[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 46 (Thursday, March 16, 2017)]
[House]
[Pages H2088-H2089]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   MASSIVE TAX BREAKS FOR THE WEALTHY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Oregon (Mr. DeFazio) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. DeFAZIO. Mr. Speaker, over the last 7 years, we have heard a lot 
from the Republicans about repeal and replace. They voted some 67 times 
to repeal the Affordable Care Act, which they call ObamaCare.
  We have seen their so-called replacement plan. Actually, it is a plan 
to gut the Affordable Care Act and stuff through massive tax breaks for 
the wealthy. What is new? That is the number one, two, and three 
priority of the current Republican majority here in the House of 
Representatives.
  They got an analysis Monday. It was a little discouraging, but not 
really. The Speaker touted the fact it would reduce the deficit by $377 
billion. Sure, if you take away health care from 24 million people, you 
can save some money on that end, but you lose a lot on the other end 
with families going bankrupt. The most frequent cause of bankruptcy in 
America was an uninsured healthcare emergency before the Affordable 
Care Act.
  Small rural hospitals will be closing their doors all across America 
if this bill goes through. And even the larger hospitals, having to 
give more uninsured care to people in crisis, will be having to jack up 
prices, and, of course, that means higher premiums for everybody else. 
Back to the good old days of freedom to choose. In this case, their 
freedom to choose bankruptcy, or death, or who knows what else, under 
this plan.
  They have really painted a target on older Americans. They are going 
to allow the healthcare insurance industry--which, by the way, is 
exempt from antitrust law, so it is not competitive. They keep saying: 
Competition and choice. How do you have competition when an industry 
does, and is, allowed to collude to set prices to exclude certain areas 
or people from coverage or certain diseases from coverage? They can do 
that all behind closed doors. It is legal for that industry. And they 
will not include a provision to take away their antitrust immunity as 
part of this bill.
  So they are going to allow insurance companies to charge anybody age 
50 or

[[Page H2089]]

older five times the premium for a younger person. Now, let's look at, 
say, a modest income of a 21-year-old of $27,000 a year. They will 
actually pay $250 less for a policy that will cover less. But that is 
okay, I guess, sort of, maybe.
  But for a 64-year-old earning the same amount of money--and there are 
64-year-olds out there still working who can't get Medicare yet and 
don't have a big retirement fund--they are still working for modest 
wages of $27,000 a year, they will see their healthcare costs go from 
$1,700 a year to $14,600. So a 64-year-old American working person with 
an income of $27,000 would have a premium of $14,600. Now, how is that 
going to work? How is that going to work? More than half of their 
income would go to pay for a health insurance plan. They have put a 
target square on those millions of people, and that is absolutely 
outrageous.
  This bill is tax cuts very thinly disguised as the American Health 
Care Act. The cuts are pretty astounding. If you earn $700,000 a year, 
you will get a $37,000 tax cut. Now, those people are really hurting. 
Those people at $700,000 a year are worried about their health 
insurance. No, not so much. They probably get it for free through their 
corporate connections, or whatever. And even if they did, with 
$772,000, they can afford the increase with a $37,000 tax break.
  But then how about the most privileged of the privileged of the 
privileged, those in the top 1 percent whose income averages $4 million 
a year? They get a tax cut of $207,000 a year under this bill. This 
bill is tax cuts disguised as an excuse for a replacement for the ACA.

  There are a few other tax cuts, again, really deserving and needy 
folks--the pharmaceutical industry, $25 billion, and the medical device 
industry, $20 billion. And health insurance companies exempt from 
antitrust law can, once again, pay their CEOs $5 million or $10 million 
a year and take a full tax deduction, which under current law they 
can't.
  So here it is, the goodie bag: Tax cuts for the wealthiest among us, 
tax cuts for the pharmaceutical industry, health insurance industry, 
medical device manufacturers; and, for the rest of America, the booby 
prize, which is healthcare plans that cover less and cost a lot more.
  Oh, and then a couple of years out, 14 million people will be cut off 
of Medicaid.
  These are really expensive tax cuts, and they have got to be paid 
for. The Republicans are fiscally responsible. They are going to pay 
for the tax cuts for people who earn $1 million a year, they are going 
to pay for the tax cuts for the pharmaceutical industry, but they have 
to screw a hell of a lot of people to do it.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair would remind Members to refrain 
from using vulgarity.

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