[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 3 (Wednesday, January 6, 2016)]
[House]
[Pages H52-H67]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   RESTORING AMERICANS' HEALTHCARE FREEDOM RECONCILIATION ACT OF 2015

  Mr. TOM PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 
579, I call up the bill (H.R. 3762) to provide for reconciliation 
pursuant to section 2002 of the concurrent resolution on the budget for 
fiscal year 2016, with the Senate amendment thereto, and ask for its 
immediate consideration.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Hultgren). The Clerk will designate the 
Senate amendment.
  Senate amendment:

       Strike all after the enacting clause and insert the 
     following:

            TITLE I--HEALTH, EDUCATION, LABOR, AND PENSIONS

     SEC. 101. THE PREVENTION AND PUBLIC HEALTH FUND.

       (a) In General.--Subsection (b) of section 4002 of the 
     Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (42 U.S.C. 300u-
     11) is amended--

[[Page H53]]

       (1) in paragraph (2), by striking ``2017'' and inserting 
     ``2015''; and
       (2) by striking paragraphs (3) through (5).
       (b) Rescission of Unobligated Funds.--Of the funds made 
     available by such section 4002, the unobligated balance is 
     rescinded.

     SEC. 102. COMMUNITY HEALTH CENTER PROGRAM.

       Effective as if included in the enactment of the Medicare 
     Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (Public Law 114-
     10, 129 Stat. 87), paragraph (1) of section 221(a) of such 
     Act is amended by inserting after ``Section 10503(b)(1)(E) of 
     the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (42 U.S.C. 
     254b-2(b)(1)(E)) is amended'' the following: ``by striking 
     `$3,600,000,000' and inserting `$3,835,000,000' and''.

     SEC. 103. TERRITORIES.

       Section 1323(c) of the Patient Protection and Affordable 
     Care Act (42 U.S.C. 18043(c)) is amended by adding at the end 
     the following:
       ``(3) No force and effect.--Effective January 1, 2018, this 
     subsection shall have no force or effect.''.

     SEC. 104. REINSURANCE, RISK CORRIDOR, AND RISK ADJUSTMENT 
                   PROGRAMS.

       (a) Transitional Reinsurance Program for Individual 
     Market.--Section 1341 of the Patient Protection and 
     Affordable Care Act (42 U.S.C. 18061) is amended by adding at 
     the end the following:
       ``(e) No Force and Effect.--Effective January 1, 2016, the 
     Secretary shall not collect fees and shall not make payments 
     under this section.''.

     SEC. 105. SUPPORT FOR STATE RESPONSE TO SUBSTANCE ABUSE 
                   PUBLIC HEALTH CRISIS AND URGENT MENTAL HEALTH 
                   NEEDS.

       (a) In General.--There are authorized to be appropriated, 
     and are appropriated, out of monies in the Treasury not 
     otherwise obligated, $750,000,000 for each of fiscal years 
     2016 and 2017, to the Secretary of Health and Human Services 
     (referred to in this section as the ``Secretary'') to award 
     grants to States to address the substance abuse public health 
     crisis or to respond to urgent mental health needs within the 
     State. In awarding grants under this section, the Secretary 
     may give preference to States with an incidence or prevalence 
     of substance use disorders that is substantial relative to 
     other States or to States that identify mental health needs 
     within their communities that are urgent relative to such 
     needs of other States. Funds appropriated under this 
     subsection shall remain available until expended.
       (b) Use of Funds.--Grants awarded to a State under 
     subsection (a) shall be used for one or more of the following 
     public health-related activities:
       (1) Improving State prescription drug monitoring programs.
       (2) Implementing prevention activities, and evaluating such 
     activities to identify effective strategies to prevent 
     substance abuse.
       (3) Training for health care practitioners, such as best 
     practices for prescribing opioids, pain management, 
     recognizing potential cases of substance abuse, referral of 
     patients to treatment programs, and overdose prevention.
       (4) Supporting access to health care services provided by 
     federally certified opioid treatment programs or other 
     appropriate health care providers to treat substance use 
     disorders or mental health needs.
       (5) Other public health-related activities, as the State 
     determines appropriate, related to addressing the substance 
     abuse public health crisis or responding to urgent mental 
     health needs within the State.

                           TITLE II--FINANCE

     SEC. 201. RECAPTURE EXCESS ADVANCE PAYMENTS OF PREMIUM TAX 
                   CREDITS.

       Subparagraph (B) of section 36B(f)(2) of the Internal 
     Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the end the 
     following new clause:
       ``(iii) Nonapplicability of limitation.--This subparagraph 
     shall not apply to taxable years ending after December 31, 
     2015, and before January 1, 2018.''.

     SEC. 202. PREMIUM TAX CREDIT AND COST-SHARING SUBSIDIES.

       (a) Repeal of Premium Tax Credit.--Subpart C of part IV of 
     subchapter A of chapter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of 
     1986 is amended by striking section 36B.
       (b) Repeal of Cost-sharing Subsidy.--Section 1402 of the 
     Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is repealed.
       (c) Repeal of Eligibility Determinations.--The following 
     sections of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act 
     are repealed:
       (1) Section 1411 (other than subsection (i), the last 
     sentence of subsection (e)(4)(A)(ii), and such provisions of 
     such section solely to the extent related to the application 
     of the last sentence of subsection (e)(4)(A)(ii)).
       (2) Section 1412.
       (d) Protecting Americans by Repeal of Disclosure Authority 
     To Carry Out Eligibility Requirements for Certain Programs.--
       (1) In general.--Paragraph (21) of section 6103(l) of the 
     Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the end 
     the following new subparagraph:
       ``(D) Termination.--No disclosure may be made under this 
     paragraph after December 31, 2017.''.
       (e) Effective Dates.--
       (1) Premium tax credit.--The amendment made by subsection 
     (a) shall apply to taxable years beginning after December 31, 
     2017.
       (2) Cost sharing-subsidies and eligibility 
     determinations.--The repeals in subsection (b) and (c) shall 
     take effect on December 31, 2017.
       (3) Protecting americans by rescinding disclosure 
     authority.--The amendments made by subsection (d) shall take 
     effect on December 31, 2017.

     SEC. 203. SMALL BUSINESS TAX CREDIT.

       (a) In General.--Section 45R of the Internal Revenue Code 
     of 1986 is amended by adding at the end the following new 
     subsection:
       ``(j) Shall Not Apply.--This section shall not apply with 
     respect to amounts paid or incurred in taxable years 
     beginning after December 31, 2017.''.
       (b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by this section 
     shall apply to amounts paid or incurred in taxable years 
     beginning after December 31, 2017.

     SEC. 204. INDIVIDUAL MANDATE.

       (a) In General.--Section 5000A(c) of the Internal Revenue 
     Code of 1986 is amended--
       (1) in paragraph (2)(B) by striking clauses (ii) and (iii) 
     and inserting the following:
       ``(ii) Zero percent for taxable years beginning after 
     2014.'', and
       (2) in paragraph (3)--
       (A) by striking ``$695'' in subparagraph (A) and inserting 
     ``$0'',
       (B) by striking ``and $325 for 2015'' in subparagraph (B), 
     and
       (C) by striking subparagraph (D).
       (b) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section 
     shall apply to months beginning after December 31, 2014.

     SEC. 205. EMPLOYER MANDATE.

       (a) In General.--
       (1) Paragraph (1) of section 4980H(c) of the Internal 
     Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by inserting ``($0 in the 
     case of months beginning after December 31, 2014)'' after 
     ``$2,000''.
       (2) Paragraph (1) of section 4980H(b) of the Internal 
     Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by inserting ``($0 in the 
     case of months beginning after December 31, 2014)'' after 
     ``$3,000''.
       (b) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section 
     shall apply to months beginning after December 31, 2014.

     SEC. 206. FEDERAL PAYMENTS TO STATES.

       (a) In General.--Notwithstanding section 504(a), 
     1902(a)(23), 1903(a), 2002, 2005(a)(4), 2102(a)(7), or 
     2105(a)(1) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 704(a), 
     1396a(a)(23), 1396b(a), 1397a, 1397d(a)(4), 1397bb(a)(7), 
     1397ee(a)(1)), or the terms of any Medicaid waiver in effect 
     on the date of enactment of this Act that is approved under 
     section 1115 or 1915 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 
     1315, 1396n), for the 1-year period beginning on the date of 
     enactment of this Act, no Federal funds provided from a 
     program referred to in this subsection that is considered 
     direct spending for any year may be made available to a State 
     for payments to a prohibited entity, whether made directly to 
     the prohibited entity or through a managed care organization 
     under contract with the State.
       (b) Definitions.--In this section:
       (1) Prohibited entity.--The term ``prohibited entity'' 
     means an entity, including its affiliates, subsidiaries, 
     successors, and clinics--
       (A) that, as of the date of enactment of this Act--
       (i) is an organization described in section 501(c)(3) of 
     the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 and exempt from tax under 
     section 501(a) of such Code;
       (ii) is an essential community provider described in 
     section 156.235 of title 45, Code of Federal Regulations (as 
     in effect on the date of enactment of this Act), that is 
     primarily engaged in family planning services, reproductive 
     health, and related medical care; and
       (iii) provides for abortions, other than an abortion--

       (I) if the pregnancy is the result of an act of rape or 
     incest; or
       (II) in the case where a woman suffers from a physical 
     disorder, physical injury, or physical illness that would, as 
     certified by a physician, place the woman in danger of death 
     unless an abortion is performed, including a life-endangering 
     physical condition caused by or arising from the pregnancy 
     itself; and

       (B) for which the total amount of Federal and State 
     expenditures under the Medicaid program under title XIX of 
     the Social Security Act in fiscal year 2014 made directly to 
     the entity and to any affiliates, subsidiaries, successors, 
     or clinics of the entity, or made to the entity and to any 
     affiliates, subsidiaries, successors, or clinics of the 
     entity as part of a nationwide health care provider network, 
     exceeded $350,000,000.
       (2) Direct spending.--The term ``direct spending'' has the 
     meaning given that term under section 250(c) of the Balanced 
     Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (2 U.S.C. 
     900(c)).

     SEC. 207. MEDICAID.

       The Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 301 et seq.) is 
     amended--
       (1) in section 1108(g)(5), by striking ``2019'' and 
     inserting ``2017'';
       (2) in section 1902--
       (A) in subsection (a)(10)(A), in each of clauses (i)(VIII) 
     and (ii)(XX), by inserting ``and ending December 31, 2017,'' 
     after ``January 1, 2014,'';
       (B) in subsection (a)(47)(B), by inserting ``and provided 
     that any such election shall cease to be effective on January 
     1, 2018, and no such election shall be made after that date'' 
     before the semicolon at the end; and
       (C) in subsection (l)(2)(C), by inserting ``and ending 
     December 31, 2017,'' after ``January 1, 2014,'';
       (3) in each of sections 1902(gg)(2) and 2105(d)(3)(A), by 
     striking ``September 30, 2019'' and inserting ``September 30, 
     2017'';
       (4) in section 1905--
       (A) in the first sentence of subsection (b), by inserting 
     ``(50 percent on or after January 1, 2018)'' after ``55 
     percent'';
       (B) in subsection (y)(1), by striking the semicolon at the 
     end of subparagraph (B) and all that follows through 
     ``thereafter''; and
       (C) in subsection (z)(2)--
       (i) in subparagraph (A), by striking ``each year 
     thereafter'' and inserting ``through 2017''; and

[[Page H54]]

       (ii) in subparagraph (B)(ii), by striking the semicolon at 
     the end of subclause (IV) and all that follows through ``100 
     percent'';
       (5) in section 1915(k)(2), by striking ``during the period 
     described in paragraph (1)'' and inserting ``on or after the 
     date referred to in paragraph (1) and before January 1, 
     2018'';
       (6) in section 1920(e), by adding at the end the following: 
     ``This subsection shall not apply after December 31, 2017.'';
       (7) in section 1937(b)(5), by adding at the end the 
     following: ``This paragraph shall not apply after December 
     31, 2017.''; and
       (8) in section 1943(a), by inserting ``and before January 
     1, 2018,'' after ``January 1, 2014,''.

     SEC. 208. REPEAL OF DSH ALLOTMENT REDUCTIONS.

       Section 1923(f) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 
     1396r-4(f)) is amended by striking paragraphs (7) and (8).

     SEC. 209. REPEAL OF THE TAX ON EMPLOYEE HEALTH INSURANCE 
                   PREMIUMS AND HEALTH PLAN BENEFITS.

       (a) In General.--Chapter 43 of the Internal Revenue Code of 
     1986 is amended by striking section 4980I.
       (b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by subsection (a) 
     shall apply to taxable years beginning after December 31, 
     2017.

     SEC. 210. REPEAL OF TAX ON OVER-THE-COUNTER MEDICATIONS.

       (a) HSAs.--Subparagraph (A) of section 223(d)(2) of the 
     Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by striking ``Such 
     term'' and all that follows through the period.
       (b) Archer MSAs.--Subparagraph (A) of section 220(d)(2) of 
     the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by striking 
     ``Such term'' and all that follows through the period.
       (c) Health Flexible Spending Arrangements and Health 
     Reimbursement Arrangements.--Section 106 of the Internal 
     Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by striking subsection (f).
       (d) Effective Dates.--
       (1) Distributions from savings accounts.--The amendments 
     made by subsections (a) and (b) shall apply to amounts paid 
     with respect to taxable years beginning after December 31, 
     2015.
       (2) Reimbursements.--The amendment made by subsection (c) 
     shall apply to expenses incurred with respect to taxable 
     years beginning after December 31, 2015.

     SEC. 211. REPEAL OF TAX ON HEALTH SAVINGS ACCOUNTS.

       (a) HSAs.--Section 223(f)(4)(A) of the Internal Revenue 
     Code of 1986 is amended by striking ``20 percent'' and 
     inserting ``10 percent''.
       (b) Archer MSAs.--Section 220(f)(4)(A) of the Internal 
     Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by striking ``20 percent'' 
     and inserting ``15 percent''.
       (c) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section 
     shall apply to distributions made after December 31, 2015.

     SEC. 212. REPEAL OF LIMITATIONS ON CONTRIBUTIONS TO FLEXIBLE 
                   SPENDING ACCOUNTS.

       (a) In General.--Section 125 of the Internal Revenue Code 
     of 1986 is amended by striking subsection (i).
       (b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by this section 
     shall apply to taxable years beginning after December 31, 
     2015.

     SEC. 213. REPEAL OF TAX ON PRESCRIPTION MEDICATIONS.

       Subsection (j) of section 9008 of the Patient Protection 
     and Affordable Care Act is amended to read as follows:
       ``(j) Repeal.--This section shall apply to calendar years 
     beginning after December 31, 2010, and ending before January 
     1, 2016.''.

     SEC. 214. REPEAL OF MEDICAL DEVICE EXCISE TAX.

       (a) In General.--Chapter 32 of the Internal Revenue Code of 
     1986 is amended by striking subchapter E.
       (b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by this section 
     shall apply to sales in calendar quarters beginning after 
     December 31, 2015.

     SEC. 215. REPEAL OF HEALTH INSURANCE TAX.

       Subsection (j) of section 9010 of the Patient Protection 
     and Affordable Care Act is amended to read as follows:
       ``(j) Repeal.--This section shall apply to calendar years 
     beginning after December 31, 2013, and ending before January 
     1, 2016.''.

     SEC. 216. REPEAL OF ELIMINATION OF DEDUCTION FOR EXPENSES 
                   ALLOCABLE TO MEDICARE PART D SUBSIDY.

       (a) In General.--Section 139A of the Internal Revenue Code 
     of 1986 is amended by adding at the end the following new 
     sentence: ``This section shall not be taken into account for 
     purposes of determining whether any deduction is allowable 
     with respect to any cost taken into account in determining 
     such payment.''.
       (b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by this section 
     shall apply to taxable years beginning after December 31, 
     2015.

     SEC. 217. REPEAL OF CHRONIC CARE TAX.

       (a) In General.--Subsection (a) of section 213 of the 
     Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by striking ``10 
     percent'' and inserting ``7.5 percent''.
       (b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by this section 
     shall apply to taxable years beginning after December 31, 
     2015.

     SEC. 218. REPEAL OF MEDICARE TAX INCREASE.

       (a) In General.--Subsection (b) of section 3101 of the 
     Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended to read as follows:
       ``(b) Hospital Insurance.--In addition to the tax imposed 
     by the preceding subsection, there is hereby imposed on the 
     income of every individual a tax equal to 1.45 percent of the 
     wages (as defined in section 3121(a)) received by such 
     individual with respect to employment (as defined in section 
     3121(b).''.
       (b) SECA.--Subsection (b) of section 1401 of the Internal 
     Revenue Code of 1986 is amended to read as follows:
       ``(b) Hospital Insurance.--In addition to the tax imposed 
     by the preceding subsection, there shall be imposed for each 
     taxable year, on the self-employment income of every 
     individual, a tax equal to 2.9 percent of the amount of the 
     self-employment income for such taxable year.''.
       (c) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section 
     shall apply with respect to remuneration received after, and 
     taxable years beginning after, December 31, 2015.

     SEC. 219. REPEAL OF TANNING TAX.

       (a) In General.--The Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is 
     amended by striking chapter 49.
       (b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by this section 
     shall apply to services performed on or after December 31, 
     2015.

     SEC. 220. REPEAL OF NET INVESTMENT TAX.

       (a) In General.--Subtitle A of the Internal Revenue Code of 
     1986 is amended by striking chapter 2A.
       (b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by this section 
     shall apply to taxable years beginning after December 31, 
     2015.

     SEC. 221. REMUNERATION.

       Paragraph (6) of section 162(m) of the Internal Revenue 
     Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the end the following 
     new subparagraph:
       ``(I) Termination.--This paragraph shall not apply to 
     taxable years beginning after December 31, 2015.''.

     SEC. 222. ECONOMIC SUBSTANCE DOCTRINE.

       (a) In General.--Subsection (o) of section 7701 of the 
     Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is repealed.
       (b) Penalty for Underpayments.--Paragraph (6) of section 
     6662(b) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is repealed.
       (c) Increased Penalty for Nondisclosed Transactions.--
     Subsection (i) of section 6662 of the Internal Revenue Code 
     of 1986 is repealed.
       (d) Reasonable Cause Exception for Underpayments.--
     Paragraph (2) of section 6664(c) of the Internal Revenue Code 
     of 1986 is repealed.
       (e) Reasonable Cause Exception for Nondisclosed 
     Transactions.--Paragraph (2) of section 6664(d) of the 
     Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is repealed.
       (f) Erroneous Claim for Refund or Credit.--Subsection (c) 
     of section 6676 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is 
     repealed.
       (g) Effective Date.--The repeals made by this section shall 
     apply to transactions entered into, and to underpayments, 
     understatements, or refunds and credits attributable to 
     transactions entered into, after December 31, 2015.

     SEC. 223. BUDGETARY SAVINGS FOR EXTENDING MEDICARE SOLVENCY.

       As a result of policies contained in this Act, the 
     Secretary of the Treasury shall transfer to the Federal 
     Hospital Insurance Trust Fund under section 1817 of the 
     Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395i) $379,300,000,000 (which 
     represents the full amount of on-budget savings during the 
     period of fiscal years 2016 through 2025) for extending 
     Medicare solvency, to remain available until expended.

               Motion Offered by Mr. Tom Price of Georgia

  Mr. TOM PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I have a motion at the desk.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Clerk will designate the motion.
  The text of the motion is as follows:

       Mr. Price of Georgia moves that the House concur in the 
     Senate amendment to H.R. 3762.

                              {time}  1600

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to House Resolution 579, the motion 
shall be debatable for 1 hour equally divided and controlled by the 
chair and ranking minority member of the Committee on the Budget.
  The gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Tom Price) and the gentleman from 
Maryland (Mr. Van Hollen) each will control 30 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Georgia.


                             General Leave

  Mr. TOM PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that 
all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend 
their remarks and insert extraneous material on H.R. 3762, the 
Restoring Americans' Healthcare Freedom Reconciliation Act of 2015.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Georgia?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. TOM PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I 
may consume.
  This is a big day. For the first time--for the first time--since the 
law was enacted, Congress is one vote away from sending a broad repeal 
of ObamaCare to the President's desk. This marks a significant step in 
the fight for patient-centered health care for all Americans. It will 
lay the foundation for how Congress can begin to roll back the 
disastrous policies that are destroying the sacred doctor-patient 
relationship.
  The legislation before us today is critical to our larger effort to 
rid America's healthcare system from undue Washington interference and 
bureaucratic dictates and pave the way for real, positive, patient-
centered

[[Page H55]]

health reform that puts patients and families and doctors in charge of 
healthcare decisions.
  This bill repeals the most corrosive components of ObamaCare. It 
eliminates nearly a trillion dollars in onerous ObamaCare taxes and 
eliminates the individual and employer mandate penalties, key pillars 
of the ObamaCare scheme.
  Under ObamaCare, millions of Americans have been added to a Medicaid 
system that fails to provide its beneficiaries with adequate access to 
physicians and other providers. We end that.
  Expanding Medicaid is not the answer. Reforming Medicaid so that 
States have greater flexibility to care for those in need is the 
answer.
  This legislation also repeals the premium subsidies and tax credits 
which have failed to control and, in fact, have increased health 
coverage costs. The current law has made healthcare coverage less 
affordable and less accessible for millions of Americans.
  All of this would be done on a timeline to allow for a new, positive 
solution that will make the purchase of health insurance financially 
feasible for all Americans and do so in a way that gives individuals, 
families, and employers the power to choose the type of coverage that 
they want for themselves, not that Washington forces them to buy.
  H.R. 3762 also halts Federal funding for abortion providers that are 
prohibited under this legislation. It increases--increases, Mr. 
Speaker--the funding for community healthcare centers to help direct 
more resources to women's direct care. Taken together, the 
Congressional Budget Office estimates that this bill would reduce the 
deficit by $516 billion over the next decade.
  Seven separate committees and the full House and Senate have 
contributed to this effort. The entire reconciliation would not have 
been possible had the House and Senate not first agreed to a budget 
resolution conference agreement. The budget gave Congress the authority 
to pursue the reconciliation process and, through that, the opportunity 
to put this repeal of ObamaCare on the President's desk.
  Ultimately, however, the American people are less interested in 
process and procedure. They want results, and they want to know who is 
fighting to improve their way of life, who is working to provide relief 
to the biggest challenges facing individuals and families and job 
creators today.
  No matter how you slice it, ObamaCare is harming the American people. 
Premiums and deductibles and other out-of-pocket costs are going up, 
not down, as the President had promised. Millions of Americans have 
been kicked off the coverage that they had. That is less access and 
fewer choices at a higher cost. That is exactly the opposite direction 
we need to be going, and the American people know it.
  We all want a healthcare system that is affordable and accessible and 
responsive to our individual needs, full of choices and innovative 
treatment options and of the highest quality. That is not too much to 
ask, Mr. Speaker. It is certainly achievable, but only if we pursue 
patient-centered solutions that are focused on embracing those 
principles in health care that we all hold dear.
  I look forward to this debate and the opportunity to share with the 
American people how we solve this challenge, the challenge in America's 
healthcare system, by putting them in charge of their healthcare 
decisions, not Washington.
  I encourage my colleagues to support this resolution, this measure. 
Let's take this final step in reconciliation to send an ObamaCare 
repeal bill to the President's desk.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  This is a sad and shameful way to begin the new year 2016 here in the 
United States Congress.
  This bill is entitled Restoring Americans' Healthcare Freedom 
Reconciliation Act, the freedom of health insurance companies to once 
again deny health care to people based on preexisting conditions.
  It may be a new year, Mr. Speaker, but here we go again. We are in 
this Congress, on the floor of this House for the 62nd time with this 
effort to dismantle the Affordable Care Act and, to add insult to 
injury, to deny millions of women access to healthcare choices by 
targeting Planned Parenthood.
  While the calendar has changed, the Tea Party Republican agenda 
remains the same. Despite all the pressing issues we face in this 
country at home and abroad, the only thing and the first thing our 
Republican colleagues decide to bring to the floor of the House as the 
most pressing business to start 2016 is to take away access to 
affordable care from 22 million Americans and deny access to affordable 
care for millions of American women.
  That 22 million figure, Mr. Speaker, that is not my figure. That is 
the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office that has looked at this 
legislation and concluded that, as a result of this bill, 22 million 
Americans will lose access to their affordable health insurance. It 
will be the freedom to be uninsured, the freedom to not have any 
opportunity to have coverage when your family has healthcare needs.
  Mr. Speaker, if you look at this chart, you can see that the 
Affordable Care Act has already made a dramatic difference in bringing 
down the number of uninsured in the United States of America, yet here 
we are in a new year, and the first act of this Republican Congress 
will be to turn back the clock and change that figure.
  I really hope, Mr. Speaker, that our colleagues will begin to focus 
on more important issues in the days ahead. Everybody knows that this 
will take about a nanosecond for the President of the United States to 
veto because the President of the United States is not going to allow 
22 million Americans to lose their access to affordable health 
insurance, and the President is not going to allow millions of 
Americans and millions of American women to lose access to reproductive 
choice and a range of healthcare options here in the United States.

  It is disturbing, shameful, and sad that this is the way we are 
starting the new year. I hope we get on to more important business, Mr. 
Speaker.
  I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. TOM PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Brady), the chairman of the Committee on Ways 
and Means, who was a leader of one of the multiple committees involved 
in this.
  Mr. BRADY of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to speak today in 
support of the Restoring Americans' Healthcare Freedom Reconciliation 
Act.
  Under the leadership of Committee on the Budget chairman, Dr. Price, 
and our Speaker, Paul Ryan, we will soon deliver an ObamaCare dismantle 
bill to the President's desk.
  By passing this legislation:
  We will fulfill our promise to use every possible tool to stop the 
President's expensive healthcare law;
  We will eliminate the unpopular mandates of the backbone of the 
Affordable Care Act;
  We will protect Americans from tax penalties for failing to purchase 
an expensive Washington-approved product that just so many people at 
home can't afford;
  We will end the tax penalties facing America's job creators who don't 
offer health insurance that meets Washington bureaucrats' very 
expensive tastes;
  We will deliver real relief from a dozen Democrat tax increases that 
drive American jobs overseas and punish American workers;
  We will protect taxpayer dollars by repealing an ObamaCare slush fund 
and ensuring that your taxpayer subsidies don't go to people who aren't 
eligible for them, and if they do, they are returned to the Treasury;
  We will--and this is important to me--demonstrate our strong 
commitment to women's health. Instead of funding Planned Parenthood and 
its gruesome practices, we will fund high-quality community health 
centers, and we will help ensure more women have access to quality 
health care.
  We are here today with a bill that cuts taxes, spending, and the 
deficit because this Congress did its job.
  In closing, while our Democrat friends often accuse us of 
relentlessly and tirelessly pursuing the repeal of the President's 
healthcare law, the reason is we are fighting for our families and our 
patients and our local businesses who have been harmed by it.

[[Page H56]]

  Yes, the President will surely veto the bill, even though this bill 
has strong popular support. My belief is that exercising your 
constitutional right and power to legislate is never wasted if you are 
fighting for principles your constituents believe in.
  Give the American people a clear moral choice. Let the President 
explain why his healthcare law is raising costs on so many American 
families and businesses. Let him stand on the wrong side of history by 
defending unethical medical practices that, frankly, many Americans 
find abhorrent.
  Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Mr. Speaker, it seems to me expanding access to 
affordable health care for 22 million Americans who didn't have it is 
being on the right side of history.
  I am now pleased to yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Colorado 
(Ms. DeGette), a distinguished member of the panel which, I am sorry to 
say, was set up as part of a witch hunt against Planned Parenthood, but 
I am glad she is there.
  Ms. DeGETTE. Mr. Speaker, the House Republican leadership has a funny 
way of wishing the working families of America Happy New Year. Under 
this bill, the first substantive legislation of 2016, women and their 
families will be hit with a one-two punch to their access to health 
care.
  First, with the latest attempt to repeal the ACA, House Republicans 
would remove the tax credits that help millions of Americans afford 
quality health insurance. When families lose that insurance, women 
would also lose their free annual wellness exams they get from their 
providers under the ACA.
  Just to pile on, at the same time millions of women would lose their 
free wellness exams, this bill would inhibit their ability to get 
affordable well-woman and family-planning services from Planned 
Parenthood. More than 3 million American women and men get essential 
health care from Planned Parenthood every year, and even more would 
need to if the ACA were repealed.
  In many parts of the country, Planned Parenthood is the only provider 
that offers access to reproductive health services within hundreds of 
miles. There are no health clinics that would take over that gap. 
Eliminating Federal funding to the organization would limit women's 
access to cancer screenings, breast exams, and so much more, and all 
because of an unfounded vendetta against Planned Parenthood.
  Happy New Year, women and families of America.
  Mr. TOM PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 3 
minutes to the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Kline), the chairman of 
the Committee on Education and the Workforce.
  Mr. KLINE. Mr. Speaker, I thank Chairman Price for yielding.
  I rise today in strong, strong support of the Restoring Americans' 
Healthcare Freedom Reconciliation Act.
  We have all heard the stories and the statistics, seen the charts. 
ObamaCare is wreaking havoc on our country, on small-business owners, 
on working families, and even on students. It is a flawed law that has 
led to higher costs for consumers, fewer full-time jobs for workers, 
and less access to trusted healthcare providers for patients.
  That is why we in Congress have been relentless in our efforts to put 
an end to ObamaCare and its harmful consequences. It is why we have 
worked to protect hardworking Americans who are still paying the price 
for the President's government takeover of health care, and it is why 
we are here today.
  The bill before us will eliminate key provisions in the President's 
healthcare law that are hurting families, small businesses, and 
schools. Under this proposal, the tax penalty levied against 
individuals who fail to purchase government-approved health insurance 
will be gone. The tax penalty levied against small businesses and 
schools that fail to provide costly, government-approved health 
insurance will be gone. The onerous and arbitrary limits on personal 
health savings accounts and flexible spending accounts will be gone. 
The punitive tax on medical innovation will be gone.
  These and other provisions in the bill will dismantle a fatally 
flawed law as well as reduce Federal spending and rein in our Nation's 
deficits by roughly half a trillion dollars. These are priorities the 
American people sent us to Washington to address, and we owe it to the 
men and women we represent to do just that.
  We have a responsibility to support this bill and to send it to the 
President's desk. I believe the President has a responsibility to sign 
it. If he does, it wouldn't be the first time the President has helped 
roll back his own healthcare law. In fact, on more than 15 separate 
occasions, the President has signed legislation repealing provisions in 
the law, not to mention the dozens of changes to the law his 
administration has carried out unilaterally.
  The legislation is an opportunity for the President to work with us 
to move the country in a better direction and show the American people 
that their priorities are our priorities.
  It is also an opportunity to demonstrate once again we are serious 
about reducing the size and cost of the Federal Government, serious 
about dismantling a healthcare law that is doing more harm than good, 
and serious about paving the way to real reform that expands access to 
affordable coverage. That is why I urge my colleagues to support this 
bill.
  In closing, I want to thank Chairman Tom Price and all of our 
colleagues who serve on the House Committee on the Budget as well as 
those who serve on the Committees on Ways and Means, Energy and 
Commerce, and Education and the Workforce. Their hard work has made it 
possible to send this important legislation to the President's desk. I 
am grateful for their efforts. Let's get on with it.

                              {time}  1615

  Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from 
Illinois (Ms. Schakowsky), the ranking member on the Select 
Investigative Panel on Planned Parenthood. She will be there looking 
after the interests of American women, I am pleased to say.
  Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Mr. Speaker, it is a committee where I serve as the 
ranking Democratic member. We call it the Select Committee to Attack 
Women's Health.
  Now, that select committee was formed last fall after hearings were 
held and at which the Republicans accused in inflammatory language that 
somehow Planned Parenthood had violated the law.
  So these three committees that have already investigated Planned 
Parenthood have found absolutely nothing wrong with their activities. 
Yet, a select committee was appointed.
  The kind of language that was used is exactly the language that the 
murderer at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado used. This kind of 
inflammatory language is used on one of the number one health providers 
for poor women in this country, and it is being attacked unnecessarily.
  Now, I serve as the ranking member on that select committee. We will 
do everything we can to not only defend Planned Parenthood, but to stop 
these relentless attacks on women's health care in this country. It is 
shameful. Enough is enough.
  Mr. TOM PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the 
gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Upton), the chairman of the Energy and 
Commerce Committee.
  Mr. UPTON. Mr. Speaker, we have a bill to restore America's 
healthcare freedom--yes, we do--one that will finally get to the 
President's desk.
  This legislation seeks to protect folks in Michigan and all across 
the country from the rising costs, fewer choices, lost coverage, and 
countless broken promises that have defined the President's healthcare 
law.
  Importantly, it would also give Congress time to enact better 
solutions focused on growing patient choice and improving patient care, 
lowering costs, providing States like Michigan greater flexibility, and 
promoting bottom-up 21st-century healthcare innovations.
  The current healthcare law relies on outdated programs of the past 
and forces a one-size-fits-all approach on our States that is 
unresponsive to patient needs. Folks in Michigan deserve better. The 
American people deserve better. And you know what? We can do better.
  I helped coauthor one commonsense plan to replace the health law. It 
is the Patient CARE Act. It is a pragmatic

[[Page H57]]

solution--in fact, the only bicameral proposal that has been offered--
that repeals the law and replaces it with patient-focused reforms that 
reduce healthcare costs and increase access to affordable, high-quality 
care.
  We empower the American people to make the best healthcare choices 
for themselves and their families. It allows Governors the flexibility 
to best provide for their citizens, all while driving down costs and 
improving quality.
  Under the proposal, no one can be denied coverage based on a 
preexisting condition. This proposal has other consumer protections as 
well. Insurance companies would be prohibited from imposing lifetime 
limits on a consumer. Dependents up to age 26 would be able to stay on 
their parents' plan, and guaranteed renewability would ensure that sick 
patients would be able to renew their coverage.
  We also provide a refundable tax credit for the most vulnerable 
consumers to buy health coverage or healthcare services of their own 
choosing, not expensive insurance that Washington would force them to 
buy or face a penalty.
  Michiganders covered under Medicaid today would also benefit. The 
reforms in the Patient CARE Act would make the Medicaid program more 
sustainable for taxpayers, and better management tools will make the 
program more efficient, fair, and accountable for everyone who depends 
on it.
  This plan and the countless solutions offered by my Republican 
colleagues in Congress shines a spotlight on a better vision for health 
care, one focused on patients, families, doctors, and insurance.
  This health law may have been enacted only a few years ago, but its 
government-centered premise is not a new one. These obsolete ideas have 
failed people time and time again. The public deserves a fresh, 
forward-looking approach that embraces 21st-century innovation.
  So we have got a solution to restore America's healthcare freedom, to 
put ObamaCare in the rearview mirror and replace it with better 
healthcare solutions like the Patient CARE Act. It is time to put 
patients first. Let them make the choices, not the government.
  Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  With all due respect to Mr. Upton and putting aside the merits of 
this bill, this is the 62nd time we are voting to repeal the Affordable 
Care Act.
  We have never seen a vote in this House on any kind of so-called 
substitute to the Affordable Care Act. Our Republican colleagues have 
been full of talk, and we haven't seen any action.
  I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Wisconsin (Ms. Moore), a 
member of the Budget Committee.
  Ms. MOORE. Mr. Speaker, I must tell you how disappointed I am that we 
are not starting the new year here with fresh, new, bipartisan 
initiatives to create jobs and to move our economy forward.
  I just feel like this is for auld lang syne. This is our 62nd vote to 
repeal or undermine the Affordable Care Act. And, Mr. Speaker, I expect 
you to break out in a few verses of ``Auld Lang Syne'' anytime now.
  Is it for auld lang syne that 22 million Americans might actually 
lose their health insurance if the President would somehow sign this 
into law?
  Is it for auld lang syne that the Republicans and you, Mr. Speaker, 
are proposing that we attack women's health once again and take away 
the primary care physician for poor women, 4 out of 10 who say is their 
only source of health care?
  Is it for auld lang syne that Planned Parenthood visitors--men and 
women--who have incomes of 150 percent or below the Federal poverty 
level will lose their health insurance?
  Is it for auld lang syne that the 62nd repeal vote is taking place so 
that half of the health centers are in rural or medically underserved 
areas?
  Let's get to work, Mr. Speaker, on fresh, new ideas and not auld lang 
syne.
  Mr. TOM PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the 
gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Rokita), the vice chairman of the Budget 
Committee.
  Mr. ROKITA. Mr. Speaker, I thank Chairman Price for his leadership. I 
am very proud of the work that the committee has done to get us to this 
point--one vote away from this bill getting to the President's desk--
because then the President will finally have a chance to right one of 
the wrongs which bears his name and to stop the horrific and unethical 
medical practices occurring at Planned Parenthood.
  This reconciliation bill repeals a number of onerous taxes created by 
the Affordable Care Act. Taxes have slowed the economic recovery, which 
means ObamaCare literally keeps people in my district, whom I care 
deeply about, from getting jobs.

  This bill represents the economic development bill the last speaker 
spoke of. And ObamaCare increases health insurance costs for most 
Americans. So instead of spending more on their families over 
Christmas, people in Indiana and all over this country paid more to 
insurance companies instead, all because of ObamaCare.
  This repeal bill will save Americans $516 billion over the next 10 
years, money they can spend as they see fit instead of how Washington 
Democrats dictated at the end of 2009. These are important steps to 
returning our healthcare system to us, where decisions are made by 
Americans and their doctors, not the Federal Government.
  Mr. Speaker, in districts such as mine, many of the plans sold on the 
ObamaCare government exchange are classified as small or extra small, 
meaning that, in many cases, less than 10 percent of the doctors in the 
area are accessible to these families. This means that many Indiana 
families have had to give up their doctor and, in some cases, travel an 
hour or more just to get basic medical attention.
  Timothy Gerking of Danville, Indiana, has seen his insurance costs 
for a family of three increase from $400 a month in 2012 to over $1,200 
a month in 2016, along with higher deductibles and copays. How is he 
supposed to save for college for his kids? How is he supposed to plan 
for retirement if he is paying $14,000 a year in premiums?
  This is all despite the President's promise that ``if you like your 
healthcare plan, you can keep it.'' That was an outright lie to the 
American people then, and ObamaCare is still one of the most insidious 
laws ever produced today.
  The President now has a chance to correct the wrong that he and the 
Democrats have done to millions of Americans. I hope that opportunity 
is taken by him when it gets to his desk.
  Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from 
Maryland (Mr. Hoyer), a friend and colleague and the Democratic whip, 
who understands that providing health care to 22 million Americans who 
didn't have it is a good thing.
  Mr. HOYER. The ranking member took the words right out of my mouth. 
There are 22 million Americans covered now that weren't covered before.
  Mr. Speaker, The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday, ``House 
Speaker Paul Ryan, starting this month, will push to turn the Chamber 
into a platform for ambitious Republican policy ideas.''
  My friend, Mr. Upton, talked about policy ideas, but Mr. Van Hollen 
correctly observed they are not on this floor. You haven't brought them 
to this floor. All you have brought is a negative. Bring a positive. 
That, presumably, is what your Speaker ought to be talking about.
  Many have been wondering what new, ambitious ideas Republicans would 
put forward to kick off this new session of the 114th Congress. Well, 
today we have the answer, the 62nd effort to repeal the Affordable Care 
Act, which everybody knows is not going anywhere.
  We have seen this fresh, new idea before. It is coupled with a vote 
to defund Planned Parenthood, which will deny millions of Americans 
access to affordable health care.
  So not only by repealing the Affordable Care Act will we deny health 
care to people, but by doing what they are doing to Planned Parenthood, 
millions of people will not have access to the health care they are 
relying on.
  What we have before us is not anything new. In fact, it is a repeal 
of health reform that goes even further than the Republicans brought to 
the House floor in October, this time also ending tax credits and 
subsidies that enable those with modest incomes to afford health 
insurance and repealing the expansion of Medicaid.

[[Page H58]]

  The reason there is not another bill on the floor is because people 
would then see how draconian the policies are. These are components of 
the Affordable Care Act that have enabled millions of previously 
uninsured Americans to gain coverage since 2010.
  Senate Republicans took a bad bill and made it worse. I am 
disappointed that Speaker Ryan would bring it to the floor as his first 
major act of this new session of Congress.
  This reconciliation bill would cause an estimated 22 million 
Americans, as the ranking member has pointed out, to lose their health 
care, would increase premiums by approximately 20 percent, would 
provide employers with much uncertainty, and worsen the outlook for 
deficits over the long term.
  Only in the first 10-year window do you have a savings. The CBO says, 
if you go to the second 10 years, this bill is a loser and exacerbates 
the deficit.
  I urge my colleagues to join me in opposing this 62nd vote to repeal 
or undermine America's access to affordable, quality health care.
  Mr. TOM PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the 
gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Roe), a fellow physician who is the chair 
of the Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions Subcommittee of the 
Committee on Education and the Workforce.
  Mr. ROE of Tennessee. I thank Dr. Price for the work his committee 
has done.
  I practiced medicine in rural Tennessee for 30 years. I didn't talk 
about health care. I actually provided it for patients. It was a major 
reason that I ran for Congress.
  The premise of the Affordable Care Act was to increase access and 
decrease costs. Everybody in this building agrees on that. What we got 
was a 2,500-page bill that few people read that defined what you bought 
and then fined you when you didn't buy it, even if you couldn't afford 
it. That is what has actually happened.
  Healthcare decisions should be made between families, patients, and 
their doctors, not by big insurance companies and certainly not by 
Federal bureaucrats.
  So what is happening to middle class working people in this country 
today? Their out-of-pockets and copays have skyrocketed. In the 
hospital that I worked in, 60 percent of the uncollectible debt is now 
owed by people with insurance. That is because they cannot afford the 
out-of-pockets and copays.

                              {time}  1630

  We Republicans have had many ideas. Dr. Price has a bill. I 
coauthored a bill with the Republican Study Committee to replace this, 
and I will suggest, Mr. Speaker, that you will see that on this floor 
to be debated if we are successful in doing this.
  Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from 
Wisconsin (Mr. Pocan), a distinguished member of the Budget Committee.
  Mr. POCAN. Mr. Speaker, we were told just a couple of months ago on 
the floor of this Congress that there is a new day in Congress. Well, 
it doesn't feel like a new day. It feels a lot like Groundhog Day.
  I feel like Bill Murray from that early 1990s movie. I wake up, I 
shower, I get on a plane, I come to Washington, I plan on voting how to 
create jobs or help lift people's wages. Instead, I am voting on taking 
away health care from 22 million people.
  The next week, I wake up, I shower, I get on a plane, I fly to 
Washington. What do I do? I vote on taking away health insurance for 22 
million people.
  Sixty-two times this body has voted to repeal health care. But we 
have also now made a new one of a dozen times we have now devoted to 
defund Planned Parenthood which, with this body's Speaker, in my home 
State of Wisconsin, means 62,000 women last year would not have gotten 
access to health insurance.
  It is no wonder that with bad, recycled ideas like that, the public 
has such disdain for Congress. It is not a new day in Congress. It is 
just Groundhog Day.
  Mr. TOM PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the 
gentlewoman from Tennessee (Mrs. Black), a fellow healthcare 
professional, who is a member of both the Budget Committee and the Ways 
and Means Committee.
  Mrs. BLACK. Mr. Speaker, I hold in my hand Planned Parenthood's 
annual report, and in these pages, you will find the true war on women.
  By their own numbers, taxpayer funding for this organization is up, 
while preventative healthcare services are down and abortions continue 
to stand at over 320,000 a year.
  I am proud to support today's reconciliation bill to defund Planned 
Parenthood and to redirect those dollars to true preventative 
healthcare services for women, because Americans, and women, in 
particular, deserve better than this.
  We may not be able to change the President's heart on this issue--
goodness knows we have tried--but we can put him on record. If this 
President truly thinks that my constituents' tax dollars should fund 
this scandal-ridden abortion giant, that is on his conscience, but he 
should at least be forced to put a pen on paper and explain the belief 
to the American people.
  Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from 
Michigan (Mr. Levin), the ranking member of the Ways and Means 
Committee.
  (Mr. LEVIN asked and was given permission to revise and extend his 
remarks.)
  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. Speaker, this bill is reckless and has zero chance of 
becoming law. But most significantly, it is heartless. What it says 
from Republicans here to millions, an Unhappy New Year. You could take 
healthcare insurance away from 22 million people. To them, these 22 
million, from Republicans, an Unhappy New Year.
  It will repeal funding for Medicaid expansion in 30 States and the 
District of Columbia, leaving 14 million low-income Americans without 
health care. To those 14 million Americans, from House Republicans, an 
Unhappy New Year.
  It would eliminate the tax credits for low-income families and 
individuals, a key part of what makes ACA affordable. It would 
eliminate the individual and employer mandates, undermining the patient 
protections and access measures that helped dramatically reduce the 
rate of uninsured in this country.
  The Republicans are also using this bill to continue their 
ideological obsession with depriving women access to affordable family 
planning services and lifesaving cancer screenings by defunding Planned 
Parenthood.
  This bill deserves not only the veto that is coming, but a ``no'' 
vote on the floor of this House.
  Mr. TOM PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the 
gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Boustany), a fellow physician and member 
of the Ways and Means Committee.
  Mr. BOUSTANY. I thank Chairman Price for yielding time.
  Mr. Speaker, this is an important day in the House of Representatives 
because the House is preparing to send a package directly to the 
President. There will be no Senate filibuster. We have gotten around 
that issue. This bill goes to the President directly, and he can either 
sign it or veto it. But this bill repeals the very foundation of 
ObamaCare, and it stops Planned Parenthood funding. It is as simple as 
that.
  This package is also important to me because I have a provision in 
there that I authored that repeals this employer mandate. This has been 
a really bad piece of legislation that was in place, this employer 
mandate, because it has forced small businesses to limit hiring or to 
resort to part-time employees. This is just a terrible thing, at a time 
when unemployment has been high and people are looking for work.
  This bill will help undermine and get rid of the foundation of 
ObamaCare which, I know as a physician, has accelerated the negative 
trends in health care, of which there are many. I can't get into all of 
them now, but that is not the affordable, patient-centered health care 
that the American people deserve.
  We can do much better. We will do much better. This is the first 
step.
  Let's put this on the President's desk. Let's call his hand, and 
let's either force him to veto this, which we will try to override it, 
or sign it.
  Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Mr. Speaker, I don't think that the President is 
going to mull over this decision for very long. He is going to veto 
this because the President doesn't want to deny 22

[[Page H59]]

million Americans access to affordable care, which is exactly what the 
nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office tells us is what this will do, 
and he doesn't want to deny access to health care to millions of women 
and families.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. 
Pallone), the distinguished ranking member on the Energy and Commerce 
Committee.
  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, here we are again. It is a new year and a 
new session of Congress, but House Republicans are yet again up to 
their old partisan tricks.
  Today, House Republicans have chosen to spend the first week of 2016 
attacking women's health with a radical GOP reconciliation bill which 
would defund Planned Parenthood and strip away affordable family 
planning services and lifesaving care for millions of women across the 
country.
  Overall, this is the 11th time the House majority has voted to attack 
women's health in this Congress, including 4 prior votes to defund 
Planned Parenthood. Meanwhile, it is also the 62nd repeal vote of the 
Affordable Care Act.
  Mr. Speaker, this reconciliation bill is futile. It is political. It 
is unfortunate. We have a lot of work to do to help working families in 
this country, and today's bill reverses great progress in healthcare 
coverage and access and increases the deficit.
  In fact, CBO estimates that this extreme legislation would increase 
the uninsured by about 22 million Americans after 2017. We also know 
that, if defunded, Planned Parenthood's 2.7 million patients would be 
left without care, resulting in dangerous consequences.
  Just look at what is happening in States that have already 
implemented this radical agenda. In Indiana, such policies led to an 
HIV epidemic, and in Texas, it left tens of thousands of women without 
access to contraceptive care and increased incidences of life-
threatening at-home abortions.
  We can't allow the rest of the country to go down this dangerous 
path, all because of the ideological and political whims of 
politicians.
  Mr. Speaker, I can go on and on about the consequences of this bill, 
but driven by an extreme agenda, Republican policies are harmful, and 
they have to be rejected. I urge a ``no'' vote.
  Mr. TOM PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, may I inquire as to the time 
remaining on each side, please?
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Georgia has 13 minutes 
remaining. The gentleman from Maryland has 16\1/2\ minutes remaining.
  Mr. TOM PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the 
gentlewoman from Tennessee (Mrs. Blackburn), who has been a champion 
for patient-centered health care and is the vice chairman of the Energy 
and Commerce Committee.
  Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Speaker, the lie of the year for 2013 was that 
dubious phrase, ``If you like your health care, you can keep it.'' We 
know that the deception has become obvious. And what we do know is that 
7 million Americans lost their employer-sponsored health insurance 
because of the ObamaCare bill.
  We also know how harmful this has been to seniors; $700 billion was 
raided, raided from Medicare, the Medicare trust fund, by the way.
  What we know from our constituents is that when they go to the 
exchanges and shop, they end up with a product that--we are even 
hearing from the insurance companies. There is one of them that says 
they never should have been there and they are probably going to pull 
out next year and the product is too expensive to afford and too 
expensive to use. Premiums are up by double digits in a single year. 
Out-of-pocket costs are soaring.
  This is why having an ObamaCare insurance card does not give you 
access to affordable health care. It does not give you access to 
affordable health care. It is, indeed, unaffordable.
  We know the injury will continue to hardworking Americans. That is 
why we stand united today in supporting the reconciliation bill and the 
repeal of ObamaCare.
  Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from 
Washington (Mr. McDermott), a member of the Budget Committee and the 
Ways and Means Committee.
  (Mr. McDERMOTT asked and was given permission to revise and extend 
his remarks.)
  Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker, here we are again, the same fraudulent 
bill being brought out here again.
  The gentleman from Michigan says that they have a plan. They have a 
plan. We have been waiting 5 years for you to bring that plan to the 
floor and let us have a vote on it.
  There is no plan that you are willing to bring to the floor because 
you do not care about the American people and their health security. 
Taking it away from 22 million people and assaulting women with this 
bill is simply clear evidence that you do not care what happens.
  Now, you may think this is good election year politics. But back in 
the States, the Republicans--even the Governor of Kentucky, a 
Republican, has decided, you know, I don't want to take it away from 
people who are on Medicaid.
  We tried this in Washington. We already know that if you leave in 
place the requirement that insurance companies give insurance to 
people, no matter what their healthcare state is, you are going to sink 
the individual market. We lost it in the State of Washington, and you 
are sentencing the whole country to that. Besides, you have said you 
want the repeal vote to be on the 22nd. You know it is going nowhere.
  Mr. TOM PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the 
gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Scalise), the Republican majority whip.
  Mr. SCALISE. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the chairman of the Budget 
Committee for the good, hard work that his committee did for bringing 
this bill to the floor.
  Ultimately, Mr. Speaker, this is something that we have been talking 
about doing for a long time, but now we have the opportunity to have a 
vote on the House floor that will send a bill to President Obama's desk 
that actually guts ObamaCare and defunds Planned Parenthood.
  This is something very important to people all across the country. 
But this is something that allows us through the reconciliation 
process, which is a rare opportunity.
  There have been a lot of really good bills that this House has passed 
to address problems, whether it is getting the economy back on track, 
whether it is pushing back on so many of the radical agenda items, 
through regulatory actions, through executive actions that this 
President has done to try to circumvent the Constitution and Congress, 
and they go over to the Senate, and Senate Democrats filibuster the 
bill. And because of their archaic rules that require 60 votes just to 
bring a bill up, so many of those bills don't even come up for debate, 
Mr. Speaker.
  So the budget process of reconciliation gives us one opportunity a 
year, if we are able to come together and agree on a budget, which this 
House and Senate did. We came to agreement, in fact, on a budget that 
gets to balance in the 10-year window for the first time since 2002. 
And it also gives us that one opportunity to move a bill through, not 
just the House, but through the Senate with a majority vote, rather 
than 60 votes.
  Why that is so important, Mr. Speaker, is it allows us to finally put 
on President Obama's desk this important question. This President needs 
to be confronted with this, and he will now be confronted with the 
question about addressing his failed healthcare law that has denied 
health care to millions of people, that has resulted in double-digit 
increases for so many others. In my home State of Louisiana, we are 
seeing over 20 percent increases because of this failed law.
  And then also, to defund Planned Parenthood. That bill will now go to 
his desk with this important vote.

                              {time}  1645

  It is a historic vote. I would encourage the President to sign this 
bill. It would be an important landmark moment in his Presidency. If he 
vetoes it, it shows the country just what is at stake if you have a 
President that is willing to do this for the American people.
  I urge a ``yes'' vote, and I look forward to this vote.
  Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Mr. Speaker, yes, that would be important to show 
that we have a President that doesn't want

[[Page H60]]

to eliminate affordable health care for 22 million Americans.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. 
Castor), a distinguished member of the Budget Committee.
  Ms. CASTOR of Florida. Mr. Speaker, Democrats in Congress begin the 
new year with a renewed commitment to working families across this 
great country and a commitment to standing up to the special interests 
that hold so much sway here in Washington, D.C. In contrast, House 
Republicans begin the new year with the first vote that is a vote 
against women, a vote against women's health, and a vote to target 
Planned Parenthood all rolled into one.
  Now, women across this country will not forget the coordinated smear 
campaign against Planned Parenthood last year that was based upon 
false, manufactured videos full of distortions and misinformation.
  We will not forget how Republicans in Congress acted in concert with 
the shady group and used the controversy to eliminate family planning 
support and vital cancer screenings for women across the country. It is 
especially troubling that my GOP colleagues begin the year targeting 
folks who really need the help the most: working families, young women, 
and women of color.
  While Republicans choose to start the year this way, what I hear from 
women, parents, moms, and dads at home is that they want greater 
economic security and greater personal security. That is what Congress 
should be focused on in 2016, not an attack on women's health.
  Mr. TOM PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the 
gentleman from the great State of Michigan (Mr. Moolenaar), a 
productive member of the Budget Committee.
  Mr. MOOLENAAR. Mr. Speaker, today we will vote to repeal the 
President's healthcare law. It is a law that the American people have 
opposed from the very beginning when it was passed without bipartisan 
support. The American people opposed it even when the President 
promised that they could keep their coverage and their doctor. They 
also opposed it when that promise was broken. They opposed it when the 
law taxed their health insurance and the medical devices that help them 
live longer, healthier lives.
  Today the American people still oppose the President's healthcare law 
because it makes them pay higher premiums for policies with deductibles 
that are too expensive. That is why today, 6 years after it was passed, 
we are voting to send a repeal of this law to the President's desk. 
This repeal will save the government $500 billion over the next 10 
years and empower people to make their own healthcare choices.
  Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Mr. Speaker, I hope everyone listens carefully when 
our colleagues say that it will save money over the next 10 years, 
because the Congressional Budget Office says this will actually lose 
the taxpayer money over the longer term. We all hope to live and have 
our children live in the longer term.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. 
Pascrell), a distinguished member of the Budget Committee and Ways and 
Means Committee.
  Mr. PASCRELL. Mr. Ranking Member, through the Chair, this is 
nonreconciliation if I have ever seen it.
  The Affordable Care Act pulling back from Medicaid expansion, do you 
know what that means? Have you examined what that will do? It will take 
away essential tax credits that the law provides to help the middle 
class and middle class families purchase health insurance.
  Here we are repealing the ACA for the umpteenth time. In addition to 
cutting off funding for Planned Parenthood, the new version of the bill 
which came back from the Senate would also prohibit Medicaid from 
paying for services at Planned Parenthood. Because Federal law strictly 
prohibits Federal Medicaid dollars from being used to pay for 
abortions, regardless of how you try to get that message out and convey 
this nonfact, that is not the fact. This addition would specifically 
prohibit payments to Planned Parenthood for healthcare services like 
preventive health exams.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentleman has expired.
  Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield the gentleman an additional 1 
minute.
  Mr. PASCRELL. Mr. Speaker, I contend that that is un-American. Read 
my lips. Cancer screenings. I contend that that is un-American. And you 
have nothing in your budget, and you have nothing in your so-called 
plan--which dematerialized before it materialized--that would take care 
of these folks.
  And the subject of birth control, since you like to talk about it all 
the time, that, to me, is un-American. That, to me, reduces freedom in 
the greatest country on the planet.
  So what will we come up with? In a bill that came before us without 
regular order--you tout all the time that we need regular order, we 
have got to go through the process and get the bill in front of us--
this did not go through the process. This committee that you had was a 
joke. You know it and I know it.
  So what a spirit of reconciliation, what a horror--what a horror--
being projected on the American people. It is too bad. It is not a good 
way to start the new year, and I am not hopeful for the future.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Members are reminded to address their 
remarks to the Chair.
  Mr. TOM PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the 
gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Lance), a productive member of the 
Energy and Commerce Committee.
  Mr. LANCE. Thank you, Chairman Price, for your tremendous leadership 
on this and many other issues.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of the Restoring Americans' 
Healthcare Freedom Reconciliation Act, the first ObamaCare repeal bill 
that Congress sends to the President's desk since the law's enactment 
in 2010.
  This bill effectively repeals mandates and taxes at the very heart of 
the law and saves taxpayers nearly half a trillion dollars over the 
next decade, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.
  Our action here in the House today is an important step toward 
replacing ObamaCare with patient-centric solutions that lower 
healthcare costs, protect jobs, and allow Americans to keep their 
doctors and their health care if they like them.
  To be clear, there is more work that needs to be done to make full 
repeal and replacement a reality, but our congressional efforts today 
provide important momentum to help make that a reality in 2017 with a 
new President.
  I urge all my colleagues to support H.R. 3762.
  Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from 
Virginia (Mr. Scott), the distinguished ranking member of the Education 
and the Workforce Committee.

  Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for 
yielding.
  The House is yet to take another vote in 60 seconds to demonstrate 
its relentless fixation on systematically destroying the Affordable 
Care Act. More specifically, we must vote on a budget reconciliation 
package that, if enacted, will take away healthcare access for millions 
of Americans.
  This isn't a new exercise. In addition to the 61 unproductive votes, 
futile lawsuits have been brought in courts, and meritless attacks have 
been mounted with the goal of destroying the progress we have made. And 
we have made progress improving a system that didn't work for American 
families before the Affordable Care Act.
  Since the enactment of the law: over 17 million uninsured Americans 
have gained insurance; young people can stay on their parents' policies 
until age 26; healthcare costs are growing more slowly today than in 
past decades; annual checkups are not subject to deductibles; an 
insurance company can't charge you more for just being a woman; we are 
in the process of closing the prescription drug doughnut hole; and if 
you want to change jobs or start a business or start a family, you have 
healthcare options even if you have a preexisting condition.
  That is the progress we have made. Despite that progress, the 
legislation before us turns the clock back on all of that progress. I 
urge my colleagues to oppose the bill.
  Mr. TOM PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the 
gentleman from California (Mr. McCarthy), the distinguished majority 
leader of the House of Representatives.

[[Page H61]]

  

  Mr. McCARTHY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.
  I appreciate the work that the chairman has done. I know he is 
chairman of the Budget Committee, but before he stood on this floor, he 
was a doctor. He is still a doctor today, and I know the passion that 
he brings to bring the right type of reform for a medical system that 
actually works in this country. That is why today is so important not 
just to him, but to all of us.
  We have worked hard--I would say relentlessly--to make that day 
happen. Yes, we fought to delay, defund, and actually repeal ObamaCare. 
This law is a failure. We know it, and I know all of you on the other 
side of the aisle know it as well. Twelve co-ops have failed. State 
exchanges are failing. No matter where you stood on this issue, you 
went home and you heard from your constituents.
  Now, if you voted for it, you are going to have to answer to the 
President's promises, because he just didn't promise a few in this 
room. He promised all Americans. Do you remember what he said? He said: 
``If you like your healthcare plan, you'll be able to keep your health 
care plan, period.'' He also said, Mr. Speaker: ``If you like your 
doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor, period.'' Mr. Speaker, he 
also said ObamaCare would ``lower premiums by up to $2,500 for a 
typical family per year.''
  Those are direct quotes--it is just that not one of them came to 
fruition.
  Now, I know what I will hear on the other side of the aisle, and they 
probably won't mention this, but on this floor, Republicans and 
Democrats joined together to dismantle the employer and individual 
mandates. In a bipartisan fashion, we delayed the medical device tax. 
In a bipartisan fashion--a lot delivered from the other side--we 
delayed the Cadillac tax, cut funding to the healthcare rationing 
board, and stopped the taxpayer bailout of insurance companies.
  Many of our attempts have been successful in undoing key parts of 
this law. But today, for the very first time, we send a bill repealing 
ObamaCare to the President's desk.
  Also, after watching the horrific videos of Planned Parenthood 
employees casually discussing the sale of infants' organs, we knew 
something had to be done. Something had to be done to make sure 
taxpayers were not forced to support organizations that engage in such 
inhumane practices. Today we send a bill to the President's desk that 
ends taxpayer funding for abortion coverage and abortion providers like 
Planned Parenthood.
  No matter where you go in this country, no matter whom you talk to, 
no matter what party they belong to, they know things are wrong in this 
country. People are hurting under ObamaCare, human life is being 
disregarded, and now Congress will put it to the President and hold him 
accountable for the terrible policies this administration has pursued.
  Mr. Speaker, I don't have any delusions. For the sake of the American 
people and too many unborn children, I hope the President signs this 
bill. But the President has made his position very clear. No matter how 
wrong he is, he will veto any bill that repeals ObamaCare or defunds 
Planned Parenthood. If he does, we will vote to override.
  I, and I know many of my colleagues, have worked with colleagues on 
the other side of the aisle trying to persuade them to join with us. We 
asked them to join us and stand with the American people against 
ObamaCare and against taxpayer funding of the abortion industry. But no 
matter how the override vote ends up, what we are doing today is still 
important. When a Republican President takes office next year, Mr. 
Speaker, we can use reconciliation again. We won't have to worry about 
a veto from the White House, and we can overcome any attempts by the 
Democrats to filibuster and obstruct.
  You see, from the foundation of this bill and from the work of many 
colleagues in the medical community and doctors that serve as Members 
of Congress, we will create a patient-centered healthcare system that 
gives power to the people, not to bureaucrats in Washington.
  So, Mr. Speaker, that is why today is important, because with this 
bill we can do it--this year or the next, but we will.
  Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Mr. Speaker, I listened carefully to the Republican 
leader, Mr. McCarthy, who said that they have worked hard and 
relentlessly to make this day happen--a day that would eliminate 
affordable health care to 22 million Americans.

                              {time}  1700

  I want to make sure all of our colleagues understand that this is not 
a fact coming from the Democrats. There is the saying that you are 
entitled to your own opinion, but you are not entitled to your own 
facts.
  That is a fact that came from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget 
Office. In fact, they were responding to a letter from Mr. Price, the 
chairman of the Budget Committee. The letter reads:

       Dear Mr. Chairman, At your request, CBO and the staff of 
     the joint committee have estimated the budgetary effects of 
     this bill.

  It goes on to say:

       And analyze the bill.

  It is their conclusion on page 9 of the letter to the chairman:

       Enacting H.R. 3762 would increase the number of people 
     without health insurance coverage. Relative to current law 
     projections--

  That means relevant to the current law with the Affordable Care Act 
in place.

     would reduce by about 22 million people in most years after 
     2017.

  That is a fact. That is signed by the director of CBO, Keith Hall, 
who, as everybody in this body knows, was selected on a bipartisan 
basis by the chairman of the House Budget Committee and the chairman of 
the Senate Budget Committee, both Republicans. That is a fact.
  It is a sad state of affairs when we are ``celebrating'' the fact 
that they ``worked relentlessly'' to get to the point to eliminate 
affordable care to 22 million Americans.
  I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Rangel), 
somebody who understands the importance of affordable health care and 
is also a distinguished member of the Ways and Means Committee.
  Mr. RANGEL. Mr. Speaker, let me thank the gentleman for his statement 
in pointing out that this is not really a legislative issue. This is a 
Republican partisan issue where people have waited for years for this 
moment to destroy a bill to put 22 million people out of reach of 
medical care.
  They are striking over $1 trillion from the bill. They are being 
critical of the bill. They didn't say their moment in the Sun was to 
provide a better bill. No. They say, if you go back home, you are going 
to hear complaints.
  Well, President Obama went back home to the American people and was 
campaigning for ObamaCare and they reelected him. Now we are saying 
that these 22 million people--do you think they are not going to get 
health care?
  You bet your sweet life on this country they are going to get care, 
not the quality care that ObamaCare would provide for them, but they 
will be going to emergency rooms. They will get more sick. They will 
end up in the hospitals. It will cost us much more than the so-called 
trillion dollars we have.
  Well, thank God we do have a government where the President can say 
no. Thank God we also have a Constitution that says you don't have 
enough votes to override what is constitutionally and morally the right 
thing to do.
  Mr. TOM PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, may I inquire once again the 
time remaining on each side?
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Georgia has 7 minutes 
remaining. The gentleman from Maryland has 8 minutes remaining.
  Mr. TOM PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the 
gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Stutzman), a wonderful member of the Budget 
Committee.
  Mr. STUTZMAN. Mr. Speaker, the gentleman just mentioned that this is 
a partisan issue. This was a partisan issue back in 2009 when it was 
passed. This was forced through against the will of the American 
people. That is why you have seen over the past several elections that 
the American people want a repeal of ObamaCare and that we start over 
with patient-centered free-market health care.
  The fact is that I was at a Cracker Barrel a couple of weeks ago. I 
was talking to the waitress. The waitress

[[Page H62]]

approached me and she said: You know, ObamaCare was supposed to help 
me. She said: My premiums have gone up. They have doubled. My out-of-
pocket expenses have gone from $500 to $5,000. She said: ObamaCare is 
not helping me.
  This is a story that we have heard time and time again. ObamaCare 
hasn't helped the American people. It has put a greater burden on the 
American people. Doctors are supposed to provide health care, not 
ObamaCare, not the Federal Government. This should be a relationship 
between the American people and the doctor that they choose, the doctor 
that they were promised that they could keep.
  Mr. Speaker, I believe that this reconciliation package is the right 
thing at the right time for our country. We need to start over. We need 
to fix our healthcare system rather than prolonging and continuing to 
enforce a Big Government agenda on the American people.
  I ask the Members of this House to support this legislation.
  Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from 
Oregon (Ms. Bonamici), a distinguished member of the Education and the 
Workforce Committee.
  Ms. BONAMICI. Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to this legislation 
which would push health coverage beyond the reach of millions of 
Americans.
  The Congressional Budget Office predicts that enacting this 
legislation could result in roughly 22 million more people living 
without health insurance. These people are single parents struggling to 
cover basic necessities, young adults trying to launch their careers 
and start families, and hardworking couples for whom the cost of 
insurance won't fit in the monthly budget.
  Without affordable health coverage, these Americans will be living 
with perpetual fear, fear that they will need to choose between paying 
for housing or food and getting treatment, and fear that any medical 
emergency could lead them into bankruptcy.
  To make things worse, this bill defunds Planned Parenthood, which 
would undermine access to reproductive health services and preventive 
care for women. That is not only wrong, it is counterproductive.
  It is unfortunate that, at the start of a new year, we are debating a 
regressive proposal that would make the lives of some of our most 
vulnerable friends and neighbors even less secure.
  I hope my colleagues on both sides of the aisle will acknowledge that 
this bill is irresponsible and join me in voting ``no.''
  Mr. TOM PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the 
gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Allen), a fellow Georgian and a freshman 
Member of the House of Representatives.
  Mr. ALLEN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his great work on 
this important legislation.
  Today I rise in support of H.R. 3762, the Restoring Americans' 
Healthcare Freedom Reconciliation Act of 2015. This legislation will 
dismantle ObamaCare and defund Planned Parenthood.
  This bill guts ObamaCare's individual and employer mandates and 
repeals the costly Cadillac and medical device taxes. It protects 
society's most innocent--the unborn--and also provides additional 
funding for community health centers so that women can continue to have 
access to the quality care they deserve.

  We need to expand patient choice. We need to give the American people 
choice. We need to make health care more affordable by offering 
patient-centered and cost-effective reforms. Most of all, we need to 
give a voice to the voiceless.
  This is a historic moment. After passing the House today, the bill 
will go straight to the President's desk and President Obama will be 
forced to vote on repealing ObamaCare and defunding Planned Parenthood 
for the first time. He will have to choose between dismantling a costly 
and disastrous law and preventing disregard for human life or 
protecting his own political legacy.
  Colleagues in the House, please join me and vote in favor of the 
Restoring Americans' Healthcare Freedom Reconciliation Act of 2015.
  Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from 
Oregon (Mr. Schrader), a member of the Energy and Commerce Committee.
  Mr. SCHRADER. Mr. Speaker, after drafting and passing a trillion-
dollar deficit-busting tax and budget bill last month, my Republican 
colleagues now want to get some of that money back on the backs of 
middle- and low-income Americans.
  These are the very people that have been struggling to recover from 
the Great Recession. These families and small businesses that are 
having trouble staying afloat would now lose access to affordable 
health care. It is irresponsible.
  I don't get it. The Affordable Care Act gives millions a hand up, not 
a handout, in order to afford affordable health care. Families are put 
in the driver's seat in the health insurance market and are seeing good 
results.
  This is something we have been doing in Oregon for some time. Market-
based principles and personal responsibility is actually the heart of 
the ACA.
  Mr. Speaker, I don't understand why we would want to create greater 
uncertainty for small businesses, trying to do the right thing by their 
employees, by eliminating the small business tax credit, like my 
Republican colleagues want to do today.
  Rather than waste time on distractions like this, we should be coming 
together to build certainty around the basic American right of a 
shared-responsibility healthcare system.
  Mr. TOM PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the 
gentlewoman from Missouri (Mrs. Hartzler), a diligent and productive 
member of the Budget Committee.
  Mrs. HARTZLER. Mr. Speaker, ObamaCare is hurting people by reducing 
choices, increasing costs, and making it harder for people to access 
quality, affordable healthcare. That is why I am proud to stand here 
today to support a bill that dismantles key provisions of ObamaCare and 
paves the way for better healthcare solutions.
  The Restoring Americans' Healthcare Freedom Reconciliation Act stops 
the government from forcing its citizens to buy expensive healthcare 
plans they don't want or need. It saves Americans money by eliminating 
many of the ObamaCare taxes.
  Additionally, this bill stops taxpayer funding for abortion providers 
such as Planned Parenthood. This one abortion provider receives over 
half a billion taxpayer dollars a year even though it has been involved 
in the harvesting and selling of baby body parts.
  It is time to stop all tax dollars flowing to abortionists and 
redirect it to healthcare providers who care for women without taking 
innocent life.
  Congress is listening to the people's calls. Now it will be up to the 
President to decide, does he support the people and women's health or 
does he support Washington mandates and tax dollars going to Planned 
Parenthood.
  I urge the President to do the right thing and sign this into law.
  Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from 
Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee), a member of the Judiciary and Homeland 
Security Committees.
  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the manager, the gentleman from 
Maryland (Mr. Van Hollen), for his leadership. I also thank my good 
friends on the other side of the aisle.
  Mr. Speaker, I now understand what the issue is. We are talking 
apples and oranges. My friends on the other side of the aisle don't 
care about the fact that, in 2013, 18 percent of Americans were 
uninsured; in the State of Texas, 28 percent; California, 23 percent; 
and Georgia, 22 percent.
  Now we have found that we are at a point where we have lowered that 
amount and we have lowered the uninsured rate in this country to 11.9 
percent. Those are vulnerable Americans and women and families.
  We also don't seem to understand that, when our constituents come to 
us and talk about premiums, all we need to do is do the constituency 
service and kind of assure them and show them the direction into the 
marketplace because, in shopping around, you can lower your premium.
  But the real issue is whether or not we care about making sure that 
those with preexisting conditions can actually get health insurance, 
that those in Medicare can actually protect the Medicare system and 
make it insolvent in 2030 instead of 2017.
  The other question is: Does this bill even have a plan? Is there an 
alternative healthcare plan that the Republicans have put in the budget 
reconciliation? No, they have not.

[[Page H63]]

  Then they want to take away Planned Parenthood. This is not about 
disliking Planned Parenthood. It is telling women that they do not have 
a choice to choose their own doctors. That is what they are doing when 
they defund Planned Parenthood.
  Mr. Speaker, it is apples and oranges. They are talking one thing. I 
am talking about saving lives and helping Americans keep their health 
insurance.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to H.R. 3762, the Restoring 
Americans' Healthcare Freedom Reconciliation Act of 2015.
  In 1949, Harry Truman became the first sitting President to propose 
universal healthcare for all Americans as part of the ``Fair Deal.''
  On March 23, 2010, President Obama aided by a Democratic Congress 
delivered on this promise.
  Before the enactment of the Affordable Care Act, 50 million people in 
the United States had no health insurance coverage, with many losing 
insurance as a result of the recent recession.
  This is the 62nd vote by the GOP since its enactment to end the 
Affordable Care Act law.
  In 2013, key provisions of the Affordable Care Act began to take 
effect and have significantly improved the lives of millions of 
Americans.
  In 2013, the states with the highest percentage of uninsured were: 
Texas with 28.8 percent; Louisiana with 24 percent; Nevada with 23.3 
percent; California with 23.2 percent; Florida with 22.8 percent; 
Georgia with 22.5 percent; Arkansas with 21.9 percent; Mississippi with 
21.7 percent; and Oklahoma with 21.4 percent.
  In 2013, when Gallup first began tracking health insurance coverage 
just before the Affordable Care Act went into effect, the number of 
persons not insured has declined by 5.2 points.
  Gallup reported that the percentage of uninsured Americans increased 
from nearly 14 percent in 2008 to over 17 percent in 2011, and peaked 
at 18.0 percent in 2013.
  According to Gallup the uninsured rate among U.S. adults declined to 
11.9 percent for the first quarter of 2015, but this fact has not 
deterred efforts by the GOP of the House to end this important 
lifesaving law.
  Mr. Speaker, this steady decline in the number of Americans without 
health insurance means that today only about 10 percent of our citizens 
do not have coverage.
  Many of those most in need of the healthcare coverage provided by the 
Affordable Care Act live in the Districts of many members on both sides 
of this argument. Texas, my own state, leads the list of states with 
the highest percentages of uninsured residents.
  The highest concentrations of the uninsured are the poor and 
unemployed.
  The uninsured rate among Americans has dropped sharply since the 
implementation of the Affordable Care Act, which provides: access to 
healthcare to the poor through expansion of Medicaid; prevents health 
insurance companies from denying healthcare coverage based on pre-
existing conditions; stops health insurance companies from 
discriminating against women by charging them higher rates for 
coverage, and extends the time children can remain on their parents' 
health insurance to age 26.
  The Affordable Care Act provides to states at no cost options for 
residents to enroll in healthcare programs through Medicaid.
  Unfortunately, some states like my state of Texas have rejected this 
important component of the Affordable Care Act for those in the state 
in most need of healthcare.
  Instead of focusing on protecting and caring for the health of our 
constituents, we are allowing partisan games to interfere with serving 
the best interest of our Districts.
  At the end of healthcare insurance enrollment for 2015, more than 8.5 
million consumers signed-up for health coverage through the 
HealthCare.gov platform or had their coverage automatically renewed.
  Of the about 6 million Marketplace consumers whose coverage was 
renewed, about 3.6 million actively renewed and 2.4 million consumers 
automatically renewed their health insurance coverage.
  The 2015 health insurance enrollment period had 29 percent new 
participants and 71 percent return participants.
  In my state of Texas 1,096,868 individual plans were selected by 
visitors to the HealthCare.gov platform.
  In 2015, unfortunately Texas remains the state with the highest 
health uninsured rate among the 50 states, with 25.7 percent or over 
4.2 million residents without health insurance.
  Instead of focusing on the issues that the American people want 
addressed, we are having the same discussion to repeal the Affordable 
Care Act in the efforts of my colleagues to repeal, obstruct and 
undermine this law.
  What is even more frustrating is that while there is so much energy 
in trying to repeal the Affordable Care Act, there has been no plan or 
suggestions posed on how to replace it.
  I want to once again highlight the benefits of the Affordable Care 
Act so we can once and for all end the attempts to try and repeal this 
law that benefits so many Americans.
  Because of the Affordable Care Act, Americans are seeing lower costs, 
better coverage, and patient protections that Republicans want to 
repeal:
  The average premium for employer-provided family health coverage went 
up 3 percent in 2014, continuing the trend of lower annual increase, 
which means that over the 5 years the healthcare law has been in place 
it has saved employers over $1,800 dollars in premiums for employee 
family health insurance coverage.
  Medicare spending growth per beneficiary was approximately flat in 
fiscal year 2014, a significant contributor to extending the solvency 
of the program.
  The Medicare Trustee now projects because of the Affordable Care Act 
that the Medicare Trust Fund will be solvent until 2030 instead of 
2017.
  Health insurance consumers have saved 9 billion since 2011 because 
Obamacare requires insurance companies to spend 80 cents on every 
premium dollar on consumer healthcare and empowers States to review and 
negotiate premium increases.
  129 million Americans, including 17 million children, are no longer 
at risk of losing health insurance coverage because of their health.
  76 million Americans with private coverage are eligible for expanded 
preventative services coverage, which includes 30 million women and 18 
million children.
  Since the Affordable Care Act went into effect insurers have paid 
customers over $1.9 billion in rebates because they did not spend 80 
cents on each dollar of premium on healthcare.
  Nationwide, nearly 11.7 million consumers selected a plan or were 
automatically enrolled in Marketplace coverage.
  In 2014, of the 5 million uninsured Texans: 874,000 are eligible for 
Medicaid/CHIP; 1,046,000 are in the coverage gap; 1,756,000 are 
eligible for tax credits; 1,264,000 are ineligible because of their 
income or access to employer benefits.
  In 2014, access to affordable healthcare for the self-employed or 
those who decide to purchase their own coverage became easier because 
of Affordable Insurance Exchanges.
  In Texas, 1,205,174 consumers selected or were automatically re-
enrolled in quality, affordable health insurance coverage through the 
Marketplace as of February 2015.
  The Federal Marketplace Signups and Tax Credits in Texas meant that: 
85 percent of Texas consumers who were signed up qualified for an 
average tax credit of $239 per month through the Marketplace. 68 
percent of Texas Marketplace enrollees obtained coverage for $100 or 
less after any applicable tax credits in 2015, and 92 percent had the 
option of doing so.
  In Texas, consumers could choose from 15 issuers in the Marketplace 
in 2015--up from 12 in 2014.
  Texas consumers could choose from an average of 31 health plans in 
their county for 2015 coverage--up from 25 in 2014.
  468,797 consumers in Texas under the age of 35 are signed up for 
Marketplace coverage (39 percent of plan selections in the state); and
  348,593 consumers 18 to 34 years of age (29 percent of all plan 
selections) are signed up for Marketplace coverage.
  Texas has received $1,000,000 in grants for research, planning, 
information technology development, and implementation of its 
Marketplace.
  Open enrollment for 2016 coverage runs from November 1, 2015 to 
January 31, 2016.
  There are now one stop marketplaces where consumers can do what 
Federal employees have done for decades--purchase insurance at 
reasonable rates from an insurer of their choice.
  There are also opportunities for small employers to form pools to use 
their collective bargaining potential to find the best deals for 
employee health plans.
  This Congress has work that needs to be done, and it has work that 
should be taken up to increase financial security for workers, their 
families and communities as the economy continues to recover, and not 
play partisan political games.
  I urge my Colleagues to put partisan politics aside and join me in 
voting no on the passage of this bill.
  Mr. TOM PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the 
gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith), a champion of the pro-life 
community.
  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman for his 
great work on this bill.
  Subsidized by over $500 million taxpayer dollars each year, Planned 
Parenthood dismembers or chemically poisons a baby to death every 2 
minutes, killing over 7 million innocent children since 1973.

[[Page H64]]

  Planned Parenthood is Child Abuse, Incorporated. Now undercover 
videos have exposed in numbing candor several high-level Planned 
Parenthood leaders gleefully talking about procuring children's 
internal organs for a price, all while altering gruesome dismemberment 
procedures to preserve intact livers, hearts, and lungs from freshly 
killed babies.
  Far too many politicians, Mr. Speaker, including our Nobel Peace 
Prize-winning President and much of the media, continue to ignore, 
trivialize, and even defend these gross human rights abuses.
  So know this: We will not be deterred in exposing this Planned 
Parenthood scandal no matter how aggressive and misleading the cover-
up.
  End taxpayer funding to those who commit these cruel and inhumane 
acts in this subsidy for Planned Parenthood.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of the Restoring 
Americans' Healthcare Freedom Reconciliation Act and urge all of my 
colleagues to vote to dismantle Obamacare by repealing the most 
damaging aspects of this egregiously flawed law.
  The legislation before us today will send a strong message on behalf 
of the millions of Americans who lost or were forced to switch their 
healthcare coverage and/or doctors, as well as those facing additional 
charges, higher copayments, and larger annual fees as a result of 
Obamacare.
  I have supported, and the House has passed, legislation to repeal 
Obamacare in its entirety many times but today's vote is different. 
Through the reconciliation process, which allows for expedited 
consideration and a simple majority vote in the Senate, today's bill 
will be placed on the President's desk. The President will have to 
decide if he stands on the side of the American people or continues the 
misguided policies squeezing middle class families.
  In particular, the bill repeals the individual mandate--where 
American are coerced into purchasing expensive insurance packages many 
do not want or need, and many cannot afford.
  Unfortunately for the millions who cannot afford to purchase 
Obamacare insurance, the penalties are expensive too.
  According to a Kaiser Family Foundation report issued last month, 
this year the penalty for noncompliance will spike 47%, up from $661 in 
2015 to a whopping $969.
  The report also states that for 7.1 million uninsured Americans, the 
penalty is still cheaper than the least expensive insurance option 
available to them through Obamacare. Since the law did little to 
address affordability and the increasing cost of obtaining coverage, 
the federal government--the IRS, no less--will now take money out of 
the pockets and pocketbooks of Americans, further penalizing the 
uninsured.
  The President and Obamacare supporters promised otherwise, but health 
insurance still remains out of reach for many Americas. Additionally, 
those who had quality affordable coverage that they were comfortable 
with have seen unwelcome changes that they likely would not have had to 
face--but for Obamacare.
  The Restoring Americans' Healthcare Freedom Reconciliation Act will 
also--fully and permanently--repeal two misguided tax increases harming 
businesses, innovation and middle-class Americans: the excise tax on 
employer-sponsored health insurance, aka ``the Cadillac tax,'' and the 
medical device tax.
  This legislation moves us a step forward in the process of repealing 
Obamacare's mandates, tax hikes and slush funds and begins undoing the 
damage inflicted on individuals, businesses, our economy and our 
national debt. But we can do more to address these inadequacies of our 
healthcare system and provide alternative reforms and solutions.
  We have the ability to ensure that all Americans have access to 
affordable, high-quality health care. I am a longtime supporter of a 
number of positive reforms that can replace Obamacare including: 
reforming the private health insurance market so patients and their 
doctors are in charge of medical decisions; encouraging healthy 
behaviors; incentivizing innovation; ensuring insurance portability and 
the availability of high-risk pools; reforming Medicare to be a model 
of efficiency; modernizing the tax code to make health insurance more 
affordable; and strengthening the health care safety net so no one is 
left out.
  Finally, the bill before the House today defunds Planned Parenthood. 
Subsidized by over $500 million taxpayers' dollars each year, Planned 
Parenthood dismembers or chemically poisons a baby to death every two 
minutes--killing over 7 million innocent children since 1973.
  Planned Parenthood is ``Child Abuse Inc.''
  Now, undercover videos have exposed in numbing candor, several high 
level Planned Parenthood leaders gleefully talking about procuring 
children's internal organs for a price all while altering gruesome 
dismemberment procedures to preserve ``intact'' livers, hearts and 
lungs from freshly killed babies.
  Far too many politicians including our Nobel Peace Prize winning 
President and much of the media continue to ignore, trivialize--even 
defend--these gross human rights abuses.
  So know this: we will not be deterred in exposing this Planned 
Parenthood scandal, no matter how aggressive and misleading the cover-
up.
  End taxpayer funding to those who commit these cruel and inhumane 
acts.
  Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from 
Tennessee (Mr. Cohen).
  Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, we ended the 2015 Congress working together 
with a tax extender package that I voted for that gave relief to the 
medical device folks in an omnibus bill.
  But we are back, and there you go again trying to repeal the 
Affordable Care Act, taking health care away from people and taking 
Planned Parenthood, which gives people who are poor and live in areas 
where there is not other healthcare opportunities--taking away from 
them the opportunity for preventive health care.

                              {time}  1715

  The last time this was tried in Tennessee, there was a 1,400 percent 
cut in women getting preventative care. That is just not right. We just 
came through Hanukkah and Christmas, and we ought to think a little bit 
about what Hanukkah and Christmas were about and what Moses and Jesus 
would be about. I think they would be about saving lives and about 
giving everybody an opportunity to live, not patient-centric health 
care, but people living and getting health care like every other 
civilized, industrialized country in the world provides for its people.
  Mr. TOM PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the 
gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Westerman), a conscientious U.S. Member of 
the Committee on the Budget.
  Mr. WESTERMAN. I thank the chairman for his leadership.
  Mr. Speaker, today is a good day for America because we will finally 
send this bill to the President's desk.
  The ``Unaffordable Care Act'' is bad for the American people because 
it is contributing to the bankruptcy of our country while doing little 
to provide Americans with better health care.
  Mr. Speaker, I have constituents who used to have health insurance 
but who no longer do because their premiums are too high. Now they have 
no insurance, and the only thing to show for it is a fine from the IRS. 
Medicaid expansion is a blueprint for single-payer, government-run 
health care. As an engineer, I can assure you that, if you start with a 
bad blueprint, you will get bad results.
  Instead of expanding Medicaid for able-bodied, working-age adults, 
the administration should work with us to fix the broken traditional 
Medicaid program, which is intended for those who most need it: the 
elderly, the disabled, and children. In 2014, there were 38.2 million 
nondisabled Americans between the ages of 18 and 64 who were not 
working at all. More than they need Medicaid expansion, they need 
progrowth economic policies that will foster good jobs so they can 
simply work and provide for themselves and their families.
  Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from 
Massachusetts (Mr. Neal) of the Committee on Ways and Means.
  Mr. NEAL. Mr. Speaker, 62 times we have now voted to repeal the 
Affordable Care Act. Let me contrast what we are about to do in the 
next few minutes with the manner in which Democrats handled the 
Medicare part D prescription drug benefit. We voted against it. We 
opposed it. We became the majority, and we improved it. That is the 
reality of legislating. We closed the doughnut hole. We took a very 
difficult piece of legislation--largely resisted on their side as 
well--and became the majority and asked: How can we singularly improve 
this legislation so that it has broad appeal for the American people? 
Today, people take it for granted. They just accept the idea that the 
prescription drug bill works for all members of the American family. 
Instead, this is the 62nd time of repealing this for the purpose of 
political

[[Page H65]]

messaging, with no alternative ever provided--not once.
  I hope the media members will use the contrast that I have just 
outlined about the prescription drug legislation in Medicare part D 
with what the Republicans are doing, once again today, with no hope 
other than that of trying to win political points in messaging.
  Mr. TOM PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, may I inquire as to the time 
remaining on both sides?
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Georgia has 2 minutes 
remaining, and the gentleman from Maryland has 3 minutes remaining.
  Mr. TOM PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my 
time.
  Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Mr. Speaker, I inquire of the gentleman from Georgia 
if he has any further speakers.
  Mr. TOM PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for 
time.
  Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
  We finished the debate, really, where we began, which is, on this 
first day back of 2016, we are really revisiting the battles of the 
past, as the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Neal) and others have 
said.
  We heard from the Republican leader, Mr. McCarthy, that they had 
worked hard for this day. We know from the nonpartisan Director of the 
Congressional Budget Office that, apparently, what our Republican 
colleagues worked so hard to do was to take affordable health care away 
from 22 million Americans. At the same time, we have heard all sorts of 
misinformation and distortions on this floor about Planned Parenthood, 
which is an organization that provides women and their families with 
health care, that provides cancer screenings, and that provides family 
planning.
  On national television, when asked whether there was any evidence 
that Planned Parenthood had broken any law, even Republican Chairman 
Chaffetz of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, who 
investigated Planned Parenthood, said: ``No, I'm not suggesting that 
they broke the law.'' In fact, that was the finding of other committees 
here. Yet, our Republican colleagues have now set up a witch hunt, 
special committee to go after Planned Parenthood. Ironically, they 
claim to be doing an investigation, but here on the floor, they have, 
obviously, already reached a conclusion and have decided to defund an 
organization that helps provide health care to American women and 
families.
  So, rolled into one bill, you have something that would deny access 
to health care to 22 million Americans and, at the same time, deny 
important health services to millions of American women and their 
families.
  When our Republican colleagues pose this question and say that the 
President is going to be faced with a tough choice, I can assure them 
it is not a tough choice for the President, because it is not a tough 
choice when it comes to whether or not we take affordable health care 
away from 22 million Americans. That should be an easy choice for all 
of us. We are not going to do it. It also shouldn't be a tough choice 
as to whether or not we defund Planned Parenthood and the services they 
provide to American women and families. That is not going to be a tough 
choice for the President.
  The Republican leader was absolutely right when he talked about the 
consequences of the 2016 elections, because we are fortunate that, 
today, we have a President who will not sign that bill but who will, 
instead, veto that bill. Our colleagues are absolutely right. If you 
had a different President, including, as far as I know, all of them on 
the Republican side, they would be signing this bill. So this is an 
important statement of what our Republican colleagues think is the top 
priority on the first day of 2016, which is to get rid of affordable 
health care for 22 million Americans.
  Let's talk about that with the American public because I believe that 
the American public wants to do what the gentleman from Massachusetts 
(Mr. Neal) said: Where we find problems and where we need to make 
adjustments, we should do it, but we shouldn't turn back the clock and 
deny affordable health care to tens of millions of Americans.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. TOM PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of 
my time.
  It seems, whenever we have a serious issue to talk about on the 
floor, the distortions and the utter false statements come out, and 
that is a shame because the American people deserve better.
  ObamaCare is harming real people, not just from an economic 
standpoint across this great land but from a healthcare standpoint. As 
a physician, I can tell you that I hear about it daily from my 
colleagues. We hear from the other side of folks who tout the numbers 
of increase and of folks who have gained insurance. The fact of the 
matter is, of the folks who have gained insurance and of those who had 
insurance, many of them now have coverage, but they don't have care. If 
you earn $30,000, $40,000, or $50,000 and if your deductible is now 
$5,000 or $10,000 or $12,000, you may have coverage, but you don't have 
care. In fact, individuals are denying themselves treatment right now 
because they can't afford the deductibles because of this law. That is 
the real world out there. That is the harm that this law is doing.
  We heard over and over and over that we want to remove healthcare 
coverage from 22 million people. That is utter nonsense, Mr. Speaker. 
It is absolutely not true. In fact, my friend from Maryland quoted the 
CBO report, and he quoted it accurately, but he skipped over--kind of 
glossed over--the part that said that this would be relative to current 
law projections. That is right. We want to repeal this law, and we want 
to replace it with positive, commonsense, patient-centered solutions 
that put patients and families and doctors in charge of health care, 
not Washington, D.C., solutions that respect the principles of health 
care: accessibility for everybody, affordability for everybody, 
choices, and higher quality care--the things that ObamaCare has 
destroyed. That is why the majority of the American people don't like 
this law and oppose this law. It is because it destroys the principles 
of health care that the American people hold dear.
  Mr. Speaker, this is the first step and the next step in the process 
of repealing ObamaCare and of making certain that we move forward with 
positive, patient-centered solutions in which patients and families and 
doctors are making medical decisions and not the Federal Government.
  I urge my colleagues to support this bill.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to H.R. 
3762, the Senate-Passed GOP Reconciliation Bill, appropriately dubbed 
the ``Taking Health Coverage Away from Millions of Americans and 
Attacking Women's Health Care Act.''
  This measure marks the 62nd House vote to repeal or undermine the 
Affordable Care Act.
  It is the 11th time the House has voted this Congress to attack 
women's health care.
  Make no mistake: champions of these damaging, reactionary policies 
are putting politics over people and undermining the fundamental notion 
that health care is not a privilege, but a right.
  It is unfortunate that, instead of using this time to advance 
legislation that improves our health care system, we are again engaging 
in another futile attempt to cut off funding for Planned Parenthood and 
put women's health at risk, disinvest in public health and chronic 
disease prevention, and roll back coverage gains, consumer protections, 
and reforms advanced by the Affordable Care Act.
  This Reconciliation measure flies in face of patient access and good 
governance.
  The Congressional Budget Office estimates that this damaging 
legislation will lead to an estimated 22 million Americans losing their 
health insurance after 2017.
  Among its many nefarious provisions, H.R. 3762 is designed to halt 
Medicaid expansion.
  This would devastate millions of hard-working adults and their 
families across the country, particularly those in high need 
communities.
  H.R. 3762 would eliminate Planned Parenthood's ability to receive 
reimbursement for all health care services provided under Medicaid.
  Health centers like Planned Parenthood are the bedrock of our health 
care safety net
  Medicaid patients deserve to choose their health care provider and 
should not have their choice limited by politically motivated agendas.
  Texas is a case study in what happens when Planned Parenthood is 
attacked and access is rolled back.

[[Page H66]]

  In short, this measure takes away affordable health care coverage and 
puts politics ahead of common sense.
  Our constituents deserve better.
  I strongly urge my colleagues to oppose H.R. 3762 and get back to 
work on behalf of the American people.
  Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Speaker, today, I will vote against H.R. 3762, 
the Restoring Americans' Healthcare Freedom Reconciliation Act of 2015, 
which would repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and defund Planned 
Parenthood. Republicans eyeing election year points are waging yet 
another political battle with President Obama, without regards to 
current health coverage and protections for millions of families and 
businesses and limiting health care access for millions of women.
  The ACA is here and will remain throughout the tenure of President 
Obama as a key accomplishment of his administration. Despite dire 
predictions, the results of the ACA are remarkable. Our nation's 
uninsured rate is the lowest it's been in decades; more than 19 million 
Americans today have health coverage because of the ACA. Up to 129 
million Americans who have pre-existing conditions no longer have to 
worry about being denied coverage or charged higher premiums because of 
their health status. Additionally, thanks to the ACA, health care 
prices have been rising at the slowest pace in nearly 50 years.
  No one pretends the ACA is perfect; I've long claimed it is in need 
of refinement. Congress needs to work together to improve the ACA and 
pass legislation that continues to make health care more affordable for 
Americans. It's unacceptable that we leave behind some of our most 
vulnerable individuals because many Republican governors refuse to 
expand Medicaid and extend coverage to those most in need.
  The obsessive targeting of Planned Parenthood funding is another 
reason I will vote against H.R. 3762. The amazing Planned Parenthood 
staff and volunteers in my community provide critical reproductive 
health services to more than 70,000 Oregon women annually. This 
legislation is yet another concerted assault against the provision of 
essential service to women, especially women of color and low-income 
status.
  This legislative merry-go-round must stop. We must instead focus on 
solutions that instead build on the promise of healthcare reform; not 
just to save money, but to improve the lives of Americans of all ages.
  Ms. SEWELL of Alabama. Mr. Speaker, today I rise to express my strong 
disappointment in House Republicans for starting off the New Year with 
the same failed policies from 2015. The bill before us today, the so-
called Restoring Americans' Healthcare Freedom Reconciliation Act, is 
simply more of the same. We've been here 61 times before, making today 
the 62nd vote to repeal or undermine the Affordable Care Act. Enough is 
enough.
  Ultimately, we are wasting time on a bill destined for a veto and 
have many reasons to celebrate its imminent failure. This bill is 
designed to take health insurance from 22 million uninsured Americans. 
It would cut the subsidies provided to low and middle income Americans 
living with diabetes and other diseases that allow them to purchase 
private health insurance.
  It would also eliminate the Prevention and Public Health Fund (PPHF), 
which provides investments in public health efforts to prevent and 
detect diseases like diabetes and cancer. In the first 6 years of the 
Fund's inception, $5.25 billion in resources have been sent to states, 
tribal, and community organizations to support community-based 
prevention. The Fund should be strengthened, not eliminated.
  This bill is also designed to repeal the ACA's Medicaid Expansion. As 
representative of a state that has opted not to expand its Medicaid 
program, I know full well the consequences of non-expansion. The 
139,000 working Alabamians who fall in the so-called coverage gap make 
too much to qualify for Medicaid and too little to qualify for 
subsidies. My states' decision not to expand this critical program is 
having a devastating--almost fatal--impact on rural health clinics and 
hospitals across my district. This provision to repeal Medicaid 
Expansion would have a devastating impact on the 30 states that have 
expanded their Medicaid program under the Affordable Care Act, 
including 14 states with Republican governors.
  The bill is also designed to take away family planning, wellness 
exams, and life-saving cancer screenings from millions of American 
women. The issue of access to reproductive care is very personal to my 
constituents as some women have to drive two counties to deliver a 
baby. For women in Sumter County, that's as far as Tuscaloosa, which is 
an hour away. We shouldn't be in the business of restricting access to 
family planning and reproductive care in our communities that are 
already struggling from high teen pregnancy, infant mortality, and STD 
rates.
  While I am pleased to see an effort to repeal the burdensome Cadillac 
tax and the medical device tax, I cannot support this dangerous bill in 
its entirety. I will continue to work with my colleagues to repeal the 
Cadillac and medical device taxes through other legislative vehicles.
  Before passage of the ACA, we were spending more money per patient 
than any country in the world. Under the law, health care prices have 
grown at the slowest rate in 50 years. This is economic progress that 
all Americans benefit from. While the Affordable Care Act is not 
perfect, there are millions of Americans who now have access to quality 
healthcare and are leading healthier lives because of it.
  My constituents and the nurses and doctors who care for them deserve 
better. They deserve a Congress that works together to fix what's wrong 
with our health care system rather that rolling back the progress made 
by the Affordable Care Act. In 2016, we should be a Congress that finds 
solutions that benefits all Americans. Health care should not be a 
privilege.
  Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, it's ironic that during our first sessions 
of the new year today, the House gets down to business with fake 
business--defunding Planned Parenthood and the 62nd vote to repeal 
Obamacare. Never mind the inevitable veto by a Democratic President--
the Republican Governor of Kentucky, Matt Beven has already vetoed his 
own campaign promise to repeal the Medicaid expansion. A Washington 
Post editorial commended Bevin for ``good sense.'' It's also sound 
policy and good politics to claim federal funds that your constituents 
have paid for to improve the health care of half a million low-income 
Kentuckians.
  Defunding Planned Parenthood, or federally funded health care for the 
60 percent of their Medicaid patients who depend on Planned Parenthood, 
would have the same effect as defunding the Medicaid expansion in 
Kentucky. Both would take away from the neediest living in underserved 
communities for spiteful political reasons.
  Republicans began 2016 with more of the same, by targeting medical 
care for the poor. Americans deserve better than the same old 
foolishness in the new year.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. All time for debate has expired.
  Pursuant to House Resolution 579, the previous question is ordered.
  The question is on the motion by the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Tom 
Price).
  The question was taken; and the Speaker pro tempore announced that 
the ayes appeared to have it.
  Mr. TOM PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and 
nays.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, this 15-
minute vote on the motion to concur will be followed by a 5-minute vote 
on agreeing to the Speaker's approval of the Journal, if ordered.
  The vote was taken by electronic device, and there were--yeas 240, 
nays 181, not voting 13, as follows:

                              [Roll No. 6]

                               YEAS--240

     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
     Donovan
     Duffy
     Duncan (SC)
     Duncan (TN)
     Ellmers (NC)
     Emmer (MN)
     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
     Hardy
     Harper
     Harris
     Hartzler
     Heck (NV)
     Hensarling
     Herrera Beutler
     Hice, Jody B.
     Hill
     Holding
     Hudson
     Huelskamp
     Huizenga (MI)
     Hultgren
     Hunter
     Hurd (TX)
     Hurt (VA)
     Jenkins (KS)
     Jenkins (WV)
     Johnson (OH)
     Johnson, Sam
     Jolly
     Jones
     Jordan
     Joyce
     Kelly (MS)
     Kelly (PA)
     King (NY)
     Kinzinger (IL)
     Kline
     Knight
     Labrador
     LaHood
     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)
     Moolenaar
     Mooney (WV)
     Mullin
     Mulvaney
     Murphy (PA)
     Neugebauer
     Newhouse

[[Page H67]]


     Noem
     Nunes
     Olson
     Palazzo
     Palmer
     Paulsen
     Pearce
     Perry
     Peterson
     Pittenger
     Pitts
     Poe (TX)
     Poliquin
     Pompeo
     Posey
     Price, Tom
     Ratcliffe
     Reed
     Reichert
     Renacci
     Ribble
     Rice (SC)
     Rigell
     Roby
     Roe (TN)
     Rogers (AL)
     Rogers (KY)
     Rohrabacher
     Rokita
     Rooney (FL)
     Ros-Lehtinen
     Roskam
     Ross
     Rothfus
     Rouzer
     Royce
     Russell
     Ryan (WI)
     Salmon
     Sanford
     Scalise
     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 (AK)
     Young (IA)
     Young (IN)
     Zeldin
     Zinke

                               NAYS--181

     Adams
     Aguilar
     Ashford
     Bass
     Beatty
     Becerra
     Bera
     Beyer
     Bishop (GA)
     Blumenauer
     Bonamici
     Boyle, Brendan F.
     Brady (PA)
     Brown (FL)
     Brownley (CA)
     Bustos
     Butterfield
     Capps
     Capuano
     Cardenas
     Carney
     Carson (IN)
     Cartwright
     Castor (FL)
     Castro (TX)
     Chu, Judy
     Cicilline
     Clark (MA)
     Clarke (NY)
     Clay
     Clyburn
     Cohen
     Connolly
     Conyers
     Cooper
     Costa
     Courtney
     Crowley
     Cuellar
     Cummings
     Davis (CA)
     Davis, Danny
     DeFazio
     DeGette
     Delaney
     DelBene
     DeSaulnier
     Deutch
     Dingell
     Doggett
     Dold
     Doyle, Michael F.
     Duckworth
     Edwards
     Ellison
     Engel
     Eshoo
     Esty
     Farr
     Fattah
     Foster
     Frankel (FL)
     Fudge
     Gabbard
     Gallego
     Garamendi
     Graham
     Grayson
     Green, Al
     Green, Gene
     Grijalva
     Gutierrez
     Hahn
     Hanna
     Hastings
     Heck (WA)
     Higgins
     Himes
     Honda
     Hoyer
     Huffman
     Israel
     Jackson Lee
     Jeffries
     Johnson (GA)
     Kaptur
     Katko
     Keating
     Kelly (IL)
     Kildee
     Kilmer
     Kirkpatrick
     Kuster
     Langevin
     Larsen (WA)
     Larson (CT)
     Lawrence
     Lee
     Levin
     Lewis
     Lieu, Ted
     Lipinski
     Loebsack
     Lofgren
     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
     Pelosi
     Perlmutter
     Peters
     Pingree
     Pocan
     Polis
     Price (NC)
     Quigley
     Rangel
     Rice (NY)
     Richmond
     Roybal-Allard
     Ruiz
     Ruppersberger
     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)
     Tonko
     Torres
     Tsongas
     Van Hollen
     Vargas
     Veasey
     Vela
     Velazquez
     Visclosky
     Walz
     Wasserman Schultz
     Waters, Maxine
     Watson Coleman
     Welch
     Wilson (FL)
     Yarmuth

                             NOT VOTING--13

     Cleaver
     DeLauro
     Hinojosa
     Issa
     Johnson, E. B.
     Kennedy
     Kind
     King (IA)
     Miller (MI)
     Nugent
     Payne
     Rush
     Titus

                              {time}  1754

  Ms. KUSTER changed her vote from ``yea'' to ``nay.''
  So the motion to concur was agreed to.
  The result of the vote was announced as above recorded.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

                          ____________________