[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and Affordable Care Act (Public Law 111-148) is repealed, and
the provisions of law amended or repealed by such Act are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repealed, and the provisions of law amended or repealed by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.
____________________