Save American Workers Act of 2014

Floor Speech

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Mr. CASTRO of Texas. Thank you, Ranking Member Levin, for yielding.

We speak a lot in this body about the freedoms that we as Americans have been endowed with by our forefathers and that are enshrined in the Constitution, whether it is the freedom of speech, the freedom of religion, or our Second Amendment freedoms.

I think we all understand and know--unfortunately, too many Americans know firsthand--that when you are sick and lying in a hospital bed or at home and have a child that you can't afford to take to the doctor, those freedoms mean very little.

For someone who couldn't get health insurance, whose life is spiraling downward, who can't afford to make their car or mortgage payment, how much are those freedoms worth when their life is spiraling downward because they can't afford health care anymore?

The fact is one of the greatest things that the Affordable Care Act has done is allowed more Americans to be able to enjoy the freedoms that all of us here in Congress fight so hard to protect for the American people.

A few of the troubling things about this bill is that up to a million people would lose their health care coverage if this piece of legislation was enacted. As Congressman Levin mentioned, it would cost $74 billion to the American people, adding to our debt and deficit.

What is also interesting is that just about every bill that is now allowed to pass through the House of Representatives requires a pay-for. In other words, the Republican majority does not allow a piece of legislation to be passed unless it is paid for by cutting something else.

What is different about this piece of legislation is that there is no question that it would cost $74 billion, and yet there is absolutely no pay-for in this bill.

I would also note, as was mentioned, that this would cost American business some money. Well, a few things; first, many, many American businesses don't define the workweek as 40 hours. They define it as 32 hours or, sometimes, lower. Sometimes, it is 30.

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Mr. CASTRO of Texas. So this is inconsistent even with how millions of American businesses define full-time employment, and I would also point out this: we know that, as our economy has started to rebound from the worst recession that we have had since the Great Depression, many American businesses are doing well.

Wall Street is hitting all-time highs, and the stock market has soared. That is a good thing for America. We certainly don't begrudge any company or business that, but small businesses are already exempted from the ACA requirements, so this is about more sizable companies.

In an economy where business is doing well, why should we say to all of these workers--people who are going to work every day, who have incredible work ethic, who are powering our economy--that they don't deserve health insurance?

I was in San Antonio--and I know it happened in many cities--and we had long lines on Monday to enroll in the Affordable Care Act. People's faces lit up because, for the first time in many of their lives, they were going to be able to afford health care coverage. Many of them had their kids with them. There were teenagers and senior citizens there.

This is a milestone in people's lives, and this bill would take that away from a million people.

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