[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 8]
[House]
[Page 10966]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           INDIAN HEALTH CARE

  (Mr. GRIJALVA asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. GRIJALVA. Madam Speaker, the middle class and men and women 
looking for work in this country are asking: Where are the jobs?
  The Republican majority in the House will be responding, once again, 
by voting to take away health coverage to struggling Americans. For 
instance, instead of bringing a jobs bill or a fair taxation bill up to 
the floor, we will be taking away health care from a very significant 
and important group of Americans--the first Americans--the American 
Indians.
  By upholding health reform, the Supreme Court decision affirmed that 
the permanent reauthorization of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act 
was also part of the decision. The National Congress of American 
Indians responded by stating:

       This is an important step for health care in Indian 
     Country. The permanence of the Indian Health Care Improvement 
     Act has been affirmed.

  The Affordable Care Act permanently authorizes the daily health care 
delivery to nearly 2 million American Indians and Alaska Natives who 
are in critical need of improved health care and services to their 
communities. There will be critical updates and modernizations, 
expanded cancer screenings, long-term care, hospice care, and care for 
the elderly and the disabled.
  The passage of health care reform represented a 14-year struggle by 
tribal leaders to make permanent a legislative commitment by the 
Federal Government that had not been upheld. It is wrong for the 
Republicans to take this promise away from Indian Country and from the 
first Americans of this country. Americans want a jobs plan, not their 
health care taken away.

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