Keep the IRS Off Your Health Care Act of 2013

Floor Speech

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Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding, and for his leadership of importance to the American people, the creation of jobs, growing our economy and, in the case of what is on the floor today, the 40th attempt--the 40th attempt--to harm the health and financial well-being of the American people.

Forty is a number that is fraught with meaning in the Bible: 40 hours, 40 days, 40 years in the desert, but it's fraught with nothing when it comes to overturning the Affordable Care Act, as they're trying to do for the 40th time today.

When our Republican colleagues vote for this bill, they will vote to put insurance companies back in charge of people's health. When they vote for this bill, they will be voting for an initiative that deprives patients of their rights, of making a preexisting condition a reason for discrimination. That's what a vote for this does.

That's the joy of the Affordable Care Act. No longer will being a woman be a preexisting condition. People with preexisting conditions can no longer be denied coverage. Annual or lifetime limits are eliminated.

Insurance companies must spend their money on insurance, and they must do it in a way that focuses on health care, not on CEO pay, advertising, and the rest. It's an 80-20 ratio. Many people in our country have received some of the money insurance companies have had to refund because they were spending too much on themselves and not enough on policyholders.

So here we are for the 40th time. What is really sad about it is the violence that it does to the health of the American people and to a policy that enables them to have prevention and wellness. It's about the health of America, not just the health care. What's sad about it is that for those 40 times we've lost the opportunity to bring a jobs bill to this floor--a jobs bill that is very needed--a jobs bill that says, Let's make it in America, manufacture in America, build the infrastructure of America, strengthen our communities with education and public safety.

Instead of even passing appropriations bills, the Republicans are on this aimless path of taking us into chaos as we go into August. In September, the moment of truth will be here. The fiscal year will end on September 30. Instead of preparing for that, the Republicans are, once again, on this fools' errand of making matters worse for the American people, putting insurance companies in charge of people's health, and depriving patients of their rights.

This budget challenge that we have is a very serious one. We shouldn't even be leaving here today because we haven't done the work necessary to prepare us for the end of the fiscal year. Instead, we are wasting the taxpayers' time and money.

I urge our colleagues to vote ``no'' on this legislation. I urge the America people to insist that we get down to the people's business of job creation and to find a budget that will not destroy and question the full faith and credit of the United States of America; to find a budget that will create jobs, grow the economy, and reduce the deficit.

If we shut down government, as some on the Republican side have said, unless we repeal the Affordable Care Act, what does that mean to you? It means to you that the success of your 401(k) is in jeopardy. It means if you have mortgage interest payments, you will probably pay more. Your credit card bills will probably go up because of the increase in interest.

It's just not right for what it does. It does not understand the economic challenges faced by America's families who want jobs, want to educate their children, want to maintain their homes, and want to have secure pensions for the future. It's just silliness, and it does not deserve even the time we're taking on the floor, much less rise to the dignity of deserving a vote by Members of Congress.

I urge a ``no'' vote.

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