[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 24 (Thursday, February 12, 2015)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E203]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           H.R. 596, A BILL TO REPEAL THE AFFORDABLE CARE ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN

                              of maryland

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, February 12, 2015

  Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Mr. Speaker, once again, House Republicans are 
wasting America's time with another pointless vote to repeal the 
Affordable Care Act. If this bill were to become law, it would rip away 
affordable health insurance coverage from millions of Americans, allow 
insurance companies to once again deny coverage based on pre-existing 
health conditions, and increase costs for seniors with Medicare.
  We could spend our time debating and voting on legislation to promote 
economic growth and ensure that American workers share in the economic 
gains that they help produce. We could debate and vote on ways to boost 
middle-class take-home pay through targeted tax reforms, paid for by 
reducing tax giveaways to special interests and the wealthy. We could 
have a vote in the House--at long last--on bipartisan immigration 
reform legislation, or on a plan to replace meat-ax sequestration 
spending cuts with a smarter deficit-reduction plan.
  Instead, we vote for the 56th time on whether to repeal or undermine 
a law that has already done so much to make insurance companies more 
accountable, hold down the growth of health spending, and improve 
American families' economic security by making sure they all have 
access to affordable health insurance. The Affordable Care Act is not 
perfect. Like Medicare and Social Security before it, the law will 
benefit from adjustments over time. If Republicans were serious about 
improving the United States' health care system, we would sit down and 
hammer out real improvements to the Affordable Care Act based on what 
we have learned as the law has taken effect. Instead, we are voting on 
a bill that basically says we can pretend that more than four years' 
worth of public- and private-sector actions implementing the Affordable 
Care Act to make affordable health care in this country a reality can 
simply be swept aside. This is nothing more than a Tea Party talking-
point fantasy masquerading as a piece of legislation. And after four 
years, we are still waiting for the Republican majority to fulfill 
their promise to develop a replacement for the Affordable Care Act.
  Finally, I am very curious to see how Congressional Republicans will 
square this vote to repeal the Affordable Care Act with their much-
vaunted promise to develop a balanced budget. The Republican budgets 
for the last two years would not have come anywhere close to balancing 
without the revenues and health care savings generated by the 
Affordable Care Act. There is a glaring inconsistency here.
  Enough is enough. It is time for our Republican colleagues to get 
over their fixation on bashing the Affordable Care Act and instead get 
on with the real work of rebuilding a prosperous American middle class.

                          ____________________