[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 39 (Tuesday, March 7, 2017)]
[House]
[Pages H1547-H1550]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     FRED D. THOMPSON FEDERAL BUILDING AND UNITED STATES COURTHOUSE

  Mr. BARLETTA. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 375) to designate the Federal building and United States 
courthouse located at 719 Church Street in Nashville, Tennessee, as the 
``Fred D. Thompson Federal Building and United States Courthouse''.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                                H.R. 375

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

     SECTION 1. DESIGNATION.

       The Federal building and United States courthouse located 
     at 719 Church Street in Nashville, Tennessee, shall be known 
     and designated as the ``Fred D. Thompson Federal Building and 
     United States Courthouse''.

     SEC. 2. REFERENCES.

       Any reference in a law, map, regulation, document, paper, 
     or other record of the United States to the Federal building 
     and United States courthouse referred to in section 1 shall 
     be deemed to be a reference to the ``Fred D. Thompson Federal 
     Building and United States Courthouse''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Pennsylvania (Mr. Barletta) and the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. 
Johnson) each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Pennsylvania.

                              {time}  1715


                             General Leave

  Mr. BARLETTA. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks 
and include extraneous material on H.R. 375.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Pennsylvania?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. BARLETTA. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, H.R. 375 would designate the Federal building and United 
States courthouse located in Nashville, Tennessee, as the Fred D. 
Thompson Federal Building and United States Courthouse.
  I would like to thank the gentlewoman from Tennessee (Mrs. Blackburn) 
for her leadership on this legislation.
  Senator Thompson was respected for his work as a lawyer, an actor, 
and as a United States Senator. This legislation is a fitting tribute 
that I am honored to bring to the floor today.
  Fred Thompson first made a name for himself as an assistant U.S. 
attorney from 1969 to 1972. That experience brought him to the national 
stage in his subsequent position as special counsel on a number of 
Senate committees, most notably as minority counsel with the Senate 
Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, better known as 
the Watergate Committee.
  It was then-Counsel Thompson who helped frame Senator Howard Baker's 
now famous question, ``What did the President know, and when did he 
know it?'' in regards to the Watergate controversy. Thompson himself 
asked an even more important question related to the existence of taped 
conversations in the Oval Office--tapes that led to President Nixon's 
eventual resignation.
  After returning to the private practice of law in Nashville, Thompson 
represented the chairperson of the State Parole Board who unearthed a 
cash-for-clemency scheme involving the then-Governor of Tennessee. This 
case was eventually made into a book and into the film ``Marie.'' Fred 
Thompson was cast to play himself, which launched his acting career. 
Throughout the 1990s, Fred Thompson appeared in supporting roles in 
some of the decade's biggest movies, including ``Days of Thunder,'' 
``The Hunt for Red October,'' and ``Die Hard 2.''

[[Page H1548]]

  In 1994, Fred Thompson ran for political office for the first time 
and was elected to fill the remaining 2 years of Vice President Al 
Gore's Senate term. He was re-elected in 1996 to a full 6-year term and 
served as chairman of the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs 
until his retirement in 2002.
  That didn't slow Senator Thompson down. He returned to acting and won 
the role of New York District Attorney Arthur Branch on the hit NBC 
show ``Law & Order'' between 2002 and 2007. It was in 2007 that Senator 
Thompson returned to politics by announcing his candidacy for the 
United States Presidency. Although his return to the political realm 
was unsuccessful, Senator Thompson's popularity did not wane. He 
returned to acting on screen and on TV, wrote a memoir, and appeared 
often to comment on politics. Tragically, in 2015, Senator Thompson 
died from a recurrence of lymphoma.
  Senator Thompson was a man of many talents. Through it all, he never 
lost his roots as a Tennessean. Given Senator Thompson's dedication to 
the law and public service, I believe it is more than fitting to name 
this courthouse and Federal building in Nashville after him.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I 
may consume.
  I rise in support of this legislation, H.R. 375, which names the 
Federal building and U.S. courthouse in Nashville, Tennessee, after the 
late Senator Fred Thompson.
  Senator Thompson had a long and extraordinary career in many roles 
that included actor, lobbyist, private attorney, and radio show host. 
But he is best known and respected not for his hawking of reverse 
mortgages but for being an assistant U.S. attorney, a congressional 
staffer, and, lastly, a U.S. Senator representing the State of 
Tennessee. Senator Thompson was a graduate of Memphis State University 
and Vanderbilt Law School. Senator Thompson got his start in public 
life in 1967, when he served as an assistant U.S. attorney in 
Nashville, Tennessee.
  During his time in that office, he met U.S. Senator Howard Baker from 
Tennessee who became a lifelong mentor to Senator Thompson. After 
managing Senator Baker's successful U.S. Senate campaign in 1972, 
Senator Thompson moved to Washington, D.C., where he was appointed 
counsel to the U.S. Senate Committee investigating the Watergate break-
in and famously helped shape the direction and tone of those hearings.
  I think that he will be known as one who helped Senator Baker in 
formulating that age-old, timeless question: ``What did President Nixon 
know, and when did he know it?'' It is ironic that today, Mr. Speaker, 
people are asking about our current President, President Trump: What 
did he know, and when did he know it?
  I will tell you, President Trump stood right there at the rostrum of 
the House last week and said that the Republican health insurance plan 
would have insurance for everybody, the insurance would be far less 
expensive and far better than what we have today. But we see now that 
that was incorrect, as the Republicans have, on a Monday, I guess at 
some point before the day ended, introduced their repeal bill of the 
Affordable Care Act.
  We are here talking about Senator Thompson today, but I just can't 
help asking: When did President Trump know that the Republican plan was 
going to throw 20 million people off of the Affordable Care Act 
depriving them of insurance? When did he know that? What did he know 
about this plan? Because not a whole lot of people around here knew of 
the plan until it was released because it was shrouded in secrecy, and 
it was released and a hearing scheduled to mark it up, to mark up the 
legislation with no hearings taking place on the underlying 
legislation.
  So no CBO score, no congressional hearings about it, introducing it 
in a cloud shrouded in secrecy, and, boom, it is dropped on the 
American people at a time when you are trying to distract attention 
from other questions about what President Trump knew about Russia, 
Russian hacking, and those kinds of questions. What did he know about 
the GSA hotel that the taxpayers own that he is leasing and now he is 
the lessor and the lessee of that hotel that belongs to the American 
people? What did he know and when did he know it? Those are questions 
that the American people have. We intend to get down to the bottom of 
it on this side. I hope that we will have some help on the other side.

  I do want to say that I support this legislation.
  Mr. Speaker, I think the American people would be horrified to learn 
that of the 30 million people who were able to attain health insurance 
coverage and access to the healthcare system as a result of passage of 
the Affordable Care Act, many of those, a substantial number of those, 
will be thrown off of the rolls and deprived of the ability to have 
access to the healthcare system because of this new replacement bill 
that has been filed, which, as I said before, has not been scored.
  We don't know how much the Medicare solvency issue is going to cost. 
We don't know how much it is going to cost. We don't know how much it 
is going to cost the taxpayers. We don't know how many people will lose 
their jobs because, after all, it stands to reason if you are serving 
30 million more people, that means you have brought a whole lot of 
people into the healthcare delivery business, people who are working, 
people who have jobs, people who have husbands, wives, parents, and 
children who are depending on them for support, and you are going to 
tell them that their jobs are at risk.
  Yes, they are, with this new law that has been half-baked introduced 
and fast-tracked to become law without people really knowing about it. 
This is something that people need to know about, people need to get 
out and exclaim their opposition to because it is going to hurt a lot 
of people.
  The way that this bill changes the Affordable Care Act is it makes it 
unaffordable for most Americans to be able to afford the insurance that 
they have gained as a result of passage of the Affordable Care Act. The 
premium subsidies are recalculated. Instead of based on a sliding scale 
which is an indication of need, this Republican plan is going to 
replace that and calculate the amount of the premium subsidy based on 
age.
  Now, what does that do, especially when you consider that some 
elderly people are more well-heeled than others? They can afford 
insurance, and they can afford to front the policy cost in return for 
the tax subsidy that they get. But what does that do to the younger 
people? So it is good news for some older people who are well-heeled. 
They will be helped by this Republican plan. But the average wage 
earner is going to be hurt--the younger people--because it is going to 
be more expensive for them.
  But then I have some bad news for the elderly people, also. Insurance 
companies under this new plan will be able to charge the elderly five 
times more than they will charge a younger person. That differential 
had been abolished in the Affordable Care Act, but the Republicans are 
bringing it back. Who is going to pay? It is going to be those same 
elderly people. You put it in one hand, and you take it out of the 
other. All of the elderly people in America, regardless of how much 
money you earn, should be concerned about that.
  Prioritizing health savings accounts over these premium subsidies is 
going to provide a great big tax cut to the wealthy. You can't get away 
from that. It is going to hurt the working people of this country. It 
is going to be a tax giveaway to the wealthy. I am sad to hear and to 
see this plan, and all of you should be, also.
  Mr. Speaker, how much time do I have remaining?
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman has 11 minutes remaining.
  Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the 
gentleman from New York (Mr. Espaillat).
  Mr. ESPAILLAT. Mr. Speaker, I stand today in strong opposition to the 
Republican proposal to repeal the Affordable Care Act.
  This is a rushed bill, Mr. Speaker, that was written behind closed 
doors in total secrecy with no daylight and with no access to the 
important content of this bill that all of us should have ample time to 
be able to digest the details of it and be able to make a good decision 
that is consistent with the will of our constituents. This is a

[[Page H1549]]

rushed bill that was written behind closed doors, again, in total 
secrecy.
  Mr. Speaker, procedurally, we have not seen a CBO score of this bill. 
There have been no hearings on this bill. There has been no expert 
testimony on the impact of this bill, and the effect to healthcare 
costs for families or the quality of coverage all of those families 
will receive is completely unknown.
  Substantively, this bill is an absolute nightmare. It guts Federal 
requirements for essential health benefits like maternity care. It 
shatters working Americans' access to insurance covering abortions. It 
creates age-based subsidies, repeals all the ACA taxes, and completely 
destroys the Medicaid expansion program which so much helped many of 
our States.

                              {time}  1730

  In our country, at least 11 million people will lose their healthcare 
insurance coverage as a result of this reckless dismantlement of 
Medicaid. In my district alone, over 156,000 individuals are going to 
lose their coverage with the repeal of the Medicaid expansion. Over 
156,000 people, Mr. Speaker, will lose their coverage.
  This bill kicks the elderly, the poor, and the sick to the curb and 
benefits only the young, healthy, and incredibly wealthy.
  I urge my colleagues to stand with me in opposition. This bill is a 
serious heart attack to the American people. It is a blatantly partisan 
action to dismantle President Obama's successful signature project: 
ObamaCare. Again, the 1 percent get their way.
  Mr. Speaker, as we move forward, decades to come, we will be able to 
go back and think of health care within the context of three major 
programs: Medicaid, Medicare, and ObamaCare.
  Mr. BARLETTA. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the 
gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Brendan F. Boyle), my friend.
  Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I thank the 
gentleman for yielding.
  Mr. Speaker, with exactly zero hearings on the topic, our Republican 
friends have now revealed their TrumpCare plan.
  Just to remind everyone what President Trump said during the campaign 
and promised, he said that his Republican plan would ``have insurance 
for everybody,'' and that it would be ``far less expensive and far 
better'' than what we have today.
  Well, now we actually have the plan out. What does it do?
  It kicks 20 million Americans off their health insurance. It sharply 
increases out-of-pocket costs for millions of American families. It 
rations care for millions of Americans on Medicaid. It includes massive 
cuts to Medicaid. It would make maternity care much more expensive.
  But don't worry, there is good news. If you are a CEO of a healthcare 
company and you make, on average, as they do, somewhere between $13 
million and $14 million, the tax increases that were leveled on you 6 
years ago will now be repealed. So, congratulations. Those folks 
benefit, but 20 million Americans lose their health insurance.
  Please join me in saying ``no'' to TrumpCare.
  Mr. BARLETTA. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I 
may consume.
  I just can't get out of my mind, Mr. Speaker, those words of 
President Trump that everybody would have insurance and that it would 
be far less expensive and far better than what we have today.
  The Republicans have campaigned incessantly for the last 7 years on 
repeal and replace of the Affordable Care Act, which they derisively 
referred to as ObamaCare. We are going to repeal it and we are going to 
replace it on day one is what they all said.
  And here we are at day 45, something like that, and we have had 
nothing but one scandal after another; but we have finally now gotten 
to the House Republicans revealing what they have shrouded in secrecy 
for so long over the last 7 years. It sputters out without much ado, 
trying to sneak it in, trying to keep it undercover so that the 
American people won't realize what is being done to them.
  I can tell you that what is being done under those covers is not 
worthy of my comment descriptively at this time, but I will say that it 
is an illicit, illegitimate situation that is taking place because you 
are taking from a group of people who are in need and you are giving 
more to individuals who have and who don't need.
  In this country we are all in the same boat together. That is what 
the Affordable Care Act did. It was an aspiration for health care for 
everyone. It wasn't perfect. It is not a perfect bill. It needs some 
repairs done, if you will, some enhancements. We have never had the 
cooperation from the other side of the aisle to do anything to enhance 
that foundation that was already laid.
  Nobody can argue with the fact that 30 million people who did not 
have health care access and now having it is a bad thing. Nobody can 
argue that. They could argue that: Well, the way that it was done was 
bad. They say that we rushed it through without any input from them, 
but there were literally dozens of public hearings and markups. The 
bill, all 1,000 pages, was available for everyone to be able to read.
  They talk about reading the bill. Well, there are so many bills 
coming through right now that they don't want people to take the time 
to read them. That is why they introduce them late in the day and then 
they schedule markups for them without even putting them in front of 
the committee for a hearing. No airing out of the bill and what it 
does.
  Why are they holding this and hiding it from the American people?
  It is because they are trying to get away with something that is 
going to be bad for the people. That is why.
  They knew that their changes, their repeal and replacement bill, if 
properly vetted, if the American people had an opportunity to learn 
what is in it, they knew it would not be popular. That is why they hid 
it from the public. That is why they are not having any hearings on it. 
They just want to proceed straight to a markup; pass it out of the 
committee; put it on the floor of the House; pass it out of the House 
with little debate; send it over to the Senate for a rubber stamp, they 
hope; and then on to President Trump, who, as I said, when did he know 
that this bill that he was going to be presented with perhaps did not 
provide coverage for everybody and was not far better in coverage than 
the Affordable Care Act? When was it that he learned that?
  The American people want to know a whole lot. There is a whole lot to 
investigate about President Trump and his campaign. There is a whole 
lot to investigate about this repeal and replacement of the Affordable 
Care Act with an inferior product, one that is slanted to the rich and 
hurts the working people of this country.

  Then it guts the Medicaid program, which millions and millions of 
people depend on to keep grandma and granddaddy and momma and daddy at 
the nursing home. Medicaid helps to make nursing home care affordable.
  But under this healthcare repeal legislation that the Republicans 
have filed, they are going to cut Medicaid. They are going to use the 
expansion of the Medicaid program which enabled 10 million people to 
gain coverage that they could not afford, and they are going to cut 
that. At the same time, they are going to cut the other part of the 
Medicaid program which provides for people to be able to have their 
loved ones properly cared for at the nursing home, instead of down in 
the basement or upstairs in the spare bedroom.
  So, get ready, ladies and gentlemen, for that inevitability if this 
legislation passes. Get ready for your loved ones to have no place to 
go, no nursing home facility to take care of them, because they will 
not be able to afford it and you will not be able to afford it.
  Who will suffer most?
  Momma and daddy and granddaddy and grandma. They are the ones that 
get the care that is so needed for the elderly.
  So in this bill, where they are going to cut 20 million people off 
the healthcare rolls, they are going to cut momma and daddy from the 
nursing home by cutting the Medicaid program and turning it into a 
block grant program and turning it over to the States.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

[[Page H1550]]

  

  Mr. BARLETTA. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Barletta) that the House suspend the 
rules and pass the bill, H.R. 375.
  The question was taken.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds 
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
  Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I object to the vote on the 
ground that a quorum is not present and make the point of order that a 
quorum is not present.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, further 
proceedings on this question will be postponed.
  The point of no quorum is considered withdrawn.

                          ____________________