Suspending the Individual Mandate Penalty Law Equals Fairness Act

Floor Speech

Mr. HORSFORD. Mr. Speaker, this is the final amendment to the bill, which will not kill the bill or send it back to committee. If adopted, the bill will immediately proceed to final passage, as amended.

This Republican bill represents the 50th attempt to undermine and repeal the Affordable Care Act. The Democratic motion to recommit lowers out-of-pocket costs, secures tax credits and rebates, and ensures no discrimination against those with preexisting conditions.

The bill would delay the individual responsibility provision of the Affordable Care Act to purchase health care by 1 year, which would directly impact the out-of-pocket costs of consumers and threaten the ability of millions of Americans with preexisting conditions to have health coverage.

The nonpartisan CBO estimates that the enactment of the Republican H.R. 4118 would increase the number of uninsured by 1 million in 2014, by 2 million in 2015, and by 1 million in 2016. That is 4 million Americans who would not have access to health insurance otherwise.

The White House pointed out this morning that the individual shared responsibility provision is essential to ensuring that 129 million Americans with preexisting conditions can get coverage without being charged more or losing coverage when they get sick.

Mr. Speaker, this bill is just another example of House Republicans playing political games rather than working together to get things done for the American people. This is no longer about helping people. It never really was for the Republicans. These repeal votes are about ideological purity. They are about politics for the sake of politics. That is why people across America are frustrated and disappointed by this Congress--because this Chamber has become a bubble, and Republicans have stopped listening and have stopped working on anything productive.

It is not just on health care. It is on giving Americans a raise by increasing the Federal minimum wage. It is the refusal to bring up comprehensive immigration reform even though there are votes in the House to pass it. It is on unemployment insurance and on the failure of this Congress to extend benefits to now more than 2 million Americans who have lost coverage. It is about creating jobs and helping to improve and grow our infrastructure.

Now, this vote may seem routine. It may seem like this is just Congress' continuing Groundhog Day, but this is the 50th time that we have done this. We are wasting time, and we have a full docket of things that we need to be doing. This vote is a symptom of something very wrong in Washington, and it is time to wake up and to do something more than play Tea Party politics in this House. The bill offered by my colleagues on the other side would increase out-of-pocket costs to American consumers. It would increase health premiums and the number of uninsured Americans, and it hurts those with preexisting conditions.

Last year, I underwent a six-way bypass. Open heart surgery--no question--was terrifying, and when you are on an operating table in an emergency room, the last thing you should be focusing on is becoming medically bankrupt. You should be focusing on taking care of yourself and your family and on getting them the best care that you can. Whether it is heart disease, cancer, diabetes, or any other preexisting condition, people shouldn't go bankrupt because of an illness or a disease in this country.

Thankfully, my surgery went well. I was able to afford it. My heart condition is now a preexisting condition. There are thousands of my constituents who are in the same or worse boat but who are not financially well off. If we repeal or delay the Affordable Care Act, what are they supposed to do? There is no solution being offered by the House Republicans. It is not repeal and replace. It is repeal and return to a broken health care system. That is it. That is the Republicans' plan.

Last year, they passed H.R. 2668, a virtually identical bill to the one we are considering today. They have run out of ways to repeal this law, so now we are stuck on repeat. We should, instead, be focusing on renewing unemployment insurance benefits for 2 million struggling Americans, on passing comprehensive immigration reform so that we can fix the system that has got families torn apart, and on giving 30 million Americans a raise.

My motion to recommit would protect three of the most important provisions of the Affordable Care Act that are overwhelmingly supported by the American people: lower out-of-pocket costs for consumers, tax credits and rebates to purchase health care, and ensuring that no one in America can be denied coverage due to a preexisting condition in America.

It is time for this Congress to wake up and to do the right thing--to protect Americans and their health care.

I yield back the balance of my time.

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