1.5 million floridians have already signed up for a plan in the marketplace for the upcoming year. 1.5 million floridians. please, colleagues, don't take this away. vote no on this bill. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from pennsylvania. mr. pitts: mr. speaker at this time i'm pleased to yield two minutes to the gentleman from georgia, mr. heist. the speaker pro tempore: -- mr. pitts: the gentleman from georgia mr. hice. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. hice: since passage in 2010, obamacare has a full takeover of the health care industry and they were sold by false promises that obamacare would lower the costs and increase access to care. the first most egregious promise when the president himself said if you like your health care plan you'll be able to keep it, period. no one will take it away no

matter what. in reality some five million americans have lost their plans since that time and have suffered needlessly. furthermore mr. speaker, we were promised that premiums would go down. instead premiums in the individual marketplace have increased by an average of 49% across the country. this is one of the main reasons that only 7% of americans believe that obamacare will actually reduce the cost of care. obamacare has also been a drag on the economy. the nonpartisan congressional budget office has estimated that this law will reduce the full fime work force by some -- full-time work force by some 2.5 million people. and small business wages have already decreased 22.6 billion dollars a year. mr. speaker, with its $1 trillion in new taxes and $2 trillion in new entitlement spending, we must repeal obamacare, and h.r. 596 does

exactly that. additionally, we must replace this law with patient-centered free market solutions to the problems that exist in our health care system. h.r. 596 takes the important step of directing the committees of jurisdiction to develop legislation that will do just that. i ask all my colleagues to support h.r. 596. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new jersey. mr. pallone: mr. speaker, i yield one minute to the gentlewoman from new york, ms. compleark. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from new york is recognized for one minute. ms. clarke: thank you, 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 declared sound by the supreme court. it gives 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 committee to include provisiones that will provide people with pre-existing conditions access to affordable health coverage and provisions designed to increase the number of insured americans. i'm not sure where the republicans have been in the past five years, but those two provisions is already in the affordable care act, which is already the law of the land. in fact, the number of uninsured americans have steadily decrease under the affordable care act to a record low of 13.4% by the second quarter of freen, and the gallup's -- 2014, and the gallup's quarterly trend says the uninsured rate will drop over all age groups. the affordable care act is good law and should not be repealed and that is why i vehemently oppose h.r. 596. it is another very cynical attempt to take our nation backwards, and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from -- the chair

will inform the managers that the gentleman from pennsylvania has one minute remaining. the gentleman from new jersey has six minutes remaining. the gentleman from pennsylvania. mr. pitts: mr. speaker, i'll verve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from new jersey. mr. pallone: mr. speaker, i'd now yield one minute to the gentleman from oregon, mr. schrader. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from oregon is recognized for one minute. mr. schrader: thank you mr. speaker. i have to say i'm very surprised i have to be here today. i thought after millions of americans said loud and clear this past november they want us to work together and find common ground. we could put divisive bills like this behind us. when i speak to voters in my district in oregon, none of them asked me to raise taxes on the middle class, which effectively this bill does. none of them asked me to let health insurance plans discriminate against women or against pre-existing conditions. something this bill does. i don't know any seniors that want to pay more for

prescription drugs something that will happen if this bill becomes law. nothing i speak with wants the most vulnerable children to go without health insurance, which will happen with this bill going into effect, ending bipartisan support for the children's health insurance program. nobody i know wants to see the deficit grow, to pass on more debt to future generations or reduce the solvency of the medicare trust fund, again, something that will happen if this bill becomes law. mr. speaker, i don't think my constituents are alone in this. americans want us to stop wasting time, come together, put this partisan nonsense behind us and urge my colleagues right now to vote no on this bill and get our priorities in line. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from pennsylvania. mr. pitts: mr. speaker, i continue to reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from new jersey. mr. pallone: mr. speaker, i now yield one minute to my colleague -- my colleague from massachusetts, mr. kennedy. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. kennedy: thank you mr. speaker. mr. speaker, i rise today in

proud support of the affordable care act and the millions of americans that have received coverage under this law. i rise today in support of the idea that in this country, the most powerful in the world, that every citizen deserves access to quality, affordable health care. and i rise today on behalf of the millions of children that get health insurance through the children health insurance program that is also at risk today. mr. speaker, one in five children today are on food stamps. 16 million kids under the age of 18. for the first time in 50 years, the majority of u.s. public school students live in poverty. chip was designed in the 1990's to try to address these kids and make sure they have access to health care. and since the uninsured rate for children has dropped from 14% to 7%. chip funding expires later this year and includes in this bill, more than eight million children will lose access to health insurance. that is 150,000 children in massachusetts alone. and so mr. speaker, i ask my

colleagues today to hear those eight million voices, to vote no on this bill. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from pennsylvania. mr. pitts: continue to reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from new jersey. mr. pallone: mr. speaker i'd now yield the gentleman from california mr. cardenas, one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. cardenas: i rise in opposition to h.r. 596. americans should know that these same fear-mongering comments were made when congress created medicare. today we have millions of grandmothers and grandfathers who would not be alive today had that congress abandoned this critical life-saving law. i'm proud to support the affordable care act. last year in the san fernando vamly, thousands of families sat there nervous at first but

after realize now their family could afford to see a doctor, i personally witnessed tears of joy. republicans need to stop playing games with people's lives. the affordable care act saves lives. obamacare never existed. obamacare is just a form of a lie. americans need to learn that the affordable care act is not what people call obamacare. millions of people will be alive today and tomorrow and we just have to look at our history in congress to know that fear mongering should not intimidate elected officials. thank you very much. i yield back my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from pennsylvania. mr. pitts: continue to reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from new jersey. mr. pallone: mr. speaker, i now yield a minute to the gentleman from california, mr. thompson. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. thompson: i thank the gentleman for yielding. mr. speaker it's said that insanity is doing something over and over again and expecting a different result. well, here we go again, the

56th bill to repeal or undermine the affordable care act. we all understand that the majority needs to give their freshmen members an opportunity to say that they voted to repeal obamacare. so let's call this what it really is -- an exercise in futility. it may make for good talking points in your district, but it's bad for our country and it's a waste of time and a waste of tax dollars. you're in charge with the biggest majority in decades, and this is what you decide to do with it? folks on my side of the aisle are willing to work with you on things, like investing in roads growing our economy creating jobs and even making improvements in the affordable care act. our constituents sent us here to get something done, not to pass bills that are never going to become law. so let's do something meaningful. let's say no to this bill and get on with the work of the people. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from pennsylvania. mr. pitts: might i inquire how

many speakers the gentleman has? mr. pallone: we're prepared to close. i'll verve. the speaker pro tempore: -- mr. pitts: we're prepared to close, i'll reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new jersey. mr. pallone: how much time do we have? the speaker pro tempore: two minutes. mr. pallone: i yield myself two minutes mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. pallone: my colleagues on the other side keep saying they will come up with an alternative to the affordable care act and yet not one speaker mentioned an alternative that they have and that's because it doesn't exist. as i said before, four years ago, they came up with a similar repeal bill. they said they were going to instruct the committees to come back with an alternative and they never did. and they never will. the fact of the matter is if you listen to my colleagues on the democratic side, they talked about all the positive things that have occurred because of the affordable care act. millions, almost 20 million people who didn't have insurance before, now have insurance. pre-existing conditions out the window. how many people had to -- weren't able to get insurance before because they had cancer or they had other pre-existing conditions that made it impossible for them to get insurance? and that is not the case

anymore. kids who are on their parents' policies seniors who benefited from the fact now there's no doughnut hole and they can basically get their prescription drugs. how in the world are my republican colleagues come here on the floor and know that all these positive things have resulted because of the affordable care act? and just in a moments notice say they're simply going to repeal it and not even have an alternative to come up with it? it's incredible to me they want to turn the clock back and don't understand that people have benefited greatly from the affordable care act. well, the bottom line is that we as democrats are not going to turn the clock back. we are very proud of the fact the affordable care act has accomplished so much to reform the health care system, to deal with preventative care, to make changes in the health care system that are provided good, quality care, good benefits at an affordable price. this president said this bill is dead on arrival. he'll veto it. he'll take out his veto pen. let's not waste our time. 56th vote to repeal i hope we

don't see another one. it's simply a waste of time and i hope my republican colleagues understand that. so if you have some ideas in the future that you want to make improvements, you want to improve quality, you want to improve access we'll listen to them. we're more than willing to work with you on a bipartisan basis, but we are not going back to the system that existed before where the insurance companies ran the system. we're not giving it back to the insurance companies. i yield back, mr. speaker. . the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from pennsylvania. . >> as i said before, we had several hundred bills, a menu of options to repeal and replace. mr. pitts: some comprehensive, some targeted. i would remind the democrats that obamacare cut $17.16 billion out of medicare to fund obamacare. i'm pleased now to yield such time as he may consume to our great majority leader, mr. mccarthy from california. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california is recognized. mr. mccarthy: i thank the gentleman for yielding. mr. speaker, today the house

will vote on a bill that we have voted on many times in this chamber. mr. speaker, you want to know why? the answer is very simple. the law is a disaster. we still can't afford its costs and the american people still don't want it. the house on both sides is intimately tied to the will of the people. we talk, we listen to our constituents every day. in our districts we listen to them at meetings, in the grocery store, at the gas station and in our houses of worship. and every two years our neighbors either send us back to washington to fight for them, or send someone else. in the most fundamental way their priorities are our priorities. because we directly represent them. and when it comes to obamacare, the people could not be clearer.

mr. speaker, you know what they have said? they said, we don't want it. we don't want higher premiums. we don't want to be forced to buy all sorts of coverage that we don't need and can't afford. mr. speaker, they've also said we don't -- said, we don't want to lose our doctors, as millions have. we don't want to give control over our health care decisions to washington bureaucrats. they have simply said, we don't want it. but for years the president hasn't listened. now house republicans have three priorities. we want to increase freedom, promote opportunity and hold government accountable. obamacare is against all those goals with its outdated, top-down approach. it limits opportunities by destroying the 40-hour workweek and saddling americans with more costs. and it empowers the government

that mismanaged the v.a. and gives them even more control over american health care system. we need a new system. we need a system that puts the patients first. one that controls costs through competition and expands coverage by choice, not coercion. that is a system the house is developing right now. so if you ask why we're voting to repeal this law again, we're doing it for the people. mr. speaker, i ask that every member in this house that has a direct relationship with their district to listen. but at the end, have the wisdom to listen, but the courage to lead and vote yes. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the time has expired for the energy and commerce committee.

the gentleman from texas and the gentleman from michigan each will control 15 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from texas. >> thank you, mr. speaker. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. >> mr. speaker, i rise today in support of h.r. 596, legislation to repeal the president's controversial and expensive health care law. mr. brady: a law that put 159 federal agencies, commissions and bureaucracies in between you and your physician. mr. speaker, today the house of representatives again acts to

repeal the costly mistake known as the affordable care act. and in the years since the law's passage, americans, too many americans, have discovered the reality behind the president's promises. americans lost plans they liked. and wanted to keep. they saw their premiums soar and their deductibles. they discovered their family doctor was suddenly out of network and unaffordable. they saw their hours reduced to work and hiring slowed as a result of the law's $1 trillion in new taxes. they realized that under the law more work doesn't necessarily mean more pay. they saw their tax dollars risked on insurance organizations that are now failing. they tried frustratingly to navigate the complicated health care site to get help, buying what turned out to be more costly coverage. and soon millions of un suspecting americans may know

that errors beyond their control could leave them on the hook to the i.r.s. today's action is not simply opposing the affordable care act, it's about standing up for our families, parents, small businesses and local health care providers who have been hurt by this law. the american people deserve better than this. we need to start over and that begins with the full repeal of the president's health care law. but we can't just stop there. we also have to continue to advance our own patient-centered solutions to the problems in health care. solutions that actually lower the cost of health care, that make our current system more fair, that protect the most vulnerable and put our crucial safety net programs on a path to sustainability for the long term. i'm pleased, mr. speaker, that this bill will allow us another opportunity to put forward these ideas and i encourage my colleagues to support this bill. at this point i reserve the balance of my time.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from michigan. mr. levin: i yield myself such time as i shall consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. levin: i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. levin: well, the majority leader says we need a new system. this has been for four years their new system. a total blank page. their problem is that it's working that health care is working. it's working for these people. 1 million uninsured -- 12 million uninsured americans who got coverage. for over 10 million enrolled in medicaid and chip. for three million young adults, three million who are now covered because of their

parents' health policy. it's working it's working for 129 million americans with pre-existing health conditions. with pre-existing health conditions who so many of whom were out in the cold. for 105 million americans who no longer have a lifetime limit or an annual limit. and for seniors for seniors who got the benefit of filling the doughnut hole. there's some reference here to increased health care costs. it's a lie. health care costs have been going down. it's a fib. it isn't true. i think what bothers republicans most of all is that it's working and their ideology

is blind to success or they don't want to see it. we're going to vote no, what is this, the 56th time? we've lost track how many times we voted no. we're voting no because of the millions of people who were left out by our insurance coverage who now have the decency, have the decency of health care coverage and the protection of health care coverage. we're proud of health care reform. so we stand up to say yes to it by voting no. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from texas. mr. brady: mr. speaker, i'm pleased to yield one minute to one of the health care leaders on the ways and means committee, congresswoman from tennessee mrs. black. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized for one minute. mrs. black: i thank the gentleman for yielding. mr. speaker, as a nurse for over 40 years, i saw how

decisions in washington affected the real people. i witnessed the affects of congress' action on my patients' faces and in their billing statements. i understand better than most the need for health care reform. but obamacare was never the way to do it. just ask the 16,000 tennesseans who lost their health insurance through cover tennessee despite the president's promise, if you like what you have, you can keep it. or the 11 million small business employees that c.m.s. says will see their premiums spike because of the law. the results are in. obamacare was a mistake that hurts the very people it pretends to help. and that's why today i will vote to repeal this law once and for all. thank you and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan. mr. levin: i now yield a minute and a half to the distinguished gentleman from new york who has worked on health care for how

many years, mr. rangel? the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for 1 1/2 minutes. mr. rangel: thank you for this opportunity to try to figure out what's going on the floor today. normally republicans are rational, intelligent people and that's the reason why they keep talking about obamacare. it's clear to me that we're not voting on obamacare. i haven't seen obamacare in any of the papers we have today. so they must be saying that they want to repeal the patient protection and affordable care act. that makes it easy to understand what they want to do. they want to repeal health care. and they want to replace it with -- well, they want to -- they want -- i don't know what they want to do. quite frankly. but i know they want to get rid of this. i think we've reached the point where we've exhausted the legislative process. i figured it out. this senate is prepared to join

with them in this insanity. the only thing missing is the president of the united states. now, they must have a plan how they're going to pick up 2/3 of this house and 2/3 of the senate to tell the world, we don't want americans to have health care. now is the time for the spiritual leaders to come in. because i've been reviewing the bible and -- christians, jews, everybody says that we have a moral obligation to give the sick an opportunity to get well. to allow children the opportunity to breathe. and i know the concern for the unborn, that we all have. but what about the born, the aging, the disabled? and so collectively we all have to -- in god we have to trust. this means we've given up on

the process. 55 56 times. it's time to trust in god. so i'm calling upon all of those solemn voices there that are waiting to see whether sanity could ever come to the well of this house, and i think we've proven today don't count on us, god, we need your help and only god can get us out of this one. thank you for the opportunity. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas. mr. brady: mr. speaker, i'm pleased to yield one minute to one of the new members of the house of representatives, the gentleman from minnesota, mr. emmer. mr. emmer: thank you for your leadership on this issue. i rise today to address the urgent health needs of this nation. i asked my constituents to share with me how obamacare has affected them and i want to share a few of their stories with you today. troy wrote that his family's premium went up and coverage went down drastically -- went

down drastically -- drastically affecting the cost of his son's hearing aid. a mental health clinic has steadily lost clients due to regulations. today congress will vote to get rid of this fundamentally flawed and unworkable law, but this cannot be for show. it is not enough for congress to simply be against obamacare, we need to offer alternatives. . by offering market-based consumer-base reforms, we can find real solutions and i'm committed to working with my colleagues to get it done. it's time to stop playing party politics with the public's health. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan. mr. levin: i now yield two minutes to mr. mcdermott -- we're talking about health so dr. mcdermott from washington two minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. mcdermott: i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. mcdermott: mr. speaker, i

feel like i'm telling -- i'm hearing stories told to children. the story is this. when president obama became president, most people didn't live in the house of health. there were 30 million people out on the street had nothing, and so president obama built them a house and said everybody can live in the house of health and have health care. their next door neighbor didn't like the house, complained about the house, said there was everything wrong with the house and has tried 55 times to blow the house down. just like the big bad wolf and the three little pigs. and this time they come with a bulldozer and they want to knock the house down and put everybody out on the street again. now, it wouldn't -- this would be not so silly if it wasn't

for the fact that they have no plans to build anything for the people to live in. they've talked for five years, we have plans, we have a committee, we have -- oh, we're going to have plans any day. the fact is they have no plan for the people. they simply say to the american people, we want to knock down your house of health your pre-existing condition will now keep you from health care, your kids are off before 26, all of this is going to happen because we don't think you should have a house of health in this country. they have no plan and they know it, and they're ashamed of it but they can't stand the fact that mr. obama built the house that covered everybody. it's a glorious creation. is it perfect? no. did they come over with a

hammer or paint or something to change it? no. it was always knock that house down. folks, vote no. keep the house up. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas. mr. brady: mr. speaker i'm pleased to yield one minute to a business woman former state ladies and gentlemen legislative slator, who understands the harm of the -- legislator, who understands the harm of the affordable care act mrs. walters. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized. mrs. walters: the affordable care act was sold on numerous false promises. premiums for a typical family would go down. the president told americans that if you like your health care plan you can keep it, and if you like your doctor you can keep your doctor. however that was not true and now many americans are grappling with a very different reality. as a result of obamacare, millions of americans have seen their health care plans canceled, families are finding

they may not get to keep the doctor they like and premiums in the individual market are increasing 45% in the average state. mr. speaker, the american people deserve better. instead of putting the federal government in the driver's seat of our nation's health care decisions, we need solutions that will protect the doctor-patient relationship, foster economic growth and empower patients by giving them the choice and control. today i'm pleased to stand in support of h.r. 596, legislation that would not only repeal obamacare but would instruct the house to come forward with a patient-centered free market alternative. mr. speaker, i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan. mr. levin: i now yield two minutes to another distinguished member of our committee mr. pascrell, two minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new jersey is recognized for two minutes. mr. pascrell: mr. speaker i rise today in opposition to h.r. 596.

you'd think that if my friends on the other side cobbled together all of the time they spent trying to undermine the a.c.a. they should have been able to come up with an alternative for this law, the law they can't find anything good to say about. but i'm not holding my breath for that. while we have been here 55 times before, including my republican colleagues shutting down the government over a.c.a. -- let's not forget that. you shut the place down in trying to stop a.c.a. today -- oh, by the way, you didn't know how much that cost them. billions of dollars in jobs. now we're repealing the law after the major coverage expansion provisions have gone into effect. today's vote in repealing the a.c.a. means taking away health insurance for the 19 million americans who received coverage under a.c.a., including 213,000 people from my home state of

new jersey. second, ending the tax credits 85% of americans with coverage through the exchange are using to help offset the premiums and requiring them to pay back the tax credits they already received. and third among the many reasons, seniors losing the new medicare benefits the a.c.a. created, such as lower drug costs and free preventive services. you tell this -- i want to be there when you tell the seniors in your district that are covered under this plan that they don't have it anymore. i want you to tell them how much it's going to be increased on prescription drugs. you stand there. don't pontificate on this floor. go to your district. tell the people what you're doing. before the a.c.a., many people were paying for plans that didn't provide them with the coverage they needed. the plans they purchased at high out-of-pocket costs and artificially low caps on coverage.

my friends, my friend from texas, and i call him my friend -- the speaker pro tempore: the chair would remind members to address their remarks to the chair. through the chair. mr. pascrell: through the chair, my friend from texas -- i call him my friend i think sincerely. i agree with him, this we want results from what we're spending on health care. want to see the results. results oriented. absolutely. that's what health care and a.c.a. are all about. we are removing ourselves from the fee for service which have placed -- made patients prisoners of hospitals. and you agree with me on that, i believe. make the a.c.a. better. help us improve it for a change. you know there are good things in this bill and in this law. help us make it better for the american people and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired.

the gentleman from texas. mr. brady: mr. speaker, i'm proud to yield one minute to a new member of congress and a former state legislator who helped lead the fight against the damages of the affordable care act in north carolina, mr. rouzer. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. rouzer: thank you mr. speaker. one of the best things we can do in congress to create an environment for good -- better paying jobs is to repeal obamacare. under obamacare, health insurance premiums have gone up access to quality care has gone down and doctors all over this great land are plotting their exit strategies. not to mention the chill effect this law has had on our economy resulting in lost jobs all over america. it's a simple fact, if you're going to get the best product for the lowest possible price you must have competition and transparentsy. we have very little of either in the health care sector today, and obamacare, with all its rules and mandates, has made it that much worse. if we want to do right by the

american people, we should allow individuals and families to buy insurance across state lines, let small businesses and other groups establish associated health plans so they can pool their resources and have the leverage to buy health insurance at lower rates. and we should let individuals and families to set aside money in health savings accounts tax-free. mr. speaker, those are just a few of the simple commonsense steps we can take to help drive down costs. the american people know that obamacare is not the answer, and those seeking a good-paying job definitely know it. so let's do what's right. let's repeal this disastrous law and start anew. mr. levin: it's now a pleasure to yield to the gentleman from new york, also the vice chair of our caucus, mr. crowley. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. crowley: i thank the gentleman for yielding. mr. speaker, i heard my friend, the gentlelady from tennessee, mrs. blackburn, as she was leaving and finishing remarks she said -- and i somewhat

quote. she hopes this repeal of the a.c.a. will be once and for all , the end of the a.c.a. act. once and for all. if they've done it once they've done it 56 times. it's not one time, it's 56 times you wanted to repeal the affordable care act. 56 times. my colleagues on the other side of the aisle are probably pretty proud of themselves. after all, joe dimaggio, he had a 56-game hitting streak. something people say will never be equated again. but unlike joe this one isn't a streak of hits. it's a streak of losses, a streak of strikeouts for the american people. it's a streak of being willing to sacrifice the health and well-being of your constituents just to make a cheap political point. this majority is apparently ready and eager to actually take away health coverage, and as my friend from new jersey, mr. pascrell said try explaining this to your

constituents back at home. take away health coverage people have purchased and have been using for over a year. they would make people particularly seniors, pay back the tax credits that helped them afford the coverage in the first place. they would ask their seniors to go back to pinching pennies to afford prescription drugs and even force them to repay the rebate check they received for the high prescription drug costs. they would put insurance companies back in charge of what kind of health care you can get and when you can get it and how much it's going to cost. that's not a win to me. that's not something to celebrate. it's something you should all be ashamed of. mr. speaker, you all know joe dimaggio. some streaks put you at the top. this one puts you at the bottom and unfortunately it puts the american people on the bottom as well. with that i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas. mr. brady: mr. speaker, i'm

pleased to welcome a new member of the ways and means committee who has quickly become a leader on health care issues, the gentleman from missouri, mr. smith. the speaker pro tempore: how much time does the gentleman yield? mr. brady: one minute. mr. smith: we heard the comment numerous times, if you like your health care you can keep it what the president had said. mr. speaker, we know that was not true. and i would like to give you an example of just one of thousands that i've had from my district. this comes from frank whenever you contacted our office he said my first sbroydux to obamacare was a cancellation notice on december 31, 2014. he said, i wasn't canceled for numerous claims or because of my health. i was canceled because of obamacare. and let me tell you. he lost his health insurance, and this is the change of his current health insurance he was supposed to keep to now what he has to have. his current policy premium was $237.86. his new premium is $531.89, an

increase of $123 -- 123.6%. his deductible on his old policy was $2,500. his new policy deductible is $6.350. his co-pay on his prior policy was a zero co-pay within the network. his new program was a 40% pay above his deductible. so let's look at it. if you have a $30,000 medical procedure, under -- mr. brady: mr. speaker, i yield an additional 30 seconds. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. smith: thank you, mr. chairman. under a $30,000 medical proper prore, his old insurance claim, he had a $2,500 deductible. with his $6.350 deductible, he's going to be out $15,810. this is what my constituent frank wrote. obamacare is clearly the biggest, most costly lie that has ever been forced upon me by the federal government. it should be entitled what it

is, the most ridiculously unaffordable health care act. mr. speaker, that is why i'm standing here today with my colleagues, asking for a vote on h.r. 596, to repeal the ridiculously unaffordable health care act. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan. mr. levin: how much time is there, please? the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan has four minutes remaining. the gentleman from texas has seven minutes remaining. mr. levin: i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from texas. mr. brady: thank you, mr. speaker. i'm pleased to yield one minute to a business owner who's had to provide health care to his workers and leader on the ways and means committee, the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. kelly. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. kelly: i thank the gentleman. mr. speaker, i rise in strong support of h.r. 596 because i think it's time for everybody that sits in this house to listen to the american people. this is health care america's house. this is the house of representatives. it's not the republican party who disapproves of the affordable care act. it is the american people, and it doesn't matter what poll you look at. overwhelmingly, whether it's

rasmussen, cbs news, fox news, associated press, gallup pew research, americans are saying resoundingly, we do not like this bill, we disapprove of this bill. and to continue to say somehow we're taking something from somebody, wait until the tax season hits. i'm talking to people back home that do tax preparation. they're already looking at just day two of tax preparation, my goodness, what we were told was a lie. now, mr. gruber couldn't be more truthful when he said, we relied on the stupidivity -- stupidity of the american people to get this passed. where i'm from you are's allowed to make a mistake but not lie to people. they won't forgive you for that. it's time to repeal this horrible piece of legislation that was passed through lies. is it didn't get passed through honesty. it's dishonest to say that the republicans are trying to hurt the american people when the american people speak out in a great majority and they disapprove of this law. i thank you and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the

gentleman from michigan. . mr. levin: i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from texas. mr. brady: mr. speaker, i'm pleased to yield one minute to a small business person and a dynamic member of our house of representatives, the gentleman from north carolina, mr. pitting injury. -- mr. pittinger. mr. pittenger: mr. speaker, i rise today in support of this, to repeal the affordable care act. i would ask my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, if this obamacare is so good, why am i hearing so much from my constituents that they can't keep the insurance plans that they liked? many have seen their premiums skyrocket and too many who need health have fallen through the -- help have fallen through the cracks because of a flawed system where obamacare picks winners and losers at the expense of the american taxpayers. today's vote on repeal is an important first step. we will replace obamacare with patient-centered reforms increasing competition and lowering costs by allowing insurance to be sold across state lines.

ensuring portability and safeguarding individuals with a pre-existing condition. all by providing freedom of choice, not more fines and taxes. obamacare is a train wreck. i urge my colleagues to support today's repeal and join me in spork -- working toward a commonsense replacement. thank you and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan. mr. levin: i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas. mr. brady: i'm pleased to yield one minute to the gentleman from florida. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> thank you, mr. speaker. i appreciate you mr. chairman. i stand in support of h.r. 596, the a.c.a. was passed not in open, transparent government, it was passed with not one republican support behind it. we hear on the other side how we're repealing it again and i think you ought to take heed to the notice that the american people sent the largest majority of republicans back to congress primarily to repeal this bill. mr. yoho: i have seen my own story my family, my wife and i and our kids, our policy got

canceled because of obamacare and through the house exchange, as a member of congress, my premium went up $870 extra a month. that's almost $11,000 extra it's costing me with decreased coverage, increased dedubbletblingt -- deductibility and the price went up. it was a fabrication that the prices would go down. if it's happening to me, it's happening to everybody around america, which leads to a quality of our lifestyle decreasing and health care is not improving because the majority of the people getting care through this is on the medicaid system. if you look out at the outcome around the world, our medicaid health system is at the bottom and that's where we need to repeal this bill and replace it with the reforms we have. thank you and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan has four minutes remaining. the gentleman from texas has four minutes remaining. the gentleman from michigan. mr. levin: we may have one additional speaker who's not here yet so i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from texas.

mr. brady: mr. speaker, let me yield myself one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. brady: we heard a lot about 56. 56 times we voted to repeal or defund this bill. but think about the hundreds of times this white house and our democrat colleagues have tried to force tax increases on families and small businesses. how many hundreds of times they tried to force global warming mandates that only drive up energy costs. how many hundreds of times that they forced red tape down our local businesses that they can't possibly survive. and how many millions of people have been forced into health care plans they don't want. forced into higher monthly premiums higher dedubbletbles, they can't see their doctor -- deductibles they can't see their hopts or doctor or provider -- hospitals or doctors or provider. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan. mr. levin: i'll reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the

gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from texas. mr. brady: mr. speaker, we are ready to close. so if the running backing member would like to -- ranking member would like to proceed. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan. mr. levin: i yield -- i have four minutes left? the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman has four minutes. mr. levin: i yield two minutes to the gentleman from washington. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. without objection. mr. mcdermott: mr. speaker, it is hard to conceive of a democratic society in which everyone does not have health security. when you look across the face of the earth every industrialized society on the face of the earth has given health security to their

people. they've had their own plan. the germans had their plan, the japanese had their plan, the british had their plan, the canadians. everybody's had their own plan. now, what we're arguing about here today is the president brought a plan to the congress and tried to work with the other side, but they said no, no, no, no. so we passed a bill. now, there isn't anybody in this business who's done any work in any legislative body who believes that you can write a perfect piece of legislation. you always have to make changes in it. you find things in it that need to be changed. and we have had no help whatsoever of bringing out the kind of changes that would make sense to make this bill work for all americans. when you get sick, you're not a democrat. when you get sick, you're not a

republican. you're not in the tea party, you're not on the left. you're just sick. and you want some help. and that's why this bill is way beyond partisan politics. and i had a conversation with bill frist about a year and a half ago. he wrote an editorial in which he said, don't repeal, fix. so i called him up and said, you know, you and i ought to work together and see if we can't work with the republican caucus maybe you can get into them, i can't, they won't talk to me about working together. and he said, well, i'll do what i can. but we never got there. everybody knows that you're not -- you do not want to have a situation tomorrow where you have a pre-existing condition and you have no health insurance. and that's the kind of thing you're creating by repeal. it's just a bad bill. put it aside and let's work on it. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from michigan.

mr. levin: mr. brady, are you ready to close? mr. brady: mr. speaker, how much time do we have? the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman has four minutes remaining. or 3 1/2 minutes. mr. brady: i'm pleased to yield one minute -- pleased to yield one minute to the gentleman. >> thank you. i rise in support of the repeal. obamacare came with many promises, but the american people are finally getting the bill in the mail and they don't like what they see. we were promised lower costs, but we've seen most premiums and dedubbletbles only skyrocket -- deductibles only skyrocket. people need a government subsidy just to afford it. as i traveled my district, i talked with countless small business owners who think of their employees like family. and they already provide health care coverage for their fine workers. but now that obamacare is forcing them to buy more expensive insurance, many are having to lay off their own

employees or convert them to part-time to avoid these skyrocketing costs. at a time when we should be growing the economy, obamacare is forcing businesses to lay off people, cut their hours and cut off their health care coverage. health care in america certainly had problems before this law. but obamacare has been a cure worse than a disease. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan. mr. levin: mr. brady, are you ready to close? mr. brady: in a moment, sir yes, sir. so if you'd like to close we'll follow. mr. levin: then you'll close? mr. brady: yes, sir. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan. mr. levin: i yield myself the balance. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. levin: i ask unanimous consent to put into the record a statement of administration policy. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. levin: this came from the president. the president said when he ran for office, yes we can. and he came here and eventually

secured a majority to pass a bill to rectify 75 years of inaction. 75 years for americans without health care by the millions. and so we get it. the republicans have said we will. but they never have. we've never seen a bill that addressed this issue comprehensively. and so now they're on the run because millions and millions of people have now benefited for a variety of reasons who never had a single hour of health care for themselves or their children. and so now the republicans say, we'll come up with something.

it's too late. health care reform is here to stay. we can improve it. but republicans will never destroy it. the american people know it's complex. but they know their health needs. we responded we responded. that should be and is respected. not the disrespect of coming here 57 times to say no when they've never come up with anything. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from texas. mr. brady: i yield myself as much time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. brady: frightened. in the days before this health care law was brought to the floor democrats were meeting

in the white house in secret, cutting special deals, trying to find a way to pass this bill, because they were frightened that they -- if they did it in the public, out where people could see where they were creating, that they would fail. the night they brought it to the house floor, they were frightened that the american public would know what was in it. they brought it to the floor where literally no one on this floor knew what was in it. they were frightened about what the american public would believe. since its pass -- it's passed, frankly too many americans are frightened by what they've been exposed to, which is forced into health care plans, they had good ones in their business and now they're forced into ones that cost more, the deductibles have soared, they can't see their local doctor or go to the local hospital or pay for medicines for their children because of this health care plan. democrats at the time didn't allow a vote on any other alternative. no ideas, no options. because they were frightened

the american public could see there is a better way. the question today is, can we do better? can we do better than this law that, yes, has helped some, but has hurt so many more? today is about taking the first step to allowing a better option for american families and providers and patients. by first repealing this controversial and troubling law and then bringing to the floor directing our committee to bring a better idea to the floor so that the american public has a chance for real affordable health care that's directed toward them, not washington, that goes with them from job to job, state to state, home to raise a family or to start that small business, one that's tailored to them not washington. this law is about not top-down but bottom-up and it is long overdue. i support and strongly urge repeal of the health care law and passage of this bill. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the

gentleman yields back the balance of his time. all time for debate of the ways and means committee has expired. the gentleman from alabama, mr. byrne, and the gentleman from virginia, mr. scott, each will control 15 minutes. mr. bryne: mr. speaker, i rise today in strong support of h.r. 596 and yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. bryne: thank you, mr. speaker. by now we have heard all the stories. from canceled plans to higher deductibles to longer wait times at your doctor obamacare is full of broken promises. everywhere i go in southwest alabama, i hear a different story about how this law is having a negative impact on families, small businesses, doctors and hospitals. and the problems aren't just in alabama. nationwide studies show that

under obamacare, individual premiums have gone up by an average of 49%. and deductibles have skyrocketed for the average american family to the point where many people can't afford to pay their deductibles, now how is that affordable? even worse, only 7% of americans believe that this health care law will reduce their health care costs. . 7%. that is astonishing. i don't believe obamacare can be fixed through piecemeal reforms. i think the only way to truly get rid of this harmful law is to repeal obamacare in its entirety. for the first time republicans now have control of the senate and senate democrats can no longer stand in the way of having this legislation brought up for a vote. this also marks the first full repeal vote since the law has been in implementation.

right now american families are sitting around their kitchen table to do their taxes and realizing yet another area this law has caused a confusing maze in order to avoid penalties and we're told that millions of americans have to pay penalties. we were told we would like the law once we found out what was in it. the opposite has been true. we were told we could keep our health care plans and keep our family physicians. that also is not true. the more we learn about this law the less it makes sense, and today's vote is not just about getting rid of obamacare. it's about charting an appropriate path forward. my legislation instructs the appropriate house committees to move forward with alternative solutions to improve our health care system based on patient-centered reforms that aren't run by the federal

government. i look forward to being a part of that process. mr. speaker, i'm proud to champion this legislation on behalf of families in southwest alabama and all across america who have been negatively impacted by this law and i urge my colleagues to vote yes on h.r. 596, and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from virginia. mr. scott: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. scott: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise in opposition to h.r. 596. as the reserve the balance of my time of the education and the work force, i know that protecting access to affordable health care for america's workers and families is a high priority, and despite scare tactics and misinformation, the bottom line is that the affordable care act is working. perhaps those that want to repeal the affordable care act have a short memory. it's important to remember why the affordable care act was passed in the first place. before the a.c.a. the

employer-provided coverage was shrinking. more and more employers were just dropping coverage altogether and there were months in 2008 and 2009 when 14000 people a day were losing their health insurance because employers were not providing it and because it was above their ability to pay. now, from 1999 to 2010 the cost of premiums for employer-provided health insurance increased by 138%. workers earnings only went up around 40%. and those who were employed were often locked into their employment for fear of losing their health care insurance because even though they wanted to retire, they couldn't get insurance somewhere else. and so they were stuck in their job. every american -- for every american family with insurance had to pay a hidden tax of about $1,000 per family for the cost of paying those without insurance, who would go to the hospital and not pay so when

they would go to the hospital they would have to pay a little extra. that little extra was about $1000 per year for every family with insurance. this was the reality that american workers and their families faced before the passage of the affordable care act, and we should not go backwards. today, thanks to the a.c.a., workers are enjoying the peace of mind that they have options. if the employer-provided coverage is not available, they can enter the marketplace. if it's not available, they have a requirement that at least 80% of the premiums be spent on actual health care, not corporate jets and c.e.o. bonuses and we ended insurance practices such as caps on payments. it would only pay so much overall and then you're on your own. or so much for your lifetime, then you're on your own. and cancellations where they could just arbitrarily cancel your premium after you paid year after year after year. when you get sick, well, they

check and they just want to cancel your premium. those abuses can no longer take place. employers will also suffer under the repeal, in 2014, premiums for employer-provided health care grew at the lowest rate in 15 years. if the a.c.a. is repealed, many employers could again be charged health-related premiums, so if they have a few sick employees they'll see their premiums skyrocket. the vast majority of large employers who provide health insurance to their employees may suffer an increase in premiums due to the return of the hidden tax the cost shifting of uncompensated care. and when employees leave a job, they're on their own. to get the insurance if they can because there was a prohibition. they could deny people with pre-existing conditions. so if you have a pre-existing condition and leave your job, then who knows what's going to happen? in addition, small employers would suffer. since all small -- since all

small group market reforms, including rating reforms, would disappear. small employers used to pay 18% more in premiums than large businesses on average. at c.a. leveled the playing field so now they're paying the rates like everybody else. if you repeal the affordable care act they're up another 18% where it was before. now, we've heard all the statistics. over three million uninsured young adults have access to health insurance through their parents' policies. eight million senior citizens in the so-called medicare doughnut hole have been getting relief and have saved billions. 12 million more americans have health insurance because of the affordable care act. these numbers represent real people, and these real people would lose access to their benefits in the affordable care act is repealed. now, those trying to repeal the law should be honest to seniors about what would happen to their free preventative care in the absence of the affordable

care act. they should explain to young adults that the law would kick them off their parents' policies. they would have to explain to millions of americans who only have insurance because of the affordable care act, many for the first time in their lives, why they'll now have to go without coverage. and while the majority -- republican majority continues to talk about repeal we should be talking about the progress we've already made and how we can continue to move in the right direction. so when the republicans talk about replacement of legislation that's important -- it's important to note there's no meaningful replacement proposal on the table. and delaying the effective date of this repeal for 188 -- 180 days is not make a meanful replacement any more plausible or likely. this is the 56th attempt to repeal or undermine the affordable care act this is a distraction and i hope the republican majority will refocus efforts on real policy solutions to the american people, the american families

and workers. mr. speaker, i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from virginia reserves the baffle his time. the gentleman from alabama is recognized. mr. byrne: mr. speaker, i'm pleased to yield to the distinguished majority whip of this house who's not just traveled around his district talking to people harmed by this law, but traveled around the united states of america, the distinguished gentleman from louisiana, mr. scalise, one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from louisiana is recognized for one minute. mr. scalise: thank you, mr. speaker. i want to thank the gentleman from alabama for yielding and for his leadership on bringing this bill to the floor to repeal the president's health care law. mr. speaker it was back in 2010 when then-speaker pelosi infamously said we have to pass the bill so we can find out what's in it. well mr. speaker, we know what's in the bill. american people across the country have seen the devastating impacts of the president's health care law. millions of people have lost the good health care that they had, that they liked. we all heard the promise, if you like what you have you can keep it. the promise was broken to millions of people. and not only did they lose good health care, but many, many

millions of people have seen dramatic increases. they're paying double-digit increases for the health care they do have. and what's worse mr. speaker, is that we've seen that vital doctor-patient relationship violated now by unelected bureaucrats in washington who have come in between the doctor and the patient, to make decisions for people's health care. that's not the way to do reform. that was the old way, the washington-knows-best way. there's a better way, and this bill starts that process by first repealing the law in its entirety and then getting the committees of jurisdiction involved putting an alternative in place with a shot clock of 180 days where we can come up with a real bipartisan alternative. let's repeal this law. let's restore that doctor-patient relationship. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from alabama reserves. the gentleman from virginia is recognized. mr. scott: i thank you mr. speaker. mr. speaker, i yield three minutes to the gentleman from colorado, mr. polis. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from colorado is recognized for three minutes. mr. polis: i thank the gentleman from virginia. mr. speaker, it's week five of the 114th congress, and i

really feel like that movie "groundhog day" where the same day just keeps repeating itself over and over and over again. this is the 56th time we've been through this particular exercise, repealing the affordable care act here in the house. we get it. republicans want to repeal the affordable care act. go ahead and try to get president obama's signature on that piece of legislation. it ain't going to happen. but here we go again and again and again we're considering recycled political gimmicks that everyone here knows deprive the american people of affordable health care and won't create a single job and will increase our deficit over $00 billion. by the way, there's an accounting trick in the ryan budget. what the republican budget does is it keeps all the obamacare taxes and gets rid of all the benefits. that's the worst of both worlds. the republicans want you to pay for obamacare and not get it.

does that make any sense, mr. speaker? we're starting to see the dengers of this strange -- dangers of this strange groundhog day brand of so-called policymaking. this is what happens when we abandon regular order, we don't have markups in committee, we don't have hearings, to jam through partisan legislation under a closed process without an opportunity to even suggest what might replace the affordable care act or what kind of health care policy we want to make health care more affordable in our country. this bill would leave 27 million americans out in the cold without health care. what about even more americans who wouldn't have coverage for pre-existing conditions, who wouldn't have access to affordable prescription drugs? this bill would mean real harm and real hardship for people in my district. couples like mike and lynne in loveland whose health care cost is more than their mortgage before the affordable care act. it cost $850 a month. but thanks to the affordable

care act, they were able to find a plan that cost $00 a month. people like robin in eagle county in my district who could barely afford $600 a month in health care costs but now thanks to the affordable care act and the tax credits pays just $132 a month. another constituent of mine didn't go to the doctor for years because he was uninsured. but because of the affordable care act, he was eligible for the medicaid expansion for. for the first time he received a colonoscopy and doctors discovered and removed a precancerous poll-- polyp. without a.c.a. that might have cost him his life or tens of thousands of dollars because of that procedure. we can do better. we can escape this endless loop this groundhog day and talk about real job-creating

legislation, improve health care that republicans and democrats agree on because they make sense for our country. there are real lives at stake mr. speaker. i urge my colleagues to vote no and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from virginia reserves the baffle his time. the gentleman from alabama is recognized. mr. byrne: mr. speaker, i'm pleased to yield to a new member of the education and work force committee a new member of this body, the distinguished gentleman from georgia, mr. carter, for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from georgia is recognized for one minute. mr. carter: thank you mr. speaker. i stand before you, mr. speaker in support of house resolution 596. for three reasons. first of all i'm a middle of the middle class. secondly, i had a small business and had employees. perhaps most importantly, mr. speaker, i'm a health care professional. the only pharmacist in congress. and i can tell you that affordable care act that obamacare is destroying health care that i have worked in for over 30 years and i refuse to set aside and let that happen. mr. speaker, it has increased

costs, increased deductibles and decreased coverage for the middle class. that is not what it was supposed to do. for employers, it has increased costs and decreased the coverage for their patients. and most importantly, for health care mr. speaker. what obamacare has done is to drive the free market out of health care. you don't see any more independent pharmacies. you don't see any more independent doctors. they're all members of health care systems or hospitals employed by them. there are only a couple of -- three or four major pharmacies now, and we're headed more toward that. you don't see patients having a say in their drug coverage any more. drug therapy is decided not by your pharmacist, not by your doctor, not by the patient but by insurance companies and government. obamacare has to end. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from alabama reserves. the gentleman from virginia is recognized. mr. scott: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent to enter into the record the following

letters in opposition, one from the national committee to preserve social security and medicare, another from easter seals, another from the afl-cio, and the other from sciu. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. scott: i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from virginia reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from alabama is recognized. . mr. bryne: mr. speaker, i'm pleased to yield to the gentleman from michigan, another new member of this body, another new member at the education and work force committee, who brings a unique experience to this body, i yield for one minute to the gentleman from michigan, mr. bishop. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan is recognized for one minute. mr. bishop: thank you, mr. speaker. i thank the gentleman for yielding. mr. speaker, for the past 20 years, as a practicing lawyer and business owner, i have seen firsthand how companies have tried to grow and create more jobs, but they simply can't due to the strangling grip of obamacare's employer mandate. small businesses tell a story of how their current plan was

canceled and how they were forced by obamacare into a health plan that covers less with higher co-pays and higher deductibles, along with unsustainable increases in premiums. simply stated obamacare is crushing small business across this great country. and despite the urgency of the crisis, the president has decided to dig himself in and promised to veto any commonsense reforms such as removing this employer mandate. so if the white house has decided not to collaborate with congress to ease the burdens on families and businesses, then the only path we have is full repeal. along with that mr. speaker, we need to move forward and develop commonsense health care reform that not only respects families and the doctor-patient relationship but also considers any and all opportunities to lower skyrocketing health care costs. thank you and i urge my colleagues to join me in voting yes on h.r. 596. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan's time has expired. the gentleman from alabama reserves. the gentleman from virginia is

recognized. mr. scott: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent to enter into the record letters in opposition from the following organizations, the american academy of family physicians, the american diabetes association, and the american public health association. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. scott: and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from virginia reserves. the gentleman from alabama is recognized. mr. bryne: mr. speaker, i am pleased to recognize and yield to the gentleman from georgia another new member of the education and work force committee, a new member of this body, i'm yielding for one minute to the gentleman from georgia, mr. allen. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from georgia is recognized for one minute. len len i thank the gentleman from -- mr. allen: i thank the gentleman from alabama for yielding. mr. speaker, individuals, families and businesses alike in georgia and across the nation agree that obamacare is wrong for americans. across my district hardworking georgians are trying to make ends meet, they've told me their health care premiums have skyrocketed under this law. many have learned the plan they

liked and were promised they could keep have been canceled and they've been denied care and access to their doctors. in addition to hurting american families, obamacare's costly mandates burden small businesses. the bedrock of job creation and entrepreneurship. and have real consequences for their employees, facing lower hours and wages. the nonpartisan congressional budget office estimates that the law will lower the number of full-time equivalent workers by 2.5 million. the president's own center for medicare and medicaid services also found that an estimated 2/3 of small businesses will see their health care premiums go up under obamacare. i urge my colleagues to support h.r. 596 and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from alabama reserves. the gentleman from virginia is recognized. mr. scott: mr. speaker, i yield three minutes to the gentleman from connecticut, mr. courtney.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from connecticut voiced for three minutes. mr. courtney: thank you, -- is recognized for three minutes. mr. courtney: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, the republican majority held a reteat where other members met and they set their agenda for 2014 and after that retreat, the leadership issued a statement saying, -- promising, with a solemn promise, that the house republicans will rally around and pass an alternative to obamacare this year. well, that's about four years after the law passed, but, hey, at least give them some credit that they were going to move forward in 2014 when the alternative to the -- with an alternative to the affordable care act. that was last winter and winter turned to spring, spring turned to summer, summer turned to fall, fall turned to winter and we never had a vote in the house on the alternative, the promised alternative to the obamacare. well, maybe we had the committee -- maybe the committees took action, the committees that this proposed bill is lateraling this issue off to. did we have a commission vote on education in the work force, ways and means, energy and commerce? no, did we have hearings on an alternative that was promised

by the majority caucus a year ago on an alternative to the affordable care act? no. no hearings, no markup, no vote, no bill. so here we are today with the majority once again throwing out a promise that, you know, trust us, in 180 days we'll have an alternative to the affordable care act. well, mr. speaker, unfortunately in the last year millions of americans have moved on. parents are ensuring their kids through the -- insuring their kids through the affordable care act up to age 26. there are members in the majority who take advantage of that very provision to provide coverage for their children under the affordable care act that they seek to repeal here today. millions of seniors see their prescription drug costs cut because the affordable care act, because of the leftover of the republican prescription drug bill which led this outrageous doughnut hole that threw 100% of the costs of medications to seniors who was paying monthly premiums and we saw the startup of exchanges

both at the state level like my state and the state of connecticut and the federal exchange, which have enrolled millions of americans in the owe to affordable plans. this year the affordable care act in connecticut, we had admissions by the insurance companies to participate in 2015. did we see reduced competition or less of a free marketplace? no we saw more competition we have more insurers who are offering the product through the exchange in 2015 than in 2014. did we see rates go up? mr. speaker, i'm going to submit to this chamber a record from the connecticut state department of insurance which shows that rates went down down for individual plans and for small group market plans. the fact of the matter is that this marketplace, which now has more carriers is now providing lower rates, saving close to $90 million from last year's rates than the year before. mr. speaker, what we are being asked to do here today is to stop that progress to take

away that coverage to young adults that today get it through their parents' plans, to take away the prescription drug benefit -- can i have 30 more seconds? mr. scott: i yield the gentleman 30 additional seconds. mr. courtney: to take away from seniors the relief that they're getting for life-saving medicationings, and to tell those individual and small group plans that are purchasing it now this year again we had 70,000 re-enrollments of the 75,000 that enrolled last year and we have 30,000 new that have enrolled this year in that plan. we have cut the uninsured rate in the state like connecticut, that's embraced the law, down to 4% of its population. and you're telling folks like me blow it up, get rid of it. and you have no plan, even though your caucus made a promise a year ago to the american people that they would provide a plan and they never came through with it. reject this bill. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from virginia reserves. the gentleman from alabama is recognized. mr. bryne: thank you, mr. speaker. i'm pleased to yield to my

distinguished colleague from florida, mr. desantis, for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from florida is recognized for one minute. mr. desantis: mr. speaker, my colleagues have demonstrated ably the substantive problems with this law. higher costs, canceled coverage, lost doctors. i'd just like to say that obamacare has done harm to small -- harm. when you go around the country telling people over and over again that they can keep their plans, that they can keep their doctors and that they will see thousands of dollars in savings on health insurance premiums, all the while you know or should have known that those promises were false i think that damages our political system, because ultimately representative government requires honest dialogue between elected officials and the citizenry. it's almost as if this is the jonathan gruber law where we want to tell people lies in order to get bills that we would not have passed otherwise

. i think that is unacceptable. these promises made to the american people were false. the american people were deceived and i think our representative government and political system have been damaged as a result and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from alabama reserves. the gentleman from virginia is recognized. mr. scott: mr. speaker, i yield 1 1/2 minutes to the gentlelady from north carolina, ms. adams. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from north carolina is recognized for 1 1/2 minutes. ms. adams: thank you mr. speaker. i thank the gentleman for yielding. i rise today in support of the affordable care act. one year after implementing the health care exchanges, the number of uninsured in this country has decreased dramatically. implementing the health care exchanges has provided health insurance access to 208,000 individuals in my district, with what are lot accounting for one of north carolina's highest number of subsidized health insurance enrollments. young adults can stay on their

parents' plans resulting in nearly 10,000 young adults retaining health insurance in my district. seniors in my district have saved $11.1 million through medicare part b, the prescription drug discount. the affordable care act has also created 9.6 million private sector jobs. my district's unemployment rate is 13.9%. so for me it's not about just health, but jobs and our economy. these tangible benefits cannot be ignored. i urge my republican colleagues end to talks of repeal and instead work with democrats to strengthen the law. the affordable care act would have meant a lot to my sister, who i often had to take to the emergency room for primary care for sickle cell. she died at age 26, but i know she would have been grateful for the coverage provided by the affordable care act. mr. speaker, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields back the balance of her time. the gentleman from virginia reserves. the gentleman from alabama is recognized. mr. bryne: mr. speaker, i am pleased to yield to a new member of the house, from the state of texas, who is himself

a dentist. i'm yielding for one minute to the gentleman from texas, mr. babin. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas is recognized for one minute. mr. babin: thank you mr. speaker, and thank you, mr. chairman. mr. speaker, i rise in strong support of h.r. 596, legislation that i have co-sponsored to fully repeal obamacare. my constituents sent me to washington to repeal this disastrous law and that is what we are doing today. the number one issue in my district. as a health care provider myself for 38 years i've seen firsthand the devastating affects of obamacare and how it undermines the doctor-patient relationship. it's costing us jobs and work hours and has led to millions of americans losing their health plans that they had and wanted to keep. and were promised such. restoring the patient's right to choose a plan that they want and can afford is just plain

common sense. our bill does this by repealing obamacare and replacing it with free market solutions. we put america on a path toward patient-focused care, rather than government-directed care. their traditional doctor-patient relationship would be restored. let's show the american people that we are listening and rid the nation of this terrible law and replace it with policies that work. thank you and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from alabama reserves. the gentleman from virginia is recognized. mr. scott: mr. speaker, i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from virginia reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from alabama is recognized. mr. bryne: mr. speaker, i am pleased to recognize and yield to a colleague of ours a distinguished veteran, the gentleman from utah, mr. stewart. for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from utah is recognized for one minute. mr. stewart: i'd like to thank my friend and the gentleman from alabama for giving me time to express my feelings.

the intent of obamacare was to make health care more accessible and more affordable. and it in fact has done exactly the opposite. and i have heard from hundreds of my constituents who tell me how it's impacted their lives. a friend of mine from bountiful who -- their premiums have doubled, have doubled. a small business owner in the southern part of my district who found they could not get insurance at all. their plan was entirely taken away. this law was built on a foundation of deception. we were told if you wanted to keep your doctor, could you keep them. we were told if you wanted to keep your plan, you could keep it. we were told it would reduce costs by an average 2,500 per family. we now know -- $2,500 per family. we now know that all of that was untrue and they knew it at the time they passed this law that it was untrue. all of us want to take care of those who have pre-existing conditions. all of us want to provide insurance to the uninsured.

we can do better. with that, mr. speaker, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from alabama reserves. the gentleman from virginia is recognized. mr. scott: i continue to yield -- to reserve, excuse me. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from virginia reserves. the gentleman from alabama is recognized. mr. bryne: i'm pleased to recognize and yield to another freshman in this house who comes from the great state of washington, i yield for one minute to the gentleman from washington mr. newhouse. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. new new thank you, mr. speaker -- nuenue thank you, mr. speaker -- mr. newhouse: thank you mr. speaker. this has been detrimental to american families businesses and taxpayers. americans were promised that they could keep their health care plans and see their premiums decrease. instead they've been irreparably harmed by the elimination of their existing health care plans and pushed into a one-size-fits-all health care system. a system that fails to consider individual needs and eliminates choice of physicians, while

families are faced with soaring premiums. . the cost of implementing obamacare has crippled businesses. small and large businesses have been forced to pass increased costs onto their employees, resulting in a decreased work force, lower wages, and delayed hiring. obamacare has hurt economic growth at a time when we can least afford it damaging our fragile economic recovery. put simply a government-centered approach to health care is not the answer. i urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this legislation. thank you and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from alabama reserves. the gentleman from virginia. >> i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. >> i would like to recognize and yield to another freshman member of this house, a gentleman who brings great experience to his position in this house, i yield for one minute to the gentleman from north carolina, mr. walker.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. walker: thank you, mr. speaker mr. chairman. middle class economics. it's the president's new catch phrase, a method to pay lip service to helping american families. more smoke and mirrors. in november, voters spoke loud and clear in sending 58 members to washington. i made a promise over the last two years that i would come to washington and stand up. today i'm proud to vote against, for the first time, i'm proud to vote for full repeal of this law. the a.c.a. has caused insurance premiums to skyrocket for working families in north carolina. it continues to weigh on our economy and job creators this law is seriously flawed and the fact that the president's administration has overreached dozens of times trying to change and fix the law themselves. yes, the damaging effects of obamacare are so ingrained to the fabric of this law that fixing it is not an option. that's why i urge my colleagues to vote for h.r. 596 for full

repeal. thank you, mr. speaker and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from alabama reserves. the gentleman from virginia is recognized. mr. scott: i believe the gentleman is prepared to close? mr. byrne: we are. mr. scott: i yield the balance of the time to the gentleman from oregon, mr. blumenauer. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for the remainder of the time, 1 3/4 minutes. mr. blumenauer: this is the 56th time we've gathered on the floor, talking past each other. the legislation offered by our republican friends a repeal doesn't have any alternative and frackly, everybody knows it's not going to pass. if it were to be -- will not be enacted into law, the president would vee to it. the facts don't justify the rhetoric.

we have 10 million previously uninsured americans, we have the lowest spending health care growth rate in years, and medicare premiums are lower than they were before the a.c.a. was passed. and it held steady for three years. what should we be doing? i'd suggest we deal with things instead of trying to make the a.c.a. worse and rail against it and get nowhere. i'd suggest we deal with things that we can agree upon. aye been working with my colleague mr. roe on bipartisan legislation to deal with providers helping with end of life care for patients. a medicare common access card with representative rothman. bipartisan legislation to establish a smart card pilot project to eliminate medicare fraud. a value-based design for better care with representative black which would establish a pilot frodget test reducing or

eliminating cost sharing for seniors with high value med cases. these are things we could do this month that would make a difference. i hope that we stop this charade and get down to cases. the american public deserve our best efforts not to debate but to make health care better and build on the foundation of the affordable care act. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired, the gentleman from alabama is recognized. mr. byrne: i've been listening carefully to the debate, we've heard a lot from both sides. but this is not about anybody in this house, it's about the american people. it's about something so very fundamentally important to them their health care. we took away the health care system that worked for 80% of the people in this country to fix a problem that we, today know we fixed for only 1% of the american people. only three million new americans have gotten on this new health care plan that didn't have

health insurance before. that's 1% of the american people. so we threw out the health care plan that worked for 80% of americans to fix a problem for 1% of americans. and look what it's done. it's wrecked lives. i have here from my office a sampling of emails and letters which doesn't include the phone calls, people have talked to me at over 30 town hall meetings, women with tears in their eyes because they couldn't pay their health insurance because they couldn't pay the diductable when they went to the doctor or hospital. a man who fore went going to get a particular surgery needed because he couldn't pay the deductible. that's what this law has done to the people of america. it has victimized the people of america. there's no way to fix this law. it's fundamentally flawed. we could go and do a piecemeal problem here, a piecemeal resolution there. we'd end up with another frankenstein. american people don't want frankenstein. they don't want groundhog day

either. they don't want the president to continue to throw stuff at them that doesn't work over and over again. they deserve a health care system that they control with their doctors. picking the health insurance program they want that's not mandated by the federal government that fit into their budget. that empowers them. instead of having their power taken away by some faceless bureaucracy in washington. let's repeal this terrible obamacare law. let's put in process a place that will give us a solution that works for people for what they really need and let's get on with the business that we're here to do to make lives better for the american people. i thank the majority leader. i thank the speaker. i thank the whip for bringing this bill to the floor. i thank them for allowing my bill to be the one to be the package that we used today. i ask all my colleagues to vote yes on this important bill and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time.

all time for debate has expired. pursuant to house resolution 70 the previous question is ordered on the bill as amended. the question is on engrossment and third reading of the bill. those in feaver say aye. those opposed, no. ayes have it, third reading. the clerk: patient protection and affordable care act and health care related provisions and health care and education reconciliation act of 2010 and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition? >> i have a motion to recommit at the desk. the speaker pro tempore: is the gentleman opposed to the current bill? >> i am opposed nits current form. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the motion. the clerk: moves to send the bill back to the committee and add at the end of the bill the following section four, protecting women, seniors, and middle class family from the harmful effects of repeal.

>> i reserve a point of order against the motion to recommit. the speaker pro tempore: the point of order is reserved. the clerk will read. the clerk: the provisions of this act shall not take effect unless and until such date that it is certified that one, insurance issued on the basis of pre-existing conditions and gender including higher premiums for women including mammograms, cervical screenings and commonly prescribed for health care, two, higher costs for seniors for prescription drugs under the medicare program under part d of title 18 of the social security act, 4 united states code, 1395w-101 et seq.y tur or three a tax increase on middle class families through the loss of subsidies to purchase health

insurance coverage. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from california is recognized for five minutes in support of his motion. >> thank you, mr. speaker. i have listened intently to the comments of my friends on the other side of the aisle and i must say it's not been my experience where i come from, but maybe that's different being from california. 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. mr. speaker, h.r. 596 would eliminate critical benefits and health care coverage from hardworking american families. mr. desaulnier: in addition to taking away americans' health care security it would increase the deficit, make health care more expensive and degrade the quality of care pishts -- patients are receiving. if adopted, my notion recommit would ensure that some of the most important protections of the affordable care act remain in effect. yesterday, as others have mentioned, it was groundhog day. but today, we are bill murray --

murray, living the same votes other and over again. in fact, as was mentioned, 56 times over and over again this motion would protect existing law by continuing to, number one, prevent insurance companies from discriminating based on pre-existing conditions and gender or cutting health benefits for women number two, prevent increases in medicare d prescription drug costs for senior and number three prevent a tax increase for middle class american families by taking away subsidies to purchase health insurance. mr. speaker, i am a former republican and a small business owner who supports the affordable care act and has seen the benefits for small business. i've also seen the benefits for the economy and the seven million californians who do not have health insurance. many vims who wanted health insurance were unable to obtain it either because it was too

expensive or because they had pre-existing conditions including nearly 126,000 people in my home county in the bay area. one of these individuals in my district is a young woman named emily. emily was born with a general heart defect and as a result she'll need regular monitoring and treatment by a cardiologist. were it not for the affordable care act, emily would have been left without critical health care and necessary treatment the remainder of her young life. her situation is not unique. approximately 130 million other americans no longer have to worry about being denied health care coverage because of their health status. additionally, mr. speaker, under the affordable care act, almost eight million seniors have saved nearly $10 billion on prescription drugs. and under the affordable care act, many people pay less for their insurance in 2014 than in 2013. before the law was enacted,

health care premiums were increasing exponentially, must faster than college tuition and worker wages and inflation. once the law took effect premium increases were died down substantially. simply, this law is saving americans money. in california this year, with two weeks left to go in open enrollment, more than 273,000 californians have joined the nearly one million covered california customers enrolled in 2014. nearly nine of 10 enrollees rere-seve some kind of financial help in 2014, ensuring that californians can afford the kind of coverage they need and want resm peeling the law without including these three protections will cost more than we can afford. $100 billion over the next 10 years until 2022, and more than $1 trillion in the following decade. mr. speaker, it would also

discriminate against women. in the form of higher premiums. and make it impossible for many women to get the care they need. every american family deserves a plan that covers essential health benefits. like hospital care, emergency care, care for pregnant women, and a plan that won't bankrupt them or this country just because an illness or accident occurs. and every american family deserves to know that they won't be kicked off their insurance far pre-existing condition or be subjected to lifetime caps that take away their benefits when they need them most. health care, mr. speaker, is not a democratic or republican issue. it is an american issue and a human issue. we are here to ensure that every american continues to have access to quality, affordable health care. if we can produce a bill that fulfills the goals set out by the affordable care act, it doesn't matter who wrote or signed the bill, but repealing the affordable care act without including these important

protections for hardworking, american, middle class families is irresponsible and reckless. i yield back the remainder of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from utah seek recognition? >> i would like to withdraw my point of order and claim time in opposition. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from utah is recognized for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. speaker ms. love: i would like to ask a few questions of my colleague. has congress made health care more accessible and toy aford snble has the quality of care improved? no. do hardworking families and our children deserve better? absolutely. now is the time to repeal and replace this disaster of a law. this law has hurt more poor and more middle income families.

i received a letter from a constituent and the letter states, i wonder if you would like a real-life example of what obamacare is doing to families. my daughter and her husband are expecting their second child. they were planning on moving from their small apartment to a small home. their insurance has doubled under obamacare and they will pay $500 a month their deductible will be $10,000. they will have to pay each doctor for a phone call plus $50 co-payments. no specialists are covered. they barely are getting by as it is. because of their insurance costs, there is no chance of getting into a home or even a bigger apartment. how can insurance for everyone be of help if it causes such a financial burden on families? my daughter is so depressed she isn't even excited about her upcoming child because she's so worried about their future. if we had the means to help, we would, but we don't.

my heart breaks for her. how can congress help? sincerely, paula. now, people talk about tweaking obamacare. i ask, how do you tweak that to help that family? the american people deserve better mr. speaker. imagine a health care system that is centered in service. imagine a health care system that is measured by outcomes, not by washington dictate. i know that it is hard for some of my colleagues to contemplate, but imagine if you will for me mr. speaker a health care system where dollars and decisions are left with patients their families and their doctor. i see an american exceptionalism at work where families and innovation and compassion drive the highest quality of care. members of congress representatives of the people do not set -- people, do not

settle. do not settle for tweaking a bad program that hurts more than it helps, that controls more than it empowers. there are too many members of this body that content with just getting this health care law to be good enough. i'm here to tell you that for the american people, good enough just isn't good enough. i reject the downward spiral of mediocrity and government takeover of health care. i refuse to pursue the administration's path of fear, blame and failure. i oppose this motion to recommit, a bad health care law. it is time for us, this body, to advance the policies and the principles that -- which have lifted more people out of poverty, fueled more freedom and driven more dreams than any other set of principles in the history of the world. i ask this body to come with me boldly step forward and unleash that american exceptionalism that produces the health care solutions that this family is worthy of and

every hardworking american in this country is worthy of. may god continue to bless this great exceptional country. thank you, >> president obama spoke about the repeal of the health care law. these comments came during a white house meeting among a group of people who benefited from the affordable care act. this is 10 minutes. >> >> we are here with a bunch of folks who took the time to come to washington, d.c., and tell me face-to-face stories that they have told me in letters they've written over the course of the last year.

everybody here has directly benefited from the affordable care act. and it's a pretty good representative example of people whose lives have been impacted in powerful ways. you have folks like tanya and regina and don who had cancer in some cases before the affordable care act was passed and were having trouble getting insurance, and because we no longer allow insurance companies some cases before the affordable to bar people because they've got pre-existing conditions, they were now able to get health insurance and have the security and relief that was needed. regina said for the first time since she was 12 years old, when she was first diagnosed with cancer, she felt free. and now's planning her wedding with her fiance. since she was 12 years old, when tanya, who shortly after signing up for the a.c.a. had a checkup, was diagnosed with a brain tumor, would not have even

discovered it had it not been for the affordable care act. and certainly would not have been able to afford treatments. the same is true for don who as a consequence of regular checkups and a colonoscopy that was part of the prevention of the prevention regiment in the affordable care act was able to catch a tumor early and is now cancer-free. we also have people who were able to benefit from medicaid expansion under the affordable care act. anne in connecticut, derek in california both were able to get on a plan that they could afford. even as they're working, even as they're taking care of families.

and as a consequence are healthier for it and was able to catch breast cancer early. we have small business people like lynette over here and darlene who, because they weren't work for a company, had a tough time affording the premiums and lynette saved herself about $300 and something dollars a month in premiums. she was able to cut her premiums in half, she's got a cupcake company, i think. [laughter] she said she brought some samples but secret service may have gotten them. [laughter] maria, a teacher in fairfax, virginia, naomi, a farmer down in roberta, georgia. samples but secret service may both of them were able to benefit from greatly reduced premiums and as a consequence are able to maintain their health and pay their bills at the same time. and then suzanne's got a wonderful story. she's a doctor in rural virginia. rural west virginia. not only are her and her sister

able to benefit from the affordable care act, but more importantly for her, patients that she had been seeing for years who would forego critical treatments are now able to pay for the tests and the medication that they need to maintain their health. so the bottom line is that the affordable care act is not an attraction. the debate about making sure that every person in america is able to get basic, high-quality, affordable health care is not some political ideological battle. it's about people. and for someone like regina who was diagnosed at the age of 12 with cancer to have a sense of security so that she was able to finish college and is able now

to plan her life, that is something that we should expect a country as wealthy as ours to provide to every person, to every citizen. and the idea that we would even consider taking that away from regina or tanya or suzanne's patients makes absolutely no sense. now, the good news is that we have over 10 million people who have now signed up under the federal exchanges and millions more who are signing up from the expanded medicaid that's taking place in states all across the country. those are millions of people who are saving money, millions of people who are getting preventive care, millions of people who feel for the first time in some cases the security

of knowing that if something goes wrong in their families or with them that they're covered. that somebody's got their backs. but they're not going to be bankrupt. that they're not going to have to split the pills that have been prescribed in half because that's all they can afford. they can continue with the professions or with the schooling and it makes this country more productive, it's good for all of us. so my understanding is the house of representatives has scheduled yet another vote today to take health care away from the folks sitting around this table. i don't know whether it's the 55th or the 60th time that they are taking this vote, but i've asked this question before. why is it that this would be at the top of their agenda? making sure that folks who don't have health care aren't able to

get it? it was maybe plausible to be opposed to the affordable care act before it was implemented. but now it is being implemented and it is working. and people are being covered just as anticipated. the premiums on average are less than $100 when you take into account the tax credit. so it is affordable for the people that it was designed to help. health care inflation is at its lowest rate in 50 years. the overall tab for the affordable care act is costing less than the original projections. in every respect this is working not just as intended but better than intended. and so the notion that we would play politics with the lives of

folks who are out there working hard every single day trying to make ends meet, trying to look after their families, makes absolutely no sense. that's a message that i want to send very directly today. i've got a second interest here and that is that we still have the opportunity for millions of more people to sign up. the deadline for signing up for 2015 is february 15. so we've got a little over a week for people to sign up for the cost of less than your cell phone bill or your cable bill, you can have the same kind of health security that the folks around this table do. around i want to remind everybody, anne told this story that she really didn't think she needed health insurance. ended up getting it because she heard that there was a fee involved if she didn't get it

ended up purchasing it or ended up getting -- finding out she was qualified for medicaid, the expanded medicaid in connecticut, and it was only after she signed up that she discovered through a mammogram that she had breast cancer. so it turns out that even if you think out there that you're not going to need health insurance you very may well need it at some point in your life. and here's an opportunity to sign up. so i want everybody to get on healthcare.gov, find out what options are available to you in your state and your community. we have people around this table who are paying as little as $30 or $20 a month for premiums. some are paying more. but again the average is less than $100 a month. and that is something that a lot of folks out there can afford.

and we've got millions of people who are still qualified who have a chance to sign up, but you've got to do it by february 15. so get on healthcare.gov, look at what your options are. don't take my word for it. but understand that this is something that can give you the kind of security and peace of mind that is priceless. and to my friends up on capitol hill, i would just ask them once again to consider why they would think an important priority, to take away health care from some 10 million people. people who are working hard and in many cases through no fault of their own got dealt a bad hand. regina at the age of 12 wasn't asking to have a series of cancers. and anybody who has a chance to

talk to her would know, we want her to succeed. she's overcoming incredible odds. why would we want to take health care away from her? why would we want to make it impossible for her to live out her life? with some sense of security and peace of mind? it doesn't make any sense. so, i just want to thank everybody here for sharing their stories. i'm very proud of them. and proud of the work that they're doing to help spread the word. but i hope all of you, since you got a lot of cameras and microphones, spread the word as well. got to sign up by february 15. thank you very much, everybody. you know, i just got word of the video that had been released. i don't know the details of the confirmations.

but should in fact this video be authentic, it's just one more indication of the viciousness and barbarity of this organization. it, i think, will redouble the vigilance and determination on the part of a global coalition to make sure that they are degraded and ultimately defeated. it also just indicates the degree to which whatever ideology they're operating off of, it's bankrupt. we're here to talk about how to make people healthier and make their lives better. and this organization appears only interested in death and destruction. thank you very much, everybody. \[captions copyright national

cable satellite corp. 2015] >> nancy pelosi discusses proposals to help the middle class. and then shaun donovan testifies before the budget committee on the president's proposal. that is followed by the senate armed forces committee. on the next washington journal congressman gene green on the gop efforts to repeal the gop -- affordable care act. the president's 2016 budget and childhood vaccinations. it republican of virginia is here to talk about the 585 billion-dollar defense budget request. later, the tour of historical black colleges and universities kicks off.

our guest will be the university president. washington journal is live at 7:00 a.m. every morning. you can join a conversation with your calls and comments on facebook and twitter. last week, chuck hagel was honored at a farewell tribute ceremony. the senate armed services committee held a confirmation hearing for ashton carter. we will bring you that hearing live starting at 9:30 on c-span3. >> thank you and a -- on q and a, david brooks. in the sydney words. >> they are given for the best magazine essays of the year. they can be in journals, the new yorker, the atlantic.

the idea is they would come out around the christmas week, and that is a good week to step back and not read tweets or newspaper articles. but to have the time to read something deeper and longer. to celebrate those longer pieces. i do believe magazines change history. the new republic which until its recent destruction was the most influential american political magazine of the 20th century, created a voice for modern liberalism. conservativism barely existed until the national review. >> on 8:00 eastern and pacific. >> nancy pelosi outlined initiatives to help the middle class and working families. she also discussed the budget request, vaccinations, and homeland security funding.

from the brookings institution this is one hour 10 minutes. >> welcome everyone here today. this is a very exciting day. as you know, brookings likes to be in the middle of the great debates of our country. this is going to be a year of really fundamental debates about the future, of what happened to growth and is it shared? and we might actually get around to arguing about what should our government spend money on, and how are we going to pay for it. we've had crisis rather than having real arguments about that the last few years, it's a real honor for me to introduce -- joining us today, she has proudly represented california's