Date: 2015-10-23
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. this bill and the vote we are going to have today is. I guess. a fitting end to an unproductive and shameful week in the United States Congress. Yesterday. we just witnessed an incredible abuse of power where a socalled special Benghazi committee. funded by taxpayer money. conducted their political witch hunt against Secretary Clinton. The Republican majority leader in this own body told the Nation on television that it was about bringing down Hillary Clintons polls. That dishonors the memory of the four Americans who were killed in Benghazi. Then earlier this week. this Congress passed legislation that says. you know what? The United States Government doesnt have to pay all of its bills. We will just pay some of our bills. Forget about the full faith and credit of the United States. We will decide we are going to pay some people and not others. It is as if. Mr. Speaker. one of us got up in the morning and said we are just going to make our mortgage payments but forget about the car payments. or we are going to pay this person but not that person. When the United States Government tries to do that. the economy goes downhill fast. To add insult to injury. they said. when we are going to pay certain people. we are going to pay the big bondholders first. The Government of China and Wall Street. they are going to get paid. Our veterans arent going to get paid. Our soldiers arent going to get paid. I hope our colleagues are reading what they are passing here in the United States Congress. because that is what they did earlier this week. So what are we doing here today? For the 61st time in this House of Representatives. our Republican colleagues are moving forward on legislation to dismantle the Affordable Care Act. Now. the chairman is entitled to his own opinions. He is not entitled to his own facts. All you have to do is read the report of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office that analyzed this bill. and here is what they say: that. as a result of this legislation. insurance coverage would decline by about 16 million people in most years. 3 million of those people would be children. Why in the world are we here on the floor of the House of Representatives passing legislation that is going to take away affordable health care to 15 million Americans. including 3 million children? Look at this chart. Mr. Speaker. This shows the decline in the number of uninsured people in the United States. As you can see. you see a rapid drop in the number of uninsured Americans as a result of the Affordable Care Act. Our Republican colleagues bill wants to get rid of that progress. put all those people back in the position where they dont have affordable health care. They also want to go after womens health programs. including Planned Parenthood. where the testimony from the chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee. Mr. CHAFFETZ. is very clear. They havent violated any laws. He said it on national television. Here is what he was asked: "Is there any evidence. in your opinion. that Planned Parenthood has broken any laws?" "No. I am not suggesting that they broke the law." It is another political witch hunt. just like the Benghazi hearing. You know what? When the regular committees found there was no wrongdoing by Planned Parenthood. our Republican colleagues created a special committee on Planned Parenthood as well. Mr. Speaker. when the American people had been asked what they think of Congress these days. this is a chart of the words they come up with first: Ridiculous. Waste of time. Terrible. Frustrating. You are just making this chart worse by coming here to this floor. for the 61st time. repealing the Affordable Care Act. a bill that you know has no chance of becoming law because. if it gets to the Presidents desk. he has told this Congress long ago he will veto it because the President doesnt want to get rid of affordable health care for 15 million Americans and 3 million American kids. The President doesnt want to do it. I am really. really disappointed that our Republican colleagues thought this was a good way to end an unproductive week. It is a sad and shameful statement of the state of affairs in this body. I reserve the balance of my time.