Repeal of Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Mr. Speaker, voting to repeal the Affordable Care Act for the 37th time is a waste of resources and another example of the refusal to focus on the important issues of jobs and the economy right now. It's also an example of bad budgeting.

One of the things I don't think our Republican colleagues have focused on is that their claim to have a balanced budget rests on the savings and the tax revenue in the ObamaCare bill. So if you repeal all of ObamaCare, which this bill says it wants to do, the Republican budget will immediately be out of balance in 10 years. Here's how it works:

If you look at the Republican budget, in 10 years, they claim that there's a $7 billion surplus. But the reality is it also contains in it Medicare savings--we heard that issue demagogued during the last Presidential campaign--and it also includes ObamaCare revenue. And if you take out that over $400 billion in Medicare savings and the revenue in ObamaCare, poof, the Republican budget is way out of balance.

And, Mr. Speaker, it's not just me saying that. Here's what The Heritage Foundation said. They also point out that the Republican budget depends on ObamaCare.

So, long story short, you can't have it both ways. You can't repeal ObamaCare and go home and tell people you did that and, at the same time, say you have a balanced budget.

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