[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 8]
[House]
[Page 11050]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




            OPPOSITION TO REPEALING THE AFFORDABLE CARE ACT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
California (Ms. Roybal-Allard) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD. Mr. Speaker, this is day 2 of the misguided 
Republican attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act. We have been down 
this road 31 times with the same arguments and the same often 
misleading rhetoric that does not reflect the true benefits of the 
Affordable Care Act.
  Those who argue against it are not speaking for my 167,000 uninsured 
constituents who for the first time will receive health insurance 
coverage when the law is fully implemented. They are not speaking for 
the 7,000 young adults who can now stay on their parents' insurance 
plans until they are aged 26, or for the 510 small businesses in my 
district that are receiving tax credits to help maintain or expand 
health care coverage for their employees.
  Colleagues who support the repeal of the Affordable Care Act are also 
disregarding the needs of minority communities in which millions suffer 
from persistent and life-shortening health disparities. In my largely 
Latino district, for example, thousands more of my constituents will 
have access to health care through the expansion of Medicaid, the 
creation of health insurance exchanges, and through the law's expansion 
of community health centers.
  Mr. Speaker, my constituents do not want the Affordable Care Act 
repealed nor do the millions of Americans across our country for which 
the ACA has brought lifesaving benefits. This is most certainly true 
for women, seniors and people with disabilities.
  Under the Affordable Care Act, being female can no longer be 
considered a preexisting condition. Women will no longer have to pay 
higher premiums than men, and prenatal care will finally be covered for 
all women in this country.
  Never again will our sisters, mothers and daughters have to choose 
between a mammogram or putting food on the table because these 
lifesaving preventative health services will no longer require 
copayments.
  As for seniors, last year, as a result of health reform, over 32 
million of them received free preventative health services, and over 5 
million seniors are saving close to $4 billion on Medicare prescription 
drug costs as the doughnut hole closes.
  Because Obama cares, our families and neighbors with disabilities 
will no longer live in fear of reaching lifetime limits on their 
insurance or of being excluded from coverage due to having preexisting 
conditions.
  Mr. Speaker, the Affordable Care Act is already working for my 
constituents--for women, for minority communities, for seniors, and for 
people with disabilities. It is time for my Republican colleagues to 
listen to these Americans who do not want to lose their new health 
benefits. The Supreme Court has upheld the Affordable Care Act. Let's 
stop wasting time and taxpayers' money and find solutions to the other 
complex issues facing our country today.

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