[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 2]
[House]
[Page 2182]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1215
                    LET'S KEEP ALL AMERICANS HEALTHY

  (Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise this afternoon because I am 
appalled by President Trump and my Republican colleagues' attacks on 
the health of Americans. My Republican colleagues have spent 6 years 
disparaging the Affordable Care Act from its very inception, describing 
it as a ``death spiral,'' ``failure,'' and ``collapsing,'' but zero 
time offering up any viable alternative.
  After 6 years of hollow grandstanding, Republicans now face the clear 
realization that repealing the Affordable Care Act will dump massive 
costs on families and businesses, blow a hole in the Federal budget, 
and strip coverage for more than 30 million Americans.
  New Jersey has been a positive example of ACA implementation. Since 
enactment, Medicaid expansion through ACA has insured more than 700,000 
middle-income New Jersey residents who couldn't previously afford it. 
The uninsured rate in New Jersey dropped from 13.2 percent in 2013 to 
8.7 percent in 2015.
  Mr. Speaker, these are positive trends, but President Trump and 
Republicans in Washington callously disregard these facts so they can 
live up to their reckless promises. I hope that they will see the 
wisdom in their mistake and make sure that we keep all Americans 
healthy.

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