Providing for Consideration of H.R. Lower Health Care Premiums for All Americans Act; Providing for Consideration of H.R. Do No Harm in Medicaid Act; Providing for Consideration of H.R. Protect Children's Innocence Act; and Relating to Consideration of H.R. Standardizing Permitting and Expediting Economic Development Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Virginia for yielding the customary 30 minutes, and I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, we heard a lot of words from the gentleman from Virginia, but the reality is that some people's premiums are going up 100 percent. Their big, grand plan is to give people an 11 percent coupon. This is laughable. It is pathetic.

Mr. Speaker, here we are, likely one of the very last floor debates of the year, and Republicans have decided to use it to eliminate healthcare for millions of Americans, not by accident, but because they simply don't care, because they are clueless. They are incompetent, and they are unbelievably out of touch.

This Republican majority has done nothing for working people, nothing to lower costs, nothing to make life more affordable, but, boy, have they delivered for billionaires, corporations, and special interests.

They have spent an entire year screwing over the people they represent. They are betraying the voters who sent them here.

They are pretending like Trump's economy is great, even though they know it sucks. They have showered tax breaks on the ultrarich. They have bent the knee to Big Oil, Big Pharma, and Big Tech. They have handed the Pentagon billions it didn't even ask for, and now they have the nerve to tell working families: Sorry, no money for your healthcare; can't do a thing.

I mean, really? Give me a freaking break.

The American people are begging for action on affordability. They are begging for action to lower the cost of healthcare. What more do they need to do to get Republicans to take action?

Premiums are about to double, triple, and in some cases, quadruple. Families could see their premiums increase as much as $1,000 a month.

Open enrollment deadlines have already passed. Parents have sat at their kitchen tables and realized that between rent, groceries, childcare, and Trump's tariffs driving up the cost of damn near everything, health insurance is something they could no longer afford.

Instead of a plan on healthcare, last night in the Rules Committee, I heard one Republican excuse after another about why they can't extend these tax credits that help people get insurance coverage.

You guys have been in charge of this place for 3 years, for God's sake. Donald Trump has been President or running for President for like a decade. Where the hell is the Republican plan on healthcare? Where is it?

Republicans keep blaming the ACA. They have spent years and years trying to repeal it, but they haven't repealed it yet because they have no replacement, no alternative.

Mr. Speaker, one of your own Republican Members called this entire charade political malpractice. He was right.

Meanwhile, Democrats have been trying for months to avert this crisis. Governors, doctors, and patients have been sounding the alarm. Instead of working with us, they decided to shut down the government. Instead of trying to partner with us, Donald Trump is calling affordability a con job. That is unbelievable and so out of touch with reality.

Now, Republicans have slapped together this pathetic bill to provide cover, a bill that is not worth the paper it is printed on, a bill that actually kicks people off of coverage and fails to extend the tax credits that keep healthcare affordable for over 20 million Americans.

I mean, come on. Get real.

Just to make sure that we all know that they aren't serious, Republicans included a poison pill which brings us closer and closer to a nationwide abortion ban. They are going after abortion even in States where it is legal.

I mean, who the hell asked for this? This is like a plot of ``The Handmaid's Tale.''

Despite Republicans' endless attempts to undermine the ACA, it is popular because it works. After Democrats strengthened people's ability to pay for healthcare by plussing up the premium tax credits, enrollment more than doubled from around 11 million to over 24 million Americans with real health insurance.

Eighty-eight percent of that growth happened in States that Donald Trump won in 2024, by the way. So by choosing to not extend these credits, Republicans are simply hurting their own constituents, hurting the people who trusted them, and hurting the people who voted for them.

More than 20 million Americans will see their healthcare costs explode on January 1. Instead of a fix, we get a stupid, pathetic, last-minute bill designed to let Republicans cover their ass before they flee town for the holidays.

What a lousy, rotten, pathetic thing to do. This is a terrible bill that screws over millions of American families. I urge every Member of this House to vote ``hell, no'' on this Republican rule.

The gentleman from Virginia keeps saying that if we really supported premium tax credits that we would have made them permanent.

I think we all know that is kind of ridiculous because I want to point out that their number one floor protocol requires that programs end or sunset by a certain date. I mean, it was part of their ridiculous Pledge to America. I mean, maybe they don't believe all of the garbage that they put out there, but that is their protocol.

Mr. Speaker, I merely point out Republican hypocrisy which we deal with every single day, and we want to have a vote on extending the tax credits, but Republicans denied that in the Rules Committee.

Republicans could be bringing up a bill to make the enhanced premium tax credits permanent, but they are not. Instead, what they did is they brought a bill to the floor to make tax cuts for multimillionaires and billionaires permanent. Every millionaire in this country is going to get an $80,000 tax break. That is where their priorities are. Every millionaire will get an $80 million tax credit, and the 25 million people in this country who are relying on enhanced tax credits so they won't lose their health insurance, they are basically saying to them: To hell with you.

That is where their priorities are.

We don't share the same values when it comes to making sure the people in this country have healthcare that is affordable and that is quality. That is the difference. That is the difference.

We are here today to fight to make sure that we have a vote to extend these tax credits so that people do not lose their health insurance and people do not see their healthcare premiums explode.

Mr. Speaker, Republicans keep talking about how Democrats want to give more money to insurance companies, which is absolutely absurd, and they all know that. Nothing could be more ridiculous.

Let me correct the record. First of all, ACA tax credits go to our constituents to help them pay for healthcare. Second, it was the Affordable Care Act, you know the bill that the gentleman and a lot of Republicans want to repeal, which mandated that greedy insurance companies have to spend 80 percent to 85 percent of premiums on medical care. It is called the medical loss ratio. The gentleman should look it up. It is in the Affordable Care Act.

When he is talking about repealing the ACA, he is the one who wants to overturn that provision and let insurance companies rip people off even more than they already do.

Let me make one last point. We could easily move away from health insurance companies ripping people off. We could do what the vast majority of developed nations do and move toward a public option so that people don't have to choose a private health insurance company. But to say the Democrats are the ones who want to enrich insurance companies is absurd.

Mr. Speaker, Republicans support big banks. They support Big Tech. They support billionaires, and they support tax breaks for huge, greedy corporations. And they accuse Democrats of being in the pocket of the insurance industry?

Give me a break. Nobody believes this BS.

Mr. Speaker, look at your big, ugly bill. Look at all the tax breaks that go to millionaires and billionaires and big corporations. Every millionaire, as I stated before, because of Republicans, are getting an $80,000 tax break, every millionaire in this country.

What we are saying here is we want to make sure that health insurance is affordable for every single person in this country, and Republicans are replying by: We can't be bothered with that. That is not where our priorities are.

Maybe they don't write big enough checks for their campaigns.

The bottom line is that we are here arguing that people in this country shouldn't lose their healthcare because they can't afford it. We could do something right this instant to fix that. Republicans are blocking every attempt, and they are bringing this crappy bill to the floor that didn't even go through regular order and it didn't go through committee. They just patched it together and brought it before the Rules Committee.

By the way, CBO says that their terrible bill that they are bringing to the floor will throw another 100,000 people off of health insurance. By just passing this bill, 100,000 additional people will lose their health insurance. This is ridiculous.

Mr. Speaker, the gentlewoman, the chairwoman of the Rules Committee, knows I have great affection for her, but I just want to correct something. She says that the Republicans have always had a plan to deal with healthcare and to lower costs for people, but the truth is they have always said they have a plan, but they have never had a plan.

Let me just go through a list of things here.

In February 2016, then-Presidential candidate Donald Trump said: ``We are going to replace ObamaCare with something so much better.'' Nothing followed.

On February 27, 2017, the President said: ``We have a really terrific, I believe, healthcare plan coming out.'' Never did.

May 10, 2018, Donald Trump said: ``But wait until you see the plans that we have coming out literally over the next 4 weeks. We have great healthcare plans coming out.'' Nothing happened.

At a press gaggle near Air Force One in May 2019, he said: ``We are coming up with a great healthcare plan. We are going to have fantastic healthcare, and the plan is coming out over the next 4 weeks.'' Nothing ever materialized.

June 16, 2019, the President said: ``We are going to produce phenomenal healthcare, and we already have the concept of a plan, and it will be so much better healthcare. Yeah, well, we will be announcing it in about 2 months, maybe less.'' Nothing happened.

In a FOX News interview, the President said: ``We are signing a healthcare plan within 2 weeks, a full and complete healthcare plan.'' Nothing happened.

July 2020, the President said: ``Well, we are going to be doing a healthcare plan. We are going to be doing a very inclusive healthcare plan. I will be signing it sometime very soon. It might be--it might be Sunday, but it is going to be very soon.'' Nothing happened.

August 3, 2020, the President said: ``We are going to be introducing a tremendous healthcare plan sometime prior--hopefully, prior to the end of the month. It is just about completed now.'' Nothing.

September 15, 2020, the President says: ``You are going to have new healthcare. We have other alternatives to ObamaCare that are 50 percent less expensive, and they are actually better.'' Nothing. It never happened.

September 10, 2024, ABC News Presidential debate, he says: ``I have concepts of a plan. . . . You will be hearing about it in the not-too- distant future.'' Nothing happened.

December 8, 2024, he said: ``Yes, we have concepts of a plan that would be better. You will see it very soon.'' It produced nothing.

In May 2025, at a White House event, he said: ``So we are going to maybe come up with something. I think this gives the Republicans a chance to actually do a healthcare that is much better than ObamaCare.'' Nothing.

People are sick and tired of the empty rhetoric. They are sick and tired of Republicans saying they have a plan, and they never produce one. All they want to do is undermine healthcare for hardworking, average Americans.

Rivas).

Mr. Speaker, if we defeat the previous question, I will offer an amendment to the rule to provide for consideration of H.R. 6074, which would extend the Affordable Care Act enhanced premium tax credits for 3 years, through 2028.

Mr. Speaker, this is it. This is the one last chance this year, this session, for this Republican majority to do the right thing and vote to extend the ACA enhanced premium tax credits.

If Republicans allow them to expire, millions of Americans, millions of their constituents, will be faced with rising health insurance costs and, in some cases, by more than $1,000 per month.

Mr. Speaker, I have an important announcement to make, and if there is anybody in the press gallery listening, I want them to hear this. I have called on Republicans to put country over politics, put country over their party, to do the right thing for their constituents. We have a discharge petition that 214 Democrats have signed on to, to force a bill on a 3-year clean extension. While we have been debating, four Republicans have actually done that.

We are now at 218. What that means is that it sets in place a process that will allow us to vote on a clean extension. We have 218 people who will vote for it, which means we will pass it.

Unfortunately, the procedures on a discharge petition mean that we can't get to it until we come back from our holiday break in January, but we don't need to wait for the discharge petition to ripen. We can actually act today if we want to preserve the tax credits for 20 million working-class Americans that rely on them.

Democrats in this House and in the Senate have acted like adults during our entire monthslong effort to get Republicans to do the right thing. I thank those Republicans who signed the discharge petition because that is actually going to make sure that we have a vote and that we can extend these tax benefits.

Again, we can kind of short-circuit the process. If we defeat the previous question, we could vote on it today. We are offering this to be able to bring it up immediately.
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Mr. McGOVERN. That is correct. We do thank these Republicans for getting us to 218, but we hope they would join us.

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Mr. McGOVERN. This would be the key vote.

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Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, may I inquire as to the time remaining.

Mr. Speaker, Republicans love to find ways to justify kicking millions of working people off of healthcare. The chairwoman of the Rules Committee talked about fraud. If fraud is your primary concern, how about you start with President Trump, who has pardoned or commuted not one, not two, but 12 people. He pardoned 12 people convicted of healthcare fraud. My Republican friends have been silent, not a word.

One guy was convicted of $1.3 billion in a Medicare fraud scheme, the largest healthcare fraud scheme charged by the Department of Justice. We had another woman convicted of orchestrating $205 million in a Medicare fraud scheme involving assisted living facilities. We had another guy convicted of 67 counts of healthcare fraud and related charges relating to Medicare and other healthcare programs.

I could go on and on, Mr. Speaker. I am not sure what they did to earn those pardons, but maybe they promised to say nice things about Trump.

When Republicans come to the floor and talk about fraud, just remember that they are the ones who pardoned over and over and over again healthcare fraudsters while at the same time screwing over the American people by taking away their healthcare.

Mr. Speaker, let's be honest about what is happening here because this really is not that complicated, and the American people aren't stupid.

This Republican bill does not fix the healthcare crisis facing this country. It doesn't even try. Instead, Republicans are going to raise costs, weaken coverage, and deliberately allow the Affordable Care Act tax credits to expire, knowing full well that millions of families will lose affordable coverage as a result.

That outcome is not a side effect. It is the point. For more than a decade, Republicans have promised a better healthcare system, a replacement for the ACA, something, anything that would justify taking coverage away from people who need it.

Ten years later, there is still no plan, no replacement, no solution. Why? Because they are totally fine with a system of the haves and have- nots. They want a system where those at the top have affordable care, and everyone else is left in the dust.

Mr. Speaker, Republicans have controlled the House of Representatives for 3 long years. During that time, the priorities of this majority have been crystal clear.

When billionaires, CEOs, and corporate special interests need something, Republicans move with lightning speed. Loopholes appear out of nowhere. Regulations vanish into thin air while Big Oil, Big Tech, and big banks get what they want.

Republicans have no problem handing out massive tax giveaways to donors who write big campaign checks. They have no problem padding the profits of greedy corporations. They have no problem voting to give the Pentagon $8 billion more than it even asked for without so much as a shrug.

When it comes to working people, when they need affordable healthcare, suddenly the story changes. Suddenly, there is hand- wringing. Suddenly, there is paralysis. Suddenly, the money is gone. Suddenly, America can't pay for it.

If my friends on the other side of the aisle are okay with that, we do not share the same values. If they think it is fine to give handouts to billionaires, while stealing healthcare from regular people, we do not have the same moral compass.

The bottom line is this country has a Republican Congress that works just fine for the rich and powerful, while telling everybody else to tighten their belts.

There is always money for giveaways to CEOs and corporate stock buybacks. There is always money for billionaire tax shelters. When a working family needs help staying insured, Republicans say it is too expensive. This is a question of our priorities as a Nation.

What makes this even more infuriating is that Democrats have already put forward a responsible and reasonable solution that would help stop this crisis in its tracks. We have 218 people who have signed this discharge petition. Mr. Speaker, four Republicans signed this discharge petition. I hope they will vote to bring this same bill up today.

To the moderates who didn't get the opportunity to sign it, I say this. This is their chance to go on record and show their constituents that they are serious about getting this done. Imagine what that would mean. It would mean lower costs, stable coverage, and a Congress that proves it still answers to working families instead of to the billionaire class. Instead, we get this GOP inaction and incompetence.

Mr. Speaker, at the end of the day, healthcare coverage should not depend on how much money someone makes. We live in the richest country on Earth. Healthcare should be a human right available to every person and every community without exception.

The United States remains the only major developed Nation that does not guarantee healthcare for everyone. That is not because we can't afford it. It is because powerful interests make too much money from the status quo.

To any Republican who knows this bill is wrong, who understands what this will do back home, and who still believes that this institution should work for the people it represents, this is the moment. Extend the tax credits. Protect the coverage of our constituents. Stand with us to say that it is time for Congress to put patients ahead of profits and working families ahead of billionaires.

Mr. Speaker, I urge a ``no'' vote on this rule, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

The yeas and nays were ordered.

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Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I demand a recorded vote.

A recorded vote was ordered.

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