Instructing Certain Committees to Report Legislation Replacing the Job-Killing Health Care Law

Floor Speech

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Madam Speaker, repeal and replace? What about protect and improve? What about improving the bill that is there right now rather than repealing and replacing?

You know, the fact is the Republican Caucus is talking about replacing a bill, and yet whether it's preexisting conditions or filling in the doughnut hole, I've heard several of them say, ``Oh, we want to keep that.'' But yet they don't want to protect and improve. They just want to repeal. Why? To protect the insurance industry. I can't see any other reason why they are doing this.

The Affordable Care Act is a good bill; and can it be better? Of course it can be better. But that's not what we're talking about doing today. We're talking about taking away benefits that Americans have in their hand. The Republican Caucus is snatching away people who want to get their children on their health care insurance who are under 26 years of age; snatching away free preventative care for seniors; snatching out of the hands of families whose children are trying to be able to get care who may have a preexisting condition; snatching out of the hands of seniors who are filling in the doughnut hole. They are taking away a benefit Americans have right now. This is wrong and it's a shame.

The fact is the Democratic Caucus when we had the White House and both Houses of Congress, within 2 years we brought to the American people a health care bill. When the Republican Caucus has the House for 6 years, between 2000 and 2006, they don't do anything other than do a big fat giveaway to PhRMA.

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