Transcripts For CSPAN Key Capitol Hill Hearings 20140402

His leadership on bringing this bill forward, the save American Workers act. It is today that i rise in support of the save American Workers act. Mr. Speaker, every working american deserves a fair shot at climbing the economic ladder of success. And every wage earner he deserves a chance to live the american dream. However, over the past few months we have watched the president S Health Care law wreak havoc on working families and squeeze the middle class who already struggle to make ends meet. As we all know, millions of people have seen their premiums and deductibles go up under the president S Health Care law. While others have been forced off the very plans they were promised they could keep. But thats not the full picture. Because of the 30hour workweek provision in obamacare, wage earners could see their hours he reduced, resulting in a 25 cut to their pay. Let me just take a moment to explain exactly who might see their paychecks shrink. According to a study by the hoover institution, there are 2. 6 million americans, especially at risk of having their wages cut. Are 2. 6 million, 59 younger workers between the ages of 18 and 34. Many who may be trying to save for college. Or for their first home. 63 are women. Many of them single moms trying to support their children. The medium Household Income for families most at risk from harm under this obamacare regulation is just over 29,000. Thats the median Household Income most at risk. The bottom line is this, the workers most affected by these cuts are those who earn the least. For someone who currently earns 10 an hour and works 40 hours a week, being cut to 29 hours means a loss of 110 each and every week. Three out of four americans are already claiming they are working paycheck to paycheck, but 25 cut to their income would have a devastating effect. This is not how america should work. While this rule will impact americans in all different industries, those who are most likely to be affected work in retail, restaurants, manufacturing, and even americas education sector. In my hometown of richmond, Many School Districts have begun to limit parttime workers to less than 30 hours a week to avoid added costs imposed by the advent of thiS Health Care law and would thus strain their budgets. A substitute teacher named amy from chesserfield county, virginia, was asked by the Richmond Times dispatch about the burdens of this rule under obamacare. And he she said, quote, the people and she said, quote, the people that its going to affect are the people that need or want to work ever single day, end quote. So why is the government punishing those who are looking to earn an honest wage . This administration believes that they can hide the reality of the wage cuts with an increase in the minimum wage but a proposal that the but that proposal which the nonpartisan experts say will result in 500,000 lost jobs is not the answer. The answer is, restore the 40hour workweek and let people work. We have known for a long time that the president S Health Care law was broken. But now its beginning to break the backs of American Workers. Our constituents dont deserve this broken law or more broken promises. They deserve a fair shot at success without the government standing in the way. Today we have an opportunity to unclinch this middle class squeeze and restore the 40hour workweek so that wage earners dont have to worry about smaller paychecks. So lets stand together in a bipartisan fashion and take a big step towards creating an america that works again and works again for everyone. Id like to thank chairman camp, representative young, and the rest of the ways and Means Committee for their hard work on this issue. I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support working families by passing this legislation. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from virginia yields back. The gentleman from michigan is recognized. Mr. Levin i yield myself such time as i may consume. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Levin i know the majority would come here and talk about the middle class. They are trying to escape from their failure to help take action to provide jobs for middle class americans. They also, by the way, so far havent helped out to provide a continuation of Employment Unemployment insurance for hundreds of thousands of people, so many in the middle class, who have lost their jobs. Look, i quoted from c. B. O. And i uess ill have to quote again, this is in february, in quotes, in c. B. O. s judgment there is no compelling evidence that parttime employment has increased as a result of the a. C. A. And ill quote again from this study of the center on budget and policy priorities. And its headed this way. Health he reform not causing significant shift to parttime work, but raising threshold to 40 hours a week would make a sizable shift likely. And i quoted why they say that because the number of people who are working 40 hours or thereabouts, that number is so much larger than those who are working 30 hours or thereabouts, and so any employer who wanted essentially to shift the burden rom them to others, they are more likely to do it under this bill than under the present circumstance. And thats the reason, thats by reason why its been said force one it would Million People out of employerbased Health Insurance and it would add 74 billion to e deficit since its not offset. You havent you havent refuted a single one of those statements. If they are not true, id like you to say so. Id like you to say c. B. O. Is wrong. And also wrong with they say it will increase the number of uninsured by half a Million People. Those are three c. B. O. Statements. They stand here to refute the myths that are being brought here in defense of this bill. So you raise the middle class banner at the same time you essentially with this bill would take away Health Insurance from many, many, many, many middle class citizens. Thats what you would be doing here. I reserve the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the chair would remind members to address their remarks to the chair. The gentleman from michigan reserves. The gentleman from indiana is recognized. Mr. Young mr. Speaker, i yield two minutes to the gentleman from minnesota, mr. Paulsen, a distinguished member of the committee on ways and means. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from minnesota is recognized for two minutes. Mr. Paulsen i thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, its been said before, the more we learn about the president S Health Care law, the more the facts show its hurting more people than its helping. The latest development now is the lost 30 hour rule is forcing some companies to scale back hours with more parttime jobs and less fulltime jobs, so that those employees who have good fulltime jobs are now having to go to parttime jobs. Mr. Speaker, i met with a Small Business owner. He owns seven different restaurants, and i know a lot of folks think people in the Restaurant Industry only employ parttime workers, but 41 of his workers he employs fulltime. But because of the new law, where now 30 hours is the standard being considered fulltime work, hes being forced to lower the work hours for those employees, nearly all of them, to 29 hours or less. That absolutely makes no sense. These reduced hours are now going to force a 25 reduction in pay for those workers. Many will now have to go out and find a second parttime job to make up for the hours that they lost. Another Small Business owner i talked to from minnesota, he was imploring me when he contacted me, please, Congress Needs to correct the 30hour rule so it reflects his work forces needs and employees desire to have more flexible hours. If its not addressed by congress soon, there will be disruptions in the work force and Flexible Work options for his employees could disappear altogether. The 30hour work rule is negatively affecting manufacturers and even our schools. We should remove these barriers to work. We should not punish employees who want to work more, and we should be helping American Workers. Lets pass this legislation. It will restore some common sense an common understanding in america that fulltime work is 40 hours. It will pass with bipartisan support. I commend the gentleman for his leadership on this issue for getting americans back to work. I yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. The gentleman from michigan is recognized. Mr. Levin reserve. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from michigan reserves. The gentleman from indiana is recognized. Mr. Young mr. Speaker, i would like to also indicate the fact that i, too, have read the Congressional Budget Offices estimate of this legislation. They indicate that 75 billion in wages will be lost as a result of the Affordable Care act. If Something Like the save American Workers act isnt implemented. So effectively i hear some of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle making the case that we ought to be funding the Affordable Care act, essentially, on the backs of these hourly workers. I dont think thats a position anyone wants to find themselves in. Mr. Speaker, i yield two minutes the gentleman from arizona, mr. Sad lynn. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. Mr. Sad lynn its interesting as we throw these numbers around, i guess they mean a lot on the floor debate. But to the real people that are suffering, they dont mean anything. There is an old adage that says there are you lies, lies and statistics. I would have thrown numbers around here like they matter, but the fact is they are real peoples lives being hurt and destroyed. In fact i read an article a few months ago that the Community College where i met my wife is actually notifying 1,300 employees, 700 of them that were adjunct professors, their hours are going to be reduced, and they are because of this law. Mr. Salmon they are being hurt. I guess we can quote them a statistic, go on your merry way, i know you cant pay for your mortgage, you cant make a car payment, cant pay for your childs college education, but we got this great statistic that we just got out of congress that ought to make you feel better about your life. The fact is we ought to be more concerned about individuals than we are throwing numbers around. I understand c. B. O. Also said that total implementation of obamacare would cost 2. 1 million. The fact is we can use statistics to say just about whatever we want them to say. But real peoples lives are being hurt and we have a responsibility here in this body to do everything that we can to try to raise the lifestyle in this country, not degrade it. People are losing their jobs. My son, my son lost his insurance because of obamacare. He was one of that small percentage, again a statistic, that we were quoted. But the fact is he lost his insurance. Now hes just told us hes having his third child. The first two children were delivered by a doctor that they know and trust. But because of obamacare, their doctor is not covered under their new polcy. To add insult to injury, when he went on the exchange to sign up after he was told his policy was no longer covered because of obamacare, his premiums went up from 450 a month to 850 a month. Thats hardly helping people. I think that its safe to note this law was passed without one republican. And its time that we stop our high horse of statistics and actually care about people. The speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time has expired. The gentleman from michigan is recognized. Mr. Levin i yield myself such time as i may consume. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Levin if you care about people, you should be for the a. C. A. Seven Million People have been enrolled in private plans through the a. C. A. Marketplace, to repeat. Seven million plus. And millions, well get the figures, now have coverage under medicaid. Thats lots of millions of people, and you come forth with an individual case . In many cases i dont know your instance these cases have turned out to be incorrect. Theyve been put in political ads, and theyve been refuted. I now want to read the statement of Administrative Administration policy from the president. And i quote, the administration strongly opposes house passage f h. R. 2575, the save American Workers act. It should be called the socalled save American Workers act. Because it would significantly increase the deficit and reduce the number of americans with employerbased Health Insurance. Rather than attempting once again to repeal the Affordable Care act, which the house has tried to do over 50 times, it is time for the congress to stop fighting old political battles and join the president in an agenda focused on providing greater Economic Opportunity and security for middleclass families and all those working to get into the middle class. This legislation would weaken a provision of the Affordable Care act that keeps employers from dropping Health Insurance coverage and shifting the costs to taxpayers. According to the Congressional Budget Office, it would increase the budget deficit by 73. 7 billion over the 20152024 period. Moreover, the proposed change would reduce the number of people receiving employerbased coverage by about one million while increasing the number of uninsured. The Affordable Care act gives people greater control over their own health care. Since october 1, over seven million have signed up for insurance in the Health Insurance marketplaces. Because of the Affordable Care act, americans have previously een denied coverage due to preexisting condition now have access to coverage. Additionally, the law helps millions of americans stay on their parents plans until age 26 and provides access to free Preventive Care like cancer screenings that catch illness early on. While the administration welcomes ideas to improve the law, h. R. 2575 would undermine it by shifting costs to taxpayers and causing employers either to drop or to not expand Health Insurance coverage. If the president and this is underlined were presented with h. R. 2575, he would veto it, end of quotes. With that very effective, i think, so convincing statement, i hope all listen to it. I reserve the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from michigan reserves. The gentleman from indiana is recognized. Mr. Young mr. Speaker, i cannot believe what i just heard. I heard that individual cases ought not be cited. That thats somehow offlimits mr. Levin if the gentleman will yield . I said true cases, not all cases. I said i didnt know the facts the speaker pro tempore the gentleman from michigan will suspend. The gentleman from indiana is recognized. Mr. Young mr. Speaker, one of my colleagues just cited the example of his son. Lost his insurance despite the promises of this bill during campaign season. He lost his doctor. Saw his insurance premiums and copays go up. These are real lives were talking about. These are real wages we are trying to remedy. This is a 40hour workweek that people depend on. To cite the statement of Administration Policy as somehow being more authoritative than these reallife examples i find simply outputting. Mr. Speaker, i yield four minutes to the distinguished gentleman from minnesota, the chairman of the education and work force committee, mr. Kleine. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from minnesota is recognized for four minutes. Mr. Kline i thank you, mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman for the education and it faces committee, decisions today. This will strain their ability to effectively help students. Workers and job creators are still struggling in a persistently anemic economy, making it difficult for Many Americans to pay for the bills and provide for their families. Unfortunately, the Health Care Law is making things worse. Thanks to the president s governmentrun scheme, fulltime jobs are being destroyed, not created. Health care costs are going up, not down, and millions of individuals are losing the Health Care Plan they like example of which we heard earlier instead of keeping it, as they were promised, mr. Speaker. This reality isnt limited to just private businesses. Its a reality unfolding in schools, colleges and universities across the country. Recent headlines confirmed in stark detail how the president S Health Care law is hurting our education system. From the Washington Free beacon, quote, alabama schools face shortage of substitute teachers due to obamacare, closed quote. From the weekly standard, quote, hours cut for North Carolina teachers due to obamacare, closed quote. And just in case my friends from the other side of the aisle would accuse me of selecting only conservative publications, from the new york titles, Public Sector cutting parttime hours to skirt Health Care Law. Closed quote. Aside from press reports, we also heard firsthand accounts of how obamacare is making it harder for School Leaders to meet the needs of students. In december the asked the public to share the committee asked the public to share personal stories. Ileana from st. Anne, minnesota, talked about the dream of teaching at a school. While that dream may have come true she wrote her financial situation is less stable than it was before the Health Care Law. Kate from california informed the committee that her Community College would have to restrict workers hours noting this will hurt the impact to help students. Secretary sebelius once dismissed about jobs lost as, quote, speculation. Yet, for ileana, kate and countless others, the Health Care Law is wreaking havoc on their families, their livelihoods and their schools. While restoring workers hours, it would allow them to earn the wages they deserve. Just as important, the legislation would relieve schools grappling with the Health Care Law. Congress should not stand by while teachers have their hours cut and students receive diminished access to Educational Opportunities all because of bad policies out of washington. Certainly i urge my colleagues to provide relief for our nations workplaces and classrooms by supporting the save American Workers act. And i would point out, as my colleague did, that taking the administrations statement of administrative policy as definitive here defies, frankly, all logic. There is no one in america that would be surprised that the president doesnt want changes to his law unless he unilaterally makes those changes. Because after all, mr. Speaker, if you like your Health Care Plan, you can keep your Health Care Plan, unless you cant. If you like your doctor, mr. Speaker, you can keep your doctor except when you cant. Before i yield back my time, id like to thank the ways and Means Committee for their excellent work on this legislation, and id lake to take a moment to recognize my friend and colleague, dave camp, who announced earlier this week his plan to retire. Hes been a distinguished member, a dedicated reformer and a champion of working families. Were going to miss him. I wish him all the best. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time has expired. The gentleman from michigan is recognized. Mr. Levin mr. Speaker, i ask that the balance of our time today be managed by mr. Rangel, a member of the committee. The speaker pro tempore without objection, the chair recognizes the gentleman from new york for the balance of the time. Mr. Rangel i recognize the gentleman from michigan, mr. Lynch. Maine. Massachusetts. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized for how many minutes . Mr. Rangel two minutes. The speaker pro tempore for two minutes. Mr. Lynch thank you very much, mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman from new york for yielding. Mr. Speaker, i rise today in opposition to this bill, the socalled save the American Worker act, and to speak in support of working men and women of this great country. Im here today and every day not only as a member of congress but as someone who knows what its like to work for a living. As someone who for 18 years as an ironworker, i strapped on a pair of work boots during boom times and down economies, and i know what its like to stand in the unemployment line when our local ship yard closed and our auto prant shut down. Mr. Speaker, im part of the American Work force. Like many of my colleagues, i represent hundreds of thousands of hardworking people who struggle every day to make ends meet. And thats why im deeply offended that the Republican Leadership of this house, the peoples house, has the at the matter to refer to any at that matter to refer to the simple fact is that during my time in congress, the actions of my colleagues, especially the Republican Leadership, have spoken loudly to the has spoken loudly to the contrary. Its hard for me to cover all the antiworker efforts since ive been in congress. They continually tried to roll back prevailing wage laws and workers rights and protections thats been in place since the 1930s. They tried to cripple the National Labor Relations Board put in place in 1935 to protect American Workers. Freezing pay and cutting benefits and demoralizing our hardworking men and women in government. Republican leadership has opposed equal pay for women. Theyve opposed raising the minimum wage. Theyve opposed employee nondiscrimination legislation. In fact, they wont even bring some of those bills for a vote. And as we struggle to recover from the worst economic downturn since the great depression, Republican Leadership has refused to extend emergency Unemployment Benefits to the longterm unemployed. Many of whom use that money just to put food on their table while they search for work. Now, the republican majority has the audacity to put forward a bill they call the save the American Worker act. We got to save the American Worker from you. Thats who we need to be saving them from. The bill before us today the speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time has expired. Mr. Rangel i yield an additional minute. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for an additional minute. Mr. Lynch i thank the gentleman. I thank the speaker for his indulgence. The bill before us is more of the same. According to the Congressional Budget Office, this bill will add 74 billion to the federal deficit, force one mill more people to lose un excuse me employercovered health care and according to a Study Released by the university of californiaberkeley, this will cause 6. 5 million workers lose more hours. This bill, like so many offered by my colleagues from the other side of the aisle, is not crafted to save the American Worker. Its crafted to increase large employers while workers continue to struggle. Perhaps this bill should be name the save the american c. E. O. Act. It is the height of hypocrisy that after all their efforts to harm the American Worker that my colleagues should have the audacity to even introduce a bill entitled the save American Worker act. We need to save the American Worker from the Republican Leadership, thats what we need to do. So i urge my colleagues to continue to oppose these efforts, to destroy the middle class and sabotage the American Worker and the american family. And i yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time has expired. The gentleman from new york reserves. The gentleman from indiana is recognized. Mr. Young mr. Speaker, i yield two minutes to the gentleman from tennessee, dr. Phil roe, a member of the education and work force committee. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from tennessee is recognized for two minutes. Mr. Roe i thank you, mr. Speaker and rise in support of the save American Workers act. This bill would repeal obamacares mandate on employers to provide insurance to all employees working at least 30 hours per week. It would instead restore the traditional 40hour standard. Everywhere i go i hear concerns about the lack of jobs and the need for job creation. Tennessees Unemployment Rate is still near 7 . We need to be doing Everything Possible to encourage employers to not only create jobs but to maintain current jobs. Thats why the 30hour standard makes no sense. Employers are already struggling to make their budgets work and in the stagnant obama economy. We know how these employers will be forced to respond, by cutting hours or hiring fewer workers. Theres concrete evidence this is already happening, not just in the private sector. In my own hometown, johnson city, tennessee, where i was mayor before i came here, the City School System has been forced to keep approximately 00 parttime employees 200 parttime employees, including substitute teachers,. It would harm the schoolchildren that would benefit from this. Theres no other way to help individuals who cannot afford Health Insurance or have been affected by catastrophic illness or disease. Mr. Speaker, ive spent my entire adult life as a physician, taking care of people from all walks of life. I want every american to have access to an affordable Health Care Plan, and ive worked since i arrived in congress to develop patientcentered solutions to help people afford ealth care like h. R. 25 3121. There are ways to reach this goal without creating massive knew bureaucracies, spending 2 trillion, weakening the doctorpatient relationship or increasing premiums for millions of hardworking americans. But the president wont even ngage in a conversation. We must do what we can to protect the American People from this law. Thats why i encourage my colleagues to support this bill. I yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from indiana reserves, the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Rangel i yield myself such time as i may consume. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Rangel this is about the 52nd time that the republican majority has attempted to repeal or derail the Affordable Care act. I dont know why they do it so often since constitutionally its abundantly clear that they dont have the votes to pass it in the senate and clearly if it ever reached the president s desk it would be vetoed. And there are not enough votes to override the veto. So clearly, this madness continues even after more than enough people have enrolled far beyond those that were expected by some of the republicans, and this struggle this madness, goes on as though democrats are the only people that are going to become sick and need health care. So i dont know where we go from here, i assume that comes the next election, once again the voters would speak out, and for those people that have had kids on their insurance policy, well hear from them, for those who have had preconditions and couldnt get Health Insurance, well hear from them. From those that thought that getting Preventive Health care was a luxury, we should hear from them. But more importantly, the people who just could not afford nsurance,ky not conceive how these people i cannot conceive how these people are all democrats and that republicans have no people that are vulnerable to illnesses and the severe expenses thats involved. But clearly, its been my opinion that if this bill doesnt work, if it fails, and if some of these tactics have been successful, that the democrats would be embarrassed by its failure. But i also thought, and it makes a lot of sense to me, that if indeed the American People started to understand the complexities of the bill and thought they were in need of Health Insurance, as close to 10 Million People feel, then the republicans would have to defend their negative position as to why they fight so thoord deny people Health Insurance. They fight so hard to deny people Health Insurance. So i understand from mr. Lynch that the bill is named after workers, that brings me to ask for unanimous consent to insert a letter into the record from the aflcio, clearly this is not a management outfit but really supports the workers, and they, of course, are opposed to this bill that is drafted to go nowhere. In addition to that, i ask unanimous consent, mr. Speaker, that we insert the following e the m the acsm ashme into the record that supports county and municipal employees, and they strongly oppose the legislation that the republican majority has brought to the floor. Lastly, i ask unanimous consent to insert the letter from the National Education association. Hat opposes this legislation the speaker pro tempore without objection. Mr. Rangel before i reserve the balance of my time, i would like to join in with the majority that has complimented the work of chairman david camp. His announcement surprised most of us but i dont think in this challenge that he has really proven his chairmanship to be all that we expected from him and then some. I regret the republicans have passed over his opportunity to reform the tax law, but then again, chairmans tax reform law made too much sense for anybody to think it would be picked up by the republican majority but it was a bill that would be great for discussion, it was hard hitting, it provided a lot savings, it reduced the rates. And so i dont know why, before he leaves, we couldnt have this taken up. But its my understanding that the gift that was given to him by his majority was just to allow him to present his draft and i think thats unfortunate because if ever there was a me we need to reform the tax laws it would be now. I congratulate chairman camp for his attempt to introduce this to the house and i regret that the republican majority has out of hand rejected it. I reserve the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from new york reserves. The gentleman from indiana is recognized. Mr. Young id like to acknowledge that to get a bill this far in the legislative process requires the work of a lot of people. My own staff within my office, Committee Staff and my fellow colleagues who are willing to provide a consultative role, constructive advice in a very strong leadership role. With that, im very happy to yield to the distinguished gentleman from michigan, tim walberg, who helped us introduce this bill, hes a member of the education and work force committee. The speaker pro tempore how long . Mr. Young two minutes. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. Mr. Walberg i thank the gentleman, thank you for your leadership. Mr. Speaker, its a privilege to stand here in support of this legislation, good legislation to help the people in my state of michigan a hardhit state because of economic problems and i think bad, bad efforts and policies from an administration and others didnt understand that workers who are encouraged to work to their fullest extent produce an economy. Its hard to take seriously the objections on the democrat side of the aisle here when they talk about the middle class they talk about employees. And their efforts to help them. A party who enshrined the minimum wage and Unemployment Insurance as the golden grail of what grows an economy. I find that absurd. A party who has decimated the middle class in the last six years with policies including what were discussing today. Moving from 40 hours to 30 hours, fulltime work requirements, i dont get it. We also understand its the same party that told us if you like your insurance, you can keep it. No,. No. If you like your doctor, you can keep it. No. 23 you like your hospital, you can keep it. No. And now we hear their objections that basically says if you like your job, you can keep it. No. Back in september, before this illadvised law took place, janet from jackson, michigan, called my office in tears. A 56yearold mother of three, single parent, who had just been told by her job provider that morning in home health care, a very valuable field of service, that she no longer would be working 36 hours, which was her normal working hourly hour opportunity. And would be moved back to 28 because of what . The Affordable Care act requirements. And so she said to my office staff, in tears, how am i now going to make it when i was making it on a 36hours at that job, supplementing that with a waitress job on the weekend and i was paying my mortgage, my insurance, and now im going to be asked to pay for all of that on 28 hours. Im 56 years old, where i am i going to get another job . Thats whats being produced by this. We want to give janet the opportunity to have her 36 hours back. We want to give jim and jerry and joan and all the rest of the people the opportunity of the fullest hours they can possibly have in an america that grows the middle class and gives the opportunity for success and i yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time has expired. The gentleman from new york is recognized. Mr. Rangel i dont know what part of the constitution the gentleman doesnt understand, but the truth of the matter is that this law passed the house of representatives, passed the senate, was signed into law and verified by the United States supreme court, and still we hear people yelling at the darkness hat we should repeal it. Now, they always there are ways to do these thing bus one thing is abundantly clear. The way weve been going about this, 52 parliamentary opportunities that the house has had, this doesnt work. And so if youre trying something 51 times, it would seem to me, unless somebodys putting something in the water on the other side of the aisle, that well try something else, like try repair it. Try to fix it. Try in a bipartisan way to see where we agree that changes could be made to make it easier for employers and employees. But this barking at the moon, to me is just a waste of taxpayers money and time. And so at this point in time, i ould like to yield the balance is mr. Waxman ready . Hes not here. So i will how many speakers do we have and how much time do we have, mr. Speaker . The speaker pro tempore the 62 eman from new york has minutes mr. Rangel 52 . The speaker pro tempore 62 minutes. The gentleman from indiana has 64 minutes. Mr. Rangel how many speakers would you have . Only have two speakers. Mr. Young we have six speakers. Mr. Rangel i yield to the majority. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from new york reserves. The gentleman from indiana. Mr. Young i would like to insert into the record a letter of support for this bill from the National Restaurant association. The speaker pro tempore without objection. Mr. Young i yield to the distinguished gentleman from south carolina, mr. Wilson a member of the work force committee. Two minutes. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. Mr. Wilson thank you, mr. Speaker, thank you, congressman young, for yielding. Im grateful for chairman john kline and congressman todd young for their thoughtful leadership on this important issue with the save American Workers act osmba macare is the saddest example of Big Government failure. The American People have lost their Health Care Plans. Access to their most trusted doctors. Been forced to pay significant premium increases for poorer coverage and high edeductibles. On top of these broken promises, its tragic for American Families that the president s signature Health Care Law will also destroy jobs. Every day, real constituents living in south carolinas second Congressional District reach out to me expressing frustration with this broken law. Jennifer, a true Small Business owner from lexington, writes, quote, keep trying to repeal obamacare at all costs. The employer mandate will cause my business to move fulltime employees to part time. Dozens of actual people express these same sentiments and plead with congress to provide rethree National Federation of independent business, nfib, was correct that obamacare will destroy 1. 6 million jobs. Obamacares 30hour workweek rule is lowering the wage farce significant portion of hardworking americans, the very ones the president claims to champion. On behalf of the millions of americans who are receiving smaller paychecks and having to work multiple jobs, i urge my colleagues to support this bill and provide greater Economic Security and opportunity for those who need it the most. I yield back the balance of my ime. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from new york is recognized. Mr. Rangel i yield five minutes to the former chairman of the energy and Commerce Committee that played such an Important Role in bringing this historic legislation to the floor and to the law. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. Mr. Waxman mr. Speaker, this is a historic week for the Economic Security of the American People. After an unprecedented surge in enrollment, the Affordable Care act has led to the largest expansion of Health Insurance coverage in half a century. More than 7. 1 million americans have signed up for private coverage through the marketplaces. More than three million young adults are covered through their parents plans. Millions more americans are now covered through medicaid. Or through private insurance purchased directly from an insurer. According to an analysis by the los angeles times, more than 9. 5 million americans who previously lack Health Insurance now have coverage because of the Affordable Care act. These millions of americans now have the peace of mind and Economic Security that comes with quality, affordable Health Insurance. And every american knows that they will never be discrim discriminated against because of a preexisting condition. These are historic achievements. However, despite these reforms to our health system, the Affordable Care act does not change the fact that the vast majority of americans who have Health Insurance get it through their employer. In fact, the law strengthens the employersponsored insurance system. It encourages larger employers to do the responsible thing and offer their employees affordable coverage. It ensures that workers get quality coverage and do not face harsh annual limits on their coverage. The bill before us, however, today, weakens the employersponsored insurance system and hurts American Workers. The Congressional Budget Office has indicated that the bill would cause one million americans to lose their employer coverage. C. B. O. Found that the bill will cause half a million americans to become uninsured, and c. B. O. Found that the bill will cost axpayers nearly 74 billion. Republicans claim all these costs are worthwhile because their legislation will keep workers from having their hours cut. But the fact is this bill is a solution in search of a problem. C. B. O. Said it plainly. Quote, there is no compelling evidence that parttime employment has increased as a result of the a. C. A. , end quote. Since the Affordable Care act became law, we have added more than 8. 6 million private sector jobs. After years of increasing parttime labor, the number of parttime workers today is actually lower than it was before the a. C. A. Was enacted. The flimsy justification for this bill just does not stand up to scrutiny. Mr. Speaker, i hope that the first open Enrollment Period can be an indication to congress more than seven million americans have signed up for coverage through Health Insurance marketplaces. Tens of millions of more will sign up in the years to come. Lets come together to acknowledge the fact that millions of americans getting covered is a great step forward for this nation. I yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back. The gentleman from indiana is recognized. Mr. Young mr. Speaker, i ask unanimous consent to submit for the record a letter of support from the International Franchise association for this bill. The speaker pro tempore without objection. Mr. Young i now yield two minutes to the gentleman from indiana, my colleague, mr. Bucshon, a member of the ed and work force committee. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields two minutes. The gentleman is recognized. Mr. Bucshon i rise in support of this legislation. Green Castle School corporation will cut the hours of 54 employees from full time to part time. The terre haute School Corporation will force to cut the hours of hundreds of employees, many of them are bus drivers who are no longer allowed to provide transportation for afterschool activities. Washington green School Corporation were forced to cut the hours of 150 employees from 40 hours to 29 hours. Eastern green county School Corporation had to announce all of their employees who werent receiving Health Insurance will have their hours cut to 28 hours per week. And another was forced to cut hours for cut toadial staff. Mr. Speaker, the jast vast majority of these receive Health Insurance either through their spouse or other ways. School corporations dont have the luxury of raising taxes to pay for these provisions of the Affordable Care act. They arent a Major Business that can raise their prices. School corporations simply cant afford the Affordable Care act. These hoosiers work every day with students, and because of this provision in the Affordable Care act, our students will suffer. Mr. Speaker, i strongly support this legislation and urge my colleagues to vote in favor. I yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back. The gentleman from new york is recognized. Mr. Rangel mr. Speaker, id like to yield three minutes to r distinguished minority whip. Maybe after hes had a chance to express what makes common sense that our republican friends might change their minds. But id like to yield for the hard work youve done in this area and good luck. Mr. Hoyer mr. Speaker, i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend. And i might say the speaker pro tempore without objection. Mr. Hoyer the chairman in exile of the ways and Means Committee in his confidence of my ability to change minds is wonderful but probably overstated. I regret that but i will try anyway. The previous speaker said that people were going to be forced to reduce hours. Now they will only be able to. Educe it from 40 to 39 in other words, if you work 39 hours a week you wont have be covered. You wont have to have health care insurance. And somebody else will pay their bill. Medicaid depending on how much they make. Maybe all of us will pay that extra 1,000 in our premiums so the uninsured can be funded. Or maybe the other employers who do in fact believe that it is good to offer their employees Health Insurance even though they work 39 hours a week. Somebody else will pay the bill. Thats weighs been happening, of course, thats whats been happening, of course, for employers that dont offer Health Insurance. The competitors that do are in an unfair position. Why do we choose 30 hours a week . We chose 30 hours a week, mr. Speaker, because in surveying the private Sector Employment field, we found that 29 hours was perceived to be the litmus test for 29 hours or less being part time. So we picked 30 hours, which was more than the average in the private sector. But now we have a bill thats the 52nd vote to repeal the Affordable Care act. This obsession with undermining the access to affordable, Quality Health care by the American People. This bill changes the definition of fulltime employee in a way that would make approximately one million ericans lose their employersponsored coverage. Do we care . Do one million americans make a difference to us . Do one million americans not having the availability of the assurance that they and their families have Health Coverage, does that matter to us . R are they all part of the 47 who arent going to vote for some of us anyway, the proposition is, so why worry about them . In addition, it would increase the number of uninsured by as , y as half a Million People and it would increase the deficit by 74 billion. A Million People lose their employersponsored care. Half a Million People would be continue to be uninsured, in 74 billion loss revenues. May i have one additional minute . Mr. Rangel i yield the gentleman one minute. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields. The gentleman has one additional minute. Mr. Hoyer mr. Speaker, this because the legislation provides an incentive to redefine work hours so that more employees will be categorized as part time. In other words, you work in the United States of america 39 hours and youre part time. Under this bill, more than five times as workers will be put at sk of having their employers reduce their hours slightly. It subverts the goals of the Affordable Care act and its not going to help grow our economy either. More importantly, it subverts the quality of life, the confidence, the assurance, if you will, of millions of americans. Mr. Speaker, i urge the defeat of this legislation. I urge us to confirm the fact that we believe americans, in the richest country on the face of the earth, ought to have access to affordable, Quality Health care and that everybody would participate in that objective. And i yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back. The gentleman from indiana is recognized. Mr. Young mr. Speaker, its clear that this bill, the Affordable Care act, as the president calls it obamacare, clearly would not insure every american in the country. Dropping somebody from 39 hours down to 29 hours is effectively a loss of 10 hours of work per week. Over the course of a month, as ive indicated before, thats the loss of an entire work weeks worth of wages. For the life of me, i cant understand why the very same individuals who embrace all of the three dozen or so Administrative Changes to this law without hesitation will not Work Together in a bipartisan fashion because this is a bipartisan bill to restore the hours and income of those who need it the most during the worst economy since the great depression. With that, mr. Speaker, im proud to yield two minutes to the gentleman from new jersey, of various Member Energy and Commerce Committee. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from new jersey is recognized for two minutes. Mr. Lance thank you, mr. Speaker. I want to thank congressman young for his superb management of this bill and for his expertise in this area. I rise today in support of h. R. 2575, the save American Workers act, which would change the Health Care Laws definition of fulltime employee from 30 hours per week to the traditional 40 hours per week. Thats eight hours a day times five days in a week, 40 hours, the traditional workweek. Empowering hardworking middleclass men and women to earn additional wages otherwise denied to them under the Health Care Law. Not long ago i spoke to a constituent from baskin ridge, new jersey, in the Congressional District i have the honor of representing, whose son works as a grocery store. This young man was told he ould only work 29 hours a week despite the company wanting him and needing him to work more, pay him. Ot he must work less and earn less because of the Health Care Law. Too Many Americans are experiencing significantly reduced wages and hours worked because of the law. H. R. 2575 will protect existing jobs by removing some of the uncertainty facing employers and the employees and help americas job creators put people back to work. I urge passage of h. R. 2575, and i yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back. The gentleman from new york is recognized. Mr. Rangel mr. Speaker, i yield three minutes to the gentlelady from texas, ms. Jackson lee. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady from texas is ecognized for three minutes. Jackson lee jole i ms. Jackson lee i thank the speaker and i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend. The speaker pro tempore without objection. Ms. Jackson lee i thank the distinguished gentleman from new york for his leadership and years of service and his understanding of this issue. I heard his debate on the floor of the house, which would drive many of us as members of congress to come and join you. Because of the literalness and the straightforwardness of your argument. And frankly i think that is the challenge we have this afternoon is wondering how Many Americans even understand what we are doing. Because its a numbers game. Ive heard the stories of my colleagues, and i am absolutely empathetic and i am sympathetic. All of us have young people working, Single Parents working, husband and wife working, maybe there are two working in a grocery store. I think the problem with this legislation is that we are giving a path to businesses who in actuality we are providing them with an opportunity to provide enhanced benefits to their hardworking workers. This is a threshold question, and the Affordable Care act defined a fulltime job as 30 hours. So it means that if you have 50 employees that are at 30 hours or above, you provide them with Health Insurance. But let me remind you, it is the Affordable Care act. That means that individuals, if you dont provide them, you have the opportunity to get into a pool or you can find insurance that fixes that level of 50 workers. This does not apply if you have one worker. It doesnt apply if you have two workers. Its a threshold, and so what my friends are telling me that if you can afford 50 workers, youre dead broke, and then you have to take that 50th worker and drive him or her into the ground and leave them crawling out of your business at 29 1 2 or 28 simply because you dont ant to do the right thing. Thats why this is so baffling. In the rules committee, i offered two amendments to try to make it better, saying that commuting time would be included as part of your 40 hours, or that we should delay the bill until we understand the overall impact of whether or not it undermines hardworking americans who are in hardworking businesses. Were just passing this bill and have no clue as to whether or not this is going to be something that undermines businesses that have 50 employees. Now this is the backdrop of what theyre doing. I even offered the point, mr. Rangel, of why not a tax incentive, so that these businesses with 50 employees can keep the 50 employees at 30 hours and get a benefit for providing them with Health Insurance. When i say that, it is pointed to the fact that you have 50 employees and are willing to give insurance. , we know the individual employees will get tax relief. With seven Million People enrolled, and we had record breaking access to the Affordable Care act, this bill seems to be the direction to go the speaker pro tempore the gentleladys time has expired. Ms. Jackson lee i ask my colleagues to vote against a bill that destroys the working people of america. The speaker pro tempore the gentleladys time has expired. Ms. Jackson lee i thank you, mr. Speaker, i yield back my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from indiana is now recognized. Mr. Young i ask for unanimous consent to submit for the record a letter of support for the save American Workers act from the National Grocers association on behalf of their members and on behalf of their workers. The speaker pro tempore without objection. Mr. Young mr. Speaker, i yield two minutes to the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. Rothfus. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. Mr. Rothfus thank you, mr. Speaker. Workers in western pennsylvania and across america are seeing hours cut and wages redeuced due to the employer mandate in president obamaS Health Care law. This mandate hurt ours friends and maybes neighbors who are working to provide for their families. Last july a mom working in the Food Service Industry in beaver county, pennsylvania, told me about how her hours had been cut nearly in half because of the employer mandate. Sadly her story is not unique or an isolated incident. Brian in algony county, pennsylvania in all embing gheny county, pennsylvania, called to say his daughter would have her hours cut at a bridal shot. The median hourly wage for someone working in sales in pennsylvania was 12. 18 in 2013. Losing 10 hours a week will cost that worker almost 6,000 annually. Many Small Business owners want to add jobs and increase wages but cant afford to because of the employer mandate. As brandon from elwood city said, Small Companies like ours try to do the right thing for us. They probably wont p hiring someone who can really use a job. Washington should be working to grow the economy and add jobs, not making it harder for employees to earn more and get ahead or for employers to hire more people. The save American Workers act will restore the traditional 40hour workweek and help those who want the opportunity to work more hours and see their wages rise. I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to stand in solidarity with these workers and support this legislation. I thank the speaker and i yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back. The gentleman from new york is recognized. Mr. Rangel i reserve the plans of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves. The gentleman from indiana is recognized. Mr. Young i yield one minute to the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. Fitzpatrick. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for one minute. Mr. Fitzpatrick i thank the speaker and congratulate mr. Young on hisout standing leadership in managing this bill which is going to remove one of the most misguided and confusing provisions of the president s Affordable Care act. Everyone outside washington know this is a fulltime means 40 hours. Only federal bureaucrats would try to redefine a commonly understood fact that is critical to millions of workers and employers nationwide. The redefinition of full time to 30 hours under the Health Care Law is not only confusing to hardworking americans, its confusing to the very government who changed the definition in the first place. Just last week, mr. Speaker, news reports showed that on different forms of the federal agencies and in different offices fulltime work was being described as 40 hours by some agency, 30 hours by other departments and 35 hours by still others. By moving the goal posts on what is actually constituting fulltime employment, administration fundamentally changed the workplace for hourly workers, increasing the risk of lost hours and smaller paychecks for real people, for real workers, for real americans who are losers under this law call odd ba macare. The bipartisan save American Workers act, of which im proud to cosponsor is going to restore the 40hour workweek. Im proud to cosponsor it and urge my colleagues to support its passage. Thank you. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back the gentleman from indiana is recognized. Mr. Young i ask for unanimous consent to submit for the record letters of support for the save American Workers act from the associated general contractors of america on behalf of their workers and their members and also a letter by the National Franchisee association on behalf of their workers and their members. The speaker pro tempore without objection. Mr. Young i yield one minute to the distinguished gentleman from indiana my colleague, mr. Stutzman. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for one minute. Mr. Stutzman thank you, mr. Speaker. I thank congressman young for his hard work osmba macare is waging a war on work. Obamacares 30hour rule gives employers an awful choice. Cut hours or pay now taxes. Fort Wayne Community schools, our states Largest School district, announced last year that they would cut 610 parttime workers after estimating a 10 million cost of compliance with obamacare. My constituent, todd holman, Vice President of pizza hut and k. F. C. Of fort wayne writes this due to a. C. A. , our company has been forced to reduce the number of parttime employees or Face Even Greater penalties than we already will. Even by reducing the number of newly defined fulltime employees we will still incur nearly a 1 million penalty in 2015. While the Obama Administration has delayed the employer mandate, businesses are bracing themselves for obamacares inevitable impact. We deserve a full throttle recovery. Its time to repeal the 30hour definition of employment. I urge my colleagues to support h. R. 2575. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, further consideration of the bill is postponed. The chair lays before the house the following personal requests. The clerk leave of absence requested for ms. Clark of massachusetts for today. 13r0eu7 without objection, the equest is granted. The speaker pro tempore without objection, the request is granted. Under the speakers announced policy of january 3, 2013, the gentleman from texas, mr. Castro is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority eader. Mr. Castro thank you, mr. Speaker. I ask unanimous consent that all members have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the subject of my special order. Today were here to talk about the Affordable Care act and especially the big week that weve had in this country in making sure that millions of americans will now enjoy access to quality, Affordable Health care. You know, last week we had a chance to talk about this and had other members from all over the country who represent wonderful districts come forward and talk about how the Affordable Care act has been very beneficial to their constituents and part of the discussion last week and in the previous months, really since october, has been about whether americans would accept the Affordable Care act and how many people would enroll, how many states would expand medicaid and the numbers are very clear. Despite all the advertisements and the millions of dollars spent on television, promoting misinformation about the Affordable Care act, demonizing this as socialism and other bad things, that despite all of that, the American People have clearly rejected that narrative. They believe that the Affordable Care act and what its doing for this country are good things. And in the wealthiest nation on earth, as we are, that people should be able to afford health care, that they should not be denied because of preexisting conditions and students should be able to stay on their parents plans after college, that medicaid for lowincome americans should be made more readily available. And so, lets look at some of those numbers. We know, for example, that 7. 1 Million People ended up signing up for the Affordable Care act in the exchanges. Now thats on top of the three Million Students who can now stay on their parents plans because of this act. Thats on top of the all of the state this is a expanded medicaid to make sure that folks who dont make a lot of money, the vast majority of these people, working hard, hayday in and day out, theyre going to be covered too. Theres still about 19 states, including my home state of texas, that have chosen not to expand medicaid and thats been such an incredible blow to the people of my state. For example, we have the highest percentage of people in the nation that have no Health Care Coverage. And so, i was on monday i was back home in san antonio and there was a large enrollment air, you know, as there was in many states throughout the country on monday. And you know, it was probably about 6 00, 7 00 and this fair was going to close at 8 00 and so i went over to see how it was going and to say hello to folks and there was a long line of people waiting and families were there, two and three and four and five family members, people brought their young kids to enroll them in insurance. You know. And one of the narratives during this debate has been this idea thats been pushed that this is just benefiting people who may be lazy or not working. One of the thing this is a struck me when i was making my way through that line was that there are so many people there that had the insignia of the company that they worked for, their uniform on. They told me they had come straight from work and how grateful they were that this was going to go on until 8 00 so they had time to come after work. It was really a stark reminder that despite all of the stories, this idea of the makers and takers in this country, 47 of people versus 53 , that the vast majority of people who are benefiting from this line, benefiting from things like medicaid, are in fact not just takers, but are hardworking americans who are powering our economy. All they want is a fair chance at the american dream. And you know, we talk a lot about freedoms in this body. The United States congress is, of course, one of the main bodies in government thats entrusted with protecting american freedoms system of we talk about our First Amendment rights, whether its freedom of expression, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, or Second Amendment rights, other amendments, the right against selfincrimination, all these things, all the bill of rights enshrined in the constitution. But i posed the question to those who continue to want to repeal the Affordable Care act, what good are any of those rights that were entitled to as americans, the that previous generations of americans, and these generations of americans have fought so hard to preserb, what good is freedom of expression, freedom of religion, freedom of speech if youre , sick, a hospital bed broke because you cant pay your hospital bills, worried about your family and your future, and remember, thats not an uncommon situation for americans over the years. The largest reason, the biggest reason for personal bankruptcies, before the Affordable Care act, was the fact that people were racking up huge Health Care Bills that they couldnt pay. This happened for a few reasons. Sometimes people just couldnt afford the insurance. So their primary care physicians, the doctors they would go see were emergency room doctors, not doctors in some clinic or private practice. Or sometimes even if they could afford insurance, they were hitting lifetime caps. So somebody with cancer, somebody with m. S. , somebody like my grandmother and my mother with die bee tess who suffered from complications, my grandmother, before she passed away from congenital Heart Failure because of diabetes had her leg amputated. There are so many people who, they cant enjoy the freedoms that were supposed to be able to enjoy because they couldnt common experiences verage. And to them they put off going to the doctor. Then, they wouldnt be able to make their mortgage payment or pay their rent or pay their car bill. These are common experiences and to them theyre putting off. And i want to talk about the success of the Affordable Care act. Many people have said over the months, of course, there was the website had a tough rollout. And a lot of people doubted whether the program would be successful. But this has shown also that the Affordable Care act is more than just more than just about a, you know, website that had a glitch. The fundamental reasons this law passed again is because america is the wealthiest nation on earth and for generations other countries with a lot less money have been able to provide and make Available Health care to their citizens a lot better than the United States of america has. And so consider this. Up to 129 million americans with the Affordable Care act that have preexisting health conditions, including up to 17 million children, 17 million children no longer have to worry about being denied coverage or charged higher premiums due to their health status. Again, you might have a woman who is 55 years old or 60 years ld, she loses her job that gave her insurance and so now she tries to find another job, tries to buy insurance and shes rejected or tries to go tries to go onto the individual market and found she couldnt afford the prices on the individual market. So what does that person do . A lot of them were suffering from chronic diseases. In texas and south texas, for example, we have an incredibly high rate of diabetes. In other parts of the country, in other communities, its other diseases. But whatever it is, these ailments are common, and they are forcing people oftentimes into bankruptcy, into not being able to pay their bills or not being able to get Health Care Coverage. And so lifting the lifetime caps has made a mountain of difference for people. It helped ease their mind and its also made things more fair. And so the president yesterday was very forceful in his comments, pretty forceful in his comments and i think they did the press conference in the rows garden. I in the rose garden. I was in an airplane so i couldnt watch it going on but i saw some clips and he made some comments that really struck me which is the Affordable Care act is here to stay. This law is not going anywhere. Despite all the opponents, despite the millions of dollars that has been spent on television for misinformation and demonizing this law, and the reason its not going anywhere is not just because of political reality. I mean, the politics are really tough on both sides. The country had been evenly divided for a long time. The reason its not going anywhere is because of the human reality, because we want less people going bankrupt because theyre hitting lifetime caps and their Insurance Companies wont pay for their bills anymore. Because you want more people who are not using the emergency room as their only way to get medical care and putting off ailments and diseases because if they go to the doctor they know, you know, a month later, three weeks later theyre going to run up this huge bill and they know they cant pay it. And by the way, remember, you know, many folks have pointed this out, but certainly when we had a dialogue last week, i pointed out again there is a measure here also of personal responsibility, of people getting insurance in the same way that many states require you to get Auto Insurance. Why do states require you to get Auto Insurance . Because if you rear end somebody, somebodys got to fix their car. Well, many hospitals, Public Hospitals throughout the nation, certainly in texas and san antonio, for example, what would happen routinely is people without insurance come into our hospitals, oftentimes not from san antonio but from surrounding counties, and these folks come in and, you know, you cant deny anybody emergency room coverage. You have to treat them. But then you send them a bill and they cant pay the bill. They dont have insurance and they cant pay the bill. Well, guess who pays that bill . That bill has to be paid somehow. The taxpayers end up paying that bill. Somebody has to eat that cost, and its not the hospital. I mean, they do a fraction of it, but those costs are spread and all americans have to pay them. State by state. County by county. So this is a way that people cannot only benefit from the act but can also take a measure of personal responsibility for their own Health Care Coverage. And thats why in the 1980s and 1990s before this issue became so political, before president obama was inaugurated in 2009, thats why originally the kind of legislation that we now know as obamacare or the Affordable Care act, before it was actually legislation that was passed, it was promoted by the very conservative heritage foundation. It was considered to be a conservative idea in the same way that somebody getting car insurance, taking personal responsibility in case you hit somebody on the road, that is thought to be a conservative idea. Youre going to own up for your responsibilities. And so its been very interesting over the last four years and even the last few months to see the evolution of the arguments about Health Care Coverage and about the Affordable Care act and how politics sometimes and often has trumped public policy. In a minute id like to recognize my good friend, mark takano from california, but before i do that i want to share with you just a few stories of people from my area, from texas, who said i could share their story with them and that ateful that they are they are how able to afford health care. E first one is a woman named magdalena. She is a teacher and had a hard time since moving from del rio. Its about 2 1 2 hours from san antonio. So shes dedicated herself and her family to shes dedicated herself to taking care of her family and was often putting herself or her family in front of herself. And like many mothers, was worried about her health as she moved into her senior years. She was skeptical about trying to fill out an application but or enroll led s. A. Austin or enroll dallas and after sitting down with a counselor she was able to get a plan for five cents a month. For five cents a mother, this woman who had been unable to get Health Care Coverage, she returned to the registration coverage and wept tears of joyce and the volunteers wept with her. Her face just lit up because now her life was truly changing. Magdalena, like many others, who is a hardworking american, somebody whos taken care of her family, going to work day in and day out, not asking for very much. Just a chance to enjoy the freedoms that we talk about here in congress a lot. And with that id like to yield for a minute for a few nutes, as long as she wants, the congresswoman from california, loretta sanchez. Ms. Sanchez thank you very much to the gentleman from san antonio. Today were talking about the american care act. This is so, so important. Weve seen this week, seven millionplus americans and i know some tried to get in at the very end in the pipeline so i hope we push it to eight million enrollees into the Affordable Care act. You know, its interesting because we over here on the democratic side have really been working to enroll people. Weve been working to talk to people about how important it is to have a Health Care Plan while at the same time weve seen from the other side 50plus votes to try to undercut, to undermine, to eliminate the a. C. A. But here we are. They were repealing, we were enrolling. Californias enrollment numbers surpassed 1. 2 Million People this past monday. Its more than doubled than any ther state and on top of that, expansion of medical, our medicaid piece of this, has covered another 1. 5 million lowincome families. So were pretty excited. You know, california looked at this and said, this medical plan, this plan of having a Health Care Plan for lowerincome families, the members in these lowincome families is so important. For the first three years, its paid 100 from the federal government. So if youre sitting in a state like california and you have 1. 5 million new families who didnt have health care before that was paid for, didnt have it before, they were going you know, they were doing what e call in spanish, they were putting up with being sick, putting up with being sick. So if you got sick you wouldnt go to the doctor and you wouldnt go and you wouldnt go and youd work through and youd go to work and youd be sick and you wouldnt go until finally you couldnt take it any more, you were really, really sick and then where would you go . To the emergency room. The highest cost place in the entire Health Care System. With tead of putting up not having health care, we now have 1. 5 million families who are in medical and as of monday, 1. 2 Million People in what we call or exchange covered california. This is very, very important, but theres also another piece of this thats incredibly important and that is that now we have to work with people. Now that weve enrolled them for the year, we need to work with people who have never before had a Health Care Plan. They dont know what a primary doctor is. They dont even know what a specialist is. They dont know what the process is to go. They dont know about getting a baseline. A baseline. Go and get an annual physical for free. Under these plans, this is for free. So you go in we have to teach them. Get a relationship with a doctor. Get a physical. Get a baseline. Get your blood work drawn. For someone like me, thats incredibly important because, for example, diabetes runs in my family. My granddad died of it. My grandma, my aunt, her five kids. Its 3 1 2 times more likely to being in latinos than the average angelo in america. So anglo in america. So to be able to get blood work done so you can see where you are, whether you have the propensity to get diabetes, for example, because diabetes in over 50 of the cases can be stopped, can be turned back. You know, its about having some nutrition understanding, being able to eat the right way , sequencing your food, exercising after you eat. Just a 15minute walk there were just two studies done this past may, released this past may that said, if you have a propensity for diabetes but you walk for 15 minutes after you eat, you cut that propensity by almost 50 . This is information that our communities do not have. Lowincome, immigrant communities, in particular, are less likely to have this kind of information. So if now they have the Health Care Plan and we teach them how to go and get that baseline, get their annual physicals, get their pap smear, get their madamogram, get checked up, if theres something wrong lets fix it. And at that particulars personal responsibility to do that. And they have personal responsibility to do that. I have to get up and go to the gym. I have to make sure that i dont get that because it takes some personal responsibility. Personal responsibility not to eat pizza all the time and things of that sort. You know, personal responsibility. It takes a Health Care Plan, it takes knowledge, it takes access. These places have to be close by. We have to have clinics and doctors who are signed up into these plans where we can go. It takes cultural knowledge, as you know, from san antonio, some of it is a language barrier, some of it is just understanding how our community works, how we spread word of mouth rather than go to computers to find our nformation. Knowing all this will help us to ensure that now that people are enrolled, they begin to use the plans effectively and when they use them effectively, we drive down that cost curve that was happening in california that was happening. In california it was, on average a 17 increase in medical Health Care Costs on an annual basis. That was not sustapeable. The only sustainable. The only people who could have liked the old system were the wealthy or the healthy. You either had the money if you got sick or you never got sick. But today, we can fix these things. We can fix these things by moving forward with these Health Care Plans and with teaching people how to use them efficiently and effectively so that all of society becomes stronger and healthier and thats why we voted to put this in. Thats why we worked so hard. Im so thrilled at the gentleman from texas that the gentleman from texas wanted to discuss this issue today. Mr. Castro thank you, congresswoman, and thank you for your passion over the years, for many years now, on health care and other issues. You raise several wonderful points, but a few i wanted to mention, we debate our National Debt here lot. And our deficit. And since the Affordable Care act was passed, as we know, health care has been the biggest driver of our budget im sorry, of our debt. And the Affordable Health care act has actually slowed the cost of health care, you know, the slowest growth weve seen in decades. This is something thats actually been good, will be good for our Fiscal Health in this country so, you know, thank you for alluding to that. And also, you know you mentioned that in many communities we represent, not only in california or in texas, but many places, ailments like diabetes are, you know, thing this is a affect so many people in our neighborhoods and our cities but its not just diabetes. In it could be cancer or sickle cell anemia or multiple sclerosis. All those patients will now find a lot more relief because the United States Congress Passed this bill. Ms. Sanchez i couldnt agree with you more. There are pockets of this. I just want to leave with one story. A few years ago, we had this one ompany who was it was a lenscrafter type company, it was Retail Stores, go in, get your eyes checked they would grind lenses and get glasses for you. Usually, they could do it one stop. In one couple of hours, three hours, etc. They said, you know, lets do this in your area loretta. Lets hold a health care fair. We had a lot of different people there, different types of people offering services. They said, for the first 400 people who show up, we will have ophthalmologists there, medical doctors, eye doctors, and we will take a look and well well see whats going on with people. If we need to ground lenses, well grind lenses for them, well give them free glasses because even if you had a Health Care Plan, most people didnt have vision or dental. So people were not buying tpwhrasses. They couldnt afford it. I got there at 7 30 in the morning to thiS Health Care fair. And it started at 8 00. There were 600 people in line already. So we gave coupons for these people to be able to walk into one of those Retail Stores and get the same service for free and we kept the first 400. One of the young lady this is a worked with me, she stayed all day with one of the doctors, making sure that the patients were coming in and out, giving him the things he needed, etc. At the end of the day, the doctor turned to him and said, do you know that 80 of the people that we saw today had die bee tess or were about to get die bee tess. And they didnt even know it. Because one of the first symptoms is blurry vision for die bee tess. Diabetes. So these people were thinking, theyre getting old, their vision is going. The reality was, they were sick. They were sick and didnt know it because they did not have Health Coverage. Like i said, thats a disease that you can really get rid of. Eliminate in your life if you work at it. These people need that knowledge. These people need that ability to walk into the doctor and to get their blood tested and to see whats going on. So that we can tell them, you know if you dont change whats going on in your life, youre going to be diabetic. Oh, by the way, our plan before, the plans before, you know if you had diabetes and had to have your leg chopped off, for example, we would pay for that. You see what im saying . We wouldnt pay to let them know, hey you might be getting diabetes, or you have diabetes. We would pay after the fact to chop off their legs or if they went blind, to have them at home because now they couldnt work system of what this is going to co, its going to make american is going to do, its going to make americans healthier. When americans are healthy, theyll be more productive, theyll have less sick days. It will be good for industry. So im really thrilled to have been a vote for the a. C. A. Im thrilled, four years plus now, were really seeing that now in the ground level with people signed if you were plans and now weve just got to make sure they go and use these so we can get them healthy. Mr. Castro thank you, congresswoman sanchez. Ms. Sanchez thank you. Mr. Castro now id like to yield some time to my colleague from houston, Sheila Jackson lee. Ms. Jackson lee i thank the convenor of this special order and the colleagues i have heard since ive come to the floor, congresswoman sanchez, congressman castro, thank you very much. Coming from similar territory, the state of texas. Just hope youll allow me just for a moment to juxtapose the present, pending bill on the floor, i heard you speak of the bill as well, h. R. 2575, which, with all due respect to the proponent of the bill, its confusing. And its confusing in the backdrop of the number that you have standing alongside of you, seven million americans and growing. Because there were Many Americans who were in the queui, in the line, when march 31 came in the queue, in the line, when march 31 came and now they have the opportunity to finish the work and i was with a lot of people enrolling over the weekend, navigators, they were excited about being able to finish the task but allow me, in texas alen, that was the epicenter of un i keep saying unemployed. Certainly unemployed persons as well. 164,000 without Unemployment Insurance, which really is what baffles me about this effort of repeal and this effort of determining that 30 hours of hard work you cant get Health Insurance. But in the state of texas, five million 5,198,000 individuals on private insurance have gained coverage for at least one Preventive Health care service. Mammogram, birth control, immunization. Thats for people with private insurance. 10,695,000 individuals with preexisting conditions, asthma, cancer or diabetes, including 1. 6 million children will no long ver to worry about being denied coverage new york our state alone and 5,189,000 texans have gained expanded Mental Health and Substance Abuse or use disorder benefits, four million plus uninsured texans will have new Insurance Options through the idea of going into the marketplace. 233,000 seniors and people with disabilities have saved 866,000 prescription medications. 357,000 young adults have gained Health Insurance. Seven million texan wills no long ver to worry about annual limits and that is of course those who are uninsured and can access the new Affordable Care insurance. The other point is, over these last two days, we have seen the real reality of americans clamoring for Health Insurance, with four Million People accessing the Affordable Care, healthcare. Gov website and let me make this as breaking news, this is what we were hearing from those who are opposing it, 85 le 0 to 85 of those 80 to 85 of those enroll have had paid their first premium. This is not a story of, ive enrolled and now you never hear from me again. These are serious decisions made by people. Let me talk about some of the tragedies. Im pleased to have cast the vote for the Affordable Care act over any number of town Hall Meetings to share with my constituents, some of whom did not either understand or agree, but in the course of the hearings, ive heard of so many story this is a we dont repeat any more. The little girl that had leukemia and her parents took her over and over again to the Insurance Company to get the opportunity for her to be covered. And she had a preexisting disease and she had no coverage. And she ultimately lost her life. I believe i dont want to call up the facts that are not accurate but i believe they took her to the Insurance Companys office to plead for her to be covered. And it was at that point, the end of her life, she shortly thereafter lost. Or the mother who came to us and said that, yes, her son had a difficult history but he was a trained lawyer. He was doing pro bono work. He was in atlanta, georgia. And frankly, had gotten hepatitis and because he had no health care, the only coverage he could get was going into an emergency room. He had waited too long. And in going into the emergency room, being the only source of health care, if he had had the ability to go to a doctor, in spite of his history of drug abuse at that time, he would, his life, trained lawyer, would have been able to maintain his life my last one, the issue of a young resident who took a summer position in a medical medical resident, took a summer position in atlanta, georgia, but hiS Health Care was a 25mill perimeter around washington, d. C. He fell ill with Kidney Disease during that summer. And his father was a doctor. He was a student. We didnt have the ability for young people to stay on their parents insurance. His insurance was a schoolbased insurance that said you can only be around the school. And congressman, his father had to drive hours to pick him up and put him in his car, pray for his survival to get him back into the perimeter of his Health Insurance. Is is what we lived with before the Affordable Care act in 2010 and before the president ultimately signed it. And so, i am baffled as to why for the 52nd time theres an attempt to repeal the Affordable Care act with h. R. 2575 and let me just say that the importance of this special order is to emphasize whose side we are on and whose side members are on. Im on the side of those who are clamoring for good health care. Who have children who need good health care. Im on the side of those who need the expanded medicaid and ask the state of texas to do it. But just on this bill as i close, h. R. 2575, im still trying to understand what it means to tell someone who works full time, 30 hours a week, in a company that has 50 employees that you cannot get health care. So to the employers out there, i frankly believe that some people are speaking for you that may not be speaking for you. Because when your employee getS Health Care and when you pay them, they have more cash to buy your goods and more people have cash, have income, to come back to the grocery store, come back to the restaurant, come to the Small Clothing store, buy flowers. Why would you deny employeeS Health Care so that they can get sick so they can go to the emergency room so they have days off . It doesnt make sense. I think this bill is way before its time. Theres no evidence that we need to reduce the hours of working americans. There is evidence that we should pass Unemployment Insurance for those who are chronically unemployee wesmed need to do that. There is evidence to raise the minimum wage. But theres no evidence that this is a problem of catastrophic moment that we are debating it for three hours on the floor. I want to congratulate the gentleman for his leadership on this question. Mr. Castro thank you, congresswoman jackson lee, thank you for all your work on this and many other issues. You are one of the most tireless folks, republican or democrat, who is who is involved in the floor debates and amendments and proposing legislation. So thank you, just a few things you mentioned, you know, you were talking about the bill we just discussed. It was essentially saying that for, you know, sizable businesses, not Small Businesses, because Small Businesses are exempted from the requirements of the Affordable Care act and thats worth repeating again. Small businesses are exempted from the requirements of the Affordable Care act. This is about larger businesses. Instead of requiring that they offer Health Care Coverage to their employees at 30 hours, you know, the republicans wanted to move it up to 40 hours. And you know, part one of the myths has been that all these employers are reducing hours, cutting employees hours, this is hurting the workers. The Congressional Budget Office which both sides use as a neutral resource to figure out whats what, said that there is no evideoft. There is no trend that says parttime work vs. Fulltime work is increasing because of the Affordable Care act. And i also pointed out earlier in the discussion that part of the challenge in this economy is that American Business has bounced back but ordinary Americans Still have not fully bounced back. And so, when we see that the stock market, every other week, alltime highs, you y know, and at the same time, theres millions of Americans Still struggling to find work, i think its fair to ask, why an employer shouldnt offer Health Care Coverage to somebody thats working 32 or 35 hours a week and you know, under the republican plan, somebody that was working 39 hours a week as steny hoyer mentioned earlier, you wouldnt be offered Health Care Coverage necessarily and we believe that thats wrong and we believe that the freedom this is a we would otherwise enjoy as americans, those freedoms are harder to enjoy if youre sick and unhealthy and broke because of medical bills. So the Affordable Care act is not perfect and quite frankly nothing this congress does, from health care to education, to any other issue, is ever going to be perfect. If youre expecting, if anybodys expecting perfection from this place, they are always going to be disappointed. But this is a bill that is absolutely a step in the right direction and one that were going to continue to improve with the help of the American People, with the voices of the American People, but ill tell you what, as i mentioned earlier, this law is not going to be repealed. Were not going to go backward, were not going to go to the way things were, because the way they were was not good. And this is much better. Thank you, congresswoman. Ms. Jackson lee thank you. If i could just make one final point. First of all, im excited about the embracing by new members like yourself who came out of state legislatures and legislatures and knew how difficult it was to provide Health Insurance for our fellow texans. But the embrace that youre now offering is one that gives us a confidence that it wont be repealed. Even though this is the 52nd time its been offered to repeal. I want to leave these facts for you as you continue your debate. This is a values question. This is a fairness question. As you stand on the floor now, the Budget Committee is meeting with a budget as the underlying bill that will give millionaires a 200,000 tax cut. Theres a bill that gives them the stability and the confidence that they have Health Insurance for companies that are 50 and above, 50 persons and above. Hats not a small company. And i would ask that employer, are you going to get rid of mr. Smith, who has given you 10 years of hard work, and put him at 29 hours because dont want to give him Health Insurance . I think were on the right side of the issue on this. The Affordable Care act has helped seniors, it has helped single parent, its helped individuals with preexisting disease and its helping young people who have surged into buying it and we should continue to embrace it and recognize that it has a value and its going to turn lives. My message to my governor, if i can end on this note, governor perry, it is time to opt into the expanded medicaid which is part of the Affordable Care act, which will give millions of others in the state of texas their opportunity to benefit from good health care, being healthy and being able to work. Thats our challenge and i look forward to working with you on hese issues. Mr. Castro thank you. Id like to yield now to mark takano. Mr. Takano i thank the gentleman from texas for yielding time. And i want to i rise today to stage, ill wait for the part of my visual aid to stage an intervention. An intervention for Speaker Boehner and the House Republicans. Now, this intervention is not because they are wearing goofy hats or are spray tanning too much. This intervention is over their obsession with repealing or delaying the Affordable Care act also known as obamacare. Just this week the open Enrollment Period ended and it is estimated that more than seven million americans signed up for private Health Coverage through healthcare. Gov or their state exchanges. That number does not include the millions of young adults who are staying on their parents plans or those getting coverage through medicaid for the first time. The open Enrollment Period was one of the final pieces of obamacare. Now millions of americans finally have access to affordable coverage that cant be taken away just because they get sick. Despite that, Speaker Boehner and the House Republicans are committed to fighting the battle that theyve lost and have scheduled the 52nd vote to repeal or delay obamacare. The Affordable Care act passed the house, it passed the senate and was signed by the president and has been upheld by the supreme court. Despite millions of dollars being funneled into misleading ads that discourage people from getting covered, this is a law that millions of americans have embraced and have benefited from. We saw an incredible surge in the final days of open enrollment with consumers reportedly lining up around the block at some signup centers. But if you talk to republicans, its clear they are still in the first stage of denial. Denial of facts, denial of the benefits, denial that our Health Care System is finally doing what it is supposed to do for the first time in a long time. My republican colleagues must stop making excuses and blaming others. Theyve put themselves in this position. Even in the first few days of the rollout, when the system was admittedly struggling, republicans were predicting obamacares complete and total failure. John boehner called the initial numbers, quote, a symbol of the failure of the president S Health Care law, end quote. My colleague from california, congressman darrell issa said, quote, it is time for the president to finally acknowledge obamacare isnt working and to delay the law, end quote. Funny how they believed the numbers then because they similarly have doubts about what is being reported now. According to a senator, the administration was, quote, cooking the book, end quote. To my republican friends, i want to say, this is a safe place, we are here to help. Your addiction to repealing obamacare and peddling conspiracy theories about the for e not doing any good yourselves or for the American People. Stop standing on the wrong side of history. Lets move on. Lets accept that obamacare is the law of the land. Lets get back to being productive as a legislative body. Thank you and i yield back the balance of my time. Mr. Castro thank you, congressman, and thank you for your comments and also thank you for all of your you in california who have been one of the states thats shown the nation what is possible in helping to offer insurance to the hardworking men and women of your state. As americans we appreciate that. Mr. Takano its a point of pride that even my area of california, the inland empire, my county has met, has exceeded its enrollment goals under covered california. And just a few days ago we had reached a million in california alone. And its because we have a state legislature and a governor who cooperated from the beginning. I dont understand any governor or any state legislature that would intentionry try to keep lowincome people from getting coverage. Mr. Castro you make a wonderful point. California and several other states have had the benefit of a state legislature and a governor who have been helpful in making sure that the Affordable Care act, you know, Health Care Coverage is available to their residents. In places like the state where i live, in texas, you have a governor, state legislators, both senators, who are actively working and campaigning against the Affordable Care act. And so, you know, many of us, not just elected officials, but others who are trying to make sure that people have Health Care Coverage, have faced a very strong head wind when tries to get the word out about the Affordable Care act. You know, i told a story earlier about a woman who, you know, showed up at an enrollment fair in san antonio and she ended up being able to provide insurance for herself and her family and but she went there and she was skeptical at first. Part of the reason she was skeptical is because theres been so much misinformation about this law and so much demonization about the law that im not surprised that a lot of americans would say, hey, that thing doesnt sound like a good thing. Sounds like a bad thing. Mr. Takano theres been so much distortion and to my way of thinking its diabolical to spend money on distorting ads, to confuse people intentionally. To get young people to not sign up for the law. To undermine the law in that way. Mr. Castro thats right. You bring up a good point. There was a group that was specifically set up to go onto college campuses, you know, funneled millions of dollars to go onto college campuses, to convince College Students not to enroll in the Affordable Care act. Thats just amazing to me. Mr. Takano fortunately i can tell you stories of someone who is under 30, one of those young invincibles, but who was wise enough to know that it made sense for a young person to sign up because it was so very affordable. And he convinced his employer that she needed to take a look at what the exchange had to offer. As it turned out, he discovered he had a very serious condition. And he was one of those young people who discovered that they did need Health Insurance and he was facing far larger bills an if he didnt have any coverage at all. Mr. Castro and in california, weve expanded medicaid, and thats something that texas didnt do. In fact, i remember several months back, when the state Legislature Session in texas was still going on, usually it goes to about the end of may, early june, we went down there and were doing a press conference and at the same time the governors and senators, lieutenant governor, all republicans were doing their press conference. And our junior senator, senator cruz, compared folks who need medicaid and accept medicaid to drug addicts. Compared them to drug addicts. And the states leadership implied or not implied, said that allowing medicaid to lownks texans was like lowincome texans was like getting people hooked on sugar and drugs. Mr. Takano for equivalent me, i may be forgive me, i may be speaking i dont think what im saying is an exaggeration, but i see that the denial of the expansion of medicaid by some of these states is nothing less than a war on the poor. I mean, i dont know how else to say it. 24 of my Congressional District were uninsured before the a. C. A. Ive seen charts and maps of Congressional Districts color coded and ive seen many of those districts in texas that are at the same level of uninsured as my Congressional District. And in my Congressional District, we benefited greatly from the expansion of our version of medicaid which is medical. And the beauty is that the expiration is not its not ended as of the 31st of march. People who qualify for medical can continue to sign up for it yearround. But to think that in texas its not available to people who are low income to me is unconscionable. Mr. Castro i appreciate those words. Unfortunately in texas there are a lot of people suffering needlessly, hardworking people. These are not lazy people, these are people that are going to work day in and day out. But theyre suffering because their state leadership, even though texas was going to get to 90 billion for medicaid expansion, you know, the federal government was providing the funds through 2017 and then providing 90 of the funds after that. Despite the fact that it made economic sense, still the states leadership refused to do it. And i think its worth mentioning a few other things. A lot of us, we saw that there were long lines on monday, on march 31, of people waiting to enroll in the Affordable Care act. Its worth noting that anybody that started that process on march 31, but was not able to complete it, has until april 15 to actually finish it off. So, the 7. 1 million number, the number of folks who have enrolled, would very likely i think go up by at least a few hundred thousand people. Mr. Takano at least the folks in texas who can sign up with the federal exchange can get insurance if theyre in line. But its unfortunate that those lowincome texans have no place to go. Ill just say to the folks in california, those lowincome people that can still qualify for medical, you can still sign up. Theres not a deadline for you, youre presumed qualified if you meet a certain test, income test. So thesques of the Affordable Care act will still continue in my state for those who need health care the most