Hoyer Floor Remarks on GOP Reconciliation Bill

WASHINGTON, DC – House Democratic Whip Steny H. Hoyer (MD) spoke on the House Floor today in opposition to Republicans’ 62^nd attempt to repeal or undermine the Affordable Care Act, and another attempt to undermine women’s health care. Below is transcript of his remarks and video:

Click here to watch the video.

“The Ranking Member [Rep. Chris Van Hollen] took the words right out of my mouth. Twenty-two million Americans covered now that weren't covered.

"Mr. Speaker, The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday, and I quote: ‘House Speaker Paul Ryan starting this month will push to turn the chamber into a platform for ambitious Republican policy ideas.’  My friend Mr. Upton talked about policy ideas, but, Mr. Van Hollen correctly observed, they're not on this Floor.  You haven't brought them to this Floor.  All you've brought is a negative.  Bring a positive. That, presumably, is what your Speaker ought to be talking about.

“Many have been wondering what new, ambitious ideas Republicans would put forward to kick off this new session of the 114th Congress.  Well, today we have the answer: the sixty-second effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act that everybody knows is not going anywhere.  We've seen this ‘fresh new idea’ before, and it's coupled with a vote to defund Planned Parenthood, which will deny millions of Americans access to affordable health care.  So not only by repealing the Affordable Care Act will we deny health care to people but by doing what they're doing to Planned Parenthood, millions of people will not have access to the health care they're relying on.

“What we have before us is not anything new.  In fact, it's a repeal of health reform that goes even further than [what] the Republicans brought to the House Floor in October, this time also ending tax credits and subsidies that enable those with modest incomes to afford health insurance and repealing the expansion of Medicaid.  The reason there's not another bill on the Floor is because people would then see how draconian the policies are.  These are components of the Affordable Care Act that have enabled millions of previously uninsured Americans to gain coverage since 2010.

“Senate Republicans took a bad bill and made it worse, and I’m disappointed that Speaker Ryan would bring it to the Floor as his first major act of this new session of Congress.  This reconciliation bill would cause an estimated, as the Ranking Member has pointed out, 22 million Americans – 22 million Americans – to lose their health care, increase premiums by approximately 20%, provide employers with much uncertainty, and worsen the outlook for deficits over the long term. Only in the first ten-year window do you have savings. CBO says if you go to the second ten years, this bill is a loser and exacerbates the deficit.

“I urge my colleagues to join me in opposing this sixty-second vote to repeal or undermine America's access to affordable, quality health care, and I yield back the balance of my time.”