mr. yarmuth, you act like dealing with adverse

mr. yarmuth, welcome to the rules committee. 'm delighted you're here and the gentleman is now recognized. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman, ranking member mcgovern and the members of the committee. i want to extend greetings and happy new year to all of you. it's a pleasure to be here. it's an honor to be here to talk about hr-3762 legislation to dismantle the affordable care act and defund planned parenthood. as you all know this will be the first rule of the new session of congress, but i hope it is not a precursor to what we can expect in the weeks ahead. this does not take on federal programs that are broken and badly needing reform like our immigration system, our campaign finance system or our judicial system, for example. instead, it seeks to dismantle programs that are working, programs that are helping the american people get the health care they need. the affordable care act has helped expand health coverage to millions who needed it, lowered cost for those who receive it and has moved us closer to affordable care

mr. yarmouth -- yarmuth. you talked about the individual mandate and how great it was and how it was saving everyone because the people cannot just get sick and get care. help me through this. i believe someone could pay the penalty of $900 a year until they get sick and then take the coverage. couldn't they do that? rep. yarmuth: they could still do that. i did not say the individual mandate was a great thing. i said the guaranteed issue provision, which eliminates discrimination because of medical history, does not work unless there is a pre-existing condition -- i mean, an individual mandate. otherwise, people wait until they get sick and got coverage. rep. stivers: coverage costs $6,000 a year and a penalty of $900 a year. is there still an incentive to maybe not get coverage and continue to get sick? rep. yarmuth: the penalty this year is going up. it depends on what your income level is. it is 600 -- $1600 this year. rep. stivers: is there still an incentive? rep. yarmuth: there could be. there could be

mr. yarmuth: thank you, mr. chairman. and i thank the gentleman for yielding. in recent weeks, we've learned about the water contamination problems in flint, michigan. by now many of us have seen angry mothers and fathers on local television there holding up water that looks like this, demanding a response from government officials. i think we all support the steps that state and federal government are now taking to ensure that the water in flint is safe for families to drink. but what of the legislation we're debating prevented government officials from taking action? there would obviously be an outcry from members on both sides of the aisle and the bill would likely be defeated, as it should be. i'm here on the floor today to say that this bill does in fact block government officials from protecting the water supply, not for the people of flint, but for families in appalachia and other coal mining communities. this water isn't from flint, michigan. it's from a well in a mountain top near kentucky. this comes out of taps by appalachia from the reckless practic