[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 1]
[House]
[Pages 56-60]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      HIRE MORE HEROES ACT OF 2015

  Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and 
pass the bill (H.R. 22) to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to 
exempt employees with health coverage under TRICARE or the Veterans 
Administration from being taken into account for purposes of 
determining the employers to which the employer mandate applies under 
the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                                H.R. 22

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Hire More Heroes Act of 
     2015''.

     SEC. 2. EMPLOYEES WITH HEALTH COVERAGE UNDER TRICARE OR THE 
                   VETERANS ADMINISTRATION NOT TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT 
                   IN DETERMINING EMPLOYERS TO WHICH THE EMPLOYER 
                   MANDATE APPLIES UNDER PATIENT PROTECTION AND 
                   AFFORDABLE CARE ACT.

       (a) In General.--Section 4980H(c)(2) of the Internal 
     Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the end the 
     following:

[[Page 57]]

       ``(F) Exemption for health coverage under tricare or the 
     veterans administration.--Solely for purposes of determining 
     whether an employer is an applicable large employer under 
     this paragraph for any month, an individual shall not be 
     taken into account as an employee for such month if such 
     individual has medical coverage for such month under--
       ``(i) chapter 55 of title 10, United States Code, including 
     coverage under the TRICARE program, or
       ``(ii) under a health care program under chapter 17 or 18 
     of title 38, United States Code, as determined by the 
     Secretary of Veterans Affairs, in coordination with the 
     Secretary of Health and Human Services and the Secretary.''.
       (b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by subsection (a) 
     shall apply to months beginning after December 31, 2013.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Wisconsin (Mr. Ryan) and the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Levin) each 
will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Wisconsin.


                             General Leave

  Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that 
all Members may have 5 legislative days within to which to revise and 
extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 22, 
currently under consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Wisconsin?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I 
may consume.
  Madam Speaker, only a law as bad as ObamaCare would penalize a small 
business for hiring a veteran.
  Madam Speaker, right now, the law says if you have at least 50 full-
time employees, you must give all of them health insurance even if they 
are already getting health insurance elsewhere. In fact, over 9 million 
veterans are already getting health care through the VA, but they are 
not exempt. Every employer has to cover them anyway.
  So here is what is happening. Businesses have an incentive to turn 
away veterans, not because they don't want to hire them, but because it 
is too expensive to hire them. This is serving as a penalty to hiring 
our Nation's veterans.
  Madam Speaker, nobody works harder than our men and women that serve 
us in our military. They fought for our country, and they sacrificed. 
The least we can do is remove this penalty from putting a veteran on 
your payroll. The way I see it is we owe it to them. We should make it 
as easy as possible for them to find a job. That is what we are trying 
to do with this legislation.
  What this bill says is that if you are already getting health care 
through TRICARE or the VA, then you are exempt from the mandate. Anyone 
can hire you without any fear of this penalty. I think we can all agree 
that more veterans on the payroll means a healthier economy for all of 
us.
  Now, I think all families need relief from ObamaCare. All of us need 
relief from this law that we think is going to collapse under its own 
weight, but I consider this bill as an installment plan, as one piece 
of our ongoing efforts to fully repeal and replace this law.
  Madam Speaker, we have an enormous generation of talented men and 
women who have served this country so honorably overseas in the recent 
years. The least we can do is make it easier for an employer to hire 
them and remove this penalty that puts a price tag on hiring the 
bravest among us.
  Most of all, I want to thank Congressman Rodney Davis for bringing 
this issue to our attention. I want to thank Congressman Davis for 
introducing this legislation.
  With that, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. LEVIN. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I shall 
consume.
  First of all, I would like to congratulate Mr. Ryan on your selection 
in election, I guess, as chairman of the Ways and Means Committee. We 
look forward to working together.
  Madam Speaker, I support this bill. This bill encourages the hiring 
of veterans. The unemployment rate has continued to decline for post-9/
11 veterans, and these improvements are part of a larger economic 
recovery.
  In November 2013, the unemployment rate for these veterans was nearly 
10 percent. One year later, the rate has dropped to 5.7 percent, the 
national average; yet for female post-9/11 veterans, the unemployment 
rate remains high, above 8 percent.
  This bill continues as part of our national commitment to help the 
veterans of this country. I want to emphasize this if I might: as we 
legislate, we need to balance priorities. We need to maintain--very 
differently than just spoken--the basic structure of ACA, which is 
providing millions and millions of Americans with insurance and with 
coverage they never had.
  We also need to encourage the hiring of the veterans of this country 
who have served this Nation and serve this Nation so well. That is a 
supreme obligation of this institution; therefore, I support this 
legislation and reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. Madam Speaker, at this time, I would like to 
yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Topeka, Kansas (Ms. Jenkins), a 
member of the Ways and Means Committee.
  Ms. JENKINS of Kansas. I thank the gentleman for yielding.
  Madam Speaker, I was a freshman lawmaker in 2010 when the President's 
partisan health care law was passed through Congress and became law. I 
worried at the time that it would take our health care system in the 
wrong direction and would lead to numerous unintended consequences that 
could hurt American families. Now that the law is being implemented, we 
can see that this is indeed true.
  The employer mandate penalty tax is a troublesome and confusing piece 
of the President's health care law. The American people want to see it 
fixed. The legislation that we are debating right now will exempt those 
who employ members of our Nation's military and veterans from the 
employer mandate.
  Because our current and former servicemembers already receive health 
care from TRICARE and the VA, it simply does not make sense to force 
small businesses to treat these folks as if they do not have health 
insurance, which drives up the cost of doing business, leaving less for 
employees' salaries. In fact, the current law effectively punishes 
small businesses for hiring these heroes.
  Madam Speaker, I was a proud cosponsor and supporter of this 
legislation in the last Congress, and I am happy to again stand today 
in support of this commonsense provision. I ask that you support it.
  Mr. LEVIN. Madam Speaker, it is now my pleasure to yield as much time 
as she shall consume to the gentlewoman from Hawaii (Ms. Gabbard), 
someone who has served this Nation and now serves all of the people of 
Hawaii and I think, once again, all the people of this country.
  Ms. GABBARD. Madam Speaker, I am rising today in very strong support 
of this Hire More Heroes Act introduced by my friend, the gentleman 
from Illinois (Mr. Rodney Davis), someone whom I have been privileged 
to work with and am proud to cosponsor this legislation.
  When he first came to me with this idea, it was a no-brainer that I 
would support it because of the key constituencies that this 
legislation serves: our veterans and our small businesses. In addition 
to that, I think, as we kick off this 114th Congress, it is a great 
message and exactly the right tone that we are focused on these two 
constituencies.
  By exempting veterans who have health insurance through the VA or 
from the DOD from being counted toward that 50-employee limit under the 
Affordable Care Act, this legislation creates important incentives. It 
encourages small businesses to grow and expand their workforce, and it 
establishes an incentive to hire more veterans.
  Madam Speaker, there are many people who already receive insurance 
because of their service to our country. I used to be one of them. I 
was covered under TRICARE for a long period of

[[Page 58]]

time after both of my deployments to the Middle East, and it just makes 
sense that these individuals who already have great medical coverage 
would not have to count towards the numbers of employees that would 
trigger the employer mandate under the Affordable Care Act.
  Most importantly, this bill is about serving veterans. Servicemembers 
who are transitioning to civilian life bring exceptional training, 
critical skill sets, and proven leadership ability back to their local 
communities.

                              {time}  1745

  Unfortunately, as a country, we are facing an unacceptable number of 
unemployed veterans, people who are experienced, who are capable and 
energetic, who are coming back from serving oftentimes in conflicts 
overseas. These are veterans who will serve as a great asset to 
businesses and organizations of any size because they come with a 
built-in unique work ethic, a great deal of training, and real-world 
experience. These are people who are highly disciplined, who know what 
it means to work as a member of a team. They know what it means to put 
the mission first, and they are servant leaders at their very best.
  This bill provides an incentive for businesses to hire these veterans 
and, in turn, helps these veterans be successful in their transition to 
civilian life. This commonsense legislation benefits both veterans and 
small businesses, while also growing our economy. I urge all of our 
colleagues to strongly support H.R. 22.
  Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the 
gentlewoman from Indiana (Mrs. Walorski).
  Mrs. WALORSKI. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman and 
Representative Rodney Davis.
  Today I honor the 54,000 veterans in my district and 20 million 
veterans across America who deserve the opportunity to have a job with 
the Hire More Heroes Act. The bill makes a change to ObamaCare and 
encourages small businesses to hire more veterans by exempting veterans 
as long as they already have health insurance.
  Currently, the employer mandate under ObamaCare requires that all 
businesses with more than 50 employees provide health insurance to 
their employers or pay a penalty. But according to the Bureau of Labor 
Statistics, the unemployment rate for veterans last year was 6.6 
percent, for those who served on Active Duty after 9/11 it was 9 
percent. What saddens me about this is both of these percentages were 
higher than the national average of 6.3 percent.
  No veteran in the United States of America should be jobless because 
of ObamaCare's employer mandate. Our brave men and women return from 
serving our Nation, return to civilian life while facing many 
challenges. Getting a job should not be one of them. This bill will 
ensure that employers can and will hire veterans and will not be 
penalized.
  I urge my colleagues to support this bill. We must do everything in 
our power to ensure our finest men and women who come home have every 
opportunity we promised them.
  Mr. LEVIN. I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. Madam Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the 
gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Rodney Davis), the author of this 
legislation.
  Mr. RODNEY DAVIS of Illinois. Madam Speaker, I thank you for this 
opportunity today. Chairman Ryan, my colleague from the great State of 
Michigan, I thank you for your support for this piece of legislation.
  Earlier today, a new Congress was sworn in, each of us swearing to 
uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States. A new Congress 
is another opportunity to do the people's work, to further the ideas 
and priorities of our constituents and put our Nation on solid footing 
for an even brighter future.
  I am honored that this 114th Congress is opening with the Hire More 
Heroes Act, a bill that I have introduced and an idea that didn't come 
from Washington, D.C. It began with a constituent of mine, Brad Lavite, 
who is actually up in the gallery today. Brad had this idea, and as a 
superintendent of the Madison County Veterans' Assistance Commission, I 
am proud to have him here today to see the culmination of what that 
idea has turned into and the bipartisan support that you see for this 
idea on the floor of the House today.
  Brad helps the nearly 35,000 veterans living in Madison County 
navigate the VA system and actually find other resources, including 
helping our veterans find employment. After explaining ObamaCare to 
veterans throughout southwestern Illinois and how it impacts their VA 
health benefits, he began wondering why they were subject to the 
employer mandate if they were not even in need of health care coverage. 
Brad raised his concern with me at one of our veterans advisory board 
meetings, and shortly thereafter we began work on the Hire More Heroes 
Act.
  This bill will help businesses hire more of our Nation's veterans by 
making a commonsense change to ObamaCare. In just a few months, the 
President's health care law will mark its fifth anniversary; 5 years of 
delays, canceled policies, costly Web site glitches, and increased out-
of-pocket expenses for hardworking middle class families. 
Unfortunately, the law's problems don't end there. We continue to see 
its lingering impact on our economy as many small businesses delay 
hiring, cut hours, and, in some cases, reduce payroll. In fact, the 
National Small Business Association found that 91 percent of small 
businesses have seen increases in their health care costs, and two-
thirds of their members listed ObamaCare as a reason for holding off on 
investing in people. And, Madam Speaker, I must remind everybody that 
investing in people is how we create jobs here in America.
  The Hire More Heroes Act exempts veterans already enrolled in their 
own health care plans through the Department of Defense or through the 
VA from being counted toward the 50-employee limit as part of the 
employer mandate required under ObamaCare. By making this commonsense 
change to the law, we will not only provide small businesses with much-
needed relief, but also help more of our veterans find work.
  Despite receiving some of the best training in the world, post-9/11 
veterans are consistently faced with higher unemployment rates than 
that of other veterans. So as more and more of our veterans return 
home, the Hire More Heroes Act will give those who have sacrificed and 
served our country a leg up in a very competitive job market. Last 
Congress, this legislation passed this House overwhelmingly by a count 
of 406-1, almost as bipartisan as you can get, but it was held up in 
the Senate.
  The Hire More Heroes Act is just one example of the bipartisan bills 
that the House will bring up this Congress. Later this week, we will 
further the American people's call for greater energy independence and 
job creation by voting to approve the Keystone XL pipeline and by 
helping Americans by restoring the 40-hour workweek under ObamaCare. 
With a new Congress, and if the President is willing to work with us, 
we have an opportunity to end the stagnation in Washington and make our 
government work for the people again.
  I ask all of my colleagues to defend the oath that they have just 
taken and help hire more of our heroes by voting ``yes'' on this piece 
of legislation.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Members are reminded to avoid references to 
occupants in the gallery.
  Mr. LEVIN. Madam Speaker, I ask the gentleman if he has other 
speakers.
  Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. We have four additional speakers.
  Mr. LEVIN. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the 
gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Chabot), the chairman of the Small Business 
Committee.
  Mr. CHABOT. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.
  Madam Speaker, in the fall, we made a commitment to the American 
people,

[[Page 59]]

a commitment to produce solutions that grow our economy and create more 
opportunity and help our small businesses and make life better for 
working families. Today, the new American Congress begins the work of 
making good on that commitment, and we start with a bill that helps two 
groups critical to America's success: our veterans and our small 
businesses.
  The Hire More Heroes Act is a bipartisan bill which passed the House, 
as has been mentioned before, with more than 400 votes last year. It 
would make it easier for small businesses to hire veterans by exempting 
those veterans who already receive health care at the VA from 
ObamaCare's costly employer mandate. This commonsense solution offsets 
the cost of hiring a veteran by addressing one of ObamaCare's many 
failures, and there are many.
  As I have said many times before, I and many of my colleagues believe 
that ObamaCare should be repealed in its entirety. It may take awhile 
to do that, and so we can do some other things in the meantime. This is 
one of those things, a realistic thing which will actually help the 
American people.
  ObamaCare is placing tremendous burdens on small businesses looking 
to grow and individuals looking for work. This bill alleviates one of 
the many burdens ObamaCare places on our small businesses and, in doing 
so, helps our returning war fighters find meaningful work.
  Small businesses are responsible for the majority of new jobs created 
in America today. As the new incoming chairman of the House Small 
Business Committee, my goal each day will be to make life better for 
America's small businesses so they can continue to innovate and create 
jobs for more Americans who are seeking them.
  Even though unemployment has come down to some degree, we need to do 
a lot better. The bill before us today is an important step towards 
that goal and towards our commitment to the American people to create 
more jobs, real jobs in the private sector. I encourage my colleagues 
to support the bill.
  Mr. LEVIN. I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the 
gentlewoman from Tennessee (Mrs. Black), a member of the Ways and Means 
Committee.
  Mrs. BLACK. Madam Speaker, I rise today in strong support of the Hire 
More Heroes Act. In my home State of Tennessee, we have over 525,000 
veterans who have served our country in both war and peace--veterans, 
people like my son, Steve, and my husband, Dave.
  But today, too many of these Americans are struggling to find work. 
In fact, the unemployment rate among post-September 11 veterans is 
chronically higher than the national unemployment rate. I believe that 
we can do better. After all, our veterans have sacrificed for our 
country. Congress should, at the very least, make certain that 
Washington does not stand between them and access to a steady job.
  The Hire More Heroes Act will help accomplish this by exempting 
veterans who already have health insurance from being counted as full-
time workers under ObamaCare's employer mandate, meaning that business 
owners can hire veterans without fear of being slapped with an 
ObamaCare penalty. That is why this body passed the legislation by an 
overwhelming vote of 406-1 last year. Unfortunately, our efforts were 
stonewalled in the Democrat-controlled Senate. But today, we have an 
opportunity to start anew.
  I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on the Hire More Heroes Act, and 
I thank the gentleman from Illinois for his work on this critical 
measure.
  Mr. LEVIN. I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I 
may consume.
  This basically is how it is supposed to work. A constituent in 
central Illinois, Brad Lavite, approaches his Congressman, Congressman 
Davis, and says there is a problem with the law affecting our Nation's 
veterans. So his Congressman goes to work, does the research, and then 
writes legislation to fix the law, and here we are. This is how it is 
supposed to work. This is how the Founders intended the Congress to 
work.
  Here is what we are fixing. We are saying there will not be a penalty 
based on the health care law affixed to our veterans. We have got a 
new, great generation. We have all read the books and heard the 
stories, and it is true, of the Greatest Generation, the World War II 
generation. We now have a new great generation, the men and women since 
9/11 who have bravely fought for this country and sacrificed for us are 
a generation of people who have developed the kinds of leadership 
skills, the kinds of courage, the experiences, the sacrifices their 
families made, and they are bringing that home to serve our country 
even further. They are bringing this great experience and talent and 
skills to our economy. We need to remove every conceivable barrier that 
exists that prevents them from sharing these talents with us.
  This bill takes us a big step in the right direction to removing this 
barrier that disincentivizes a small business from hiring a veteran and 
instead turns it into an incentive so we can hire our heroes, our 
veterans.
  With that, I reserve the balance of my time to close.
  Mr. LEVIN. Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
  As I said at the beginning, we need to, as we legislate, balance 
priorities. We have here a very different view of the ACA than has been 
expressed by several. But that isn't the point of this legislation. 
This is about the veterans of this country.

                              {time}  1800

  This isn't about Keystone. We will debate that some other time. We 
have very different views. This is no way a precedent to that. We will 
debate the 40-hour week later this week. We have some very different 
views, to put it mildly, about the legislation entitled the ``40-hour 
week.''
  I should also like to point out regarding ACA that businesses, small 
businesses with fewer than 50 employees, aren't even required to 
contribute to or offer insurance to their employees.
  This bill is called the Heroes Act because the focus of this bill is 
to make sure that there isn't any disincentive for anybody to hire 
veterans. The rate of unemployment for veterans has been higher. I had 
the chance in Roseville, Michigan, to meet with veterans, Vietnam 
veterans, some months ago. I was deeply troubled by the high rate of 
unemployment for those Vietnam veterans. This country has not done an 
adequate job in terms of making sure that veterans have a real 
opportunity to work.
  That is the tribute that we must provide, and it is more than a 
tribute; it is an obligation to those who have served this Nation. That 
is why this is called the Heroes Act. Let's not distort it. Let's not 
undermine what is the purpose of this legislation. Those who have 
served deserve as our priority any reasonable effort to provide them 
with the opportunity that they want. They have served. Now they want to 
work. We need to make sure they have that opportunity to work.
  It is within that spirit that I support this legislation and urge its 
passage.
  I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of 
the time only to say that our constituents have been very clear to all 
of us on both sides of the aisle that they want to see us come together 
to find common ground to make a positive difference in the lives of 
Americans, particularly our veterans, and this bipartisan effort 
reflects that.
  I am very proud to be here with Congressman Davis, with Congressman 
Levin, to be doing this.
  With that, I simply ask all Members to support it, and I yield back 
the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Ryan) that the House suspend the rules 
and pass the bill, H.R. 22.
  The question was taken.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds 
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.

[[Page 60]]


  Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and 
nays.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The vote was taken by electronic device, and there were--yeas 412, 
nays 0, not voting 3, as follows:

                              [Roll No. 7]

                               YEAS--412

     Abraham
     Adams
     Aderholt
     Aguilar
     Allen
     Amash
     Amodei
     Ashford
     Babin
     Barletta
     Barr
     Barton
     Bass
     Beatty
     Becerra
     Benishek
     Bera
     Beyer
     Bilirakis
     Bishop (GA)
     Bishop (MI)
     Bishop (UT)
     Black
     Blackburn
     Blum
     Blumenauer
     Bonamici
     Bost
     Boustany
     Boyle (PA)
     Brady (PA)
     Brady (TX)
     Brat
     Bridenstine
     Brooks (AL)
     Brooks (IN)
     Brown (FL)
     Brownley (CA)
     Buchanan
     Buck
     Bucshon
     Burgess
     Bustos
     Butterfield
     Byrne
     Calvert
     Capps
     Capuano
     Cardenas
     Carney
     Carson (IN)
     Carter (GA)
     Cartwright
     Castor (FL)
     Castro (TX)
     Chabot
     Chaffetz
     Chu (CA)
     Cicilline
     Clark (MA)
     Clarke (NY)
     Clawson (FL)
     Clay
     Cleaver
     Clyburn
     Coffman
     Cohen
     Cole
     Collins (GA)
     Collins (NY)
     Comstock
     Conaway
     Connolly
     Conyers
     Cook
     Cooper
     Costello (PA)
     Courtney
     Cramer
     Crawford
     Crenshaw
     Cuellar
     Culberson
     Cummings
     Curbelo (FL)
     Davis (CA)
     Davis, Danny
     Davis, Rodney
     DeFazio
     DeGette
     Delaney
     DeLauro
     DelBene
     Denham
     Dent
     DeSantis
     DeSaulnier
     DesJarlais
     Deutch
     Diaz-Balart
     Dingell
     Doggett
     Dold
     Doyle (PA)
     Duckworth
     Duffy
     Duncan (SC)
     Duncan (TN)
     Edwards
     Ellison
     Ellmers
     Emmer
     Eshoo
     Esty
     Farenthold
     Farr
     Fattah
     Fincher
     Fitzpatrick
     Fleischmann
     Fleming
     Flores
     Forbes
     Fortenberry
     Foster
     Foxx
     Frankel (FL)
     Franks (AZ)
     Frelinghuysen
     Fudge
     Gabbard
     Gallego
     Garamendi
     Garrett
     Gibbs
     Gibson
     Gohmert
     Goodlatte
     Gosar
     Gowdy
     Graham
     Granger
     Graves (GA)
     Graves (LA)
     Graves (MO)
     Grayson
     Green, Al
     Green, Gene
     Griffith
     Grijalva
     Grothman
     Guinta
     Guthrie
     Gutierrez
     Hahn
     Hanna
     Hardy
     Harper
     Harris
     Hartzler
     Hastings
     Heck (NV)
     Heck (WA)
     Hensarling
     Herrera Beutler
     Hice (GA)
     Hill
     Himes
     Hinojosa
     Holding
     Honda
     Hoyer
     Hudson
     Huelskamp
     Huffman
     Huizenga (MI)
     Hultgren
     Hunter
     Hurd (TX)
     Hurt (VA)
     Israel
     Issa
     Jackson Lee
     Jeffries
     Jenkins (KS)
     Jenkins (WV)
     Johnson (GA)
     Johnson (OH)
     Johnson, E. B.
     Johnson, Sam
     Jolly
     Jones
     Jordan
     Joyce
     Kaptur
     Katko
     Keating
     Kelly (IL)
     Kelly (PA)
     Kennedy
     Kildee
     Kilmer
     Kind
     King (IA)
     King (NY)
     Kinzinger (IL)
     Kirkpatrick
     Kline
     Knight
     Kuster
     Labrador
     LaMalfa
     Lamborn
     Lance
     Langevin
     Larsen (WA)
     Latta
     Lawrence
     Lee
     Levin
     Lewis
     Lieu (CA)
     Lipinski
     LoBiondo
     Loebsack
     Lofgren
     Long
     Loudermilk
     Love
     Lowenthal
     Lucas
     Luetkemeyer
     Lujan Grisham (NM)
     Lujan, Ben Ray (NM)
     Lummis
     Lynch
     MacArthur
     Marchant
     Marino
     Massie
     Matsui
     McCarthy
     McCaul
     McClintock
     McCollum
     McDermott
     McGovern
     McHenry
     McKinley
     McMorris Rodgers
     McNerney
     McSally
     Meadows
     Meehan
     Messer
     Mica
     Miller (FL)
     Miller (MI)
     Moolenaar
     Mooney (WV)
     Moore
     Moulton
     Mullin
     Mulvaney
     Murphy (FL)
     Murphy (PA)
     Napolitano
     Neal
     Neugebauer
     Newhouse
     Noem
     Norcross
     Nugent
     Nunes
     O'Rourke
     Olson
     Palazzo
     Pallone
     Palmer
     Pascrell
     Paulsen
     Payne
     Pearce
     Pelosi
     Perlmutter
     Perry
     Peters
     Peterson
     Pingree
     Pittenger
     Pocan
     Poe (TX)
     Poliquin
     Polis
     Pompeo
     Posey
     Price (GA)
     Price (NC)
     Quigley
     Ratcliffe
     Reed
     Reichert
     Renacci
     Ribble
     Rice (NY)
     Rice (SC)
     Richmond
     Rigell
     Roby
     Roe (TN)
     Rogers (AL)
     Rogers (KY)
     Rohrabacher
     Rokita
     Rooney (FL)
     Ros-Lehtinen
     Roskam
     Ross
     Rothfus
     Rouzer
     Roybal-Allard
     Royce
     Ruiz
     Ruppersberger
     Rush
     Russell
     Ryan (OH)
     Ryan (WI)
     Salmon
     Sanchez, Linda T.
     Sanchez, Loretta
     Sanford
     Sarbanes
     Scalise
     Schakowsky
     Schiff
     Schock
     Schrader
     Schweikert
     Scott (VA)
     Scott, Austin
     Scott, David
     Sensenbrenner
     Serrano
     Sessions
     Sewell (AL)
     Sherman
     Shimkus
     Shuster
     Simpson
     Sinema
     Sires
     Slaughter
     Smith (MO)
     Smith (NE)
     Smith (NJ)
     Smith (TX)
     Smith (WA)
     Speier
     Stefanik
     Stewart
     Stivers
     Stutzman
     Swalwell (CA)
     Takai
     Takano
     Thompson (CA)
     Thompson (MS)
     Thompson (PA)
     Thornberry
     Tiberi
     Tipton
     Titus
     Torres
     Trott
     Tsongas
     Turner
     Upton
     Valadao
     Van Hollen
     Vargas
     Veasey
     Vela
     Visclosky
     Wagner
     Walberg
     Walden
     Walker
     Walorski
     Walters, Mimi
     Walz
     Wasserman Schultz
     Watson Coleman
     Weber (TX)
     Webster (FL)
     Welch
     Wenstrup
     Westerman
     Westmoreland
     Whitfield
     Williams
     Wilson (FL)
     Wilson (SC)
     Wittman
     Womack
     Woodall
     Yarmuth
     Yoder
     Yoho
     Young (IA)
     Young (IN)
     Zeldin

                             NOT VOTING--3

     Larson (CT)
     Pitts
     Zinke

                              {time}  1831

  Mrs. CAPPS changed her vote from ``nay'' to ``yea.''
  So (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the rules were suspended and 
the bill was passed.
  The result of the vote was announced as above recorded.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.


                          Personal Explanation

  Mr. LARSON of Connecticut, Mr. Speaker, on January 6, 2015--I was not 
present for rollcall votes 6 and 7. If I had been present for these 
votes, I would have voted: ``nay'' on rollcall vote 6, ``aye'' on 
rollcall vote 7, the Hire More Heroes Act, as I had done previously in 
the 113th Congress when it passed the House (rollcall vote 115) on 
March 11, 2014.

                          ____________________