[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 8]
[House]
[Page 11051]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        LET'S STOP THE POSTURING

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Illinois (Mr. Lipinski) for 3 minutes.
  Mr. LIPINSKI. Mr. Speaker, we have heard hours of impassioned 
speeches on the repeal of the Affordable Care Act, most defending all 
or nothing, and pitting us against them. But the American people aren't 
interested in the politics. They want us to focus on what we can do 
moving forward to make good health care more affordable for them 
without breaking the bank.
  I believe the ACA is flawed, and I parted ways with the majority of 
my Democratic colleagues in voting against it in 2010. As I said then, 
``The bill does not do enough to lower the skyrocketing costs of health 
care, cuts more than $400 billion from Medicare, is not fiscally 
sustainable over the long-term, and breaks with the status quo by 
allowing Federal funding for abortion and abortion coverage.''
  But we all agree there are good provisions. The bill expanded access 
to care and improved health insurance by doing things such as 
prohibiting discrimination based on preexisting conditions and 
extending family coverage to children up to the age of 26. Why, then, 
are we being asked to blindly throw out the good with the bad, or 
alternatively, to simply let the law stand with no changes at all?
  A few months after I voted against the ACA, in a town hall meeting in 
Hickory Hills, I was asked by an opponent of the law if I would vote to 
repeal it. I said, ``No. We need a fix, not a repeal that would take us 
back to the status quo.'' He said, ``Okay. Repeal and replace. Keep the 
good parts, and make other necessary changes.''
  I agreed, and that's exactly what I have been working to do. I helped 
pass into law a bill to repeal the burdensome 1099 requirement for 
small businesses and helped introduce and pass legislation to repeal 
the ACA's CLASS Act program, which would have added tens of billions of 
dollars to the deficit. In addition, I worked to pass legislation to 
ensure that no taxpayer money is spent for abortion under the law, and 
I continue to fight against portions of the HHS mandate that violate 
Americans' religious liberty.
  At the start of this Congress, I hoped we could work on major fixes 
to the health care law. Instead, a bill was brought to the floor in 
January 2011 which would have eliminated the entire law with no 
exceptions. I opposed that bill. I voted for a resolution instructing 
four House committees to develop replacement legislation. Yet, 18 
months later, there still is no replacement. Instead, we're again 
voting on a repeal, period. And once again, we all know this bill will 
pass the House and die in the Senate.
  A Chicago Tribune editorial recently stated: ``If Democrats want to 
save the ambitions of this law, they're going to have to find a way to 
write a Truly Affordable Care Act.'' And the Tribune concluded that 
Republicans ``ought to engage Democrats in a real effort to contain the 
costs before the law takes full effect in 2014.'' I wholeheartedly 
agree.
  Let's stop the posturing, roll up our sleeves, and work to make 
health care more affordable for all Americans in a fiscally sound 
manner. That is what the American people want us to do. That is what we 
need to do.

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