Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2020
Floor Speech
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Ms. UNDERWOOD. Mr. Chair, I rise today in support of my amendment, which will prevent Federal funds from being used by the Department of Justice to undermine the Affordable Care Act.
The people of the Illinois 14th elected me to protect coverage for preexisting conditions and to make healthcare and prescription drugs more affordable. Under this administration, the Department of Justice is refusing to defend the law of the land, risking access to affordable care for 130 million Americans with preexisting conditions, including 5.4 million Illinoisans.
If this administration succeeds in overturning the Affordable Care Act through the courts, it would destroy protections for people with preexisting conditions, the ban on lifetime and annual limits on health coverage, the Medicaid expansion covering 15 million Americans, health insurance affordability tax credits assisting 9 million Americans, bans on discriminatory insurance practices that force women to pay more for coverage, young adults' ability to remain on their parents' insurance until 26, and more.
This is unacceptable, and to do it on the dime of the taxpayer is unconscionable.
130 million Americans depend on it, and one of those Americans is Mike DeBow, of Shorewood, Illinois. Mike has type 1 diabetes and wrote to me because he is ``deathly afraid'' of losing his insurance. He is thankful for the protections of the Affordable Care Act that allow him to stay on his parents' plan and ensure insurance companies can't discriminate against him because of his preexisting condition.
We cannot go back, back to the days before the Affordable Care Act when insurers were in the driver's seat, allowed to sell substandard plans that didn't cover the care people needed, and left patients holding the bag. We cannot go back to the days when 50 million people in this country were uninsured, locked out because of preexisting conditions.
The American people sent a resounding message last November: They want their healthcare protected. They want their healthcare to be affordable. We should be working toward that aim, not using taxpayer dollars to try to sabotage it for political gain.
For example, we passed legislation in this House that would protect people with preexisting conditions, H.R. 1010, and another bill, the Health Care Affordability Act, that I proposed, which would reduce premium costs for approximately 20 million Americans and offer at least 9 million people who are currently uninsured lower cost coverage.
That is what we should be doing for the American people: using our offices to make their lives better, healthier, safer, and more affordable. For some, like Mike DeBow, this is literally life and death.
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Ms. UNDERWOOD. Mr. Chair, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Serrano).
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Ms. UNDERWOOD. Mr. Chairman, I ask all my colleagues to support this amendment, and I thank the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Allred) for his leadership in introducing legislation at the beginning of this Congress that allowed this body, the U.S. House of Representatives, to defend the Affordable Care Act in the existing litigation.
Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.
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Ms. UNDERWOOD. Mr. Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.
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Ms. UNDERWOOD. Madam Chair, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Madam Chair, I rise today in support of my amendment, which will prevent Federal agencies like the U.S. Department of Agriculture from removing existing public information about long-term weather variation in our climate. This information gives farmers the tools they need to succeed, and it is important that we don't subject it to politics.
I am proud to represent a community rich in agriculture in the Illinois 14th District. We have the best farmers in the world, but right now they are facing real challenges to their businesses and their way of life caused by long-term patterns in weather variation, leading to worse seasonal extremes.
The science is clear: Extreme weather has links to human-induced climate change.
Climate change has broad impacts on virtually all aspects of the agriculture industry. Ignoring the link between climate change and extreme weather is a direct threat to our national security, to food security, and to the livelihoods of farmers in northern Illinois and throughout America.
This year, catastrophic flooding and rain in Illinois have prevented many farmers from planting their crops. As of this week, only 88 percent of farmers in Illinois were able to plant their corn, compared with a 4-year average of 100 percent between 2014 and 2018. Meanwhile, only 70 percent of soybeans are planted, compared to a 4-year average of 95 percent.
Nationwide, farmers are expected to harvest the smallest corn crop in 4 years, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. And I have spoken to farmers who are concerned that an early frost could threaten entire farm operations this year because of late planting and more unpredictable weather patterns.
This is an immediate threat. We are already suffering the consequences, and it will only get worse with time.
The very existence of multigenerational farms and an entire way of life for some families in our community are at risk. And once these farms are gone, they aren't coming back.
Make no mistake. Due to drought, severe storms, an early spring, and flooding, our farmers are on the front line when it comes to climate change.
Unfortunately, over the past 2 years, references to climate change, long-term weather variation, and the effect of human activity on our climate has been scrubbed from many Federal websites and publications.
Farmers are veterinarians, entrepreneurs, accountants, meteorologists, and scientists--all in one day. By deleting information and references to climate change in official communication, we hamstring their ability to rely on accurate and precise information to make important business decisions and adapt their farming practices to face future challenges.
Information on climate change and its impact on agriculture is also valuable to researchers and innovators working on technology to support farming communities throughout the country and to policymakers as we work to make informed choices that address these issues.
We have the capacity and a responsibility to address the challenges of climate change head-on as a country. American farmers are some of the most hardworking, resilient, and optimistic people in the country. Their hard work nourishes our families and literally feeds the world.
We can and must ensure that they are equipped to be successful, because their success not only affects our community's economy, but a secure food supply depends on it. This amendment will ensure that USDA and other Federal agencies will continue to make important information available to farmers at a time when they need it most.
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Ms. UNDERWOOD. Madam Chair, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Bishop).
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Ms. UNDERWOOD. Madam Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.
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