Insurance Capital Standards Clarification Act of 2014

Floor Speech

Mr. ELLISON. Mr. Speaker, the bill we took up before this one, on Father Flanagan, that is the kind of bill that we should be doing on suspension calendar. In fact, the heart of this particular bill is noncontroversial, and I think a lot of people would be looking forward to just voting up the Insurance Capital Standards Clarification Act.

I think a lot of people would like to just get this bill up, pass it, and send it right to the President. We could do that. Unfortunately, this bill, even if it does have bipartisan support, has been loaded up with other bills, and the Senate has indicated that they are not going to take it up.

So, to the gentleman's point from Michigan, we are not just here to pass Senate bills--that is a fair point of view to hold--but it is a matter of pragmatic legislative action. This is the bill we could have passed and could be passed into law and signed by the President. So to pack this bill up even with bipartisan legislation slows it up, which delays good outcomes for people who could have them.

In my opinion, that is unwise and ill-advised, and I am very sorry that the President is not going to get the Insurance Capital Standards Clarification Act on his desk because he certainly could if there was a spirit of cooperation.

Source