Hearing of the House Committee on the Budget - Opening Statement of Rep. Price, Van Hollen, Markup of Reconciliation Bill

Hearing

"Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

"It's absolutely mind boggling that we're here on this day in this place with this piece of legislation in front of us. We all know that we have a crisis of leadership within the Republican caucus. And that may be just a matter of political intrigue to some, but the reality is it is causing harm to the country as we speak. We have a huge number of pressing issues facing our country right now. We have the threat of another government shutdown in mid-December. We have our debt payments and debt ceiling that needs to be addressed to make good on the full faith and credit of the United States and avoid putting our economy at great risk. We have a transportation authorization bill that expires within weeks. And yet, here we are today, for the 61st time by my count, trying to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, and on top of that, attacking women's health programs including Planned Parenthood.

"So, rather than tackling those pressing issues, here we are trying to do the bidding of a faction of this House that just can't come to terms with the fact that the Affordable Care Act is the law of the land, upheld twice by the Supreme Court. And it really is outrageous that the focus now is on dismantling the Affordable Care Act. I draw my colleagues' attention to the Congressional Budget Office's analysis of this reconciliation bill. As everyone here knows, these are the nonpartisan experts, its new head appointed by this Chairman and the Chairman on the other side of the Capitol. And here's what the Congressional Budget Office reports this bill will do: it would reduce the number of non-elderly people in the United States with health insurance coverage by 14-15 million in most years. About 20% of those are estimated to be children.

"The Affordable Care Act has had a dramatic impact in reducing the number of uninsured in this country. It is doing its intended job of providing affordable health care to another 18 million people, including children. And yet, the priority of our Republican colleagues in this House, at this time of dysfunction and pressing issues, is to pass a piece of legislation that is going to take that health insurance away from up to 15 million Americans. It is astounding.

"And at the same time we see an attack on women's health programs. This House has had three committees investigating Planned Parenthood. And this was the conclusion announced by Mr. Chaffetz, the Chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, on national television the other day: "Is there any evidence in your opinion that Planned Parenthood has broken any law?' Answer: "No, I'm not suggesting that they broke the law.'

"And in fact, at the hearing in which the Committee brought the head of Planned Parenthood for four and a half hours of questioning, it wasn't a question of Planned Parenthood's wrongdoing. The chart that was used to try and make the point by the Republican Chairman of that Committee was given the "Pants on Fire" rating, meaning the most untruthful statement that you can make, by the nonpartisan PolitiFact.

"So, here we are today with a piece of legislation designed to deprive up to 15 million Americans of affordable health care, designed to go after women's health programs, designed to be a witch hunt against an organization that provides cervical cancer screenings and other important preventive health measures for American women.

"There are those that will claim that this legislation reduces the deficit. I refer our colleagues to the page eight of the CBO report. It says that if you look at the long term, beyond our artificial 10-year windows, this legislation actually increases the deficit. So all this talk about balanced budgets is just nonsense.

"The Republican budget had almost $4 trillion in cuts to mandatory spending. Now you have one shot at reconciliation, and you're telling the world that you were just kidding about balancing the budget because this legislation, in the long run, actually increases the deficit. It doesn't come close to balancing. And you're doing it at the expense of 16 million Americans who now have affordable health care. You're taking that away and launching an attack on women's health programs and an organization that the Chairman of your own investigatory committee has said hasn't violated any laws, himself putting forward an argument that got him the most untruthful rating from nonpartisan PolitiFact.

"Later I'm going to offer a proposal to prevent the government shutdown. I hope we can all agree on that. We certainly don't agree on the idea of taking away health care for millions of Americans.

"Thank you, Mr. Chairman."

Source