Date: 2014-03-05
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. I rise in opposition once again to an attempt by the majority to defeat the Affordable Care Act. This begins the third year that the majority has attempted to put an end to affordable. available and accessible health care for all Americans. They have ignored the law. a Supreme Court decision and a national presidential election that affirmed the establishment. legality. and popularity of the Affordable Care Act. I oppose this bill for three reasons: there are much more pressing issues facing our nation. this bill is wrong on the facts. and the Affordable Care Act is working. There are much more pressing issues facing our nation: unemployment. food security. housing security and access to job training that leads to employment. We should be debating a bill to restore emergency supplemental unemployment benefits. We should be restoring cuts the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program that was cut by nearly $20 billion dollars over several years. We should be voting to raise the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour over several years and link future increases of the minimum wage to inflation. We should be taking up the budget process with eagerness to avoid another government shutdown. In 2013. we had a Federal government shutdown because we lost precious legislative time voting to repeal or seriously diminish the ability of the Affordable Care Act to do what it is currently doingproviding health insurance to millions of Americans. Every wasted votemoves this Congress another step closer to another Federal government shutdown. The budget process takes months of work by over a dozen committees to complete. Each vote that stops our legislative work and bring us to the floor for a debate on legislation that will not go anywhereis time taken away from our work to avoid another government shutdown. The American people were unaware of the cost of over 40 votes to end Obamacare until millions of citizens were put out of work when the government shutdown last year. They are watching what is happening in Congress very closely and the consequences will fall heaviest on those who were hurt by the last government shutdown. The 113th Congress has 70 legislative working days left on the calendar before September 30. 2014the end of the fiscal year for 2014 and the beginning of the fiscal year for 2015. I call on my colleagues to bring to the floor bills like H.R. 3773. the Unemployment Jobhunters Protection and Assistance Act. a bill I introduced that would extend emergency unemployment compensation (EUC) payments for eligible individuals to weeks of employment ending on or before January 1. 2015. This Congress would find a better use of its time if it would take up consideration of H.R. 3888. New Chance for a New Start in Life Act of 2014. that would authorize the Secretary of Labor to make grants to States. units of local government. and Indian tribes to carry out employment training programs to assist longterm unemployed job hunters to obtain the skills and training they need to reenter the workforce and fill jobs in highgrowth sectors of the economy. These are just two bills that would improve the lives of people who we all serve. but there are dozens of others introduced by members who came to the Congress to serve the will of the people and not their own will. I oppose this bill because it is wrong on the facts. Republicans are claiming that this bill is simply logical because the Administration has already delayed the employer responsibility provision for one year. This claim is inaccurate and disingenuous. Nonpartisan experts agree that there is no comparison between the impacts of a delay in the employer responsibility and individual responsibility provisions. For example. in a report in July. the nonpartisan Urban Institute concluded. "Delaying or eliminating the individual mandate would significantly decrease insurance coverage relative to the full Affordable Care Acts implementation. whereas delaying or eliminating the employer mandate will have essentially no effect on coverage." The Affordable Care Act is good for the American People The Obamacare is popular and growing in greater popularity everyday as consumers get past the rhetoric and experience the reality of the peace of mind that health insurance for their families and themselves brings. Thanks to the Affordable Care Act. in Texas: 5.198.000 individuals on private insurance have gained coverage for at least one free preventive health care service such as a mammogram. birth control. or an immunization in 2011 and 2012. In the first eleven months of 2013 alone. an additional 1.683.800 people with Medicare have received at least one preventive service at no out of pocket cost. The up to 10.695.000 individuals with preexisting conditions such as asthma. cancer. or diabetesincluding up to 1.632.000 childrenwill no longer have to worry about being denied coverage or charged higher prices because of their health status or history. Approximately 5.189.000 Texans have gained expanded mental health and substance use disorder benefits and/or federal parity protections. 4.889.000 uninsured Texans will have new health insurance options through Medicaid or private health plans in the Marketplace. As a result of new policies that make sure premium dollars work for the consumer. not just the insurer. in the past year insurance companies have sent rebates averaging $95 per family to approximately 726.200 consumers. In the first ten months of 2013. 233.100 seniors and people with disabilities have saved on average $866 on prescription medications as the health care law closes Medicares so called "donut hole." 357.000 young adults have gained health insurance because they can now stay on their parents health plans until age 26. Individuals no longer have to worry about having their health benefits cut off after they reach a lifetime limit on benefits. and starting in January. 7.536.000 Texans will no longer have to worry about annual limits. either. Health centers have received $293.038.000 to provide primary care. establish new sites. and renovate existing centers to expand access to quality health care. Texas has approximately 400 health center sites. which served about 1.079.000 individuals in 2012. Every day more uninsured Americans are signing up for plans as the website gets faster and more people with insurance are benefiting from the law. I ask my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to not spend any more precious legislative work on efforts to end the Affordable Care Act or ignoring the number of people continuing to vote in favor of the new law with their insurance enrollment dollars. Mr. Speakers. I urge my colleagues to join me in voting against this bill.