Mccarthy, the majority leader from california. I yield to my friend. Thank the y i gentleman for yielding. I ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks. The speaker pro tempore without objection. Mr. Mccarthy a sshh. Mr. Speaker, before i begin, do i want to wish everybody a happy st. Patricks day. Mr. Speaker, on monday, the louis meet at noon for morning hour and 2 00 p. M. For legislative business. Votes will be postponed until 6 30. On tuesday and wednesday the house will meet at 10 00 a. M. For morning hour and noon for legislative business. On thursday, the house will meet at 9 00 a. M. For legislative business. Mr. Speaker, late votes are likely in the house on thursday and members are advised to adjust their schedules accordingly. Mr. Speaker, the house will consider a number of suspensions next week, a complete list of which will be announced at close of business today. In addition, the house will consider several critical pieces of the republican plan to repeal and replace obamacare. First, h. R. 372, the Competitive Health insurance reform act, sponsored by representative paul gosar, which creates competition in the Health Care Market by eliminating antitrust protection for insurance providers. Next, h. R. 1101, the Small Business health fairness act sponsored by representative sam johnson, which allows Small Businesses to pool together and purchase plans. An important step towards purchasing health care across state lines. Finally, mr. Speaker, we will consider f. Y. 2017 reconciliation bill, also known as the American Health care act. This bill eliminates the many taxes and mandates of obamacare. Gives patients enhanced tools to take control of their health care decisions, and expands choice so americans are free to pick the plan that is best for themselves and their families. Mr. Speaker, its known that obamacare is failing and we have a responsibility to provide americans relief. These bills are a result of much deliberation and hard work and their passage will help create a competitive marketplace that provides high quality care at an affordable cost. I thank the gentleman and i yield back and look forward to his questions. Mr. Hoyer i thank the gentleman. I must hasten to add that he added a little comment that it is known. I dont share that view, mr. Speaker, that its known that the Affordable Care act is failing. In fact, we had a hearing yesterday, when the former director of the Congressional Budget Office appointed by mocrats testified on the Affordable Care act and testified on the American Health care act. Nd lo and beho, mrspear, it was agreed he agreed with the present c. B. O. Director. In other words, everybody in america ought to be pleased on this because they all are asking for bipartisanship, that the former director appointed by democrats of the c. B. O. Agrees with the republican director of the c. B. O. Who just came down with his advice and counsel to the Congress Just a few days ago. That ought to give pause to those who are pressing to pass a bill which would result in the loss by 24 million americans of their insurance, and would result in the increased cost to almost every american of their insurance. Now, yes, there are some americans who would choose not to have health care. Then they would get sick or theyd get in an Automobile Accident or Something Else would happen in which they would require medical care. They would not be able to pay for it. And guess what. We would all pay for it. Thats what was happening before the Affordable Care act. It is still happening with some who choose either to pay their contribution towards health, some people call it a penalty, i call it a contribution, to meet their personal responsibility as the Heritage Foundation suggested of having provisions that in if that if they get sick, theyll be able to pay for it. Now, last week, mr. Speaker, my friend, the majority leader, had some quotes of people who did not like the Affordable Care act. At this hearing that we had, we had a number of people, i want to quote some of them. I certainly never agined i would have a child who wuld rely so much on a Government Program like medicaid. This child, mr. Speaker, suffers from red syndrome, which is a neurological disorder that strikes mostly young girls, with normal development for the first 18 or 24 months of their life, and then their development is arrested and in fact in some respects there is a retreat in their abilities. She went on to say, medicaid provides Skilled Nursing care which allows us to raise our daughter, caroline, in our home, instead of a hospital or institution. Of course a hospital or institution would be far more expensive. She went on to say, this allows my husband and me to hold jobs and take care of other family needs. The House Republican plan, she said, for medicaid would put my daughters life at risk. And my family is terrified. That was mattera connor, a mother of a child marta connor, a mother of a child with red syndrome comped under medicaid. Another quote covered under medicaid. Another quote from our hearing yesterday, and i titled this hearing, the hearing that the republicans refuse to have on the American Health care act, or the Affordable Care act itself. This quote is, in public debate in congress, the actual people can be obscured by graphs and numbers. Bu ladies and gentlemen, every day in clinics, this was a doctor, i am oneonone with the real people. Real americans. Who could take steps closer to help or suffer more with this Congress Decision health or suffer more can with congress this congress more with this Congress Decision. I urge to you strengthen the Affordable Care act. To that extent, mr. Speaker, as the majority leader knows, that testimony joined hundreds of medical the a. M. A. , the association of physicians with particular skill sets, of hospitals, of insurance mpanies, of patients, of providers, of urban hospitals, suburban hospitals, and rural hospitals. Literally hundreds of people intimately involved in the Health Care System who are rging us not to pass the American Health care act and to leave in place but improve the Affordable Care act. Mr. Speaker, i have indicated to many that we are, on this side of the aisle, prepared to work to improve any piece of legislation that has been passed and particularly a piece of legislation which affects so Many Americans. Unfortunately we have not had that opportunity since this bill, the Affordable Care act, was first considered and passed. This week the Congressional Budget Office released their estimate and impacts of House Republicans bill to repeal the Affordable Care act. President trump, mr. Speaker, as the majority leader knows, in this body, at that lot of rum, promised rostrum, promised insurance for everybody. That is much less expensive and much better. Hes not offered such a bill. The American Health care act certainly does not provide that. In fact, c. B. O. , both republican and democratic directors, opined at least 24 Million People will lose the insurance. And by 2026 there will be 58 Million People in america ithout Health Insurance. Mr. Speaker, the majority leader has indicated this bill will be on the floor next week. I hope that everybody takes the opportunity to read the c. B. O. Port and the testimony given the sterdays hearing on bill. The first and only hearing that was held on the bill that will be on the floor. Previous hearings that the Affordable Care act is not good, previous hearings that there are alternative out there dont deal with the bill thats going to be on the floor this wednesday. Or next wednesday or thursday. Susan collins has said of the bill thats going to be on the floor, it should prompt the house to slow down and reconsider certain provisions of the bill. She was referring, of course, to the c. B. O. Report. Senator bill cassidy from that liberal left wing bastion of cant sugar d, coat it, doesnt look good, the c. B. O. Score was, shall we say, an eyepopper. I also hope it was a thoughtprovoker. Senator rob portman, who served in this body for many years, said, im concerned about the medicaid population. Thats the biggest part of coverage for ohio. Thats why hes governor, a republican, and rob portman, a republican who served on the ways and Means Committee, is urging caution and has great reservations about the bill that has been announced to come to the floor. Mr. Speaker, i would like to ask the majority leader whether or not he can confirm whether changes will be made to the repeal bill, that is the American Health care act that was reported out of the budget committee, whether he can confirm whether or not that bill will the repeal bill will be changed before it comes to the floor, and i yield to my friend. Mr. Mccarthy i know there were a lot of questions in there let me work through and try answer all of those. Your last question was in regards to the bill itself. We are working through the process. Fwl in rules committee. As the legislative process works, there are always ways you refine the bill, i expect there will be some elements that get refined in rules committee. You had about five different questions there, if llow through. First you talked about and i was happy to hear, i wrote it down. You are glad to work to help improve the bill. Because when we were in the more than 26 hours of energy and commerce, the amendments the democrats offered, and we spent a couple of hours on just the one about a hashtag of renaming. If theres a change in attitude, i appreciate that. Mr. Hoyer just to clarify, the bill to which he is referring is not the bill to which i was referring. I was referring to the Affordable Care act and and he is referring to the American Health care act. Mr. Mccarthy youre not willing to help with this . Mr. Hoyer of course work the Affordable Care act. We think the bill that has been offered will devastate many individuals, millions and millions and millions of people in this country, we have said that pretty clearly. But more importantly, the c. B. O. Director appointed by republicans said that in his report tch was, by the way, mr. Speaker, given after after it was considered in either one of the questions, either the energy and Commerce Committee or the ways and Means Committee. They did not wait for the c. B. O. Report. My opinion, mr. Speaker, they did not wait for the c. B. O. Report because they knew how devastatingly nellingtive the c. B. O. Report would be to the legislation they were considering. I yield back to my friend. Mr. Mccarthy i thank the gentleman for yielding back to me, it seems the gentleman has a little shortterm memory about how they brought the Affordable Care act and the c. B. O. Report was not brought before us until it came on the floor. My response back was i was actually excited to hear that democrats wanted to work with us. That their attitude has changed from when we were in committee and we had amendments Going Forward that it was no longer going to be hashtag amendment bus it would be productive amendments. I thank you for having that change of attitude. Im proud of the transparent process weve taken in the house. Thing needs to be reminded to the american public. As i mentioned last week, our Health Care Bill is the result of 113 hearings. I know the gentleman on the other side of the aisle, hes proud of the 7 hearings they had before they did the Affordable Care act. We have now marked up this bill in three separate committees with over 18 hours of debate in ways and means and over 27 hours of debate in energy and commerce. The countless amendments from both republicans and democrats. The time we vote on the floor this bill will have been publicly Available Online for three weeks. Now its only 127 personal injuries. That is a far contrast to the 2,700plus pages, if you want to obamacare. To so far nearly 590,000 people have visited our website. And over 200,000 have downloaded this legislative text. So mr. Speaker, that means more people have read our Health Care Bill than went to woodstock. I call that transparency. Republicans have been committed to repealing and replacing obamacare for years, and so now i think its time to act. The gentleman also commented about the c. B. O. Im actually excited that you had another person that confirmed with what the c. B. O. Said. Because the c. B. O. Says about this bill, it will lower the deficit by 337 billion. It will also reduce premiums by 10 by 2026. And it will secure major entitlement reform by capping medicaid spend, giving states certainty and flexibility, saving taxpayers 880 billion and making the program solvent for future generations. That was a concern in one of the letters. Mr. Speaker, those are the facts. Regards to the coverage numbers, the c. B. O. Reports that midwest of that increase would stem from repealing the penalties associated with individual mandates. Let me repeat that. Most of the increase would stem from repealing the penalties associated with the individual mandate. Now that makes sense to me. Because we no longer force americans to buy something they do not want. One size fits all health care, they will naturally choose not to buy it. But, mr. Speaker, i know the gentleman across the other side of the aisle argues with me about the knowledge that Everybody Knows obamacare is failing. Id ask the gentleman to visit one third of the counties in this country that only have one option now. Why dont you go to tennessee where the president just was. You know 16 counties in tennessee have no option . But obamacare will penalize you for not having health care when you cant even buy it. If obamacare was working so well, why do more people accept the penalty or the exemption than actually buy obamacare . Thats a number thats quite interesting. Thats why i encourage the c. R. Plan will decrease the premiums that people have been asking for. Our goal is not just to sign up people for insurance. Our goal is to get america Better Health care. Now the gentleman also commented and had letters and i love to read letters. I love to listen to constituents. Thats what our work should be. And you read a letter when it came to medicaid. I would not scare people, i would actually talk to that individual. Medicaid is on an unsustainable ath. In one 10year window it will cost 1 trillion. Mr. Speaker, the gentleman on the other side knows what in 1 trillion is. Thats about an entire amount we spend on discretionary spending. From all the appropriations we go through, that would take up everything we have. We know that is not sustainable so we should do something about it. Thats why we had a meeting with 18 governors, republicans, democrats, the number one thing they tolds, give us flexibility to be able to manage. Thats exactly what this bill does. But id like but i like to read letters. Heres one from coleen from annapolis. I just received the notice from my 2017 insurance policy. It will skyrocket. Not by the advertised maryland state arch of 20 to 25 . But rather by 60 . In addition, my deductible is going up 45 . Since the inception of obamacare, my policy has increased 75 . Im a 63yearold female in Excellent Health who takes no medication. My only benefit for the a. C. A. Has been two mammograms which i paid 12,600 in premiums to get. What a disaster of a program. I will be voting republican this year in the hope of finally getting the a. C. A. Repealed. I just hope it happens before my checkbook goes life support. Or the letter to the editor from carl in maryland. I cant afford my Health Insurance now under obamacare. Its been a burden on our joint income which is just above the limit for qualifying for subsidies. And for 2017, im facing a 61 rate increase. 61 . Im faced with either paying a premium that will bankrupt me and my wife or paying the tax penalty at the end of the year. Which will be unaffordable. And there are probably several million americans who are in the same boat as i am. You know what . Carl, we listened to you. We listened and now were going to lead. We have moved a bill from the legislative process to the rules for reconciliation. We have done hours of debate in three other committees. We will continue the process as the rule says, well go to the rules committee and then well come to this floor. And for those who have written, change will come. And yes, the republican appointed c. B. O. Director and the democratic c. B. O. Director as the gentleman, mr. Speaker, from across the aisle say agree that the premiums will go down. As so Many Americans have asked for. We will put medicaid on a sustainable path. We will give republicans, democrats, flexibility to manage their state in a better form. And most importantly, we will give america exactly what they asked for. The freedom to choose their own health care. The options of having more. 10 they can direct what they want and desire. At the same time, having a lower cost. So i welcome the gentleman for his questions, i know that wasnt about scheduling. But i think this is too important. Those 113 hearings, we listened to the people before us and we promised we would act and were keeping that promise as we move forward. I yield back. Mr. Hoyer i thank the gentleman for his information. People, im sure, listening to this colloquy must get confused. As they hear one representation from somebody who sounds pretty reasonable, my friend mr. Mccarthy. And then they hear exactly the opposite from me. So theyll have to make a judgment. The bill thats going to be on the floor next week was ntroduced a week ago monday. 42 as marked up less than hours later. Not a single american, my friend the majority leader, mr. Speaker, said, i love to listen to constituents. Not a single constituent on his side of the aisle or my side of the aisle, mr. Speaker. Had the opportunity to testify on this bill. Not a single one of my constituents or the majority leaders constituents. Had the opportunity to know what the c. B. O. Said was going to happen. That 24 Million People would lose their insurance. 4 million next year. That medicare would be put at risk and medicaid would be gutted. By 2021. Not a single constituent was listened to because they had no opportunity to come and say, his is what i think. Testimony to which i referred was yesterday. I dont know the dates on the letters that the gentleman just read. But perhaps they were just within the last few days. But i will tell that 6 yearold man that what this bill does that 63yearold woman that what this bill does if you have get crease, youll you go from five to one ratio to three to one ratio, that seniors, those 65 years of aming are referred to as seniors. The bill will allow the Insurance Company to do a fe to one ratio rather than a three to one ratio that 60 will go up by 40. Maybe get to 100 . Mr. Speaker, the American People know about transparency. That means they can see something. The gentleman says, well, now its online. Yes, they had 40 hours give or take. To see this bill from monday night until wednesday when it was marked up and it was marked up and passed in the ways and Means Committee in the dead of night. Sort of like they passed the Prescription Drug bill. At 5 59 a. M. In the morning. Majority leader wasnt here. Was here. Perhaps theres a predilection to middle of the night. By the time the energy and Commerce Committee passed it, theyd been in session for over 24 hours and were blearyeyed. And as i told him last week, mr. Speaker, my folks were not up at 4 00 in the morning watching the energy and Commerce Committee. D i would tell him further that he said the bill was now online and people had an opportunity to read it. Perhaps, mr. Majority leader, mr. Speaker, is why the Affordable Care act is now got more support from the country than it has had at any time since its existence. 49 of americans now like the Affordable Care act, perhaps the reason its happening now is theyve had the chance to see the alternative the republicans are offering on wednesday. This bill that they offered is going to significantly raise, i will tell colleen, her outofpocket expenses. And yes, under their bill, the c. B. O. Says that perhaps the premiums will go down. Why will the premiums go down . Why does insurance go up and down . Because the risk goes up and down. And the greater the risk, the more the cost. But if you dont allow people who are sick people to get into the system, because they cant afford it, then the risk goes down. And when the risk goes down, and you shut people out of the system, and 24 Million People are out of the system, yes, of course, the rates go down. Because youre ensure insuring the healthy. Americans know that very well. Because they know when they have automobile insurance, which by the way theyre mandated to have in almost every state, if not every state, why are they mandated to have it . So the rest of us are protected when we have an accident or were protected from our rates going up because theres not a Broad Spectrum of the insured. So that the risk can be minimal for the Insurance Company. That y to my friend c. B. O. Has told the truth. The americans have seen that. And they dont like that. So i would ge those on the er side of the sle to be very careful when they vote either wednesday or thursday on this bill. Because this bill is going to have a very detrimental effect on the American People. I understand there are going to be two other bills. There are going to be four bills on the floor, as i understand it. Can the gentleman inform us when we will see the details of this dditional legislation . Mr. Mccarthy i ask the gentleman, which bills is he referring to . Mr. Hoyer the third bill and the fourth bill. Mr. Mccarthy those will be later in the month. Next week well have two of those up. Mr. Hoyer will we are they available now to be reviewed prior to them coming up later in the month . Mr. Mccarthy the committee has marked them up. Mr. Hoyer ok. Lastly, and i know youre glad to hear that comment, as are the folks waiting for oneminutes, have received a letter from secretary mnuchin on march 8. It was directed to the speaker. Mr. Leader. And like most secretaries of the treasury, he is hoping that we will pursue financially responsible and competencebuilding policies. I wont read the whole letter. But he says in the last paragraph, as i said in my confirmation hearing, honoring the full faith and credit of our outstanding debt is a critical commitment. I encourage congress to raise the debt limit at the first opportunity so that we can proceed with our joint priorities. Mr. Speaker, i ask the majority leader whether that is going to be scheduled in the near term, because on march 15 we met the debt limit extension. This admiis preous administration has prolong the time by using default, extra mechanisms so that were in effect not investing in the retirement system or Something Else and paying our debts. I have indicated publicly, mr. Speaker, and i reiterate here that i will urge my side to support a debt limit extension if its clean. What i mean by clean, if it does not incorporate something that is not aagreed to agreed to and there is not a consensus on. By that i mean simply, if there are things that we have a consensus on that need to be passed, certainly including those in a debt limit extension would not be objectionable. If there are items had items in that bill designed to force us to vote for what is a responsible policy, but takes something that we obviously very strongly disagree with, we will not do so. So my question to the majority leader is, a, can we expect a clean debt limit extension . B, can we expect that in the near term as secretary mnuchin requests . So that we can put that matter ehind us and not undermine confidence in our fiscal posture as a nation. And i yield to my friend. Mr. Mccarthy i think we both agree that responsible fiscal policy is important to our countrys ability to succeed. That includes honoring the full faith and credit of the United States. We expect to continue working closely with secretary mnuchin to ensure that americas on the right path to a strong fiscal future. We know the amount of debt that has been added in the last eight years has been tremendous. And i know that the gentleman, when he looks to what we do next week, to be able to lower premiums, save more than 300 billion to the deficit, and let people have more choice, that is also a first step. I do not have any immediate action to announce, but we will relay any information to the members as we move forward. And i thank the gentleman. Is that going to be your last question . Mr. Hoyer it will probably be my last question. I have an additional observation. Mr. Mccarthy before i depart, though, i would like, mr. Speaker, to wish my friend from the other side of the aisle a ery happy st. Patricks day. Do i apologize or i feel bad for when we look at the basketball round, what happened to maryland, but if you look at n. I. T. , cal statebakersfield is still on the march. I have another too many you can root for. I yield back. Mr. Hoyer mr. Speaker, i ask that the gentlemans words be taken down. I have never had such a vicious attack made on me. But i must admit, i was deeply disappointed last night. My congratulations to the young men at xavier and their coach. But my, my, my, i was disappointed in the quality of our play. We have a great group of young people playing. But it was not their night. Im sure that i will pick another team sometime, as the march madness continues. What i would hope, though, that we would not have march madness on this floor next week. Mr. Mccarthy there will be n psets. Mr. Hoyer i guess the answer to at question, mr. Speaker, is what a will determine an upset . Will the American People be upset . Is what will determine an upset . Will the American People be upset . Will the republicans be upset . The question the answer to that question remains in the hands of our republican colleagues. Because what i wanted to do in observation, i disagree with all three of the propositions that the majority leader said in his closing statement. This is not going to reduce the budget. Yes, on its face they give a 600 billion tax cut to the wealthiest in america. Where do they take it from . Medicaid. Some of the poorest people in america. Thats where that money comes from. Premiums are going to go up. Deductibles are going to go up. You can quote me on this. Two, three years interest now, i dont think your bills going to your m now, i dont think bills going to pass, it may pass this floor, but it will not become law. The majority leaders statement, mr. Speaker, that thats what the American People are expecting, i disagree with that. What the president of the United States said he was going to give to the American People is insurance for everybody. The majority leader ignores the 24 million, we really havent spoken about that. We spoke about some other observations in the c. B. O. Report. As did speaker ryan. I dont blame them. I try to point to some positive indicate rts my indicators myself. I think this is going to up the deficit. Its going to up costs. And it will decrease the insured. D make hospitals have more uncompensated care. Well have this debate next week, mr. Speaker. But on the last issue i would hope, mr. Leader, that we do agree on fiscal responsibility. I happen to believe, as you know, that the debt limit issue is a phony issue. A totally political issue. Its been used as a political issue on both sides of the aisle. There should be no question, but of course the United States is going to pay its debt. Of course the United States is ing to pay people who its bought things from. Of course its going to pay people moneys that thesk been promised. Of course its that theyve been promised. Of course its going to do that. This is not about new spending. Its about spending that weve already incurred. I would urge the majoriy leader to bring a clean bill to the floor. I will work with him. We will get the wloming majority of democrats to the overwhelming majority of democrats to vote for that. Lets not blame one another for the debt. Theres plenty of opportunity to do that and both sides are guilty of that result. With that, mr. Speaker, if he has nothing further he want to say, i will yield back the balance of my time. He announcer