the speaker pro tempore: on this vote the yeas are 226 and the nays are 189. the previous question is ordered. the question now is on the adoption of the resolution. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. mr. mcgovern: mr. speaker, on that i ask for a recorded vote. the speaker pro tempore: a recorded vote is asked. those favoring a recorded vote will rise. a sufficient number having arisen, a recorded vote is ordered. members will record their votes

by electronic device. this will be a five-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

the speaker pro tempore: on this vote the yeas are 238. the nays are 181. the resolution is adopted. without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid on the table.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman

neeness, ornia, mr. seek recognition -- nunes, seek recognition? mr. neeness: i call up h.r. 4414, the expatriate health coverage clarification act of 2014 and ask for its immediate consideration. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: a bill claire claire the ill to clarify treatment under the patient protection and affordable care act of health plans in which expatriates are the primary enrollees and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: the house will be in order. please take your conversations off the floor. pursuant to house resolution 555, the amendment printed in house report 113-422 is considered adopted and the bill, as amended, is considered as read. the gentleman from california, mr. nunes, and the gentleman from michigan, mr. levin, each will control 30 minutes.

the chair recognizes the gentleman from california, mr. nunes. mr. nunes: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that members have five legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on h.r. 4414. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. nunes: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. nunes: mr. speaker, the bill before the house today comes down to one simple question -- mr. speaker, the house is not in order. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is right. the house is not in order. he house will be in order. the gentleman will continue. mr. nunes: mr. speaker, as i was saying, the bill before us today comes down to one simple question -- will we allow american companies to offer expatriate plans or will we be forced to offshore these plans? will we support employment in america or stimulate employment overseas? mr. carney and i have worked carefully and in good faith on

a bipartisan basis to craft a bill that is limited in scope while at the same time remaining true to our commitment to save american jobs. there have been a few changes to the bill since a bipartisan majority of the house supported it a few weeks ago. an expat must at not be a mini med or another substandard plan. we tightened the definition of an expatriate. it must be abroad for at least six months. this is a much tougher standard and it will guard against potential abuse. the bill now also requires an expatriate plan to offer reimbursements in more than two currencies. plans meet this requirement today but the addition of this provision protects against the possible abuse of the expatriate exemption in the future. the ally, mr. speaker, bill now makes explicit that the ex-patriot plans must comply

with relevant laws enacted prior to a.c.a. specifically errsa and the public health services act. mr. speaker, this bill is a good bill, it's a bipartisan bill, and i urge the support of the house. i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves his time. the gentleman from michigan is recognized. mr. levin: thank you very much, mr. speakering -- mr. speaker. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. levin: there's no doubt about where democrats stand. we have taken the lead to make sure there's no offshoring. and there has been a good faith effort here up to a point. surely that's been true of mr. carney and all of his efforts working with mr. nunez. but the problem is that there remains some serious shortcomings in this bill, and

unfortunately we cannot try to remedy it through an amendment. so the notion there's an open process here is incorrect. the definition of expatriate has been tightened. i think there remain some issues, at least one regarding it. but the major problem relates to the language and how it would impact potentially health insurance for an estimated 13 million legal permanent residents and others who are lawfully present foreign workers in the u.s. let me just give you examples of where the standards remain weak. for example, under this legislation expat plans would have dispensation to be washington than other employer plans in this country. they could, for example, impose

cost sharing on preventive benefits. they could impose annual and lifetime limits on coverage. they could impose unduly long waiting periods. indeed, the only a.c.a. provision that would clearly remain in effect would be that they would have to offer coverage to young adults under 26. so the bottom line is, unfortunately, that the legislation in its present form could substantially undermine how security for foreign workers as well as american dependents who remain in this country. also what it does is provide unprecedented special treatment for these plans in terms of exempting them from financing mechanisms. let me say further as we found

c.b.o. joint tax and they confirmed this bill would cause some employers who would offer a.c.a. client plans under present law to offer less generous expatriate plans that are no longer subject to the a.c.a. this is the reason the administration issued i think just today a statement of administrative -- administration policy, and they say they do not support 4414. the a.c.a. gives people and continues greater control over their health care and what they say is that this is not true sufficiently in this case. it says because of the a.c.a. americans who have previously been denied coverage due to a pre-existing medical condition now have access to coverage and that may well not continue. so the administration concludes,

it remains willing to work with congress to improve 4144 to address those issues and to maintain basic consumer protections for all workers. there are straightforward changes to the legislation which are shared with the congress that would satisfy these goals and the congress should pursue a solution. unfortunately, because of this rule, we cannot propose an amendment which would essentially implement these proposals from the administration that they shared with the congress. that's why i, unfortunately, have no choice but to suggest a no vote on the floor of this house. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from california is recognized. >> thank you, mr. speaker. at this time i'd like to yield two minutes to a member of the ways and means committee from

.hio, mr. reneecy the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from ohio is recognized. >> i rise today in support of h.r. 4414, the ex-patriot health coverage clarification act, a bill introduce bide my good friend, john carney. when mr. carney and i first came to congress we looked around in search of others who like us were interested in finding common ground. mr. carney and i meet regularly for breakfast with a group of members from both sides of the aisle. we come together to discuss commonsense ways to solve our nation's problems that members on both sides of the aisle can get behind. mr. renacci: a bill that is on the floor today is an example of this type of commonsense approach to making policy. the purpose of the bill is to fix the problem created by the president's health care law. if we don't fix it, 1,200 jobs will be lost across the country. mr. carney and i may not agree on everything. in fact, the president's health care law is one thing we

disagree on. but we do agree this specific provision is another example of one of the law's unintended consequences. this bill before us today will keep america competitive and save american jobs. i encourage my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support this important legislation. thank you. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from michigan is recognized. mr. levin: i now yield four minutes to the gentleman from delaware, a colleague and friend who is a sponsor of this legislation, mr. carney. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from delaware is recognized for four minutes. mr. carney: thank you, mr. speaker. last week when i was back home in my district in delaware, getting a workout at the ymca in my hometown of wilmington, a man came up to me as i was on the exercise bike and said excuse me, do you mind if i interrupt? of course not. i work for you. i wanted to see if you know

about the status of h.r. 4414 because i write expatriate health insurance plans for cigna and i don't want to lose my job. losing even one job like this in my state keeps me up at night. the prospect of losing 500 jobs is a punch to the gut. that's how many jobs we'll lose if my home state of delaware if we don't pass this bill on the floor today. i'm a strong supporter of the affordable care act. so are a lot of people in my state. but no law is perfect, and the law as important as complicated, and technical as the affordable care act there are bound to be a few things that needed to be fixed. the a.c.a. was unintentionally written in a way that subjects the u.s. patriot health insurance plans to alt provisions of the a.c.a. which places a unique burden on these types of plans. expatriate health insurance plans offer a high end, robust coverage to people working outside their home contry,

giving them access to a global network of health care providers. individuals on the plan could be foreign employees working here in america, americans working abroad, or say a german working in france. expatriate plans ensures these employees have worldwide access to quality health care while working outside their home contry. several u.s. health insurance companies, cigna, metlife, and united health offer expatriate health insurance plans. these insurance companies compete with foreign insurance companies that also sell the same kind of plans. the issue is, these foreign plans don't have to comply with the a.c.a. forcing u.s. expatriate insurance plans to comply with the a.c.a., thereby gives their foreign competitors a distinct advantage. as a result, to stay competitive, a u.s. expatriate insurer will move their business overseas, taking their jobs with them, that's why i'm here today. the good news is we have bipartisan legislation here today that will level the

playing field. in fact, the administration has already provided temporary relief for ex-patriot plans from nearly every affordable care act provision that's gone into effect so far. the problem is this relief is only partial and only temporary. the administration can't make this relief without this legislative fix. our legislation ensures that american expatriate insurance carriers are object a level playing field with their foreign competitors so that american jobs stay here in america. many of you know that this is our second go-round with this legislation. over the past few weeks we have worked painstakingly to improve our bill and we have. we are confident that our original version of the bill would not negatively impact a green cardholder or create loopholes in the a.c.a., but we worked hard over the past few weeks to address the concerns we heard. we heard concerns the bill would let insurance companies create low quality plans. our bill now requires expat plans to meet the same value

standard as any other employer-based plan under the a.c.a. and if the plan doesn't meet that standard the expat can use subsidies to buy coverage on the exchange, just like any other american. we heard concerns that the definition of an, pat was too broad, that it be taken care of. we changed that definition, tightened it up, and it's identical to the h.h.s. regulations today. we now make explicit expat plans must fall all irriesa --ureriesa requirements. we have been working on this issue for three years. the crafting of this bill has been a more collaborative, bipartisan process that i think this chamber has seen in quite a while, and i want to thank my friends and colleagues on both sides of the aisle for that effort. this bill isn't perfect. the affordable care act wasn't perfect. no bill was perfect. if there was ever a case where the perfect was being made the enemy of the good, we are hearing it from my colleagues today. the speaker pro tempore: the

gentleman's time has expired. mr. levin: an additional minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for an additional minute. mr. carney: if we don't pass this legislation today, people that have ex-patriot plans and the companies that offer them will continue to do so. the question isthey'll do so here in the united states and keeping those workers here or whether they'll move those operations overseas. i understand as well as anyone that the a.c.a. is a political onboth sides of the aisle. l war all i'm asking today is that we take action so that 500 hardworking americans in my district don't become collateral damage in that partisan political ft. let's call a temporary truce today to protect those jobs. finally, i want to thank my colleague, congressman nunez, and the ways and means staff on both sides of the aisle, for their hard work on this issue. and i want to thank leadership on both sides of the aisle for recognizing this as a very serious problem that needs fixing. i ask my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support us and vote yes on this legislation

today. vote yes on h.r. 4414. thank you. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from california is recognized. mr. nunez: at this time i'd like to recognize the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. dent, for three minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from pennsylvania is recognized for three minutes. mr. dent: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise today in strong support of h.r. 4414, the expatriate health care coverage clarification act. i do want to point out the american people do expect us to work together in a responsible manner to solve real problems. that's what this bill we are talking about today does. i certainly want to thank my colleagues, representative carney of delaware, representative nunez of california, for taking the initiative to craft this really important piece of legislation. i also know it's difficult to look at any bill dealing with the health care law without considering the broader context of the law. however, it's also difficult to look at the state of our economy today and be none chalant about the fact that 1,200 of our fellow americans stand to lose their jobs if we don't act and

pass this legislation. many of those folks live in the state of delaware. many of them live in the state of pennsylvania. just over the delaware state line. so our constituents are hearing about it just like this story you heard from mr. carney. he's stopped by his constituents. we are hearing about this at home. that's what this bill, introduced by mr. carney and mr. nunez, does, it saves jobs. it's that simple. it does so without japan pardonizing anybody's health care. -- without jeopardizing anybody's health care. the bill on the floor today simply allows american companies to continue selling insurance to people who live and work overseas. many of our neighbors and friends. we don't -- if we don't pass this bill, the business will go to foreign insurance companies who will be selling these plans and possibly getting many of these jobs. why would we want to do that. more importantly, why would we even allow that? this bill represents a very narrow change to the law that saves jobs. this bill simply amends the law.

it does not end the law. this is not a paragraph zahn bill. voting for this bill is a vote to keep jobs here in america and pennsylvania and delaware and california and other places, and to take sensible steps to fix the law that we all know needs to be fixed. again i know it's difficult, but we need to focus on the trees here and look past the forest, so to speak on this bill. we need to take action and save jobs for american workers. most important of all, we need to demonstrate to the american people that we can work together to solve very specific problems that need to be fixed. that's what we are doing. that's why everybody, whether republican or democrat, should stand up and enthusiastically support this bill that will not harm anyone's health care and save american jobs. at this time i yield back. thank you. mr. levin: i yield to the member of the -- ranking member of the energy and commerce, the gentleman from california, mr.

waxman. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california is recognized for four minutes. mr. waxman: thank you for yielding to me. mr. speaker, my colleagues, this is a bill that could have been worked out. this is a bill that could have accomplished the purpose that i know that our colleague from delaware wants to see put into place. i applaud him for working hard to improve the bill under very difficult circumstances. in trying to allow the american sell nce companies to policies to expats, we could craft a bill that's narrow, but we are not getting cooperation to get to that point. the reason we're not getting cooperation is we're told we must pass a bill right away. well, we were told that two weeks ago when we had the bill on suspension and we couldn't consider any amendments under suspension. now we have the bill under a rule. the rule provides for no

amendments either. there are -- there's a bill to be crafted, but this bill before us does not accomplish the goal in a way that really doesn't hurt some people's insurance coverage. there's still two major problems with the legislation before us today. first, it does not have enough safeguards to guarantee that these expatriate plans are high quality. and the second issue is the bill creates problems for millions of other people who are legal permanent residents here in the united states and others working in this country who are currently protected by the affordable care act. on the first issue, the insurers tell us that their expatriate plans are going to be extremely generous. they say they cover people in dozens of countries around the world and they have comprehensive benefits, but we don't see any language to

verify that claim. the bill claims to have -- supporters of the bill claim to guarantee that the plans are as good as they say they are. but it's one thing to say it's high quality, it's another to actually require them to offer comprehensive benefits. as president reagan used to say, trust but verify. on the second issue, it has nothing do with the expatriate plans. and the companies are threatening to shut down their operations here in the united states. it has to do with millions of other people who are legal permanent residents, they're workers on visas, they currently benefit from the a.c.a.'s protection, but this bill creates a loophole that could allow these people to be sold plans here in the united states that do not meet a.c.a. standards. that's why a lot of people

looking at this legislation are saying, such as major labor unions, immigrationed a vow cass organizations, this bill is not one they can support -- immigration advocacy organizations, this bill is not one they can support. we should have fixed both of those issues before this bill was brought up on the house floor. but as it stands, we don't know if the senate can pass any bill, and i don't believe the president could sign this bill. my colleague from delaware, my other colleagues, have already helped make important improvements for the bill. changing the definition of an expatriate to someone who's outside the country for six months is an important step. we should continue to make progress. there have been productive negotiations on the legislation in recent days. we need to reach an agreement and we should bring that compromise to the house floor.

but without that compromise, i don't feel i can vote for the bill as it presently stands. these two glaring problems that need to be fixed, and without it we will not know if those expatriate plans are high quality they claim to be, and we will not know whether others are legal residents -- others that are legal residents in the united states will get the plans that other people in the united states can have. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. mr. waxman: i urge a no vote and suggest we get back to the negotiating table. i yield back the time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from california is recognized. mr. nunes: mr. speaker, i'd like to yield myself for about 14 seconds. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. nunes: mr. speaker, we waited four years we've been trying to fix this problem, four years. time is up. we got to pass this bill, send it to the senate so it can be signed into law. i will continue to reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from michigan is

recognized. mr. levin: i now yield four minutes to -- two minutes -- to minutes to the gentleman from vermont, mr. welch. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from vermont is recognized for two minutes. mr. welch: mr. speaker, i support this bill. it's really two issues at stake. one is preserving the integrity of the a.c.a. the obama health care bill. there's huge division in this congress as to whether that bill should have been passed. it was passed. there's unity of purpose now where there is an identified problem we should fix it rather than just have the ideological battle about whether the law should have been passed in the first place. that's actual progress, because as my friend from pennsylvania said, there's a legitimate expectation on the part of the people we represent to solve concrete, discreet problems when in the solving of them we're going to keep 1200 people working. and that's -- 1,200 people working and that's the real goal of this. those that agree with the health care bill and those that

disagreed with it can come together with a narrow fix that allows 1,200 people, 500 in delaware and 700 in other parts of the country to keep doing their work. of course we can. there's a second question that's come up and that is whether this bill right now goes as far as it needs to go, is as crafted as well as it needs to be crafted. the questions that mr. waxman made is health felt. we had mr. carney and mr. nunes working with colleagues on both sides. you had the white house meeting with cigna and both sides understood, cigna understood that the white house had some legitimate concerns as proponents of the a.c.a. the white house understood that cigna had real and legitimate concerns about their business and their jobs. so the progress is reflected in this bill. there's now a debate about whether that's enough progress so we have to make a decision -- do we wait and try to keep

negotiating here or do we move it on to the senate? my view is we move it on to the senate. partly, mr. nunes said, we've been grabbling this for four years. senator carper, senator coons from delaware, who are committed to making certain that the fix doesn't compromise the health care bill, that's important for folks like me that voted for the a.c.a. so this is a practical step we can make in order to save jobs without compromising the underlying legislation. thank you. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from california is recognized. mr. nunes: mr. speaker, i'd like to yield myself 21 seconds. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. nunes: mr. speaker, i'd like to submit for the record three letters. one from the council for affordable health care coverage in support of our bill. the other from the national association of health underwriters in support of our bill and the last one from the business roundtable in support of our bill. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. nunes: i'll continue to reserve, mr. speaker.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from michigan is recognized. mr. levin: i now yield four minutes to a member of our committee, also the chair of our caucus, mr. becerra from california. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california is recognized for four minutes. mr. becerra: i thank the gentleman for yielding time. and let me say in advance that i appreciate the work that's been done by any number of members in regards to this legislation. many people have engaged in a good faith effort to try to find an acceptable solution that resolves issues which are legitimate and have -- raise a concern for a lot of us with regard to how we move forward with the affordable care act and make sure that not only americans are covered but that our companies can continue to offer insurance coverage for those americans that are not only affordable but have high quality. and many of us have recognized that. in the case of americans who are out of the country more time than they're in the country in the year that we may have to make some exceptions for them so that the company that's offering them health

insurance can offer a policy that's competitive. we don't want to price out our american companies that offer health insurance coverage simply because they're trying to meet domestic care standards for health care that are required as a result of the affordable care act but that may not be -- may not work as well abroad. so you take a look at the name of this bill, the expatriate health coverage clarification act of 2014 and you say, ok, that's what we're trying to do. we're trying to help expatriates, americans who work abroad more time than at home. when you take a close look at the bill, that's not what it does. we're told by the congressional research service, there are probably 280,000 americans who have expatriate health care coverage. this bill wouldn't impact just those 285,000 americans. this bill impacts millions, millions because it impacts u.s. citizens who are here in the country, not abroad for more than half of the time, and

it impacts every single -- it could have an impact on every single legal immigrant in this country. every single legal immigrant who is in this country. and so i think all of us agree we want to make sure that the affordable care act and its patient protections work, and if we could tweak things to make it work better we should. but this is not a bill for expatriates. this is a bill that goes way beyond, and so let's not fool ourselves. we have to take care of trying to deal with the narrow exception we're looking at for expatriates, not create a giant loophole by which we can remove the protection against discrimination for pre-existing condition that right now all americans and legal immigrants can now know that they have. we want to make sure that all those people who now have a protection from plans that don't provide coverage after a certain amount of money and so all of a sudden, boom, you go bankrupt because you didn't know that your insurance

company would only cover $50,000 of your insurance coverage, that protection would be gone. what we don't want is to create a giant loophole to try to help a narrow band of americans. the white house has said, there's a fix here, and i know the white house has been trying to work with proponents of this bill to come up with a fix. but as they said the last time this was up, this needs work and it should not come up for a vote. but what are they saying now? the administration issued this today. the administration does not support house passage of h.r. 4414 in its current form because it would reduce consumer protections and create even more loopholes in the tax code. there's a fix, but this is not it because it goes way beyond. and what we also have to do is recognize there are other things involved. this bill will cost the american taxpayers money. how much? we're told by the congressional budget office and joint tax

committee $1.4 billion. is it paid for? are the $1.4 billion we would take away from other -- have to take away from other taxpayers covered? no. this bill is unpaid for. and so for any number of reasons we should sit down and get this resolved the right way because the white house says there's a fix. those of us who oppose this bill say there is a fix. but to create more loopholes which allow american citizens and immigrants who are lawfully here working hard to all of a sudden be deprived of their protections because of this bill -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for an additional minute. mr. becerra: to deprive those american citizens who don't know about this, to deprive those immigrants who came to this country legally and are working in this country and today have the same protections to make sure they're not discriminated against for a pre-existing condition, who also have a chance to get offered a plan that has those protections against those --

the fine print we used to see in the health policy, to tell them they are going to be denied that because we were trying to fix a problem for americans who work abroad for more than half of the year, that's not what we should be doing. there is a fix. this should not cost the taxpayers more money, and i believe that we could do this pretty quickly because it's a very narrow issue. if we really want to help expats take out the language in the bill that talks about legal immigrants who are in the country, it talks about workers who come to this country to work under worker visa categories, like in the high-tech field or in agriculture. we could do this very simply, and i just appeal to my colleagues friends on both -- and friends on both sides of the aisle, let's not open up bigger loopholes that cost taxpayers more money simply try to fix a narrow version of this that we know we can do. so with that i yield back the balance of my time and hope that sanity will prevail before this goes too far. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california is recognized. mr. nunes: mr. speaker, before

i yield to my friend from pennsylvania, again, i just want to say someone who used to work in the fields, i would much prefer an expatriate plan over obamacare. this time i yield two minutes to the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. dent. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from pennsylvania is recognized for two minutes. mr. dent: thank you, mr. speaker. just in response to the comments i heard from my colleague from california, i will be pretty clear. the joint committee on taxation has been quoted here. but under this bill, the joint committee on taxation confirms that all plans are a.c.a. ompliant. they also confirm that more u.s. employers, american employers will offer employer-sponsored insurance as a result of this bill. further, the joint committee on taxation confirms that the impacts of the legislation are under one million people, closer to 300,000 at best. that's what we're talking about here.

let's be very clear. the nunes amendment that was offered to this bill actually does help solve many of the problems i believe that have been raised here in the last few minutes. mr. waxman of california also raised his concerns. but i must say if we don't move on this bill, we're not going to have to worry about any of this because americans working overseas as ex-pats will be buying insurance from german insurance companies or british or some other european concern. needs americans may be working in places like ghana or ethiopia or poland. the ample c.a., the health care law, has no standing in these countries. this is a very targeted piece of legislation, these americans will have good quality health care as they're working overseas in country this is a really don't recognize the health care law. it's a commonsense proposal, the

j.c.t., the joint committee on taxation, confirm this is a will affect fewer than 300,000 people. we know all these plans are a.c.a. compliant and we know that more u.s. employers are going to offer employer-sponsored health insurance as a result of passing this bill. i say vote for the bill, do the right thing, get the bill to the senate and ultimately to the president's desk. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan is recognized. mr. levin: i yield two minutes to the gentleman from california, mr. costa. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. costa: thank you very much, mr. speaker. and i thank the ranking member, senator levin, for the two minutes. i rise today to speak in favor of h.r. 4414, the expatriate coverage clarification act. i'm a co-sponsor of this bill because i think it prorides a targeted fix to the unintended consequences of the affordable health care act. it is too bad, though, that we cannot work together in fixes --

fixing other flaws in the a.c.a. instead of trying to repeal it over 50 times over the last two years. i think, though, this bill will save american jobs, include manage of the san joaquin valley. there have been some concern that this bill would negatively impact green cardholders and other imgrants to our country. thing bill does provide safe gards to ensure that will not happen. an ex-pat man, by its nature, offers robust benefits across the globe. in one should be concerned that this bill will somehow erode coverage of quality for non-americans living here in the u.s. or for americans living abroad, for that matter. with more than a thousand jobs at stake, passing this bill will signal to the american people that yes, on occasion, congress can work together weand do care about more than business as usual. i'm pleased to join my colleagues, mr. carney and mr. nunes in standing up for this

effort to protect some american jobs. but let's remind ourselves it is a work in progress and the author know this is legislation would not be signed into law in its current form. but it is a work in progress. we move it along. we work with the senate and get the concerns addressed that the administration has raised. that's what it takes, working together on a bipartisan basis, to get legislation done. i urge my colleagues to vote yes on this bill when it comes up for a vote today and i yelled back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields. mr. nunes: i ask for 15 seconds. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. nunes: i'd like to submit a letter from the american benefits council and i ask unanimous consent that for the record from the u.s. chamber of commerce and a letter from the u.s. coalition. i reserve my time. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the gentleman vembs. the gentleman from michigan is recognized.

mr. levin: i yield now three minutes to another member of our committee, the gentleman from wisconsin, mr. kind. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for three minutes. mr. kind: thank you, mr. speaker. i thank my friend and colleague for yielding me this timism rise in support of this legislation before us today not because i believe it is a perfect answer to a problem that needs to be fixed, but in order to make sure that the process moves forward. i want to commend my colleagues who have worked tirelessly over the ensuing weeks to try to address the concerns, legitimate concerns, i view, of some of the shortcomings of the legislation before us. mr. nunes and my good friend, mr. carney of delaware. this is, i think emblematic of how we should be addressing reform within the health care system. having the wisdom as a body to recognize what's working with health care reform and what isn't working and then try to deal with that with fixes and needed adjustments along the way. this was an unintended

consequence affecting ex-pat health insurance plans. in my view there's a competitiveness issue from those insurance plans offering ex-pat coverage compared to what other plans are offer bug also theable of people to be able to live and work effectively abroad. even the administration has admitted in their statement on administration policy that there's a problem that needs to be addressed. they've identified certain shortcomings of this legislation from consume brother teches to issues affecting the tax code but i'm sure that as we move forward today, hopefully with bipartisan support, the senate will have an opportunity to address many of these concerns and will have to continue to work with the administration with what legitimate concerns they continue to raise. but again, this is i think an approach that we should be taking as a nation right now. having the wiz -- the wisdom to understand what's working and also dealing with the unintended consequences of health care

reform that affects one fifth of the u.s. economy. you're not going to change that overnight and if you try you're going to introduce shocks to the system that will not work for people. i think this is an honest approach, done in a bipartisan fashion with a lot of listening on both sides and a lot of vetting of issues in order to address one of those small unintended consequences to the health care reform. i think clearly everyone recognizes more work needs to go into this legislative package in order to allay some concerns. the senate again will have an opportunity to address and continue to engage the administration in order to address some of the concern this is a they're raising as well. but this is a good, i think, first honest approach in order to find that solution so we don't see the detrimental job impact occurring right here in the united states and that we do allow affordable quality health care coverage for those workers overseas. again, i commend my friends, mr. karney, mr. nunes, for the --

mr. carney, mr. nunes for the work they have put in. i yield back the remainder of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from california is recognized. mr. nunes: i continue to reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. mr. levin: can i ask my colleague, are you ready to les? mr. new necessary: yes, i'm ready to close. mr. levin: ok, i will do the same. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. levin: i would like to be placed into the record a leter -- a letter of opposition to this bill in its current form from afl-cio, the american federation of county and municipal employee, farmworker justice, the u.a.w., the national council of la sa rah -- of lara sa, the service -- of la raza, the national employees,

the united warmworkers and the united foodworkers international. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. levin: and also in opposition to this bill nits present form from the national imlaw center and finally into the record the statement of administrative -- administration policy to the obama administration. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. levin: let me close, you know, i think it's regrettable that we're here in this predicament when we don't need to be. i think we do need to fix the ex-pat issue but not by unfixing health care reform. for millions of people. this is about more than about 300,000 people. we're talking about the health care protections and provisions applicable to 13 million people

in this country who are here legally. it's been said, and i very much respect this, it's taken three years to try to fix this problem. mr. carney and others have truly been working and mr. nunes and there have been bipartisan discussions. but here's the problem. if we're really going to continue effectively to work gether, when there is an outstanding issue, when there's been this aura of good faith, the majority should let the minority place on the floor an amendment to the bill and let us debate it. in fact, it only works against bipartisanship in this kind of circumstance to say it's essentially a closed rule. what is there to fear?

the only thing to fear is that we would have discussion that might make this a still more bipartisan bill. so instead of getting a likely minority of members on the democratic side we would have, i think, anover whelming majority on both sides determined to keep jobs here but not at a price of undoing necessary protections in terms of the health of millions and millions of americans. so that's where we are here and essentially so for so many of us, placed in a situation where we say we must do better, we shouldn't simply leave it to the other body. we have the abilities within this house with true bipartisanship to continue working and after three years, it might take another week or

two. that would be worth it in terms of trying to restore the reality of bipartisanship that really works. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from california is recognized. mr. nunes: thank you, mr. speaker. i'll close. the need for this bill wasn't conceived by opponents of the affordable care act or obamacare. the obama administration and the army of regulators acknowledge there's a problem and have come to the congress to fix it. treasury, h.h.s. and labor have all accepted the fact that ex-pat plans should not be regulated the same way domestic plans are regulated. after four years of examining this issue, as i said earlier, the administration issued limited and temporary regulatory relief for ex-pat plans. this bill is necessary because despite the administration's

limited and temporary fakeses -- fixes thousands of jobs are on the chopping block. american businesses can't compete based on the promise of limited and temporary relief. i want to also remind my colleague this is a mr. carney and myself have worked -- have worked on this for many years, and we've worked not only in a bipartisan way with the house of representatives, but we've worked with our senate counterparts where we have bipartisan support in the senate. the obama administration says they have concerns but we don't know what the concerns are and they did not issue a veto threat. so i think that leveler heads will prevail this bill will pass today, it will go to the senate, it will pass and i urge the -- i urge president obama to sign it into law so we can save these jobs. with that, mr. speaker, i will yield back the balance of my time.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. all time for debate has expired. pursuant to house resolution 555, the previous question is ordered on the bill as amended. the question is on engrossment and third reading of the bill. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the ayes have it. third reading. the clerk: a bill to clarify the treatment under the patient protection and affordable care t of health plans in which expatriates are the primary enrollees and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: the question is on passage of the bill. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the ayes have it. the bill is passed. mr. levin: i ask for the yeas and nays. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan is recognized. mr. levin: i ask for the yeas and nays. the speaker pro tempore: the yeas and nays are requested. those favoring a vote on the yeas and nays will rise. a sufficient number having risen, the yeas an nays are ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device.

pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, this 15-minute vote on passage of the bill will be followed by a five-minute vote on the motion to suspend the rules and pass h.r. 627. this is a 15-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

the speaker pro tempore: on this vote the yeas are 268 and the nays are 150. the bill is passed. without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. the unfinished business is the vote on the motion of the gentleman from new jersey, mr. garrett, to suspend the rules and pass h.r. 627, as amended, on which the yeas and nays are ordered. the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 627, a bill to provide for the issuance of coins to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the national park service, and for other urposes. the speaker pro tempore: the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended. members will record their votes by electronic device. this is a five-minute vote.

[captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

the speaker pro tempore: on this vote the yeas are 402. the nays are 13. 2/3 having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed, and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table.

the speaker pro tempore: on this vote the yeas are 403. the nays are 13. 2/3 having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed, and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. for what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition? mr. brady: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent to remove congressman david price of north carolina as the co-sponsor from h.r. 2429. his name was inadvertently added. the speaker pro tempore: without objection.

the speaker pro tempore: the chair will now entertain requests for one-minute speeches. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from west virginia eek recognition? mrs. capito: i ask permission to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. mrs. capito: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise here with my fellow members from west virginia to honor former u.s. representative mick dayton who passed away april 14, 2014. mick was a life-long west virginian who devoted himself to a life of service to our great state, including representing the third district of west virginia. mick's public service began with eight years in the national guard and his passion for serving others and dedication to republican principles inspired him to make a run for congress. a successful businessman, he also served as the presidential elector for west virginia and then last month he was named of one of only five emeritus

members of the west virginia part. he was devoted to his family he and his wife, lynn, shared a true partnership in life, giving them fafe and perseverance to go through his life's challenges. i will miss his bright smile, quick wit. i offer my deepest condolences to lynn, their two children and extended family. i yield back. >> mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman from west virginia is recognized for one minute. mr. rahall: mr. speaker, i, like my colleagues from west virginia, mrs. capito and mr. mckinley, remember mick staton as a dedicated public servant, a son of west virginia. i enjoyed serving in this body with mick. you always knew where he stood on a given issue. while he and i were members of different political parties, on principle we often agreed. he shared the most basic value of true west virginians,

loyalty. loyalty to his faith, to his family, to his friends, to his nation and to our state. mick's word was his bond and of course he was a loyal republican. and as a republican through and through, mick was always my friend. there is a good lesson in that for our members today, mr. speaker. our friendship continued to grow after his distinguished service ended in this body. mr. speaker, mick's service to our state of west virginia never ended nor did his efforts to bring people together, to get things accomplished for west virginians. he worked hard for that and his devotion flowed as naturally as a pristine mountain stream. his courteous, cordial fellow with what could best be described as an award-winning, ever-present smile had a good way with people. it's no secret to anyone who knew him that all of that warm personality, that sincere charm stemmed from a good heart. mick always made a point of delivering a birthday card to me personally. sometimes in my congressional

office. and this may is, as that birthday approaches, that good heart will be southerly missed. our thoughts remain with lynn, his wife, and with his family and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. for what purpose does the gentleman from west virginia seek recognition? mr. mckinley: to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. mckinley: mr. speaker, on april 14, we lost a friend in west virginia. mick staton and i have known each other for sometime and i consider him a true friend, someone that had a passion for west virginia. all a trailblazer through west virginia and trying different techniques, campaign style and work ethic. but he made a difference for a number of conservatives in west virginia and he was elected to the house of representatives on behalf of the second district. he brought with him a

with the of work national guard for eight years. his role in the house meant a lot to him. after he left he always, whenever i'd run into him, mr. speaker, he asked, what's happening? because he cared passionately what happened to our country and the state of west virginia. afterwards, after leaving office, he served as the chief political advisor for the united states chamber of commerce. he continued his mission to try to get the message across, how we can be a better nation, stronger, more vibrant. he cared very much. as you heard, he's left behind his wife, lynn, and two children, two adult kids, david mick staton and his daughter, cynthia. mr. speaker, we, again, we've lost a friend. i would ask that we have just a moment of silence on behalf of the fa.