Repeal of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. CLARKE of New York. Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to H.R.
596, a bill that will completely repeal the Affordable Care Act, which
was signed into law in 2010 and was declared constitutionally sound by
the U.S. Supreme Court.

The Affordable Care Act extends health care coverage to all
Americans, regardless of their gender, health condition, or ability to
pay.

Unlike other Republican repeal efforts, H.R. 596 does have a bit of a
new twist. This legislation instructs the appropriate committees to
draft a Republican alternative to the Affordable Care Act and directs
them to include provisions that will provide people with preexisting
conditions access to affordable health coverage and provisions designed
to increase the number of insured Americans.

I am not sure where the Republicans have been over the past 5 years,
but those two provisions are already in the Affordable Care Act which
is already the law of the land. In fact, the number of uninsured
Americans has steadily decreased under the Affordable Care Act to a
record low of 13.4 percent by the second quarter of 2014, and Gallup's
quarterly trends projected that the uninsured rate will continue to
drop over all age groups.

The Affordable Care Act is good law. It should not be repealed, and
that is why I vehemently oppose H.R. 596. It is another very cynical
attempt to take our Nation backward.

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