[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 11]
[Senate]
[Page 15587]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




            PROTECTING AFFORDABLE COVERAGE FOR EMPLOYEES ACT

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate 
now proceed to the consideration of H.R. 1624, which is at the desk, 
and that the bill be read a third time and the Senate vote on passage 
of the bill with no intervening action or debate.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the bill by title.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       A bill (H.R. 1624) to amend title I of the Patient 
     Protection and Affordable Care Act and title XXVII of the 
     Public Health Service Act to revise the definition of small 
     employer.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the bill.
  The bill was ordered to a third reading, and was read the third time.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. If there is no further debate on the measure, 
the bill having been read the third time, the question is, Shall the 
bill pass?
  The bill (H.R. 1624) was passed.
  Mr. McCONNELL. I ask unanimous consent that the motion to reconsider 
be made and laid upon the table.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I wish to say a few words about the 
Protecting Affordable Coverage For Employees--or PACE--Act.
  The PACE Act is smart legislation from my colleague, Senator Tim 
Scott, and my Kentucky colleague over in the House, Congressman Brett 
Guthrie, that will help protect small- and medium-sized businesses that 
provide health care to their employees. It would give States more 
flexibility to define what constitutes a small business for health 
insurance purposes so as to protect health benefits for workers, lower 
health premiums, and reduce costs for taxpayers.
  So let me repeat that. The PACE Act is a smart health care bill aimed 
at protecting workers' benefits, lowering premiums, and reducing costs 
to taxpayers.
  I hope colleagues will join me in applauding the bill's lead 
sponsors, our colleague, Senator Tim Scott, and his counterpart over in 
the House, Congressman Brett Guthrie, for their hard work in developing 
this very important proposal.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Tennessee.
  Mr. ALEXANDER. Mr. President, I wish to join the majority leader in 
complimenting Senator Scott, a new Member of the Senate, on a 
significant accomplishment. It is not that easy to pass a bill in the 
House and in the Senate. It takes a lot of work, and there is good 
reason for that. We want to make sure that whatever passes in the 
Senate has a thorough amount of consideration.
  Senator Scott has come to the Senate as a member of the HELP 
Committee. He is one of its most diligent members. I am chairman of 
that committee. He took this initiative on his own, working with 
Members of the House, where he formerly served, and he has brought the 
bill to the Senate, and within a few days he has gotten its unanimous 
approval. To me, that suggests the kind of U.S. Senator that we need 
more of--someone who is quiet, effective, scholarly, and gets results.
  So Tim Scott today, on behalf of the people of South Carolina and 
this country, has helped workers, has improved benefits, and has 
lowered premiums. He deserves our thanks. He has certainly earned my 
respect and the respect of his colleagues on both sides of the aisle by 
this significant accomplishment.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from South Carolina.
  Mr. SCOTT. Mr. President, I wish to thank my cosponsor, Senator 
Shaheen, for working with me on the PACE Act, without any question. I 
also would like to thank Senator Alexander for his kind remarks and 
specifically thank our leader, Senator McConnell, for making sure this 
bill had an expeditious path to the floor of the Senate.
  So often we hear in America that we can't get things done in the 
Senate, and because of your leadership, Senator McConnell, and because 
of the good work of Congressman Guthrie on the House side, as well as 
Senator Shaheen, we see we are going to have an opportunity to make 
sure that small business owners all across America are not more 
negatively impacted by ObamaCare.
  The decision we have made today to move this legislation forward 
actually will save, on average, about 18 percent--18 percent--of higher 
premiums that will not have to be paid by small businesses owners.
  Senator McConnell, thank you for your leadership. Senator Alexander, 
thank you for working with us on this very interesting process to get 
it to the floor as expeditiously as we have been able to do.
  With that, I thank both Senators for their hard work and dedication 
to this issue.
  Mr. SASSE. Mr. President, I want to thank my friend and colleague 
Senator Scott for his leadership in protecting many Americans and small 
businesses from more needless suffering under ObamaCare. While I am 
glad for this outcome, a piecemeal approach to this terrible law is 
less valuable than a strategic approach. We must help the millions of 
other victims who are already suffering or will soon suffer from the 
law's flawed policies but lack an effective lobbying voice. In the 
future, we should set the stage for a serious repeal and replace debate 
by delaying Obamacare's onerous burdens, rather than merely working to 
make a terrible law 12 percent less bad.

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