[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 8]
[House]
[Page 11045]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1020
             AMERICANS NEED REAL SOLUTIONS TO REAL PROBLEMS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Virginia (Mr. Connolly) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. CONNOLLY of Virginia. Boy, my friend from Virginia could not be 
more wrong.
  What exactly are the House Republicans trying to accomplish with 
today's 31st repeal vote of health care? One of the first votes 
Republicans brought to the floor when they became the majority in 
January of 2011 was to repeal the health care insurance reform law in 
its entirety. That bill passed out of the House on a virtual party-line 
vote, so you'd think Republicans would move on to the real challenges 
facing our economy like unemployment and the expiration of individual 
and business tax cuts.
  In the face of the Supreme Court ruling declaring important health 
insurance protections in the Affordable Care Act constitutional, House 
Republicans are not repealing that earlier vote but instead setting up 
a repeat of it. They have become so ideologically immovable that they 
can think of no more constructive solution than to simply replay this 
bit of political theater. Meanwhile, 56 percent of Americans say it's 
time to move on to the true pressing challenges facing our Nation, 
according to a Kaiser Family Foundation poll. A quick review of those 
challenges shows that this Republican House majority has not even tried 
to address them.
  Let's start with the very real threat of expiring tax cuts creating a 
drag on our economy. There are a number of already expired and expiring 
tax cuts, including the alternative minimum tax patch, which could 
affect 34 million Americans. Then there's the payroll tax cut affecting 
160 million Americans and numerous businesses, including the Bush tax 
cuts, which expire later this year. All combined, the expiration of 
those tax cuts could add up to a $4,000 per household bill on 
Americans. So far, House Republicans haven't felt the urgency to hold a 
single vote to extend any of those tax cuts.
  How about the Medicare doc fix? If Congress doesn't extend the 
sustainable growth rate patch, Medicare and TRICARE doctors will see 
more than a 27 percent cut in their reimbursements, causing many of 
them to stop seeing patients. Millions of seniors and military members 
and retirees could lose access to their doctors. But not a single vote 
has been proposed by the Republicans to stop that from happening.
  Then there's the debt ceiling. Without action, the Nation will once 
again risk breaching its statutory limit, triggering a historic 
default. Last summer, we achieved a bipartisan agreement to raise that 
ceiling and lower the deficit at the same time, warding off the 
cataclysmic effects of default, but not before House Republicans pushed 
us to the brink, resulting in the first time ever a downgrading of U.S. 
credit. The American people don't want a repeat of that sad chapter in 
our history, and our economy certainly cannot afford it. Ronald Reagan 
knew the value of ensuring America fulfilled its commitments. He raised 
the debt ceiling 18 times with no conditionality.
  What about a comprehensive jobs bill? After 27 straight months of 
private sector job growth, cleaning up the mess President Obama 
inherited, the base of U.S. job creation has begun to slow in the wake 
of instability in European markets. Before the July 4 holiday, we 
achieved a rare feat for this Congress in passing a bipartisan 
reauthorization of the transportation bill, giving a much-needed jolt 
to the construction sector. But we can and should do more to spur 
hiring in the alternative energy sector, manufacturing, health care, 
and more. But instead of focusing on jobs, which they claimed in the 
last election was their focus, Republicans are creating a sense of deja 
vu all over again on the floor by staging a repeat of the health care 
reform.
  Lost in this political pandering is the fact that the Affordable Care 
Act is actually working. Seniors who fall in the prescription drug 
doughnut hole are saving an average of $651 this year alone. Almost 13 
million Americans are eligible for rebates averaging $151 from their 
insurance companies, thanks to new requirements in the bill. Premiums 
for Medicare Advantage are down 7 percent for the first time ever and 
benefits are up and enrollment is up 10 percent. Medicare is on track 
to save $200 billion by 2016, pursuant to the act, without one benefit 
being cut--in fact, benefits improving.
  Mr. Speaker, the House majority is selectively ignoring those 
improvements to justify this repeat of its repeal vote. With so much to 
do--with American businesses and families waiting for tax 
predictability, with the economy bracing for the impending fiscal 
cliff, with almost 4 million people still searching for employment--
House Republicans are still offering more of the same. And sadly, it's 
not enough. Americans need real solutions to real problems. Let's get 
on with them.

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