[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 10]
[House]
[Pages 15059-15060]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    REAL WORLD PEOPLE AND OBAMACARE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Texas (Mr. Flores) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. FLORES. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to talk about what real world 
people in Texas District 17 are saying about ObamaCare. Leonard from 
Waco writes:

       Government is too big. No one knows how to lead. Government 
     needs to get out of our lives. Repeal ObamaCare. Whatever the 
     cost, it will be less than the negative effect it will have 
     here on this country and on all Americans.

  Lance and Tamara of Thorndale write:

       We would like to express our disdain for the Affordable 
     Care Act, also known as ObamaCare. Although we have health 
     insurance that meets the standard of care, we also know that 
     this health care program will adversely affect many young 
     people who are just now starting out in life and may not have 
     adequate care that meets the standard.
       While we do not believe that taxpayers or health care 
     providers should fund the bill for those who do not have 
     health care, the ACA is clearly not the solution. Any program 
     that federally mandates health care and involves punitive 
     sanctions by way of the IRS on tax returns should be 
     considered a crime. It will neither help the poor nor the 
     wealthy that will suffer the negative impact of this plan, 
     but rather the young, working, and taxpaying family that 
     earns just enough to survive.
       We believe that a bad plan is worse than no plan, and 
     Congress should continue to oppose and repeal the ACA, even 
     if it means a continuation of the government shutdown. We 
     received a letter from President Obama in which he clearly 
     blamed the U.S. House for the shutdown, and where he accepted 
     no responsibility. We cannot abide by this President, and do 
     not support him or his self-serving ideologies.

  John from College Station writes:

       No to ObamaCare.

  Mike from Hewitt writes:

       Please hold the line against the Affordable Care Act. Do 
     not give in.

  Barry from Pflugerville writes:

       As you know, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act 
     was passed in the middle of the night, and without the 
     support of the American people. I am calling on you, as one 
     of your constituents, to stop this legislation by defunding 
     its implementation until the law can be repealed and replaced 
     with legislation that benefits the citizens of the United 
     States of America.
       You were elected into office to represent the values and 
     needs of those of us who live in your State and your 
     district. The passage of this legislation was an abdication 
     of the oath the lawmakers took when sworn into office, and I 
     hope that you will do the right thing now and stop the law 
     from being fully implemented, and will work to enact real 
     reform for our health care system based on free market 
     principles, not government interference. Americans enjoy the 
     best health care system in the world, and this legislation 
     harms the very people it is intended to help.

  Marilyn from College Station writes:

       I urge you to stand firm and do all that you can to repeal/
     defund this law that is a disaster to employers, employees, 
     and our health care system.

  Jack from Woodway writes:

       Mr. Flores, please do all in your power to help fund the 
     government, and please do not fund ObamaCare. As seniors, we 
     cannot afford the increased premiums for our insurance 
     coverage.

  Tonya from Waco writes:

       I am a small business owner in Waco. I built my business 
     from nothing, and I see the horrible ramifications of 
     ObamaCare on small business. Please stand strong and fight to 
     defund ObamaCare.


[[Page 15060]]


  Debra from Bryan writes:

       The President's health care must be defunded before it 
     destroys our economy, our workforce, our health care system, 
     and our way of life. My insurance will increase 42 percent in 
     2014, and who knows where it goes from there. As a citizen of 
     the United States, I do not want my tax dollars to fund a 
     train wreck. We simply cannot afford it. Please convince your 
     fellow Representatives they are destroying the working class. 
     There is no way this is good for all of us.

  A young man from Brazos County writes:

       My current premium for a family plan with a $5,000 
     deductible costs $360 per month. This was canceled due to 
     ObamaCare.

  When trying to apply for ObamaCare, he got two new quotes. The first 
was one with a $12,700 deductible and cost $691 per month. When he 
tried to find a lower deductible, he found an option with a $4,500 
deductible at a cost of $854 per month. Again, essentially the same 
coverage for almost 2\1/2\ times what he was paying before.
  Mr. Speaker, since September 20 the House has approved, on a 
bipartisan basis, eight bills to fund all or part of the Federal 
Government, but all but one of these have been blocked by Harry Reid in 
the Senate.
  Mr. Speaker, during this process my colleagues and I have been called 
arsonists, anarchists, extremists, extortionists, and terrorists. In 
addition, we have been told that we have bombs strapped to our chests. 
When I was growing up, I was taught that if you were calling people 
names then that meant you had nothing meaningful to say.
  This fight is about fairness, Mr. Speaker. First, the Americans 
believe that if a delay for business that gave them $14 billion worth 
of benefit was good enough for business, it ought to be good for 
everybody by delaying the individual mandate for a year.
  Secondly, if ObamaCare is good enough for the American people, it is 
good enough for the President, the Vice President, and all Members of 
Congress.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask that all Americans pray for our country during 
these difficult times.

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