[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 11]
[House]
[Page 15851]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    STAND DOWN ON INDIVIDUAL MANDATE

  (Mr. BURGESS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. BURGESS. Mr. Speaker:

       Consumers will be able to go online. They will be able to 
     get a determination of what tax subsidies they are eligible 
     for; they will be able to see premium net of subsidy; and 
     they will be able to sign up.

  Those were the words spoken by the head of the Office of Consumer 
Information and Insurance Oversight 3 weeks ago at a committee hearing 
of Energy and Commerce. I had asked for a yes or no answer to the 
question: Will the exchanges be ready on October 1? You heard his 
answer.
  In The New York Times this weekend, a very insightful article: ``From 
the Start, Signs of Trouble at the Health Portal.'' The exchanges have 
been called excruciatingly embarrassing by no less than the President's 
press secretary for his first term. He went on to say:

       I hope some people are fired, those people who were 
     supposed to be able to make this work.

  The blame-shifting between contractors and agency officials is just 
beginning. Further quoting from the article in The New York Times this 
weekend:

       ``These are not glitches,'' said an insurance executive who 
     has participated in many conference calls on the Federal 
     exchange.
       The extent of the problems is pretty enormous. At the end 
     of our calls, people say, ``It is awful, just awful.''

  But here is the deal: everyone is required to sign up for this 
enormously embarrassing glitch that has been foisted upon us by the 
executive branch. It is time for us to stand down on the individual 
mandate.

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