[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 207 (Tuesday, December 9, 2025)]
[House]
[Pages H5105-H5108]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
RESTORING ENHANCED PREMIUM TAX CREDITS
(Under the Speaker's announced policy of January 3, 2025, Ms.
McClellan of Virginia was recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of
the minority leader.)
General Leave
Ms. McCLELLAN. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members
may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and
include extraneous material on the subject of this Special Order.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentlewoman from Virginia?
There was no objection.
Ms. McCLELLAN. Mr. Speaker, it is with great honor that I rise today
for the third week in a row to anchor the Congressional Black Caucus'
Special Order hour to tell stories of people who stand to lose their
health insurance if Congress does not act in 22 days.
Mr. Speaker, 22 days. We have 22 days to prevent at least 5 million
people from losing their health insurance.
For the past 3 weeks, the Congressional Black Caucus has brought
stories of the 22 million people who will see their health insurance
premiums double or even triple and, for some, spike beyond their
ability to pay when enhanced premium tax credits expire in 22 days. An
estimated 5 million people will lose their health insurance because
they can't afford these new premiums. The Congressional Black Caucus
has told stories of people concerned that they will be among those 5
million.
Mr. Speaker, I have good news. This Thursday, the Senate will have
two competing plans on the floor for a vote. Yet, Speaker Johnson still
has not committed to allowing a vote on the floor in this body.
Leader Jeffries has a discharge petition open right now to extend the
tax credits, and we just need four Republicans to join us in signing
it.
House Democrats have come forward with a plan. Senate Democrats have
come forward with a plan. Senate Republicans have come forward with a
plan. The administration still doesn't seem to have a concept of a
plan, but we have 22 days where the American people are expecting us to
act.
Mr. Speaker, I will begin this Special Order hour by yielding to the
chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, Chair Yvette Clarke of New
York.
{time} 1940
Ms. CLARKE of New York. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from
Virginia for her hard work and dedication in anchoring the Special
Order hour of the Congressional Black Caucus for 3 consecutive weeks,
as she has rightly stated. We are so proud of the work she is doing to
uplift the stories of people across this Nation who are standing on the
edge of what could be catastrophic in terms of healthcare.
Mr. Speaker, good evening, I am Representative Yvette D. Clarke,
chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, proudly representing New
York's Ninth Congressional District, which is located in central and
southwest Brooklyn.
I thank my colleague once again, Congresswoman Jennifer McClellan,
for anchoring this Congressional Black Caucus Special Order hour.
I rise tonight, Mr. Speaker, with my colleagues of the Congressional
Black Caucus to bring awareness to the fast approaching ACA tax credit
funding deadline and to give voice to everyday Americans who will be
harmed by the Republican-led healthcare crisis. The enhanced ACA tax
credits are set to expire on December 31 unless congressional
Republicans join Democrats to extend them.
In a few short weeks, millions of Americans will be forced to pay
astronomical prices for their health insurance. Many will lose coverage
altogether because they will not be able to afford it.
[[Page H5106]]
I want to share the story of a constituent who lives in my district
in Brooklyn, a woman who wants to work, who does work, and who
contributes to her community every single day.
Denise, of Prospect Lefferts Gardens, is self-employed. She is a
graphic designer. She also lives with lupus, a serious autoimmune
condition that requires consistent care and access to specialists. The
only reason she has been able to stay in the workforce is because of
the Affordable Care Act, and specifically the enhanced premium tax
credits that have made quality health insurance something she could
actually afford.
Those credits lowered her monthly premium enough so that she could
manage her health, pay her rent, and keep her small business going.
However, now she is being told that if these enhanced credits expire,
her premium could double.
When she found out that her healthcare costs could become
unaffordable, she said: ``The only reason I can work at all is because
I can manage my lupus with regular care. I can't pay New York City
rent, pay those premiums, and keep my business going. It feels like
Congress is telling disabled people, don't work, go back on full
benefits.''
Mr. Speaker, doubling someone's premium doesn't just strain a budget,
it changes a life. It forces people to give up work. It pushes people
with disabilities out of the workforce. It tells them that independence
is a luxury that they can't afford.
My constituent does not want to stop working. She does not want to
give up, but if Congress allows these credits to expire, we are
effectively telling her and millions like her that staying insured and
staying employed are no longer compatible choices. That is wrong. It is
within our power to prevent it.
All 214 Democrats have signed a discharge petition that will extend
the Affordable Care Act tax credits for 3 years. All we need are four
Republicans who are willing to join us in protecting our Nation's
healthcare.
Allowing these tax credits to expire is, indeed, a choice, and it is
the wrong choice. Our communities are counting on us to do the right
thing and to put their needs over politics. It is people over politics.
Ms. McCLELLAN. Mr. Speaker, I thank our chair for her tireless
efforts to fight for our constituents who have found their healthcare
costs going up along with the cost of everything else.
I yield to the former chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, the
gentlewoman from Ohio's Third District, Representative Joyce Beatty.
Mrs. BEATTY. Mr. Speaker, let me first say thank you to my colleague
from Virginia, Congresswoman Jennifer McClellan, for yielding to me and
for leading this Special Order hour. I also thank our chairwoman,
Congresswoman Yvette Clarke from Brooklyn, New York.
You heard her as she came to the floor, Mr. Speaker, sharing with us
the value, the importance of why we are here tonight. You have also
heard it, not just tonight but for weeks, we have come to this floor.
Mr. Speaker, the question you should ask yourself is: Why are we
here? Why are we standing here and telling these stories? These are
stories that I am sure people in your district and your colleagues have
heard also.
Well, we come tonight because we want America to know how important
our work is, but more importantly, we want America to know that
Democrats are standing up for them. We are united in this single cause
because it is our top priority.
Tonight, we share the stories of our constituents. We do it as a
reminder that others turn away from the struggle, but the Congressional
Black Caucus leans in, standing in the gap for families who can't
afford for Congress to look the other direction.
Mr. Speaker, I rise to share the human cost of allowing the
Affordable Care Act healthcare tax credits to expire. I rise on behalf
of the families of the Third Congressional District that I serve in the
great State of Ohio.
I rise on behalf of the families across this Nation. I rise on behalf
of the 18-plus million Black Americans that the members of the
Congressional Black Caucus serve.
Mr. Speaker, I also rise on behalf of the 82 million Americans that
the Congressional Black Caucus serves. Families, Mr. Speaker, who sit
at the kitchen table late at night wondering which bill they can pay
and which bill must wait.
If Congress fails to act, 35,000 people in my district will see their
healthcare costs rise. Let me just give you an example. For a 60-year-
old couple, earning $85,600, annual premiums will rise by almost 300
percent. It is unthinkable.
Mr. Speaker, 15,000 people in my district will lose their healthcare
altogether because of Republicans' refusal to extend the tax credits.
Small businesses make up 48 percent of the ACA marketplace consumers.
I have heard colleagues on both sides of the aisle talk about how it
is the small business owners who are the economic engines that make
this America work. They are the backbone of communities, communities
like my community in the Third Congressional District.
If I could go back and remind you, Mr. Speaker, and all those who are
listening, it was the Democrats with our American Rescue Plan who
expanded the promise of the Affordable Care Act to make healthcare more
affordable. I could take you back to 1965, Mr. Speaker, when then, too,
we were dealing with healthcare, and it was the government body that
came up with Medicaid and Medicare to make sure that we protected the
American people and provided not just for the wealthy, but for all, for
the least of us.
Tonight, I want to put a face on it, Mr. Speaker. I want to lift up
two Ohioans who put names to these numbers. You see, it is not about
the politics, as our chairwoman said. It is about people. It is about
everyday people.
{time} 1950
Let me tell you the story of Tracie, a small business owner, who
wrote that her family's premiums have tripled. Before the tax credit,
they were paying over $1,000 a month just to stay insured. With two
children in college, she wrote: Our family relies on these subsidies
just to support our students and pay our bills. We don't live
extravagantly. Please, Congresswoman, keep fighting for us.
Let me tell you the story of Mark, a 60-year-old husband and a part-
time worker. He told me his ACA premiums will rise $11,000 in 2026. He
may have to return to full-time work out of fear that he and his wife
will be left without healthcare.
Mr. Speaker, I could tell you story after story and put a face on it.
I could tell you the stories from across this wonderful America that we
live in. We all have stories.
Healthcare is not about Democrats and Republicans. It is about
people. Tonight, we come to this Chamber, to this floor, the House of
the people, to share with you the stories because we want hope. We want
to provide hope to the American people. We want to be able to tell them
that they don't stand alone. We want to be able to tell them that we
really believe that we can make a difference, that we can provide
affordable, quality healthcare for everyday people.
Mr. Speaker, Democrats stood united, as you know, for more than 40
days during the Republican-caused shutdown to prevent this, but here we
are. Republicans refuse to negotiate.
Healthcare, Mr. Speaker, is a lifeline for families who have upheld
their end of the bargain even when Republican policies have not upheld
theirs.
Mr. Speaker, my ask is very simple, and here it is: Congress must
act. Congress must restore these tax credits and protect affordable
healthcare.
Mr. Speaker, I guess the question really is, what do we say to that
family? What is the answer that we say that we cannot negotiate? What
is the answer that we say to them that we cannot bring it to this
floor? What is it that you would like me to say to the American people?
What is it my colleagues on the other side that don't stand united with
us for the people want me to say to the American people? I guess that
is why week after week after week, we come to this floor for Special
Order hours.
Mr. Speaker, I want you to know how important this is that we go out
into our districts and because we know people are making a decision
between healthcare, feeding their families, and putting a roof over
their head. I could
[[Page H5107]]
tell you the stories of my colleagues. I could tell you the stories of
colleagues who have gone into hospitals and healthcare clinics and
volunteered services. I can tell you that I have bagged and boxed food
for people. I have contributed, like many of my colleagues, to make
sure that when people have to pay for their healthcare and they are
trying to decide if they can buy groceries that we are coming to their
rescue.
Tonight, I end with asking you not to come to our rescue as Democrats
but come to the rescue of the American people, and let us make a
difference by negotiating and having an American healthcare plan that
will make sure that all individuals can have affordable healthcare.
Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for this Special Order hour. I
thank her for her brilliance and her tenacity that she comes here and
stands and tells the stories and leads us so hopefully we will be able
to make a difference.
Ms. McCLELLAN. Mr. Speaker, I thank Congresswoman Beatty for her
remarks.
Mr. Speaker, earlier today, Punchbowl News reported that Speaker
Johnson is planning a long process to fix healthcare. The Speaker says
he anticipates working on healthcare through the second quarter of the
year and have a vote in the first quarter or the second quarter. He
acknowledges that there is a lot to fix in healthcare.
Mr. Speaker, open enrollment ends on January 15. The new premiums,
without the enhanced premium tax credits, take effect for 22 million
Americans on January 1. Do you know who can't wait 6 months for a
healthcare fix? The 5 million Americans who are estimated to find they
can no longer afford their health insurance premiums when the premium
goes up.
I don't understand the priorities that Congress focused on this year.
I really don't. I don't understand how under H.R. 1, which I call the
big, ugly bill, Congress bent over backward, congressional Republicans
specifically, bent over backward to provide permanent tax breaks for
people who make over $500,000 a year, such as a permanent $15 million
gift or estate tax break or a tax break for buying an airplane, but for
people who make $64,000 a year or a family of four who makes just over
$129,000 a year, congressional Republicans just expect them to absorb
health insurance premiums that will double or triple.
In my district, that family of four earning just over $129,000 a year
will see their premiums increase by $4,675. A 60-year-old couple
earning $82,800 a year will see their premiums increase by $11,968.
My State legislators have predicted at least 60,000 Virginians will
have to cancel their insurance coverage. Who are some of these people?
We have heard stories, at least under the Medicaid cut debate, we
heard Speaker Johnson say, well, these are young men who are living in
their parents' basement playing video games. Who are we talking about?
Who are these families who are going to see their health insurance
premiums spike? They are restaurateurs, beauticians, landscapers,
mediators, chiropractors, funeral directors, farmers, freelancers,
contractors, and gig workers. They are the ones caught in the cross
fire of a political battle that has now reached a stalemate.
Roughly, half of the adults covered under the Affordable Care Act,
about 10 million people, are small business owners, their employees, or
the self-employed, according to KFF. One of them lives in my district.
Well, one of the businesses is in my district. There are several people
who work there.
Lester Johnson and his wife, Yolanda, own and run Mama J's, which is
a very good--I highly recommend it--southern cooking, soul food
restaurant in my district in Jackson Ward, which was once known as the
Harlem of the South. I talked to Lester and he said: It is a lot of
gamesmanship, and the people are like the pawns.
Lester and his wife and his daughter rely on the Affordable Care Act.
They pay right now about $700 a month. He looked at his bill and his
bill would go up more than $1,400 if he loses the tax credit.
He has about 40 employees and they will see their premiums spike, as
well. It is a lot of money for people, Lester said, and not knowing
what the price is going to be because of a stalemate in Congress adds
uncertainty. I think everybody is feeling the anxiety.
Who else can't wait for 6 months?
{time} 2000
Who else can't wait for 6 months? A lot of people who rely on the
Affordable Care Act live in States that voted for the current
President, or people who voted for the current President, or live in
red districts, like Reagan Fisher Wyssbrod from Salem, Virginia, who
works three part-time jobs to help support her family while keeping the
flexibility she needs for her children. She spends some days as a
substitute teacher and as a business manager for a library association.
She does some bookkeeping on the side. None of these jobs offers
benefits.
Her projected monthly premium increased by $400, raising her monthly
out-of-pocket costs to $1,900, and her doctor moved out of network. It
is astonishing, she said. She spent 3 weeks combing through plans and
eventually found one that would save her family about $100 a month,
bringing her premium down to $1,800, but the deductible is a lot
higher. Worst case scenario, her out-of-pocket costs would be $20,000
on top of the monthly premium.
She said, ``Ultimately, it came down to: I don't go to the doctor
that often. My kids don't go to the doctor that often. And so, we just
rolled the dice. We will wrap some bubble wrap around us, I guess.''
Bubble wrap is not going to help if she has a heart attack. Bubble
wrap is not going to help if she is in a car accident. Bubble wrap is
not going to help those mothers of premature babies who spend, on
average, $70,000 a day in a NICU stay.
Victoria Cassels, an accountant in Roanoke, worries about her adult
daughter in Richmond, who is a self-employed graphic designer with an
autoimmune disease.
This year, her monthly premium rose by $400, about three times higher
than it was last year. She plans to help her daughter cover the cost if
she can't take on enough work to meet the new expenses.
Cassels, who prepares taxes for individuals and small businesses,
says that more of her younger clients are talking about dropping health
insurance altogether. In the last few years, she has had a slew of
clients in their twenties and thirties who have started their own
business. They are just getting started in life. They don't have the
savings to afford the increasing cost of health insurance. They are
probably going to have to put off starting a family because, without
health insurance, being pregnant and childbirth are pretty expensive,
even with insurance.
Ben Pearman, a financial adviser from Bent Mountain in Roanoke
County, also runs his own business. Higher monthly costs have led him
to reconsider his options. A single man in his fifties, he pays for his
own health plan, and next year, his monthly premium will jump from $724
to $935. He can absorb the higher cost but is considering switching to
concierge care that will let him pay a flat monthly rate or an annual
fee. If he did that, he wouldn't have insurance if an accident
happened. Accidents happen.
I remember one such accident when my son, just before his third
birthday, grabbed my curling iron and burned his hand. This was a
Saturday. After a trip to the emergency room--we were in a rural county
that didn't have a burn unit--they said: Well, you can either go home
to Richmond, a 3-hour drive, and on Saturday there is a burn clinic,
and they can take him then, or we can see if we can get him admitted to
the hospital tonight.
I said we were going to see if we could get him admitted because I
had health insurance, and I knew the health insurance would cover it.
If I didn't have health insurance, I probably would have had to wait
for that burn clinic 3 days later, and his second-degree burn probably
would have gotten infected.
We took the ambulance ride, and we got to the hospital. After that
and a week in the burn unit, the total cost of that bill--and this is
in 2013, so you know the prices have gone up--that entire bill was
$15,000.
I had employer-provided insurance, so I paid $1,000. Imagine if I was
one of these families that said that I am just going to wrap myself in
bubble wrap or
[[Page H5108]]
roll the dice and see what happens. $15,000 is a lot of money.
These are just a few of the stories of people who right now are
struggling to figure out which bill they are going to pay. They are
counting on us to help them.
Being a history maker who is also a history nerd, I have to tell a
little history right now. My parents grew up during the Depression, and
my father was born in 1925. He would have been 100 years old in
September. He was just old enough to remember when the stock market
crash happened. He didn't know what was going on. He was 4.
He remembered how his father one day owned an apartment complex, a
newspaper, and a nightclub, and the next day lost everything due to
circumstances outside of his control. He also remembered and told us
the story about the stress that put on his parents.
A few years later, in 1934, his mother died from cancer when he was
10 years old. My dad went to Alabama to live with his grandparents, who
founded a school. Because the State of Alabama didn't think it was
important enough to educate Black children, his grandparents started a
school.
My dad saw the best of government and the worst of government. He saw
the worst of government through Jim Crow. He saw the best of government
when Congress and the President, through the New Deal, responded to the
Great Depression, responded to people who, through no fault of their
own, were economically devastated.
My mother was born in the middle of the Depression, so she never knew
anything other than poverty. She also experienced the best of
government through the New Deal and the worst of government through Jim
Crow.
Telling me these stories, I came to understand that, at its best,
government is a force that helps people and solves problems, especially
when those problems are due to factors beyond their control and the
solutions are beyond their reach. That is the best of government. The
worst of government is when a few benefit from the oppression of the
many.
We just commemorated the D-day anniversary, a little bit later than
the Depression, or as we were coming out of the Depression. There are
only 12 people left who survived that. There are very few people alive
today who remember the Great Depression. There are very few people
today who remember when the United States Government lived up to its
better nature and reached out, not to give a handout, but a hand up, to
millions of Americans who, in the blink of an eye, lost everything and
couldn't feed their families.
{time} 2010
Mr. Speaker, my father was also a pastor. I can't help but think of
him without thinking of Matthew 25:31-40. This is the story of the
sheep and the goats, and this is what Jesus talks about.
``When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with
him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the Nations will be
gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another
as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep
on his right and the goats on his left.
Then the king will say to those on his right: Come you, who are
blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for
you since the creation of the world.
For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty and
you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me
in. I needed clothes, and you clothed me. I was sick, and you looked
after me. I was in prison and you visited me.
And the righteous will say: Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed
you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a
stranger and invite you in, or you needing clothes and we clothed you?
When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?
The king will reply: Truly, I tell you, whatever you did for the
least of these, you did for me.''
Mr. Speaker, there are a lot of people in this country who are
hungry, who are sick, who are unhoused, who are strangers, and who are
imprisoned.
This year, Congress basically said folks are on their own. This year,
Congress basically said that we will make it harder for folks to eat.
We will make it harder for people to get the care that they need.
The President of the United States fought all the way to the Supreme
Court to keep from feeding hungry children with money that Congress
appropriated for that purpose in the event of a shutdown.
We passed legislation that will strip an estimated 17 million
Americans of their health insurance at a time when Americans are
looking to us to help them and solve problems.
The Affordable Care Act is not perfect. Do we really want to tell 22
million people that because Congress cannot stop playing political
football with their lives, they have to gamble with whether or not they
pay their health insurance bill when it is priced out of their reach?
They are expecting us to act. We have 22 days. Whether it is Leader
Jeffries's discharge petition or whether it is one of the bills on the
floor of the Senate, we have 22 days to act. We have 22 days to at
least say we will make sure that for the next year or 2 years or
however many we can, until this magical concept of a plan appears for
us to vote on, we will help them a little bit to at least pay for their
health insurance right now so they don't have to rely on bubble wrap or
a wing and a prayer.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
____________________