[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 1]
[House]
[Pages 1254-1255]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




   CELEBRATING RELIGIOUS LIBERTY AND CONSTRICTING INDIVIDUAL FREEDOMS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Duncan of Tennessee). The Chair 
recognizes the gentlewoman from Tennessee (Mrs. Blackburn) for 5 
minutes.
  Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Speaker, as I come to the floor this morning, I 
want to express appreciation for our 64th annual National Prayer 
Breakfast that takes place tomorrow. I think this is such a wonderful 
gathering that we have every year, where our Nation focuses on praying 
for our Nation. I want to welcome my guests, Dr. and Mrs. Franklin 
Page, who will join us this week to recognize this time and to set 
aside time to celebrate our religious liberty and the individual 
freedom that becomes the focus of this week.

[[Page 1255]]

  There is also another focus that comes into mind as we talk about 
this religious liberty. I want to take a moment and welcome and 
recognize the arrival of my new nephew, Grayson Lee Hunter. He is 
joining brothers Worth and Preston, his cousin Georgia Kate, and his 
cousins Jack and Chase, who are my grandsons. We know that being able 
to grow up in freedom is such a wonderful gift, and we are excited 
about that and excited about what individual freedom means to each of 
us.
  I want to turn our attention now to something that constricts that 
freedom, and that is what we see through the President's healthcare 
law. Again, yesterday we came to the floor to push to repeal that law. 
This is something that we will continue. There is a reason for this.
  Let me give you some examples. Last week I was out in my district. I 
visited with constituents who are employers. I want to cite three 
examples. One, an employer of 76 people, another an employer of 400 
people, and another a franchise owner, 3,000 people that are in this 
group.
  Let me tell you what I heard from each and every one of these 
individuals. Their employees, many of whom are my constituents, want to 
see a return to patient-centered, affordable health care. They do not 
want more Big Government and more unfunded mandates that they are being 
forced to deal with. It changes the kind of health care that they can 
get.
  Now, when it comes to health insurance, what we have found is the 
escalation of cost to the individual because of what is happening with 
the mandate. The insurance cost has gone up, the out-of-pocket 
deductibles, all of this is going up. What we also see is a cramping of 
access because of narrowed networks.
  Another thing that is happening is what is taking place through the 
oversight boards, the preventive service task forces. These could also 
be called some of those oxymoronic Federal agencies because instead of 
opening up the healthcare process, what we see is they are reducing 
what you have access to, and it is also a slowdown in payment 
reimbursements for so many of our Medicare recipients. That is what is 
happening in health care, and we are hearing about it from our 
employers.
  Now, there are options that are out there. Let me cite just a couple 
for my colleagues. H.R. 2300, Empowering Patients First Act, that is 
the bill from Dr. Price, and also, special attention to, the Republican 
Study Committee plan, the American Health Care Reform Act. It is H.R. 
2653. Leading this charge has been my Tennessee colleague Dr. Phil Roe, 
who has worked with each of us as we have pulled provisions into this 
bill to make certain that we return to the principles of affordability, 
accessibility, and accountability in patient-centered health care. We 
think it is time for these moves to take place.
  Mr. Speaker, I would like to return everyone's attention to the need 
to address the issue of replacing the ObamaCare legislation so that we 
reduce the cost and increase the access of health care for all 
Americans.

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