people. They simply say to the 
American people: We want to knock down your house of health. Your 
preexisting condition will now keep you from health care. Your kids are 
off before 26. All of this is going to happen because we don't think 
you should have a house of health in this country.
  They have no plan, and they know it, and they are ashamed of it. But 
they can't stand the fact that Mr. Obama

[[Page H730]]

built a house that covered everybody. It is a glorious creation.
  Is it perfect? No.
  Did they come over with a hammer or paint or something to change it? 
No.
  It was always: Knock that house down.
  Folks, vote ``no.'' Keep the house up.
  Mr. BRADY of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 1 minute to 
the gentlewoman from California (Mrs. Walters), a businesswoman and 
former State legislator who understands the harm of the Affordable Care 
Act.
  Mrs. MIMI WALTERS of California. Mr. Speaker, over 4 years ago, 
ObamaCare was signed into law and sold to the American people on 
numerous false promises. Americans were promised that premiums for a 
typical family would go down. The President told Americans, if you like 
your health care plan, you can keep it, and, if you like your doctor, 
you can keep your doctor. However, that was not true, and now many 
Americans are grappling with a very different reality.
  As a result of ObamaCare, millions of Americans have seen their 
health care plans canceled, families are finding that they may not get 
to keep the doctor that they like, and premiums in the individual 
market are increasing by 41 percent in the average State.
  Mr. Speaker, the American people deserve better. Instead of putting 
the Federal Government in the driver's seat of our Nation's health care 
decisions, we need solutions that will protect the doctor-patient 
relationship, foster economic growth, and empower patients by giving 
them the choice and control.
  Today, I am pleased to stand in support of H.R. 596, legislation that 
would not only repeal ObamaCare, but would instruct the House to come 
forward with a patient-centered, free market alternative.
  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. Speaker, I now yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from 
New Jersey (Mr. Pascrell), another distinguished member of our 
committee.
  Mr. PASCRELL. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in opposition to H.R. 596.
  You would think that if my friends on the other side cobbled together 
all of the time they have spent trying to undermine the ACA, they 
should have been able to come up with an alternative for this law, the 
law they can't find anything good to say about, but I am not holding my 
breath for that.
  While we have been here 55 times before, including my Republican 
colleagues shutting down the government over ACA--let's not forget 
that. You shut the place down in trying to stop ACA. Oh, by the way, 
you don't know how much that cost, the billions of dollars in jobs. But 
we will overlook that today. Today is different because they are now 
repealing the law after the major coverage expansion provisions have 
gone into effect.
  Today's vote to repeal the ACA means taking away health insurance for 
the 19 million Americans who receive coverage under ACA, including 
213,000 people from my home State of New Jersey; second, ending the tax 
credits 85 percent of Americans with coverage through the exchange are 
using to help offset the premiums and requiring them to pay back the 
tax credits they already received; and third, among the many reasons, 
seniors losing the new Medicare benefits the ACA created, such as lower 
drug costs and free preventive services.

  I want to be there when you tell the seniors in your district that 
are covered under this plan that they don't have it anymore. I want you 
to tell them how much it is going to be increased on prescription 
drugs. You stand there. Don't pontificate on this floor. Go to your 
district. Tell the people what you are doing.
  Before the ACA, many people were paying for plans that didn't provide 
them with the coverage they needed. The plans they purchased had high 
out-of-pocket costs and artificially low caps on coverage.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentleman has expired.
  The Chair would remind Members to address their remarks to the Chair.
  Mr. LEVIN. I yield the gentleman 30 seconds.
  Mr. PASCRELL. Through the Chair, my friend from Texas--I call him my 
friend, I think, sincerely--I agree with him that we want results from 
what we are spending on health care. We want to see the results, 
results-oriented, absolutely. That is what health care reform and the 
ACA are all about.
  We are removing ourselves from the fee-for-service, which had made 
patients prisoners of hospitals. The gentleman from Texas agrees with 
me on that, I believe. Make the ACA better. Help us improve it for a 
change. The gentleman knows there are good things in this bill and in 
this law. Help us make it better for the American people.
  Mr. BRADY of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I am proud to yield 1 minute to the 
gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Rouzer), a new Member of Congress 
and a former State legislator who helped lead the fight against the 
damage caused by the Affordable Care Act.
  Mr. ROUZER. Mr. Speaker, one of the best things we can do in Congress 
to create an environment for more good-paying jobs is to repeal 
ObamaCare.
  Under ObamaCare, health insurance premiums have gone up, access to 
quality care has gone down, and doctors all over this great land are 
plotting their exit strategies--not to mention the chilling effect this 
law has had on our economy, resulting in lost jobs all over America.
  It is a simple fact that if you are going to get the best product for 
the lowest possible price, you must have competition and transparency. 
We have very little of either in the health care sector today, and 
ObamaCare, with all its rules and mandates, has made it that much 
worse.
  If we want to do right by the American people, we should allow 
individuals and families to buy insurance across State lines, let small 
businesses and other groups establish associated health plans so they 
can pool their resources and have the leverage to buy health insurance 
at lower rates, and we should let individuals and families set aside 
money in health savings accounts tax free.
  Mr. Speaker, those are just a few of the simple, commonsense steps we 
can take to help drive down costs. The American people know that 
ObamaCare is not the answer, and those seeking a good-paying job 
definitely know it. So let's do what is right. Let's repeal this 
disastrous law and start anew.
  Mr. LEVIN. It is now my pleasure to yield 2 minutes to the gentleman 
from New York (Mr. Crowley), a member of our committee and also the 
vice chair of our Caucus.
  Mr. CROWLEY. I thank the gentleman for yielding.
  Mr. Speaker, I heard my friend, the gentlewoman from Tennessee (Mrs. 
Black), as she was finishing her remarks and leaving, she said--I 
somewhat quote--she hopes this repeal of the ACA will, once and for 
all, be the end of the ACA. ``Once and for all.''
  If they have done it once, they have done it 56 times. This is not 
one time. It is 56 times they have wanted to repeal the Affordable Care 
Act--56 times.
  My colleagues on the other side of the aisle are probably pretty 
proud of themselves. After all, Joe DiMaggio, he had a 56-game hitting 
streak, something people say will never be equated again.
  But unlike ``Joltin' Joe,'' this one isn't a streak of hits. It is a 
streak of losses, a streak of strikeouts for the American people. It is 
a streak of being willing to sacrifice the health and well-being of 
your constituents just to make a cheap political point.
  This majority is apparently ready and eager to actually take away 
health coverage. As my friend from New Jersey (Mr. Pascrell) said, try 
explaining this to your constituents back home. Take away the health 
coverage that people have purchased and have been using for over a 
year.
  They would make people, particularly seniors, pay back the tax 
credits that helped them afford the coverage in the first place. They 
would ask their seniors to go back to pinching pennies to afford 
prescription drugs and even force them to repay the rebate check they 
received for their high prescription drug costs. They would put 
insurance companies back in charge of what kind of health care you can 
get and when you can get it and how much it is going to cost.
  That is not a win to me. That is not something to celebrate. It is 
something you should all be ashamed of.
  Mr. Speaker, you are no Joe DiMaggio. Some streaks put you at the

[[Page H731]]

top. This one puts you at the bottom. And, unfortunately, it puts the 
American people on the bottom as well.
  Mr. BRADY of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 1 minute to 
the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Smith), a new member of the Ways and 
Means Committee, who has quickly become a leader on health care issues.
  Mr. SMITH of Missouri. Mr. Speaker, we have heard the comment 
numerous times, ``If you like your health care, you can keep it,'' what 
the President had said. Mr. Speaker, we know that that was not true. I 
would like to give you an example of just one of thousands that I have 
had from my district.
  This comes from Frank. When he contacted our office, he said:

       My first personal introduction to ObamaCare was a 
     cancelation notice on December 31, 2014.

  He said:

       I wasn't canceled for numerous claims or because of my 
     health. I was canceled because of ObamaCare.

  Let me tell you, he lost his health insurance; and this is the change 
from his current health insurance that he was supposed to keep to now 
what he has to have. His current policy premium was $237.86. His new 
premium is $531.89, an increase of 123.6 percent. His deductible on his 
old policy was $2,500. His new policy deductible is $6,350. His copay 
on his prior policy was a zero copay within the network. His new 
program has a 40 percent pay above his deductible.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentleman has expired.
  Mr. BRADY of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield the gentleman an additional 
30 seconds.
  Mr. SMITH of Missouri. I thank the chairman.
  So let's look at it. If you have a $30,000 medical procedure, under 
his old insurance plan, he had a $2,500 deductible. Under this new 
plan, with his $6,350 deductible plus the 40 percent on top of it, he 
is going to be out $15,810.
  This is what my constituent Frank wrote:

       ObamaCare is clearly the biggest, most costly lie that has 
     ever been forced upon me by the Federal Government. It should 
     be entitled what it is, the ``Most Ridiculously Unaffordable 
     Health Care Act.''

  Mr. Speaker, that is why I am standing here today with my colleagues 
asking for a vote on H.R. 596 to repeal the most ridiculously 
unaffordable health care act.
  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. Speaker, how much time is there remaining, please?
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Michigan has 4 minutes 
remaining, and the gentleman from Texas has 7 minutes remaining.
  Mr. LEVIN. I reserve the balance of my time.

                              {time}  1530

  Mr. BRADY of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 1 minute to 
the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Kelly), a businessowner who has 
provided health care to his workers and is a leader on the Ways and 
Means Committee.
  Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of 
H.R. 596 because I think it is time for everybody that sits in this 
House to listen to the American people. This is America's House. This 
is the House of Representatives. It is not the Republican Party who 
disapproves of the Affordable Care Act. It is the American people.
  Mr. Speaker, it doesn't matter what poll you look at, whether it is 
Quinnipiac, Rasmussen, CBS, FOX News, Associated Press, Gallup, or Pew 
Research. Overwhelmingly, Americans are saying resoundingly: We do not 
like this bill. We disapprove of this bill.
  To continue to say that somehow we are taking something from 
somebody, wait until the tax season hits. I am talking to people back 
home that do tax preparation. They are already looking at--they are at 
just day two of tax preparation; and, my goodness, what we were told 
was a lie.
  Mr. Gruber could not have been more truthful when he said:

       Look, we relied on the stupidity of the American people. We 
     lied to them to get this passed.

  Mr. Speaker, where I am from, you are allowed to make an honest 
mistake, but you are not allowed to outright lie to people. They will 
never forgive you for that.
  It is time to repeal this horrible piece of legislation that got 
passed through lies. It didn't get passed through honesty. I think it 
is very dishonest to sit here today and say that somehow the 
Republicans are trying to do something to hurt the American people when 
the American people speak out and a great majority of them disapprove 
of this law.
  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. BRADY of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 1 minute to 
the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Pittenger), a small business 
person and a dynamic Member of our House of Representatives.
  Mr. PITTENGER. Mr. Chairman, thank you for yielding the time.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 596 to repeal the 
Affordable Care Act. I would ask my colleagues on the other side of the 
aisle: If this ObamaCare is so good, then why am I hearing so much from 
my constituents that they can't keep the insurance plans that they 
liked?
  Many have seen their premiums skyrocket, and too many that need help 
have fallen through the cracks because of a flawed system where 
ObamaCare picks winners and losers at the expense of the American 
taxpayers.
  Mr. Speaker, today's vote on repeal is an important first step. We 
will replace ObamaCare with patient-centered reforms, increasing 
competition and lowering costs by allowing insurance to be sold across 
State lines, ensuring portability, and safeguarding individuals with 
preexisting conditions, all by providing freedom of choice, not more 
fines and taxes.
  Mr. Speaker, ObamaCare is a train wreck. I urge my colleagues to 
support today's repeal and join me in working toward a commonsense 
replacement.
  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. BRADY of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 1 minute to 
the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Yoho), a veterinarian involved deeply 
in health care issues.
  Mr. YOHO. I appreciate you, Mr. Chairman.
  Mr. Speaker, I stand in support of H.R. 596. The ACA was passed not 
in open, transparent government; it was passed with not one 
Republican's support behind it.
  We hear on the other side how we are repealing it again. I think you 
ought to take heed to that notice that the American people sent the 
largest majority of Republicans back to Congress primarily to repeal 
this bill.
  Mr. Speaker, I have seen my own story. My family's policy--my wife's, 
our kids', and mine--got canceled because of ObamaCare, and through the 
House exchange as a Member of Congress, my premium went up $870 extra a 
month. That is almost $11,000 extra it is costing me with decreased 
coverage and increased deductibility, and the price went up. It was a 
fabrication that the prices would go down.
  If this is happening to me, it is happening to everybody around 
America, which leads to the quality of our lifestyle decreasing, and 
health care is not improving because the majority of the people getting 
care through this are on the Medicaid system.
  If you look out at the outcome around the world, our Medicaid health 
system is at the bottom, and that is why we need to repeal this bill 
and replace it with reforms we have.
  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. Speaker, we may have one additional speaker who is not 
here yet, so I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. BRADY of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 1 minute.
  Mr. Speaker, we have heard a lot about 56, 56 times we have voted to 
repeal or defund this bill, but think about the hundreds of times this 
White House and our Democrat colleagues have tried to force tax 
increases on families and small businesses.
  How many hundreds of times have they tried to force global warming 
mandates that only drive up energy costs? How many hundreds of times 
did they force red tape down our local businesses so that they can't 
possibly survive? How many millions of people have been forced into the 
health care plans they don't want and forced into higher monthly 
premiums, higher deductibles, and they can't see their doctor or their 
hospital or their provider?
  Mr. Speaker, these numbers matter. We can do better.

[[Page H732]]

  Mr. Speaker, we are ready to close, so if the ranking member would 
like to proceed, I would reserve the balance of my time.

  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from 
Washington (Mr. McDermott).
  (Mr. McDERMOTT asked and was given permission to revise and extend 
his remarks.)
  Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker, it is hard to conceive of a democratic 
society in which everyone does not have health security. When you look 
across the face of the Earth, every industrialized society on the face 
of the Earth has given health security to their people. They have had 
their own plan. The Germans had their plan, the Japanese had their 
plan, the British had their plan, and the Canadians--everybody has had 
their own plans.
  Now, what we are arguing about here today is the President brought a 
plan to the Congress and tried to work with the other side, but they 
said: No, no, no, no.
  So we passed a bill. Now, there isn't anybody in this business who 
has done any work in any legislative body who believes that you can 
write a perfect piece of legislation. You always have to make changes 
in it. You find things in it that need to be changed, and we have had 
no help whatsoever of bringing out the kind of changes that would make 
sense to make this bill work for all Americans.
  Mr. Speaker, when you get sick, you are not a Democrat. When you get 
sick, you are not a Republican. You are not in the Tea Party, and you 
are not on the left. You are just sick, and you want some help. That is 
why this bill is way beyond partisan politics.
  Mr. Speaker, I had a conversation with Bill Frist. About a year and a 
half ago, he wrote an editorial in which he said: Don't repeal, fix.
  I called him up and said: You and I ought to work together and see if 
we can't work with the Republican caucus. Maybe you can get into them. 
They won't talk to me about working together.
  He said: Well, I will do what I can.
  But we never got there. Everybody knows that you do not want to have 
a situation tomorrow where you have a preexisting condition and you 
have no health insurance. That is the kind of thing you are creating by 
repeal. It is just a bad bill. Just put it aside, and let's work on it.
  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. Brady, are you ready to close?
  Mr. BRADY of Texas. Mr. Speaker, how much time do we have remaining?
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman has 3\1/2\ minutes remaining.
  Mr. BRADY of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 1 minute to 
the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Brat) to speak about health care and 
the Affordable Care Act.
  Mr. BRAT. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of repeal. ObamaCare came with many 
promises, but the American people are finally getting the bill in the 
mail, and they don't like what they see.
  We were promised lower costs, but we have seen most premiums and 
deductibles only skyrocket. Almost nine out of 10 people who buy 
insurance on the ObamaCare exchange need a government subsidy just to 
afford it.
  Mr. Speaker, as I have traveled my district, I have talked with 
countless small business owners who think of their employees like 
family, and they already provide health care coverage for their fine 
workers; but now that ObamaCare is forcing them to buy more expensive 
insurance, many are having to lay off their own employees or convert 
them to part time to avoid these skyrocketing costs.
  At a time when we should be growing the economy, ObamaCare is forcing 
businesses to lay off people, cut their hours, and cut off their health 
care coverage. Health care in America certainly had problems before 
this law, but ObamaCare has been a cure worse than the disease.
  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. Brady, are you ready to close?
  Mr. BRADY of Texas. In a moment, sir, yes, sir. So if you would like 
to close, we will follow.
  Mr. LEVIN. And then you will close?
  Mr. BRADY of Texas. Yes, sir.
  Mr. LEVIN. I yield myself the balance of my time.
  Mr. Speaker, I insert in the Record a Statement of Administration 
Policy.

         Executive Office of the President, Office of Management 
           and Budget,
                                 Washington, DC, February 2, 2015.

                   Statement of Administration Policy


              H.R. 596--Repealing the Affordable Care Act

                 (Rep. Byrne, R-AL, and 48 cosponsors)

       The Administration strongly opposes House passage of H.R. 
     596. The House has now attempted to repeal or undermine the 
     Affordable Care Act more than 50 times. H.R. 596 would take 
     away critical benefits and health care coverage from hard-
     working middle class families. In addition to taking away 
     Americans health care security, the bill would increase the 
     deficit, remove policies that have helped slow health care 
     cost growth and improve the quality of care patients receive, 
     and detract from the work the Congress could be doing to 
     further job creation and economic growth.
       The Affordable Care Act is not only working, it is hilly 
     integrated into an improved American health care system. 
     Discrimination based on pre-existing conditions is a thing of 
     the past. And under the Affordable Care Act, we've seen the 
     slowest growth in health care prices in nearly 50 years, 
     benefiting all Americans.
       Repealing the Affordable Care Act would mean that Health 
     Insurance Marketplaces where millions of Americans now 
     compare private insurance plans and get tax credits to 
     purchase them would shut down. Tax credits for small business 
     owners who cover their employees would be taken away. States 
     would lose substantial Federal assistance under Medicaid to 
     provide coverage for the neediest Americans. According to the 
     most recent projections by the Congressional Budget Office 
     (CBO), 27 million Americans are expected to gain coverage due 
     to the law. Repeal will likely result in most of these 
     individuals remaining uninsured or losing their insurance 
     altogether. An estimated 10 million Americans gained coverage 
     during 2014, and repealing the law would erase most of these 
     coverage gains and strip these Americans of the security and 
     peace of mind they now have.
       Further, repealing the health care law would have 
     implications far beyond Americans who have or will gain 
     insurance.
       More than 250 million Americans with insurance private 
     insurance, Medicare, and Medicaid would lose the benefits and 
     protections they receive under the health care law. Insurance 
     companies would no longer have to cover as dependents 
     millions of young adults who have been able to stay on or 
     sign up on their parents' plans. Lifetime limits and 
     restrictive annual limits on coverage could be reimposed. 
     Women could be charged more than men and up to 129 million 
     Americans with pre-existing conditions would be at risk of 
     not being able to access or afford health coverage. Policies 
     that promote efficiency and accountability in health care and 
     health insurance would be erased.
       Reforms that strengthen Medicare's long-term finances also 
     would be repealed. Seniors also would lose the more generous 
     prescription drug coverage provided under the health care 
     law, as well as free preventive care, and Medicare's Hospital 
     Insurance Trust Fund would become insolvent years earlier. 
     Moreover, by repealing these reforms to Medicare and other 
     reforms that encourage doctors and hospitals to provide 
     efficient, high-quality care, the legislation would drive up 
     costs and worsen patient care throughout our health care 
     system.
       CBO has previously estimated that repealing the health care 
     law would add more than $100 billion to the deficit over the 
     ten years ending in 2022, and more than $1 trillion in the 
     following decade. This not only hurts the Government: it 
     hurts State and local economies, job creation, and the 
     Nation's long-term prosperity.
       The last thing the Congress should do is refight old 
     political battles and take a massive step backward by 
     repealing basic protections that provide security for the 
     middle class. Right now, the Congress needs to work together 
     to focus on the economy, helping middle-class families, and 
     creating jobs.
       If the President were presented with H.R. 596, he would 
     veto it.

  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. Speaker, this came from the President. The President 
said, when he ran for office, ``Yes, we can.'' He came here and 
eventually secured a majority to pass a bill to rectify 75 years of 
inaction, 75 years for Americans without health care by the millions, 
and so we did it.
  Mr. Speaker, the Republicans have said, ``We will,'' but they never 
have. We have never seen a bill that addressed this issue 
comprehensively. Now, they are on the run because millions and millions 
of people have now benefited for a variety of reasons who never had a 
single hour of health care for themselves or their children. Now, the 
Republicans say, ``We will come up with something.'' It is too late.
  Health care reform is here to stay. We can improve it, but 
Republicans will never destroy it. The American people know it is 
complex, but they know their health needs. We responded. We responded.
  That should be and is respected, not the disrespect of coming here 56 
times

[[Page H733]]

to say ``no'' when they have never come up with anything.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. BRADY of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Frightened--in the days before this health care law was brought to 
the floor, Democrats were meeting in the White House in secret, cutting 
special deals, trying to find a way to pass this bill because they were 
frightened that if they did it in the public, out where the people 
could see what they were creating, that they would fail.
  The night they brought it to the House floor, they were frightened 
that the American public would know what was in it. They brought it to 
the floor, and literally no one on this floor knew what was in this 
bill. They were frightened about what the American public would 
believe.
  Since it has passed, frankly, too many Americans are frightened by 
what they have been exposed to, which is forced into health care plans. 
They had good ones in their business, and now, they are forced into 
ones that cost more, the deductibles have soared, and they can't see 
their local doctor or go to their local hospital or even pay for 
medicines for their children because of this health care plan.
  Democrats at the time didn't allow a vote on any other alternative--
no ideas, no options--because they were frightened the American public 
could see there is a better way.
  The question today, Mr. Speaker, is: Can we do better? Can we do 
better than this law? Yes. It has helped some but has hurt so many 
more.
  Today is about taking the first step to allowing a better option for 
American families, providers, and patients by first repealing this 
controversial and troubling law and then bringing to the floor--
directing our committees to bring a better idea to the floor so that 
the American public has a chance for real, affordable health care that 
is directed toward them--not Washington--that goes with them from job 
to job and State to State, home to raise a family or to start that 
small business, one that is tailored to them, not Washington.
  Mr. Speaker, this law is about not top down, but bottom up; and it is 
long overdue. I support and strongly urge repeal of the health care law 
and passage of this bill.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. All time for debate by the Ways and Means 
Committee has expired.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Byrne).

                              {time}  1545

  Mr. BYRNE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume, 
and I rise today in strong support of H.R. 596.
  By now, we have heard all the stories. From canceled plans to higher 
deductibles to longer wait times at your doctor, ObamaCare is full of 
broken promises. Everywhere I go in southwest Alabama, I hear a 
different story about how this law is having a negative impact on 
families, small businesses, doctors, and hospitals.
  The problems aren't just in Alabama. Nationwide studies show that 
under ObamaCare, individual premiums have gone up by an average of 49 
percent and deductibles have skyrocketed for the average American 
family to the point where many people can't afford to pay their 
deductibles. How is that affordable?
  Even worse, only 7 percent of Americans believe that this health care 
law will reduce their health care costs. Seven percent--that is 
astonishing.
  I don't believe ObamaCare can be fixed through piecemeal reforms. I 
think the only way to truly get rid of this harmful law is to repeal 
ObamaCare in its entirety. For the first time, Republicans now have 
control of the Senate, and Senate Democrats can no longer stand in the 
way of having this legislation brought up for a vote.
  This also marks the first full repeal vote since the law has been in 
implementation. Right now, American families are sitting around their 
kitchen table to do their taxes and realizing yet another area where 
this law has caused a confusing maze of requirements that must be 
properly navigated in order to avoid government penalties. And we have 
been told that millions of Americans will have to pay penalties.
  We were told we would like the law once we found out what was in it. 
The opposite has proven to be true. We were told that we could keep our 
health care plans and keep our family physicians. That is also not 
true. The more we learn about this law, the less it makes sense.
  Today's vote is not just about getting rid of ObamaCare, it is about 
charting an appropriate path forward.
  My legislation instructs the appropriate House committees to move 
forward with alternative solutions to improve our health care system 
based on patient-centered reforms that aren't run by the Federal 
Government. I look forward to being a part of that process.
  Mr. Speaker, I am proud to champion this legislation on behalf of 
families in southwest Alabama and all across America who have been 
negatively impacted by this law, and I urge my colleagues to vote 
``yes'' on H.R. 596.
  I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume, and I rise in opposition to H.R. 596.
  As the new ranking member on the Committee on Education and the 
Workforce, I know that protecting access to affordable health care for 
America's workers and families is a high priority. Despite scare 
tactics and misinformation, the bottom line is that the Affordable Care 
Act is working. Perhaps those who want to repeal the Affordable Care 
Act have a short memory. It is important to remember why the Affordable 
Care Act was passed in the first place.
  Before the ACA, employer-provided coverage was shrinking. More and 
more employers were dropping coverage altogether. There were months in 
2008 and 2009 when 14,000 people a day were losing their health 
insurance because employers were not providing it and because it was 
above their ability to pay. From 1999 to 2010, the cost of premiums for 
employer-provided health insurance increased by 138 percent while 
workers' earnings only went up around 40 percent. And those who were 
employed were often locked into their employment for fear of losing 
their health care insurance because even though they wanted to retire, 
they couldn't get insurance somewhere else, and so they were stuck in 
that job.
  Every American family with insurance had to pay a hidden tax of 
approximately $1,000 per family for the cost of paying for those 
without insurance who would go to the hospital and not pay, and so when 
they went to the hospital, they would have to pay a little extra. That 
little extra was about $1,000 per year for every family with insurance. 
This was the reality that American workers and their families faced 
before the passage of the Affordable Care Act. We should not go 
backwards.
  Today, thanks to the ACA, workers are enjoying the peace of mind that 
they have options. If employer-provided coverage is not available, they 
can enter the marketplace. If it is available, they have the security 
of new consumer protections such as the requirement that at least 80 
percent of the premiums be spent on actual health care, not corporate 
jets and CEO bonuses. And we ended insurance practices such as caps on 
payments that would only pay so much overall and then you are on your 
own, or so much for your lifetime and then you are on your own. And 
cancelations where they could just arbitrarily cancel your insurance 
after you have paid premiums year after year. You get sick, and they 
check and just want to cancel your premium. Those abuses can no longer 
take place.
  Employers will also suffer under a repeal. In 2014, premiums for 
employer-provided health care grew at the lowest rate in 15 years. If 
the ACA is repealed, many employers could again be charged health-
related premiums, so if they have a few sick employees, they will see 
their premiums skyrocket. The vast majority of large employers who 
provide health insurance to their employees may suffer an increase in 
premiums due to the return of the hidden tax, the cost shifting of 
uncompensated care.
  And when employees leave a job, they are on their own to get 
insurance, if they can, because there was a prohibition that they could 
deny people with

[[Page H734]]

preexisting conditions. So if you have a preexisting condition and 
leave your job, who knows what is going to happen.
  In addition, small employers would suffer since all small group 
market reforms, including rating reforms, would disappear. Small 
employers used to pay 18 percent more in premiums than large 
businesses, on average. ACA leveled the playing field so now they are 
paying rates like everybody else. If you repeal the Affordable Care 
Act, they are up another 18 percent, where it was before.

  Now we have heard all of the statistics: over 3 million uninsured 
young adults have access to health insurance through their parents' 
policies; 8 million senior citizens in the so-called Medicare doughnut 
hole have been getting relief and have saved billions. Twelve million 
more Americans have health insurance because of the Affordable Care 
Act.
  These numbers represent real people, and these real people would lose 
access to their benefits if the Affordable Care Act is repealed. Those 
trying to repeal the law should be honest to seniors about what would 
happen to their free preventive care in the absence of the Affordable 
Care Act. They should explain to young adults that repealing the law 
would kick them off their parents' policies. They would have to explain 
to millions of Americans who only have insurance because of the 
Affordable Care Act--many for the first time in their lives--why they 
will now have to go without coverage.
  And while the Republican majority continues to talk about repeal, we 
should be talking about the progress we have already made and how we 
can continue to move in the right direction. So when the Republicans 
talk about replacement of legislation, it is important to note that 
there is no meaningful replacement proposal on the table. Delaying the 
effective date of this repeal for 180 days does not make a meaningful 
replacement any more plausible or likely.
  This is the 56th attempt to repeal or undermine the Affordable Care 
Act. This is a distraction, and I hope the Republican majority will 
refocus efforts on real policy solutions for the American people, 
American families, and workers.
  I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. BYRNE. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 1 minute to the 
gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Scalise), the majority whip of this 
House, who has not just traveled around his district talking to people 
harmed by this law but has traveled around the United States of 
America.
  Mr. SCALISE. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from Alabama 
for yielding and for his leadership in bringing this bill to the floor 
to repeal the President's health care law.
  It was back in 2010 when then-Speaker Pelosi infamously said:

       We have to pass the bill so you can find out what's in it.

  Well, Mr. Speaker, we know what is in the bill. American people 
across the country have seen the devastating impacts of the President's 
health care law. Millions of people have lost the good health care that 
they had that they liked. We all heard the promise: If you like what 
you have, you can keep it. The promise was broken to millions of 
people.
  And not only did they lose good health care, but many, many millions 
of people have seen dramatic increases. They are paying double-digit 
increases for the health care that they do have. And what is worse, Mr. 
Speaker, is we have seen that vital doctor-patient relationship 
violated now by unelected bureaucrats in Washington who have come in 
between the doctor and the patients to make decisions on people's 
health care. That is not the way to do reform. That was the old way, 
the Washington-knows-best way.
  There is a better way, and this bill starts that process by first 
repealing the law in its entirety and then getting the committees of 
jurisdiction involved, putting an alternative in place with a shot 
clock of 180 days where we can come up with a real bipartisan 
alternative. Let's repeal this law, and let's restore the doctor-
patient relationship.
  Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the 
gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Polis).
  Mr. POLIS. Mr. Speaker, it is week five of the 114th Congress, and I 
really feel like that movie ``Groundhog Day,'' where the same day just 
keeps repeating itself over and over and over again. This is the 56th 
time that we have been through this particular exercise, repealing the 
Affordable Care Act here in the House. We get it. Republicans want to 
repeal the Affordable Care Act. Go ahead and try to get President 
Obama's signature on that piece of legislation. It ain't going to 
happen. But here we go again and again and again.
  We are considering recycled political gimmicks that everyone here 
knows deprive the American people of affordable health care and won't 
create a single job and would increase our deficit by over $200 
billion.
  By the way, there is an accounting trick in the Ryan budget. What the 
Republican budget does is it keeps all of the ObamaCare taxes and gets 
rid of all of the benefits. That is the worst of both worlds. The 
Republicans want you to pay for ObamaCare and not get it. Does that 
make any sense, Mr. Speaker? We are starting to see the dangers of this 
strange ``Groundhog Day'' brand of so-called policymaking.
  This is what happens when we abandon regular order. We don't have 
markups in committee, we don't have hearings--to jam through partisan 
legislation under a closed process without an opportunity to even 
suggest what might replace the Affordable Care Act or what kind of 
health care policy we want to help make health care more affordable in 
our country.
  This bill would leave 27 million Americans out in the cold without 
health care. What about even more Americans who wouldn't have coverage 
for preexisting conditions or who wouldn't have access to affordable 
prescription drugs?
  This bill would mean real harm and real hardship for people in my 
district--couples like Mike and Lynn in Loveland, whose health care 
cost more than their mortgage before the Affordable Care Act. It cost 
$850 a month. But thanks to the Affordable Care Act, they were able to 
find a plan that costs $200 a month. Or people like Robin in Eagle 
County in my district, who could barely afford $600 a month in health 
care costs but now, thanks to the Affordable Care Act and the tax 
credits, pays just $132 a month.
  Another constituent of mine didn't go to the doctor for years because 
he was uninsured. But because of the Affordable Care Act, he was 
eligible for the Medicaid expansion. For the first time he received a 
colonoscopy and doctors discovered and removed a precancerous polyp. 
Without ACA, that might have become a cancer, costing him his life, not 
to mention the tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars of taxpayer 
money for that procedure that were saved thanks to the Affordable Care 
Act.

  We can do better. We can escape this endless loop, this ``Groundhog 
Day,'' and start talking about real job-creating legislation, 
improvements to health care that Democrats and Republicans can agree on 
because they make sense for our country. There are real lives at stake. 
I urge my colleagues to vote ``no.''
  Mr. BYRNE. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 1 minute to the 
gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Carter), a new member of the Education and 
the Workforce Committee and a new Member of this body.
  Mr. CARTER of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I stand before you in support of 
H.R. 596 for three reasons. First, of all, I am a member of the middle 
class. Secondly, I am an employer. I was an employer of a small 
business and had employees. Thirdly, and perhaps most importantly, I am 
a health care professional, the only pharmacist in Congress. And I can 
tell you that the Affordable Care Act, ObamaCare, is destroying health 
care that I have worked in for over 30 years, and I refuse to step 
aside and let that happen.
  Mr. Speaker, the ACA has increased costs, increased deductibles, and 
decreased coverage for the middle class. That is not what it was 
supposed to do.
  For employers, it has increased costs and decreased the coverage for 
their patients and, most importantly, for health care, Mr. Speaker.
  What ObamaCare has done is to drive the free market out of health 
care. You don't see any more independent pharmacies. You don't see any 
more independent doctors. They are all members

[[Page H735]]

of health care systems or hospitals employed by them. There are only 
three or four major pharmacies now, and we are heading more toward 
that.

                              {time}  1600

  You don't see patients having a say in their drug coverage anymore. 
Drug therapy is decided not by a pharmacist, not by a doctor, not by 
the patient, but by insurance companies and government. ObamaCare has 
to end.
  Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I enter into the Record the 
following letters in opposition: one from the National Committee to 
Preserve Social Security & Medicare, another from Easter Seals, another 
from the AFL-CIO, and another from the SEIU.

                                                 February 2, 2015.
     House of Representatives,
     Washington, DC.
       Dear Representative: On behalf of the millions of members 
     and supporters of the National Committee to Preserve Social 
     Security and Medicare, I urge you to oppose H.R. 596, a bill 
     to repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
       Repealing the Affordable Care Act (ACA) would be 
     detrimental to Americans of all ages: It would undercut the 
     ability of marketplace insurance plans to offer affordable 
     health coverage to individuals, including those with pre-
     existing conditions. Repeal would mean that young adults 
     could no longer count on remaining on their parents' 
     insurance plans until age 26. In addition, the number of 
     uninsured ``young seniors,'' aged 50-64, would increase, 
     leaving them in poorer health by the time they are eligible 
     for Medicare--thereby increasing Medicare's costs.
       Repealing the ACA would also eliminate many of that law's 
     provisions that benefit Medicare beneficiaries today, 
     including help with prescription drug costs and preventive 
     screenings and wellness visits with no out-of pocket costs. 
     In addition, the payment and delivery system reforms that are 
     being implemented due to the ACA are slowing the rate of 
     increase in health spending while improving the care that is 
     being provided, especially care to people with multiple 
     chronic conditions. Slowing the rate of increase in health 
     spending has also lowered costs for beneficiaries--the Part B 
     premium has stayed level for three years in a row--and is 
     extending the solvency of the Part A trust fund.
       We oppose H. R. 596 because it interferes with the ability 
     of marketplace insurance plans to offer affordable health 
     coverage, and hurts millions of seniors who benefit from the 
     Medicare improvements contained in the ACA. The National 
     Committee strongly urges you to vote against this anti-senior 
     legislation.
           Sincerely,
                                                     Max Richtman,
     President and CEO.
                                  ____

                                                 February 3, 2015.
       Dear Representative: Easter Seals is writing to request 
     that you vote no on HR 596, legislation to repeal the Patient 
     Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA). This law provides 
     critical access to appropriate and high quality health care 
     services that is essential for people with disabilities to 
     live, learn and work and play in their communities. Easter 
     Seals is the leading non-profit provider of services for 
     individuals with autism, developmental disabilities, physical 
     and mental disabilities, and other special needs.
       One of the most important provisions in the ACA is the 
     policy under which insurance companies can no longer refuse 
     to cover children with disabilities and other pre-existing 
     conditions. This provision came into affect on September 23, 
     2010. For children served by Easter Seals and their families, 
     this provision can transform a family. Prior to the law, 
     families would lose coverage of their child with cerebral 
     palsy, epilepsy or another condition. The only way that the 
     family could get the services their child needed was to pay 
     out of pocket. For many families, they had no choice but to 
     take out a second mortgage, declare bankruptcy, or have their 
     child go without the services he or she needs to be healthy 
     and strong.
       The goal of the health care reform law is to assure that 
     all people have access to quality, affordable health care and 
     long term services and supports that meet their individual 
     needs. It is through these types of changes to the health 
     care system that we can hope to enable all Americans, 
     including people with disabilities and chronic conditions, to 
     be healthy, functional, live as independently as possible and 
     participate in their communities.
       Please vote NO on HR 596. Thank you for considering our 
     views.
           Sincerely,
                                               Katherine Beh Neas,
     Executive Vice President for Public Affairs.
                                  ____

                                                 February 2, 2015.
       Dear Representative: On behalf of the AFL-CIO, I urge you 
     to vote against H.R. 596, legislation that will repeal the 
     Affordable Care Act (ACA). In pursuing yet another vote 
     against the health reform law, the House Republican 
     leadership persists in its campaign to undermine the coverage 
     expansions of the ACA, erecting barriers that will keep 
     millions of uninsured Americans from accessing coverage under 
     the law.
       Based on the latest Congressional Budget Office (CBO) 
     estimate of the ACA coverage expansions, 19 million U.S. 
     residents would lose coverage in 2015 if the ACA is 
     repealed--people who would lack coverage today if not for the 
     ACA. CBO also estimates that 36 million individuals remain 
     uninsured today, even with the expansion of coverage through 
     the marketplaces and Medicaid.
       In large part, millions remain uninsured because a number 
     of governors and state legislatures have refused to pursue an 
     expansion of their Medicaid programs or have prohibited 
     government agencies from providing ACA enrollment assistance 
     to the residents of their states. Twenty-two states have 
     refused to extend Medicaid coverage to lower-income 
     residents, turning away coverage that is almost completely 
     subsidized by the federal government. Other states refuse to 
     provide education and assistance to people who need help 
     negotiating the complex decisions involved in applying for 
     coverage. The Kaiser Family Foundation found that the lack of 
     information about enrollment choices is making it difficult 
     for many individuals to access coverage that is available to 
     them.
       This partisan resistance to the ACA coverage expansions at 
     the state level is bolstered by these votes to repeal the ACA 
     in Washington. It is time to break the partisan deadlock on 
     health care reform and to focus on needed changes that will 
     strengthen, not weaken, family health security--reforms that 
     both improve and build upon the ACA.
       We can begin improving the ACA to expand access to 
     affordable coverage by eliminating the 40 percent excise tax 
     on health benefits, by basing eligibility for premium 
     subsidies on the costs of family coverage, and by ensuring 
     that new fees intended for commercial insurance issuers will 
     not apply to nonprofit coverage. We hope that bipartisan 
     attention will be focused soon on productive ways of 
     addressing needed modifications to the ACA.
           Sincerely,
                                                   William Samuel,
     Director, Government Affairs Department.
                                  ____

                                                 February 3, 2015.
       Dear Representative: On behalf of the 2 million members of 
     the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), I urge you 
     to oppose H. R. 596, a bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act 
     (ACA). H.R. 596 puts millions of working families' financial 
     security and health at risk by eliminating essential consumer 
     protections, access to affordable coverage, and higher 
     quality care made possible by the ACA.
       Already, about 100 million Americans are benefiting from 
     the ACA. Prior to the ACA, millions of Americans did not have 
     access to health insurance, or were only able to obtain 
     insurance that was costly but did not provide the coverage 
     they needed. However, the ACA changed that reality. Due to 
     the ACA, no longer are insurance companies allowed to 
     discriminate against women or those with pre-existing 
     conditions by charging them more for coverage or refusing to 
     provide them with coverage at all. As a result of the ACA's 
     closure of the Medicare drug coverage gap, older Americans 
     now have relief from excessive drug costs that forced many to 
     go without medically necessary medications. Furthermore, the 
     ACA promotes preventive care, which helps us all, regardless 
     of race, gender, ethnicity, or income, avoid the development 
     of more serious chronic conditions that prevent us from 
     living long and healthy lives. These are just of the few ways 
     that the ACA has bettered the day to day lives of Americans.
       Perhaps most significantly, people are getting covered. In 
     fact, 9.5 million consumers have signed up to receive 
     coverage through ACA marketplaces, millions more signed up 
     for Medicaid, and the number of uninsured in America has 
     dropped by 10 million people. No longer do working families 
     have to worry about being one accident or illness away from 
     bankruptcy. We cannot take actions that force people to go 
     without coverage they desperately need.
       There is also an untold story of the ACA. The law aims to 
     create a more efficient system by promoting quality over 
     quantity of care and reducing waste, fraud, and abuse in our 
     system. The Congressional Budget Office and the Social 
     Security and Medicare Boards of Trustees have found that 
     healthcare spending is slowing at record rates. The ACA 
     includes programs, like those that provide incentives to 
     hospitals to reduce readmissions and encourage care 
     coordination across settings, which aspire to further build 
     on this trend and, most importantly, improve patients' health 
     and experience. A vote for this bill is a vote to reverse all 
     of this progress.
       As with every major law, there are ways to improve upon the 
     solid base the ACA provides, however, full repeal is a step 
     backwards for millions of working families. SEIU strongly 
     urges you to oppose H. R. 596. Votes on this legislation may 
     be added to our congressional scorecard, located at 
     www.seiu.org. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to 
     contact Ilene Stein, Assistant Legislative Director, at 202-
     730-7216 or [email protected].
           Sincerely,
                                                   Mary Kay Henry,
                                          International President.

  Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. BYRNE. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 1 minute to the 
gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Bishop),

[[Page H736]]

another new Member of this body and another new member of the Education 
and the Workforce Committee, who brings a unique experience to this 
body.
  Mr. BISHOP of Michigan. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for 
yielding.
  Mr. Speaker, for the past 20 years as a practicing lawyer and 
businessowner, I have seen firsthand how companies have tried to grow 
and create more jobs, but they simply can't, due to the strangling grip 
of ObamaCare's employer mandate.
  Small businesses tell the story of how their current plan was 
canceled and how they were forced by ObamaCare into a health plan that 
covers less with higher copays and higher deductibles, along with 
astronomical, unsustainable increases in premiums.
  Simply stated, ObamaCare is crushing small businesses across this 
great country. Despite the urgency of this crisis, the President has 
decided to dig himself in and promised to veto any commonsense reform, 
such as removing this employer mandate.
  If the White House has decided not to collaborate with Congress to 
ease the burdens on families and businesses, then the only path we have 
is full repeal.
  Along with that, Mr. Speaker, we need to move forward and develop 
commonsense health care reform that not only respects families and the 
doctor-patient relationship, but also considers any and all 
opportunities to lower skyrocketing health care costs.
  I urge my colleagues to join me in voting ``yes'' on H.R. 596.
  Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I enter into the Record letters 
in opposition from the following organizations: the American Academy of 
Family Physicians, the American Diabetes Association, and the American 
Public Health Association.
                                                 February 3, 2015.
     House of Representatives,
     Washington, DC.
       Dear Representative: The House of Representatives is 
     scheduled to vote on HR 596, which would repeal the Patient 
     Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA). The AAFP urges 
     Congress not to repeal this nearly 5-year-old health care 
     reform law, but rather focus on how the measure can be 
     revised to improve patient care and restrain health system 
     costs.
       The ACA addresses several important persistent problems 
     with the nation's delivery of health care. First of all, it 
     has demonstrably improved access to health care. As the most 
     recent Gallup poll of the uninsured shows, the uninsured rate 
     in the fourth quarter of 2014 fell to 12.9 percent, which is 
     the lowest since Gallup began measuring it. By comparison, 
     17.1 percent were uninsured at the end of 2013. This 
     substantial decline in the uninsured rate in one year has 
     been broadly felt since it was evident in all the demographic 
     categories.
       Second, the ACA establishes critical insurance reforms to 
     prevent abuses such as reducing or eliminating coverage due 
     to preexisting conditions, or setting prohibitively high 
     prices on the individual market based on health status. 
     Third, it encourages innovation in health care delivery 
     through extensive research performed by the CMS Innovation 
     Center. As recently as last week, for example, CMS announced 
     early results of the Comprehensive Primary Care Initiative 
     which demonstrate significant cost reductions in the first 
     year due to investments in primary care. Fourth, the ACA 
     requires both Medicare and private health plans to cover 
     preventive health services (without cost-sharing), which is a 
     proven long-term strategy to improve health while reducing 
     costs.
       There are elements of the ACA that cause the AAFP concern, 
     including the poorly constructed Independent Payment Advisory 
     Board (IPAB). Congress should carefully review these elements 
     with an eye to improving them for patients, for physicians 
     and other providers, and for taxpayers, generally. The AAFP 
     will continue to offer you our support for such efforts. 
     However, in the meantime, it is important to avoid the 
     disruptions and turmoil that repeal of the ACA would cause.
           Sincerely,
                                   Reid B. Blackwelder, MD, FAAFP,
     Board Chair.
                                  ____

                                                 February 2, 2015.
     Hon. John Boehner,
     Speaker of the House,
     House of Representatives, Washington, DC.
       Dear Speaker Boehner: On behalf of the nearly 30 million 
     Americans with diabetes and the 86 million with prediabetes, 
     the American Diabetes Association is writing to express our 
     opposition to HR 596, legislation that would repeal the 
     Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA).
       For the millions of people with diabetes and those at risk 
     of developing it, the ACA provides access to quality health 
     care that is vital to the prevention and management of 
     diabetes, and in maintaining overall health. The law protects 
     people with diabetes who, prior to the ACA, were 
     discriminated against because of their disease when they 
     sought health insurance. It also expands access to quality 
     health care and prevention programs needed to curb the 
     current diabetes epidemic and prevent its devastating 
     complications, including blindness, amputation, heart disease 
     and kidney failure.
       People with diabetes are benefiting from many provisions in 
     the law, including the elimination of annual and lifetime 
     limits on health insurance coverage, access to free 
     preventive care, lower prescription drug costs for seniors, 
     allowing young adults to stay on their parent's insurance 
     plans, and the development of a successful program aimed at 
     preventing type 2 diabetes.
       The Association is committed to working with Members of 
     Congress and government officials on the law's implementation 
     to ensure people with diabetes, and all Americans, have 
     access to the health insurance they need and cannot be 
     discriminated against because of pre-existing conditions. We 
     urge Members of the House to oppose repeal of the Affordable 
     Care Act. Should you have any questions or need further 
     information, please feel free to contact Amy Wotring, 
     Associate Director, Federal Government Affairs at 
     [email protected] or 703-299-2087.
           Sincerely,

                                                Shereen Arent,

                                         Executive Vice President,
     Government Affairs & Advocacy.
                                  ____

                                                 February 2, 2015.
     House of Representatives,
     Washington, DC.
       Dear Representative: On behalf of the American Public 
     Health Association, which champions the health of all people 
     and all communities by strengthening the profession of public 
     health, sharing the latest research and information, 
     promoting best practices and advocating for public health 
     issues and policies grounded in science, I write in strong 
     opposition to H.R. 596, legislation to repeal the Affordable 
     Care Act.
       The ACA is critical to addressing the biggest challenges 
     facing our health system including the rising costs 
     associated with our health care system, uneven quality of 
     care, deaths due to medical errors, discriminatory practices 
     by health insurance providers and the shrinking ranks of the 
     nation's primary care providers. The ACA is helping to shift 
     our health system from one that focuses on treating the sick 
     to one that focuses on keeping people healthy.
       Under the law, millions of previously uninsured Americans 
     now have affordable and comprehensive health insurance 
     coverage through the health insurance marketplaces as well as 
     through the expansion of the Medicaid program, significantly 
     reducing the uninsured rate. This year, 9.5 million 
     individuals have already enrolled in coverage through the 
     health insurance marketplaces. Since its enactment, the law 
     has provided 71 million Americans with access to preventive 
     health care services such as vaccines, disease screenings, 
     well-child visits and tobacco cessation counseling without 
     co-pays or deductibles. Thirty seven million seniors have 
     also accessed preventive services without cost through the 
     Medicare program. More than 3 million young adults up to age 
     26 are able to stay on their parents' health insurance plans 
     and nearly 129 million individuals with pre-existing 
     conditions are protected from insurance coverage denials. In 
     addition, the ACA provides critical mandatory funding through 
     the Prevention and Public Health Fund for community-based 
     prevention and wellness activities including efforts to 
     control the obesity epidemic, reduce tobacco use and 
     modernize vaccination systems.
       Protecting the ACA and working to effectively implement 
     this critical law to protect and improve the health of the 
     American people will remain a top priority for APHA, and we 
     will consider including this vote in our 2015 annual 
     congressional vote record.
       We ask you to oppose this and future efforts to repeal the 
     ACA and we look forward to working with you to create the 
     healthiest nation in one generation.
           Sincerely,
                                          Georges C. Benjamin, MD,
                                               Executive Director.

  Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. BYRNE. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 1 minute to the 
gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Allen), another new member of the Education 
and the Workforce Committee and new Member of this body.
  Mr. ALLEN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Alabama for 
yielding.
  Mr. Speaker, individuals, families, and businesses alike--in Georgia 
and across the Nation--agree that ObamaCare is wrong for Americans. 
Across my district, hardworking Georgians trying to make ends meet have 
told me their health care premiums have skyrocketed under this law.
  Many have learned the plan they liked and were promised they could 
keep have been canceled, and they have been denied care and access to 
their doctors.
  In addition to hurting America's families, ObamaCare's costly 
mandates burden small businesses, the bedrock of job creation and 
entrepreneurship, and

[[Page H737]]

have real consequences for their employees facing lower hours and 
wages.
  The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that the law 
will lower the number of full-time equivalent workers by 2.5 million. 
The President's own Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services also 
found that an estimated two-thirds of small businesses will see their 
health care premiums go up under ObamaCare.
  I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 596.
  Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the 
gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Courtney).
  Mr. COURTNEY. Mr. Speaker, almost exactly a year ago, the Republican 
majority held a retreat where other Members met and they set their 
agenda for 2014. After that retreat, the leadership issued a statement 
promising, with a solemn promise, that the House Republicans will rally 
around and pass an alternative to ObamaCare this year.
  That is about 4 years after the law passed, but at least you can give 
them some credit that they were going to move forward in 2014 with an 
alternative to the Affordable Care Act.
  That was last winter, and winter turned to spring, spring turned to 
summer, summer turned to fall, fall turned to winter, and we never had 
a vote in the House on the alternative, the promised alternative to 
ObamaCare.
  Maybe the committees took action, the committees that this proposed 
bill is lateraling this issue off to. Did we have a committee vote on 
Education and the Workforce, Ways and Means, Energy and Commerce? No. 
Did we have hearings on an alternative that was promised by the 
majority caucus a year ago on an alternative to the Affordable Care 
Act? No, no hearings, no markup, no vote, no bill.
  Here we are today with the majority once again throwing out a 
promise: Trust us. In 180 days, we will have an alternative to the 
Affordable Care Act.
  Well, Mr. Speaker, unfortunately, in the last year, millions of 
Americans have moved on. Parents are insuring their kids through the 
Affordable Care Act up to age 26.
  There are Members in the majority who take advantage of that very 
provision to provide coverage for their children under the Affordable 
Care Act that they seek to repeal here today.
  Millions of seniors see their prescription drug costs cut because of 
the Affordable Care Act because of the leftover of the Republican 
prescription drug bill which led this outrageous doughnut hole that 
threw 100 percent of the cost of medications to seniors who were paying 
monthly premiums.
  Yes, we saw the startup of exchanges, both at the State level--like 
my State in the State of Connecticut--and the Federal exchange, which 
have enrolled millions of Americans in affordable plans.
  This year, the Affordable Care Act in Connecticut, we had submissions 
by the insurance companies to participate in 2015. Did we see reduced 
competition? Did we see less of a free marketplace? No, we saw more 
competition. We have more insurers who are offering the product through 
the exchange in 2015 than in 2014.
  Did we see rates go up? Mr. Speaker, I am going to enter into the 
Record a record from the Connecticut State Insurance Department which 
shows that rates went down--down--for individual plans and for small 
group market plans.

               State of Connecticut Insurance Department


   2014 Connecticut Insurance Rate Filings For On/Off Exchange 2015 
                                Policies

            Individual Market Requested and Approved Changes

       Aetna Life Insurance Co.:
         --Requested Change: 9.4%
         --Approved Change: 4.60%
         --Effective 1/1/2015
       Celtic Insurance Company:
         --Requested Change: 0.00%
         --Approved Change: -6.50%
         --Effective 1/1/2015
       ConnectiCare Benefits, Inc.:
         --Requested Change: 12.8%
         --Approved Change: 3.10%
         --Effective 1/1/2015
       ConnectiCare Inc.:
         --Requested Change: -21.50%
         --Approved Change: -21.50%
         --Effective 1/1/2015
       ConnectiCare Insurance Co.:
         --Requested Change: 1.40%
         --Approved Change: 1.30%
         --Effective 1/1/2015
       UnitedHealthcare Ins. Co.:
         --Requested Change: 0.00%
         --Approved Change: -9.30%
         --Effective 1/1/2015
       Golden Rule Insurance Co.:
         --Requested Change: 0.00%
         --Approved Change: -6.91%
         --Effective 1/1/2015
       HealthyCT, Inc:
         --Requested Change: -8.60%
         --Approved Change: -8.50%
         --Effective 1/1/2015
       Time Insurance Company:
         --Requested Change: 25.00%
         --Approved Change: 6.00%
         --Effective 1/1/2015
       Cigna Health and Life Insurance Company:
         --Requested Change: 15.23%
         --Approved Change: 8.82%
         --Effective 1/1/2015
       Anthem Health Plans:
         --Requested Change: 12.5%,
         --Approved Change: -0.10%
         --Effective 1/1/2015
       UnitedHealthcare Life Insurance Company:
         --Requested Change: 0.00%
         --Approved Change: -9.20%
         --Effective 1/1/2015

       Average Requested Change: 3.85%
       Average Approved Change: -3.18%
       Estimated savings for consumers in Individual Market: 
     $79,099,427

           Small Group Market Requested and Approved Changes

       Aetna Life Insurance Co.:
         --Requested Change: 5.90%
         --Approved Change: 5.90%
         --Effective 1/1/2015
       Anthem Health Plans:
         --Requested Change: 6.00%
         --Approved Change: 4.40%
         --Effective 1/1/2015
       HealthyCT, Inc*:
         --Requested Change: -13.40%
         --Approved Change: -13.40%
         --Effective 1/1/2015
       UnitedHealthcare Ins. Co.*:
         --Requested Change: 2.50%
         --Approved Change: 2.50%
         --Effective 1/1/2015
       ConnectiCare Inc.:
         --Requested Change: -1.40%
         --Approved Change: -5.00%
         --Effective 1/1/2015
       ConnectiCare Insurance Co.*:
         --Requested Change: 7.00%
         --Approved Change: 7.00%
         --Effective 1/1/2015
       Harvard Pilgrim Healthcare of CT:
         --Requested Change: 2.80%
         --Approved Change: -12.00%,
         --Effective 1/1/2015
       HPHC Insurance Co.*:
         --Requested Change: -3.40%
         --Approved Change: -9.40%
         --Effective 1/1/2015
       Oxford Health Insurance*:
         --Requested Change: 10.20%
         --Approved Change: 10.20%
         --Effective 1/1/2015
       Oxford Health Plans (CT):
         --Requested Change: 10.20%
         --Approved Change: 9.00%
         --Effective 1/1/2015

       Average Requested Change: 2.64%
       Average Approved Change: 0.08%
       *CID has review authority but not approval authority over 
     these filings
       Estimated savings for consumers in Small Group Market: 
     $9,448,203
       Estimated savings for combined Individual & Small Group 
     Markets: $88,547,630

  Mr. COURTNEY. The fact of the matter is that this marketplace, which 
now has more carriers, is now providing lower rates, saving close to 
$90 million from last year's rates than the year before.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Hultgren). The time of the gentleman has 
expired.
  Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. I yield the gentleman an additional 30 
seconds.
  Mr. COURTNEY. Mr. Speaker, what we are being asked to do here today 
is to stop that progress, to take away that coverage to young adults 
that today get it through their parents' plans, to take away the 
prescription drug benefit, to take away from seniors the relief that 
they are getting for lifesaving medications, and to tell those 
individual and small group plans that are purchasing it--this year, 
again, we have 70,000 reenrollments of the 75,000 enrolled last year, 
and we have 30,000 new that have enrolled this year in that plan.
  We have cut the uninsured rate in a State like Connecticut that has 
embraced the law down to 4 percent of its population.
  You are telling folks like me to blow it up, get rid of it, and you 
have no plan, even though your caucus made a promise a year ago to the 
American people that they would provide a plan, and they never came 
through with it.
  Reject this bill.
  Mr. BYRNE. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 1 minute to the 
gentleman from Florida (Mr. DeSantis), my distinguished colleague.
  Mr. DeSANTIS. Mr. Speaker, my colleagues have demonstrated ably the 
substantive problems with this law:

[[Page H738]]

higher costs, canceled coverage, lost doctors.
  I would just like to say that ObamaCare has done harm to republican 
government properly understood. When you go around the country telling 
people over and over again that they can keep their plans, that they 
can keep their doctors, and that they will see thousands of dollars in 
savings on health insurance premiums, all the while you know--or should 
have known--that those promises were false, I think that damages our 
political system because, ultimately, representative government 
requires honest dialogue between elected officials and the citizenry.
  It is almost as if this is the Jonathan Gruber law where we want to 
tell people lies in order to get bills that we would not have passed 
otherwise. I think that is unacceptable.
  These promises made to the American people were false, the American 
people were deceived, and I think our representative government and 
political system have been damaged as a result.
  Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the 
gentlewoman from North Carolina (Ms. Adams).
  Ms. ADAMS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding, and I 
rise today in support of the Affordable Care Act.
  One year after implementing the health care exchanges, the number of 
uninsured in this country has decreased dramatically. Implementing the 
health care exchanges has provided health insurance access to 208,000 
individuals in my district, with Charlotte accounting for one of North 
Carolina's highest number of subsidized health insurance enrollments.
  Young adults can now stay on their parents' plans until age 26, 
resulting in nearly 10,000 young adults retaining health insurance in 
my district. Seniors in my district have saved $11.1 million through 
Medicare part D prescription drug discounts.
  The Affordable Care Act has also created 9.6 million private sector 
jobs. My district's unemployment rate is 13.9 percent, so for me, this 
is not just about health, but jobs and our economy.
  These tangible benefits cannot be ignored. I urge my Republican 
colleagues to end talks of repeal and instead work with Democrats to 
strengthen the law.
  The Affordable Care Act would have meant a lot to my sister who I 
often had to take to the emergency room for primary care for sickle 
cell. She died at age 26, but I know she would have been grateful for 
the coverage provided by the Affordable Care Act.
  Mr. BYRNE. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 1 minute to the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Babin), a new Member of the House, who is 
himself a dentist.
  Mr. BABIN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 596, legislation that I 
have cosponsored to fully repeal ObamaCare.
  My constituents sent me to Washington to repeal this disastrous law, 
and that is what we are doing today, the number one issue in my 
district.
  As a health care provider myself for 38 years, I have seen firsthand 
the devastating effects of ObamaCare and how it undermines the doctor-
patient relationship.
  It is costing us jobs and work hours and has led to millions of 
Americans losing their health plans that they had and wanted to keep 
and were promised such. Restoring the patient's right to choose a plan 
that they want and can afford is just plain common sense.

  Our bill does this by repealing ObamaCare and replacing it with free 
market solutions. We put America on a path toward patient-focused care, 
rather than government-directed care. The traditional doctor-patient 
relationship would be restored.
  Let's show the American people that we are listening and rid the 
Nation of this terrible law and replace it with policies that work.
  Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. BYRNE. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 1 minute to the 
gentleman from Utah (Mr. Stewart), a colleague of ours and a 
distinguished veteran.
  Mr. STEWART. Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my friend, the 
gentleman from Alabama, for giving me time to express the importance of 
repealing what has been one of the most destructive laws ever written.
  The intent of ObamaCare was to make health care more accessible and 
more affordable and, in fact, has done exactly the opposite.
  I have heard from hundreds of my constituents who tell me how it has 
impacted their lives. A friend of mine from Bountiful, their premiums 
have doubled--have doubled. A small business owner in the southern part 
of my district, who found they could not get insurance at all, their 
plan was entirely taken away.
  This law was built on a foundation of deceptions. We were told: ``If 
you wanted to keep your doctor, you could keep them.'' We were told: 
``If you wanted to keep your plan, you could keep it.'' We were told it 
would reduce costs by an average of $2,500 per family.
  We now know that all of that is not true and that they knew at the 
time they passed this law that it was not true.
  All of us want to take care of those who have preexisting conditions; 
all of us want to provide insurance to the uninsured. We can do better.
  Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I continue to reserve the balance 
of my time.
  Mr. BYRNE. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 1 minute to the 
gentleman from Washington (Mr. Newhouse), another freshman in this 
House.

                              {time}  1615

  Mr. NEWHOUSE. Thank you to the gentleman from Alabama.
  Mr. Speaker, since its hasty passage in 2010, ObamaCare has been 
detrimental to American families, businesses, and taxpayers. Americans 
were promised that they could keep their health care plans and see 
their premiums decrease. Instead, they have been irreparably harmed by 
the elimination of their existing health care plans and pushed into a 
one-size-fits-all health care system--a system that fails to consider 
individual needs and that eliminates choice of physicians while 
families are faced with soaring premiums.
  The cost of implementing ObamaCare has crippled businesses, hurting 
the drivers of our economy. Small and large businesses have been forced 
to pass these increased costs on to their employees, resulting in a 
decreased workforce, lower wages, and delayed hiring. ObamaCare has 
hurt economic growth at a time when we can least afford it, damaging 
our fragile economic recovery.
  Put simply, a government-centered approach to health care is not the 
answer. I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this legislation.
  Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. BYRNE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from North 
Carolina (Mr. Walker), another freshman Member and a gentleman who 
brings great experience to his position in this House.
  Mr. WALKER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
  Mr. Speaker, ``middle class economics'' is the President's new 
catchphrase and method to pay lip service to helping American 
families--more smoke and mirrors.
  In November, voters spoke loudly and clearly in sending 58 Members to 
Washington. I made a promise over these past 2 years that I would come 
to Washington and stand up. Today, for the first time, I am proud to 
vote for a full repeal of this law.
  The ACA has caused insurance premiums to skyrocket for working 
families in North Carolina. It continues to weigh on our economy and on 
our job creators. This law is seriously flawed in the fact that the 
President's administration has overreached dozens of times in trying to 
change and fix the law themselves. Yes, the damaging effects of 
ObamaCare are so ingrained in the fabric of this law that fixing it is 
not an option. That is why I urge my colleagues to vote for H.R. 596 
for a full repeal.
  Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I believe the gentleman from 
Alabama is prepared to close.
  Mr. BYRNE. I am, and I reserve the balance of my time for closing.
  Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I yield the balance of my time to 
the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. Blumenauer).
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman is recognized for 1\3/4\ 
minutes.
  Mr. BLUMENAUER. Thank you, Mr. Scott.

[[Page H739]]

  Mr. Speaker, this is the 56th time we have gathered on the floor, 
talking past each other. The legislation that is offered by our 
Republican friends--a repeal--does not have any alternative. Frankly, 
everybody knows that it is not going to pass. If it were to be enacted 
into law, the President would veto it.
  The facts don't justify the rhetoric. We have 10 million previously 
uninsured Americans. We have the lowest health care spending growth 
rate in 50 years. Health care premium inflation is growing at historic 
lows, and Medicare premiums are lower than they were before the ACA was 
passed, and it held steady for 3 years.
  What should we be doing? Instead of trying to make the ACA worse and 
rail against it and get nowhere, I would suggest that we deal with 
things that we can agree upon.
  I have been working with my colleague Mr. Roe on bipartisan 
legislation to deal with providers helping with end-of-life care for 
patients; with Representative Roskam, a Medicare Common Access Card, 
bipartisan legislation to establish a smart card pilot project to 
eliminate Medicare fraud; with Representative Black, a value-based 
design for better care which would establish a pilot project to test 
reducing or eliminating cost-sharing for seniors with high-value 
medications. These are things that we could do this month that would 
make a difference.
  I hope that we stop this charade and get down to cases. The American 
public deserves our best efforts not to debate but to make health care 
better and to build on the foundation of the Affordable Care Act.
  Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. BYRNE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  In closing, I have been listening carefully to the debate today. We 
have heard a lot from both sides, but at the end of the day, this is 
not about anybody in this House; this is about the American people. 
This is about something that is so very fundamentally important to 
them--their health care.
  We took away the health care system that worked for 80 percent of the 
people of this country to fix a problem that we today know we fix for 
only 1 percent of the American people. Only 3 million new Americans 
have gotten on this new health care plan who didn't have health 
insurance before. That is 1 percent of the American people. We threw 
out the health care plan that worked for 80 percent of Americans to fix 
a problem for 1 percent of Americans.
  Look what it has done.
  It has wrecked lives. I have here from my office a sampling of emails 
and letters, which don't include the phone calls from people who came 
up to me in the over 30 town hall meetings I did last year--women with 
tears in their eyes because they couldn't pay their health insurance, 
because they couldn't pay the deductibles when they went to the doctor 
or the hospital; a man who forwent going to get a particular type of 
surgery he needed because he couldn't pay the deductible. That is what 
this law has done to the people of America. It has victimized the 
people of America.
  There is no way to fix this law. It is fundamentally flawed. We could 
go in and fix a problem piecemeal here and find a piecemeal resolution 
there. We would end up with another Frankenstein. The American people 
don't want Frankenstein. They don't want Groundhog Day either. They 
don't want the President to continue to throw stuff at them over and 
over again that doesn't work. They deserve a health care system that 
they control with their doctors, picking the health insurance programs 
that they want, that are not mandated by the Federal Government and 
that fit into their budgets. It empowers them instead of having their 
power taken away by some faceless bureaucracy in Washington.
  Let's repeal this terrible ObamaCare law. Let's put in place a 
process that will give us a solution, one that works for people and 
what they really need. Let's get on with the business that we are here 
to do in order to make lives better for the American people.
  I thank the majority leader, and I thank the Speaker, and I thank the 
whip for bringing this bill to the floor. I thank them for allowing my 
bill to be the one to be the package that we use today, and I ask all 
of my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on this important bill.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. SCHOCK. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 596 so the flawed 
Obamacare program can be reformed in order to focus on patient-centered 
care.
  Nancy Pelosi infamously said ``We have to pass the [health care] bill 
so that you can find out what's in it.'' Nearly five years later, the 
verdict is in: Obamacare continues to be a flawed program that created 
over $1.8 trillion in new spending. It imposed over $1 trillion in new 
taxes, including on those families who make less than $250,000 a year--
violating another promise made by President Obama. In fact, Obamacare's 
tax increases will be borne primarily by middle class Americans during 
a time of sluggish economic activity.
  Instead of allowing individuals and families to take control of their 
own healthcare decisions, the health law contained 18 separate tax 
increases, fees and penalties that imposed mandate after mandate and 
resulted in over 20,000 pages of new rules and regulations. I believe a 
far simpler way to fix our broken healthcare system is to give 
individuals and families control over their own healthcare choices, 
such as through health savings accounts or incentives to live healthy 
lifestyles. Investment in prevention and wellness will not only lead to 
longer lifestyles for Americans but also reduce the overall cost of 
healthcare.
  In my home state of Illinois, we have already seen the effects of 
Obamacare in effect. According to the Illinois Policy Institute, since 
2011, Illinois has lost the equivalent of 66,000 across multiple 
sectors due to reduced hours or less workers in the workplace due to 
Obamacare's employer mandate. Illinois families in 101 out of the 
state's 102 counties are facing, on average, higher premium costs--in 
some cases those premiums are nearly 120% higher than they were before 
Obamacare according to the Manhattan Institute.
  Finally, the President's health care law creates a limited religious 
conscience exemption that limits the exemption to a few select faiths. 
Legislation such as my EACH Act bill modestly expands the exemption so 
that more individuals who choose not to seek healthcare will not be 
fined for violating their religious beliefs.
  I am proud to support this important legislation and I look forward 
to working with my colleagues on the Ways and Means Committee on 
solutions to better reform our healthcare system that protect the 
doctor-patient relationship while also incentivizing more people to 
take control of their own healthcare.
  Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD. Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to this 56th 
Republican attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act.
  We have been down this road before, with the same misleading rhetoric 
that does not reflect the true benefits of the health reform law.
  This legislation is being brought to the Floor in order to give 
Republican Freshmen a voting opportunity to repeal the ACA, despite the 
fact that polls have repeatedly shown high satisfaction rates with the 
newly mandated coverage opportunities under Obamacare, even among 
Republicans.
  My colleagues speaking against the ACA today are not listening to 
these polls, or to thousands of newly insured individuals in my 40th 
Congressional District who are thrilled with their new access to health 
care.
  In my district and hundreds of other poor and minority communities 
across the country, the benefits of expanded coverage and provisions to 
address health disparities are already changing lives.
  ACA opponents are not listening to women from all economic 
backgrounds who are no longer paying higher premiums because they are 
female, and who now have prenatal care as a covered benefit.
  They are not listening to millions of seniors who love their free 
preventive services and lower prescription drug costs, or the disabled 
community that no longer has to live in fear of being denied coverage 
for pre-existing conditions or because they've reached lifetime limits.
  Mr. Speaker, the ACA is working for my constituents, for women and 
minority communities, and for seniors and people with disabilities.
  It is time for my Republican colleagues to listen to these Americans 
who DO NOT want to lose these health benefits.
  This bill is the same misguided legislation Republicans forced 
through the House in

[[Page H740]]

2011, 2012, and 2013. And like those bills, it has absolutely no chance 
of passing the Senate or being signed into law by the President.
  Let's stop wasting Congressional time and taxpayer's money and find 
solutions to the other complex issues facing our nation such as 
creating jobs and strengthening our economy.
  I urge my colleagues to vote no on H.R. 596.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. All time for debate has expired.
  Pursuant to House Resolution 70, the previous question is ordered on 
the bill, as amended.
  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.


                           Motion to Recommit

  Mr. DeSAULNIER. Mr. Speaker, I have a motion to recommit at the desk.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is the gentleman opposed to the bill?
  Mr. DeSAULNIER. I am opposed in its current form, Mr. Speaker.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Clerk will report the motion to 
recommit.
  The Clerk read as follows:

       Mr. DeSaulnier moves to recommit the bill H.R. 596 to the 
     Committee on Ways and Means with instructions to report the 
     same back to the House forthwith, with the following 
     amendment:
       Add at the end of the bill the following:

     SEC. 4. PROTECTING WOMEN, SENIORS, AND MIDDLE CLASS FAMILIES 
                   FROM THE HARMFUL EFFECTS OF HEALTH REPEAL.

       The provisions of this Act shall not take effect unless and 
     until such date that it is certified that such provisions 
     will not result in--
       (1) discrimination by health insurance issuers and group 
     health plans on the basis of pre-existing conditions or 
     gender, including in the form of higher premiums for women or 
     loss of benefits such as mammograms, cervical cancer 
     screenings, prenatal care, and commonly prescribed 
     contraception;
       (2) higher premiums or out-of-pocket costs for seniors for 
     prescription drugs under prescription drug plans under the 
     Medicare program under part D of title XVIII of the Social 
     Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395w-101 et seq.); or
       (3) a tax increase on middle class families through the 
     loss of subsidies to purchase health insurance coverage.

  Mrs. LOVE (during the reading). Mr. Speaker, I reserve a point of 
order against the motion to recommit.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. A point of order is reserved.
  The Clerk will read.
  The Clerk continued to read.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
California is recognized for 5 minutes in support of his motion.
  Mr. DeSAULNIER. Mr. Speaker, I have listened intently to the comments 
of my friends on the other side of the aisle, and I must say that it 
has not been my experience where I come from, but maybe it is a little 
different with my being from California.
  This is the final amendment to the bill, which will not kill the bill 
or send it back to committee. If adopted, the bill, as amended, will 
immediately proceed to final passage.
  Mr. Speaker, H.R. 596 would eliminate critical benefits and health 
care coverage from hardworking American families. In addition to taking 
away Americans' health care security, this bill would increase the 
deficit, make health care more expensive, and degrade the quality of 
care that patients are now receiving. If adopted, my motion to recommit 
would ensure that some of the most important protections of the 
Affordable Care Act would remain in effect.
  Yesterday, as others have mentioned, was Groundhog Day, but, today, 
we are Bill Murray, living the same votes over and over again--in fact, 
as has been mentioned, 56 times over and over again.
  This motion would protect existing law by continuing to, one, prevent 
insurance companies from discriminating based on preexisting conditions 
and gender or cutting health benefits for women; two, prevent increases 
in Medicare D prescription drug costs for seniors; and three, prevent a 
tax increase for middle class American families by the taking away of 
subsidies to purchase health insurance.
  Mr. Speaker, I am a former Republican and a small business owner who 
supports the Affordable Care Act and who has seen the benefits for 
small business. I have also seen the benefits for the economy and for 
the 7 million Californians who do not have health insurance. Many 
individuals who wanted health insurance were unable to obtain it, 
either because it was too expensive or because they had preexisting 
conditions, including nearly 126,000 people in my home county in the 
Bay Area.
  One of these individuals in my district is a young woman named Emily. 
Emily was born with a congenital heart defect, and as a result, she 
will need regular monitoring and treatment by a cardiologist. Were it 
not for the Affordable Care Act, Emily would have been left without 
critical health care and the necessary treatment for the remainder of 
her young life.
  Her situation is not unique. Approximately 130 million other 
Americans no longer have to worry about being denied health care 
coverage because of their health status. Additionally, Mr. Speaker, 
under the Affordable Care Act, almost 8 million seniors have saved 
nearly $10 billion on prescription drugs, and under the Affordable Care 
Act, many people paid less for their insurance in 2014 than in 2013.
  Before the law was enacted, health care premiums were increasing 
exponentially, much faster than college tuition, workers' wages, and 
inflation. Once the law took effect, premium increases for plans slowed 
down substantially. Simply, this law is saving Americans money. This 
year in California, with 2 weeks left to go in open enrollment, more 
than 273,000 Californians have joined the nearly 1 million covered 
California customers who were enrolled in 2014. Nearly nine of 10 
enrollees received some kind of financial help in 2014, ensuring that 
Californians can afford the kind of coverage that they need and want.
  Repealing the law without including these three protections will cost 
more than we can afford--$100 billion over the next 10 years, until 
2022, and more than $1 trillion in the following decade. It would also 
discriminate against women in the form of higher premiums, and it would 
make it impossible for many women to get the care they need.
  Mr. Speaker, every American family deserves a plan that covers 
essential health benefits, like hospital care, emergency care, care for 
pregnant women, and a plan that won't bankrupt them or this country 
just because an illness or an accident occurs. Every American family 
deserves to know that they won't be kicked off their insurance for a 
preexisting condition or be subjected to lifetime caps that take away 
their benefits when they need them the most.
  Health care, Mr. Speaker, is not a Democrat or a Republican issue; it 
is an American issue and a human issue. We are here to ensure that 
every American continues to have access to quality, affordable health 
care. If we can produce a bill that fulfills the goals set out by the 
Affordable Care Act, it doesn't matter who wrote or signed the bill. 
But repealing the Affordable Care Act without including these important 
protections for hardworking, middle class American families is 
irresponsible and reckless.
  I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mrs. LOVE. Mr. Speaker, I withdraw my reservation of a point of 
order.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The reservation of the point of order is 
withdrawn.
  Mrs. LOVE. Mr. Speaker, I claim the time in opposition to the 
gentleman's motion.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from Utah is recognized for 
5 minutes.

                              {time}  1630

  Mrs. LOVE. Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask a few questions of my 
colleagues as it relates to health care.
  Has Congress made health care more accessible and affordable? Has the 
quality of care improved? No.
  Do hardworking families and our children deserve better? Absolutely.
  Now is the time to repeal and replace this disaster of a law. This 
law has hurt more poor and more middle-income families.
  I received a letter from a constituent. Mr. Speaker, the letter 
states:

       I wonder if you would like a real-life example of what 
     ObamaCare is doing to families. My daughter and her husband 
     are expecting their second child. They were planning on 
     moving from their small apartment to a small home. Their 
     insurance has doubled under ObamaCare, and they will pay $500 
     a month. Their deductible will be $10,000. They

[[Page H741]]

     will have to pay each doctor for a phone call plus $50 
     copayment. No specialists are covered. They barely are 
     getting by as it is. Because of their insurance costs, there 
     is no chance of getting into a home or even a bigger 
     apartment. How can insurance for everyone be of help if it 
     causes such a financial burden on families? My daughter is so 
     depressed. She isn't even excited about her upcoming child 
     because she is so worried about their future. If we had the 
     means to help, we would, but we don't. My heart breaks for 
     her. How can Congress help?
       Sincerely, Paula.

  Now, people talk about tweaking ObamaCare. I ask: How do you tweak 
that to help that family?
  The American people deserve better, Mr. Speaker. Imagine a health 
care system that is centered in service. Imagine a health care system 
that is measured by outcomes, not by Washington dictates.
  I know that it is hard for some of my colleagues to contemplate, but 
imagine, if you will, for me, Mr. Speaker, a health care system where 
dollars and decisions are left with patients, their families, and their 
doctor. I see an American exceptionalism at work, where families and 
innovation and compassion drive the highest quality of care.
  Members of Congress, Representatives of the people, do not settle. 
Don't settle for just tweaking a bad program that hurts more than it 
helps, that controls more than it empowers. There are too many Members 
of this body that are content with just getting this health care law to 
be good enough. I am here to tell you that, for the American people, 
good enough just isn't good enough.
  I reject the downward spiral of mediocrity and government takeover of 
health care. I refuse to pursue the administration's path of fear, 
blame, and failure. I oppose this motion to recommit a bad health care 
law.
  It is time for us, for this body, to advance the policies and the 
principles which have lifted more people out of poverty, fueled more 
freedom, and driven more dreams than any other set of principles in the 
history of the world. I ask this body to come with me, boldly step 
forward and unleash that American exceptionalism that produces the 
health care solutions that this family is worthy of and every 
hardworking American in this country is worthy of.
  May God continue to bless this great, exceptional country.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Without objection, the previous question is 
ordered 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 noes appeared to have it.
  Mr. DeSAULNIER. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
  The yeas and nays were 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 of the bill.
  The vote was taken by electronic device, and there were--yeas 179, 
nays 241, not voting 13, as follows:

                             [Roll No. 57]

                               YEAS--179

     Adams
     Aguilar
     Ashford
     Bass
     Beatty
     Becerra
     Bera
     Beyer
     Bishop (GA)
     Blumenauer
     Bonamici
     Boyle (PA)
     Brady (PA)
     Brown (FL)
     Brownley (CA)
     Bustos
     Butterfield
     Capps
     Capuano
     Cardenas
     Carney
     Carson (IN)
     Cartwright
     Castor (FL)
     Castro (TX)
     Cicilline
     Clark (MA)
     Clarke (NY)
     Clay
     Cleaver
     Clyburn
     Cohen
     Connolly
     Conyers
     Cooper
     Costa
     Courtney
     Crowley
     Cuellar
     Cummings
     Davis (CA)
     Davis, Danny
     DeFazio
     DeGette
     Delaney
     DeLauro
     DelBene
     DeSaulnier
     Deutch
     Dingell
     Doggett
     Doyle (PA)
     Edwards
     Ellison
     Engel
     Eshoo
     Esty
     Farr
     Fattah
     Foster
     Frankel (FL)
     Fudge
     Gabbard
     Gallego
     Garamendi
     Graham
     Grayson
     Green, Al
     Green, Gene
     Grijalva
     Hahn
     Hastings
     Heck (WA)
     Higgins
     Himes
     Hinojosa
     Honda
     Hoyer
     Israel
     Jackson Lee
     Jeffries
     Johnson (GA)
     Johnson, E. B.
     Kaptur
     Keating
     Kelly (IL)
     Kennedy
     Kildee
     Kilmer
     Kind
     Kirkpatrick
     Kuster
     Langevin
     Larsen (WA)
     Larson (CT)
     Lawrence
     Levin
     Lewis
     Lieu (CA)
     Loebsack
     Lowenthal
     Lujan Grisham (NM)
     Lujan, Ben Ray (NM)
     Lynch
     Maloney, Carolyn
     Maloney, Sean
     Matsui
     McCollum
     McDermott
     McGovern
     McNerney
     Meeks
     Meng
     Moore
     Moulton
     Murphy (FL)
     Nadler
     Napolitano
     Neal
     Nolan
     Norcross
     O'Rourke
     Pallone
     Pascrell
     Payne
     Pelosi
     Perlmutter
     Peters
     Peterson
     Pingree
     Pocan
     Polis
     Price (NC)
     Quigley
     Rangel
     Rice (NY)
     Richmond
     Roybal-Allard
     Ruiz
     Ruppersberger
     Rush
     Ryan (OH)
     Sanchez, Linda T.
     Sanchez, Loretta
     Sarbanes
     Schakowsky
     Schiff
     Schrader
     Scott (VA)
     Scott, David
     Serrano
     Sewell (AL)
     Sherman
     Sinema
     Sires
     Slaughter
     Smith (WA)
     Speier
     Swalwell (CA)
     Takai
     Takano
     Thompson (CA)
     Thompson (MS)
     Titus
     Tonko
     Torres
     Tsongas
     Van Hollen
     Vargas
     Veasey
     Vela
     Velazquez
     Visclosky
     Walz
     Wasserman Schultz
     Waters, Maxine
     Watson Coleman
     Wilson (FL)
     Yarmuth

                               NAYS--241

     Abraham
     Aderholt
     Allen
     Amash
     Amodei
     Babin
     Barletta
     Barr
     Barton
     Benishek
     Bilirakis
     Bishop (MI)
     Bishop (UT)
     Black
     Blackburn
     Blum
     Bost
     Boustany
     Brady (TX)
     Brat
     Bridenstine
     Brooks (AL)
     Brooks (IN)
     Buchanan
     Buck
     Bucshon
     Burgess
     Byrne
     Calvert
     Carter (GA)
     Carter (TX)
     Chabot
     Chaffetz
     Clawson (FL)
     Coffman
     Cole
     Collins (GA)
     Collins (NY)
     Comstock
     Conaway
     Cook
     Costello (PA)
     Cramer
     Crawford
     Crenshaw
     Culberson
     Curbelo (FL)
     Davis, Rodney
     Dent
     DeSantis
     DesJarlais
     Diaz-Balart
     Dold
     Duffy
     Duncan (SC)
     Duncan (TN)
     Ellmers
     Emmer
     Farenthold
     Fincher
     Fitzpatrick
     Fleischmann
     Fleming
     Flores
     Forbes
     Fortenberry
     Foxx
     Franks (AZ)
     Frelinghuysen
     Garrett
     Gibbs
     Gibson
     Gohmert
     Goodlatte
     Gosar
     Gowdy
     Granger
     Graves (GA)
     Graves (LA)
     Graves (MO)
     Griffith
     Grothman
     Guinta
     Guthrie
     Hanna
     Hardy
     Harper
     Harris
     Hartzler
     Heck (NV)
     Hensarling
     Herrera Beutler
     Hice (GA)
     Hill
     Holding
     Hudson
     Huelskamp
     Huizenga (MI)
     Hultgren
     Hunter
     Hurd (TX)
     Hurt (VA)
     Issa
     Jenkins (KS)
     Jenkins (WV)
     Johnson (OH)
     Johnson, Sam
     Jolly
     Jones
     Jordan
     Joyce
     Katko
     Kelly (PA)
     King (IA)
     King (NY)
     Kinzinger (IL)
     Kline
     Knight
     Labrador
     LaMalfa
     Lamborn
     Lance
     Latta
     Lipinski
     LoBiondo
     Long
     Loudermilk
     Love
     Lucas
     Luetkemeyer
     Lummis
     MacArthur
     Marchant
     Marino
     Massie
     McCarthy
     McCaul
     McClintock
     McHenry
     McKinley
     McMorris Rodgers
     McSally
     Meadows
     Meehan
     Messer
     Mica
     Miller (FL)
     Miller (MI)
     Moolenaar
     Mooney (WV)
     Mullin
     Mulvaney
     Murphy (PA)
     Neugebauer
     Newhouse
     Noem
     Nugent
     Nunes
     Olson
     Palazzo
     Palmer
     Paulsen
     Pearce
     Perry
     Pittenger
     Pitts
     Poe (TX)
     Poliquin
     Pompeo
     Posey
     Price (GA)
     Ratcliffe
     Reed
     Reichert
     Renacci
     Ribble
     Rice (SC)
     Rigell
     Roby
     Rogers (AL)
     Rogers (KY)
     Rohrabacher
     Rokita
     Rooney (FL)
     Ros-Lehtinen
     Roskam
     Ross
     Rothfus
     Rouzer
     Royce
     Russell
     Ryan (WI)
     Salmon
     Sanford
     Scalise
     Schock
     Schweikert
     Scott, Austin
     Sensenbrenner
     Sessions
     Shimkus
     Shuster
     Simpson
     Smith (MO)
     Smith (NE)
     Smith (NJ)
     Smith (TX)
     Stefanik
     Stewart
     Stivers
     Thompson (PA)
     Thornberry
     Tiberi
     Tipton
     Trott
     Turner
     Upton
     Valadao
     Wagner
     Walberg
     Walden
     Walker
     Walorski
     Walters, Mimi
     Weber (TX)
     Webster (FL)
     Wenstrup
     Westerman
     Westmoreland
     Whitfield
     Williams
     Wilson (SC)
     Wittman
     Womack
     Woodall
     Yoder
     Yoho
     Young (IA)
     Young (IN)
     Zeldin
     Zinke

                             NOT VOTING--13

     Chu (CA)
     Denham
     Duckworth
     Gutierrez
     Huffman
     Lee
     Lofgren
     Lowey
     Nunnelee
     Roe (TN)
     Stutzman
     Welch
     Young (AK)

                              {time}  1657

  Messrs. GOSAR, BOST, COFFMAN, SALMON, LUETKEMEYER, ROYCE, and ROSKAM 
changed their vote from ``yea'' to ``nay.''
  Mr. SWALWELL of California and Ms. SLAUGHTER changed their vote from 
``nay'' to ``yea.''
  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. SCOTT of Virginia. 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 239, 
noes 186, not voting 8, as follows:

[[Page H742]]

                             [Roll No. 58]

                               AYES--239

     Abraham
     Aderholt
     Allen
     Amash
     Amodei
     Babin
     Barletta
     Barr
     Barton
     Benishek
     Bilirakis
     Bishop (MI)
     Bishop (UT)
     Black
     Blackburn
     Blum
     Bost
     Boustany
     Brady (TX)
     Brat
     Bridenstine
     Brooks (AL)
     Brooks (IN)
     Buchanan
     Buck
     Bucshon
     Burgess
     Byrne
     Calvert
     Carter (GA)
     Carter (TX)
     Chabot
     Chaffetz
     Clawson (FL)
     Coffman
     Cole
     Collins (GA)
     Collins (NY)
     Comstock
     Conaway
     Cook
     Costello (PA)
     Cramer
     Crawford
     Crenshaw
     Culberson
     Curbelo (FL)
     Davis, Rodney
     Denham
     Dent
     DeSantis
     DesJarlais
     Diaz-Balart
     Duffy
     Duncan (SC)
     Duncan (TN)
     Ellmers
     Emmer
     Farenthold
     Fincher
     Fitzpatrick
     Fleischmann
     Fleming
     Flores
     Forbes
     Fortenberry
     Foxx
     Franks (AZ)
     Frelinghuysen
     Garrett
     Gibbs
     Gibson
     Gohmert
     Goodlatte
     Gosar
     Gowdy
     Granger
     Graves (GA)
     Graves (LA)
     Graves (MO)
     Griffith
     Grothman
     Guinta
     Guthrie
     Hanna
     Hardy
     Harper
     Harris
     Hartzler
     Heck (NV)
     Hensarling
     Herrera Beutler
     Hice (GA)
     Hill
     Holding
     Hudson
     Huelskamp
     Huizenga (MI)
     Hultgren
     Hunter
     Hurd (TX)
     Hurt (VA)
     Issa
     Jenkins (KS)
     Jenkins (WV)
     Johnson (OH)
     Johnson, Sam
     Jolly
     Jones
     Jordan
     Joyce
     Kelly (PA)
     King (IA)
     King (NY)
     Kinzinger (IL)
     Kline
     Knight
     Labrador
     LaMalfa
     Lamborn
     Lance
     Latta
     LoBiondo
     Long
     Loudermilk
     Love
     Lucas
     Luetkemeyer
     Lummis
     MacArthur
     Marchant
     Marino
     Massie
     McCarthy
     McCaul
     McClintock
     McHenry
     McKinley
     McMorris Rodgers
     McSally
     Meadows
     Meehan
     Messer
     Mica
     Miller (FL)
     Miller (MI)
     Moolenaar
     Mooney (WV)
     Mullin
     Mulvaney
     Murphy (PA)
     Neugebauer
     Newhouse
     Noem
     Nugent
     Nunes
     Olson
     Palazzo
     Palmer
     Paulsen
     Pearce
     Perry
     Pittenger
     Pitts
     Poe (TX)
     Pompeo
     Posey
     Price (GA)
     Ratcliffe
     Reed
     Reichert
     Renacci
     Ribble
     Rice (SC)
     Rigell
     Roby
     Rogers (AL)
     Rogers (KY)
     Rohrabacher
     Rokita
     Rooney (FL)
     Ros-Lehtinen
     Roskam
     Ross
     Rothfus
     Rouzer
     Royce
     Russell
     Ryan (WI)
     Salmon
     Sanford
     Scalise
     Schock
     Schweikert
     Scott, Austin
     Sensenbrenner
     Sessions
     Shimkus
     Shuster
     Simpson
     Smith (MO)
     Smith (NE)
     Smith (NJ)
     Smith (TX)
     Stefanik
     Stewart
     Stivers
     Stutzman
     Thompson (PA)
     Thornberry
     Tiberi
     Tipton
     Trott
     Turner
     Upton
     Valadao
     Wagner
     Walberg
     Walden
     Walker
     Walorski
     Walters, Mimi
     Weber (TX)
     Webster (FL)
     Wenstrup
     Westerman
     Westmoreland
     Whitfield
     Williams
     Wilson (SC)
     Wittman
     Womack
     Woodall
     Yoder
     Yoho
     Young (IA)
     Young (IN)
     Zeldin
     Zinke

                               NOES--186

     Adams
     Aguilar
     Ashford
     Bass
     Beatty
     Becerra
     Bera
     Beyer
     Bishop (GA)
     Blumenauer
     Bonamici
     Boyle (PA)
     Brady (PA)
     Brown (FL)
     Brownley (CA)
     Bustos
     Butterfield
     Capps
     Capuano
     Cardenas
     Carney
     Carson (IN)
     Cartwright
     Castor (FL)
     Castro (TX)
     Cicilline
     Clark (MA)
     Clarke (NY)
     Clay
     Cleaver
     Clyburn
     Cohen
     Connolly
     Conyers
     Cooper
     Costa
     Courtney
     Crowley
     Cuellar
     Cummings
     Davis (CA)
     Davis, Danny
     DeFazio
     DeGette
     Delaney
     DeLauro
     DelBene
     DeSaulnier
     Deutch
     Dingell
     Doggett
     Dold
     Doyle (PA)
     Edwards
     Ellison
     Engel
     Eshoo
     Esty
     Farr
     Fattah
     Foster
     Frankel (FL)
     Fudge
     Gabbard
     Gallego
     Garamendi
     Graham
     Grayson
     Green, Al
     Green, Gene
     Grijalva
     Hahn
     Hastings
     Heck (WA)
     Higgins
     Himes
     Hinojosa
     Honda
     Hoyer
     Huffman
     Israel
     Jackson Lee
     Jeffries
     Johnson (GA)
     Johnson, E. B.
     Kaptur
     Katko
     Keating
     Kelly (IL)
     Kennedy
     Kildee
     Kilmer
     Kind
     Kirkpatrick
     Kuster
     Langevin
     Larsen (WA)
     Larson (CT)
     Lawrence
     Levin
     Lewis
     Lieu (CA)
     Lipinski
     Loebsack
     Lowenthal
     Lowey
     Lujan Grisham (NM)
     Lujan, Ben Ray (NM)
     Lynch
     Maloney, Carolyn
     Maloney, Sean
     Matsui
     McCollum
     McDermott
     McGovern
     McNerney
     Meeks
     Meng
     Moore
     Moulton
     Murphy (FL)
     Nadler
     Napolitano
     Neal
     Nolan
     Norcross
     O'Rourke
     Pallone
     Pascrell
     Payne
     Pelosi
     Perlmutter
     Peters
     Peterson
     Pingree
     Pocan
     Poliquin
     Polis
     Price (NC)
     Quigley
     Rangel
     Rice (NY)
     Richmond
     Roybal-Allard
     Ruiz
     Ruppersberger
     Rush
     Ryan (OH)
     Sanchez, Linda T.
     Sanchez, Loretta
     Sarbanes
     Schakowsky
     Schiff
     Schrader
     Scott (VA)
     Scott, David
     Serrano
     Sewell (AL)
     Sherman
     Sinema
     Sires
     Slaughter
     Smith (WA)
     Speier
     Swalwell (CA)
     Takai
     Takano
     Thompson (CA)
     Thompson (MS)
     Titus
     Tonko
     Torres
     Tsongas
     Van Hollen
     Vargas
     Veasey
     Vela
     Velazquez
     Visclosky
     Walz
     Wasserman Schultz
     Waters, Maxine
     Watson Coleman
     Welch
     Wilson (FL)
     Yarmuth

                             NOT VOTING--8

     Chu (CA)
     Duckworth
     Gutierrez
     Lee
     Lofgren
     Nunnelee
     Roe (TN)
     Young (AK)


                Announcement by the Speaker Pro Tempore

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (during the vote). There are 2 minutes 
remaining.

                              {time}  1705

  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

  Mr. GUTIERREZ. Mr. Speaker, I was unavoidably absent in the House 
chamber for votes on Wednesday, January 28, 2015 through Tuesday, 
February 3, 2015.
  Had I been present on Wednesday, January 28, 2015, I would have voted 
``yea'' on roll call vote 49, and ``nay'' on roll call vote 50 against 
final passage of H.R. 351, the LNG Permitting Certainty and 
Transparency Act.
  Had I been present on Monday, February 2, 2015, I would have voted 
``yea'' on roll call vote 51, ``yea'' on roll call vote 52, and ``yea'' 
on roll call vote 53.
  On Tuesday, February 3, 2015 I would have voted ``nay'' on roll call 
vote 54, ``nay'' on roll call vote 55, and ``nay'' on roll call vote 
56. I would have voted ``yea'' on roll call vote 57, and finally I 
would have voted ``nay'' on roll call vote 58 in strong opposition to 
H.R. 596, the 56th vote to repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable 
Care Act.


                          PERSONAL EXPLANATION

  Mr. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I was unable to vote today because 
of a serious illness in my family. Had I been present, I would have 
voted: Roll Call #57--Nay; Roll Call #58--Yea.

                          ____________________