[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 11]
[House]
[Pages 15489-15490]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       THE DEFINITION OF ``FAIR''

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Pennsylvania (Mr. Kelly) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, 3 years ago, I was elected--
and so were a lot of my classmates--in what we termed a very fair 
election. I think the issue that we all need to be concerned about 
right now is that it is truly unique in America that everybody is 
treated fairly. It doesn't matter what the color of your skin is; it 
doesn't matter how you worship; it doesn't matter if you even worship 
or don't worship--you are treated fairly. The President has said many 
times that this is a country in which everybody deserves a fair shot, 
in which everybody deserves a fair opportunity to rise to whatever 
level he can. Every single American deserves to be treated fairly. I 
hear that term. I hear it batted back and forth.
  So what is the real definition of ``fair''?
  I went to Webster's Dictionary. It says ``fair'' is treating people 
in a way that does not favor some over others. It does not treat one 
person in a favorable way over somebody else.
  That is truly, uniquely American because there are very few places in 
the world where everybody does get treated fairly.
  When I look at the Affordable Care Act, or ObamaCare, I ask myself: 
Is this really fair?
  If you look at this definition, it goes farther down and gives the 
antonym, or the opposite meaning. I would say that, if you were to look 
at what is not fair, the Affordable Care Act, or ObamaCare, would be 
one of those things that would be the direct opposite of what fair is.
  Is it fair to give 1,200 waivers to some and not to others? Is it 
fair to say to employers, do you know what, this is a very complicated 
law, and it has grown so complicated that you need another year to give 
you a fair chance to understand what's in it, so we're going to give 
you a year's delay. Now, if you're an individual, no, you're not given 
that.
  So my question is: Is it fair? Is it fair to give one group something 
and the individual not?
  I don't know. I don't know that that meets anybody's definition of 
what fair is.
  Also, I heard Secretary of Health and Human Services Sebelius asked 
that very same question by a journalist:
  So, Secretary Sebelius, is it fair to go ahead and give employers 1 
year to figure it out because it's so hard to understand that it's not 
really fair to put that kind of pressure on them; yet, with the 
individuals, they have to do it today?
  She says: No, no, no. They can opt out if they're not ready to do 
that. Now, you have to pay a fine if you want to opt out. You have to 
pay a fine if you don't want to participate at all.
  You are held to a different set of standards than another group, so I 
don't know how that fits under the definition of fair.
  We can talk about this and go back and forth all day long, but this 
is a gift. This Affordable Care Act--this ObamaCare--is a gift that 
keeps giving.

[[Page 15490]]

It's a law that, while it's giving, it's also taking. It is driving our 
debt to an unbelievable level. The President says it's going to reduce 
our debt over the long run. The truth of the matter is in 10 years it 
adds $1.8 trillion, and that's a pretty fairly heavy debt for the 
people to absorb.
  Now, back home--and I don't know if this lady is a Republican or a 
Democrat--Melissa had written to me from Hermitage, Pennsylvania. I 
want you to understand how this is. This is an individual. She has two 
degrees, one in criminal justice and one in teaching, but she couldn't 
get a job, so she started her own business.
  She says:

       No government loans, no bank loans, no investors, and I 
     have grown the business over the past handful of years. I 
     received a letter from my insurance provider, Aetna, and 
     according to my letter, no longer am I going to be covered 
     after November 25. I operate a small business, a successful 
     business in this economy.

  Now she talks about her daughter, Riley:

       Riley is a young girl who is working her way through school 
     as a part-time cashier at a local grocery store. She makes 
     minimum wage, and she is paying for her own health care 
     benefits. She got a letter, saying, Do you know what, your 
     policy that you have now is going to go from $70 a month, and 
     it's going to triple. It is going to put a heavy weight on 
     her in order for her to stay covered.

  So we talk about fair, and we talk about what's fair to everybody--
not just to a few but to everybody. My friends get up, and they rail 
about what we are not doing, about how we are not treating the law 
fairly. The law is not treating us fairly. Sadly, we are in a time when 
Americans don't expect an awful lot out of Washington. In fact, it's 
fair to say they don't expect hardly anything out of Washington, but 
they do expect to be treated fairly.
  So I would say to everybody: Please, let's treat everybody the same. 
This is America. That's what makes us unique, and that's what makes us 
special.

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