[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 2]
[House]
[Page 1628]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




         REPEALING OF THE AFFORDABLE CARE ACT FOR THE 56TH TIME

  (Mr. HIMES asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. HIMES. Mr. Speaker, with all that we should be doing to help 
address middle class anxiety, to help the economy along, to help with 
student debt, to help with the challenges that all of our constituents 
face, what will we be doing this week? We will be repealing the 
Affordable Care Act for the 56th time--56.
  I get it. The first couple of times, Mr. Speaker, I get it. The first 
couple of times, the Republicans believed that this was a government 
takeover of health care, that there were death panels, that it was 
unconstitutional, that it would raise costs in the health care section, 
that it would be a job killer. None of that turned out to be true.
  In fact, the opposite turned out to be true. The Supreme Court said 
it was constitutional, it actually helped lower costs in the overall 
health care system, and we are now adding jobs in the private sector 
faster than we have added them in 10 years.
  None of that was true.
  What is true is that the Affordable Care Act has given 10 million or 
more Americans the security for the first time of having health 
insurance. It has cut the uninsured rate in my State of Connecticut in 
half.
  Do you know what that means? It means that Ann Christman--51 years 
old, a single mother, could never afford health care insurance--now, 
she has it. She went to a doctor, and her breast cancer was diagnosed 
early. She said:

       The cancer has been detected at a very early stage, which, 
     with a 98 percent survival rate, has saved my life.

  Respectfully, let's leave it alone.

                          ____________________