mr. mcclintock, no. r. lankford. mrs. black. mrs. black, no. mr. ribble. mr. ribble, no. mr. flores. mr. flores, no. mr. rokita. mr. rokita, no. mr. woodall. mr. woodall, no. mrs. blackburn. mrs. blackburn, no. mr. nunnelee. mr. nunnelee, no. mr. riggle. mr. riggle, no. mrs. hartzler. mrs. hartzler, no. ms. walorski, no. mr. messer. mr. messer, no. mr. royce. mr. royce, no. mr. williams. mr. williams, no. mr. duffy. mr. duffy, no. mr. calvert. mr. calvert, no. mr. cole. mr. cole, no. mr. lankford. mr. lankford, no. mr. van hollen. mr. van hollen, aye. mr. yarmuth. mr. yarmuth, aye. mr. pascrell. mr. pascrell, aye. mr. ryan. mr. ryan. mr. ryan, aye. ms. moore. ms. castor. mr. mcdermott. ms. lee. ms. lee, aye. mr. jeffries. mr. jeffries, aye. mr. pocan. mr. pocan, aye. mrs. lujan grich am. aye. mr. huffman. mr. cardenas. mr. cardenas, aye. mr. blumenauer. mr. schrader. mr. schrader, aye. mr. doggett. mr. doggett, aye. mr. kildee. mr. kildee, aye. mr. chairman. mr. chairman, no. >> any other member wish to change their vote or to vote? that was mr. huffman recorded. >> mr. huffman. mr.

mr. lankford.chairman jordan, ranking member carrack, ranking member speier and members of the subcommittee, good morning. thank you for the opportunity to testify about our experience in limiting the affordable care act in massachusetts. as you know, massachusetts is very for my with a framework of the aca. in 2006, former governor mitt romney worked with our state legislature to fashion an approach to expanding health coverage the two ideas from both ends of the political spectrum. once he took office in 2007, governors -- other deval patrick work to bring the framework to light in close collaboration with our state legislature, our health care providers, our business and labor leaders, our insurers, our consumer advocates and countless others. we are extraordinarily proud of the results we have achieved together over the past eight years. virtually all of the commonwealth's residents are now insured at 97%. 91% of our residents report having access to a primary care physician, and 88% having see

mr. lankford: it is and in that group as well. every section of americans when you get a chance to visit with them, they will tell you, my premiums went up, my deduction went up, i lost access to a doctor. i lost some of my choices and this whole pleff that now we have seven million people, millions of individuals that are now in the exchanges used to be on health care they liked and were kicked off of it january 1 and now forced into a new system and the president is somehow celebrating. and i was astounded by the sense at the last minute all these people filed. there are 142 million people that are uninsured, seven mill ve gone into the force enrollment or faced a fine that is like akin to tax day coming up and the administration celebrating that 25% of americans actually filed their taxes on time because they would face a fine if they don't. no one would sell bait that. but this administration is celebrating, 25% of the people following through. there are real lives and real people. one is named cindy and like some of the other

mr. lankford. the chair: the gentleman from oklahoma is recognized for four minutes. mr. lankford: thank you, mr. chairman. it was the basic principle that george washington laid out in his farewell address. that every generation should take care of the responsibilities of that generation rather than pass it on to their children. it's a 200-year-old concept that's fairly straightforward. what's interesting to me, is i've been in a personal conversation with our current president of the united states about debt and about balancing the budget. our conversation back and forth was circled around a principle. bill clinton and newt gingrich two decades ago made it their crowning achievement that they balanced the budget in a bipartisan time period. my request to this president was, can we agree that we should set a goal to balance the budget? his response to me was, no. 20 years ago that was a good idea. but now the perception was that we should have sustainable deficits. that is, balance everything except for interest. this year our interest payment is $233 billion. c.b.o. fore

mr. lankford, for five minutes. mr. lankford: last week as i traveled in my state over and over again people encouraged me with a simple statement, i pray for you. those power words impact a belief that there is a god who created us, he cares for us and he's interested in our lives. it is the belief that if we pray, a loving god hears our prayer and responds to our needs and the needs of others. this is the week of the national day of prayer. this is a time for us to be able to reflect on prayer and to remember and recognize the americans who value prayer. i share the pleef with many others, that people are separated from god because of our choices to walk away from god and god's path for our lives to people live their lives alone, even in a crowd. the bible says the gift of god is eternal life through christ, our jesus lord. for what we do wrong is separation from life, real life. but god gives us the opportunity to have eternal life, life with god forever, by accepting the gift of jesus christ through his death and his

mr. lankford. >> thank you, mr. chairman. that is culmination of a tremendous amount of this committee, staff and individual me believes. there's some interesting conversations in this, the facts and figures. one is cbo yet again comes out and sees a declining economy as we continue to see revenues fall in the future years. that's showing that the poll sis put in place by this president are not turning this economy around and we have to do something more aggressive to be able to deal with this and the focal point of that is really getting us back to how do we balance the budget, pay down the debt, get economic activity and business working again? it is hard to believe how far we have fallen as a nation when a conversation about balancing the budget becomes a controversial conversation. this town's namesake, a gentleman named washington i think would be slightly embarrassed based on the conversation. let me read from his farewell address at the end of his two terms as president he said avoid likewise the accumulation of debt,

mr. lankford. ms. black. mr. florez. woodall. ms. blackburn? mr. rice? mr. williams? mr. duffy? mr. van hollen? ye. van hollen, a mr. varmus, aye. ms. castor, aye. mr. mcdermott? mr. jeffries? mr. hoffman? aye. mr. schrader? mr. campbell? mr. calvert? no. mr. cole, no. mr. ryan? mr. ryan, no. mr. chairman? 19.s 14, no, the amendment is not agreed to. student can is the annual competition that encourages middle and high school students to think critically about issues. students were asked to create their documentary answering the question, what is the most important issue the u.s. congress should consider in 2014? one of our second prize winners are seniors at thomas jefferson high school in alexandria, virginia. they would like congress to look at the defense budget control a of 2011. article one, section eight of the constitution says that congress shall have the power to raise and support armies to provide and maintain a navy, and to make rules for the government and regulation. a constitutional studies fellow at the cato institute explains. >> the government is instituted at the

mr. lankford. >> thank you, mr. chairman.that is culmination of a tremendous amount of this committee, staff and individual me believes. there's some interesting conversations in this, the facts and figures. one is cbo yet again comes out and sees a declining economy as we continue to see revenues fall in the future years. that's showing that the poll sis put in place by this president are not turning this economy around and we have to do something more aggressive to be able to deal with this and the focal point of that is really getting us back to how do we balance the budget, pay down the debt, get economic activity and business working again? it is hard to believe how far we have fallen as a nation when a conversation about balancing the budget becomes a controversial conversation. this town's namesake, a gentleman named washington i think would be slightly embarrassed based on the conversation. let me read from his farewell address at the end of his two terms as president he said avoid likewise the accumulation of debt, n

mr. lankford for five minutes. >> thank you. withis what we're dealing today. make aindividual, statement, appear to waive their right to the fifth amendment and then decide no, i'm going to go ahead and plead the fifth any way. does that mean to say i'm not going to speak on -- started may 10, 2013. lerner had a question planted at conference. so that she would be asked about something that was completely irrelevant to that day, and so she could leak out that day about this rogue group in cincinnati and what was happening. 12 days later she was in front of this committee, in front of thiscommittee she made statement. good morning. members of the committee, my name is lois lerner i'm the director of -- i've been a government employee for 34 years. initially practiced law at the department of justice, in fact she was the staff attorney in division.al later as a federal election commission, in fact she was in office atl counsel's the federal election commission. then she makes this long statement. of this statement she said this. i have not done anything wrong. i

mr. lee. >> good morning. you chairman issa, jordan and lankford and ranking cartwright and cummings. i appreciate also the other distinguished members the having us here. i'm peter lee from covered california and i'm glad to share our early implementation lessons in california in launching the affordable care act. i think it is important that we california to across a whole range of bestituents, whether they insurance agents, county workers, health care providers, positions political who have come together in california to expand coming. of thateing the fruits effort today. california is one of 15 state weed exchanges and when started we looked at the data and said that somewhere around 4 million californians could benefit from federal support, expanded medi-cal -- in a very few years we've gone a 10-person organization to an organization of over 1,000 people. startup that fast is working to change history. so how is it going so far? of theheard some numbers. 1.2 million californians now have coverage directly through covered california. an additional 1.9 have coverage medi-cal and e

mr. leitz. >> chairman jordan, trevor lankford, chairman issa.anking members and members of the oversight and reform committee. good morning. thank you for inviting me to come here today to talk about minnesota's expenses in establishing our online health exchange. i want to stop it telling you about two people who live in minneapolis. cory is a teacher. for years the family had health insurance through his job. but over time, the families out-of-pocket costs grew. after welcoming their third son irving into the family, they had to choose between paying the mortgage or paying their health bills. whenminnsure opened, the boys qualified with no deductible. she was able to call phifer plan for less than $200. she was thrilled. say the am proud to company -- the system is secure and successful. because of our efforts, his thely are just a few of hundred 70,000 people in minnesota who have access to affordable coverage because of e. overre -- minnsur 88,000 have enrolled in medicaid , over 34,000 have enrolled in minnesota care. in other states these

mr. leitz. >> chairman jordan, trevor lankford, chairman issa. ranking members and members of the oversight and reform committee. good morning. thank you for inviting me to come here today to talk about minnesota's expenses in establishing our online health exchange. i want to stop it telling you about two people who live in minneapolis. cory is a teacher. for years the family had health insurance through his job. but over time, the families out-of-pocket costs grew. after welcoming their third son irving into the family, they had to choose between paying the mortgage or paying their health bills. last fall, whenminnsure opened, the boys qualified with no deductible. she was able to call phifer plan for less than $200. she was thrilled. today, i am proud to say the company -- the system is secure and successful. because of our efforts, his family are just a few of the hundred 70,000 people in minnesota who have access to affordable coverage because of mean sure -- minnsure. over 88,000 have enrolled in medicaid, over 34,000 have enrolled in minne

mr. chairman. this is not a proud day for this committee. i often times wonder if we weren't on a 24 hour news cycle whether we would conduct our business differently. chairman lankford and i is ranking member of the subcommittee yesterday held a very important hearing about social security and disability and waste, abuse and fraud. but here, this is a spectacle orchestrated to obscure facts that are partisan and more put political points on the scoreboard. the hallmarks of a politically motivated and biased investigation have been evident throughout this process. the majority amount to a conclusion the investigation before they held one hearing or conduct that a single interview. in fact, the chairman of the committee went on fox and announced there was a conspiracy on the president of the united states, the white house had been involved in this fiasco. facts that haven't fit into the predetermined narrative of the majority have been completely ignored. there have been 31 legal experts that have spoken out on whether or not ms. lerner waived her right. the chairman and others have called them are lawyers, but we have not hired them and they come from across the poli