Hoyer Remarks on House Republicans' 54th Vote to Undermine the Affordable Care Act

WASHINGTON, DC - House Democratic Whip Steny H. Hoyer (MD) spoke on the House Floor this afternoon in opposition to H.R. 30, House Republicans' 54th attempt to undermine the Affordable Care Act, which could cause around one million Americans to lose their employer-sponsored health care coverage and would add $53.2 billion to the deficit. Below is a transcript of his remarks and a link to the video.

Click here for the video.

“I thank the Gentleman for yielding. ‘Save American Workers’ – make sure they don't lose purchasing power. Let's make sure that those at the bottom end of the employment spectrum are saved. That's the message – I presume the minimum wage bill will be on the Floor next week. Perhaps you're going to want to extend unemployment insurance next week. Perhaps you're going to really want to do something that will save the workers and give them the purchasing power they had in 1968.

“The Chairman [Paul Ryan] said it well: we go from creating ‘29’ers’ to ‘39’ers.’ This bill will allow you to work ten more hours without health care. Isn't that wonderful? I'm sure every American worker is saying: thank God the Republicans are going to have me work ten more hours before I can get health insurance. Aren't you generous?

“The American worker needs help, not to be misled by rhetoric which pretends to do something for them but leaves them stuck, not just for five years, but for ten, fifteen, twenty years as those at the top of the ring get better and better off. And we're among most of those 10%.

“Mr. Speaker, we're now in the first days of the new Congress with an opportunity to turn the page and write a new chapter of bipartisanship and cooperation. We're not doing it today. It's unfortunate that the Republican Majority has instead chosen to replay the highlight reel from the last Congress by bringing back to the Floor a piece of partisan legislation that would undermine the Affordable Care Act and cause approximately one million Americans to lose their employer-sponsored insurance coverage. Not something that Mr. [Todd] Young says may happen or is extrapolated to happen, but there is no doubt that this would happen – one million people. Well, so what.

“This bill is a solution without a problem. Since the Affordable Care Act became law, 10.8 million new jobs have been created in the private sector, and it has not led to a shift to part-time work. That's what the statistics tell us. You want to save the worker, but under your economic policies in the last decade, we had the worst loss of jobs in this country in my lifetime. In fact, part-time workers, as a share of all workers in our economy, has fallen – has fallen, has decreased, is less – since the enactment of the health care reform bill.

“Unfortunately, this bill's sponsors have chosen to ignore these facts, because they don't support their argument. Their legislation would allow employers to deny health coverage to those working even as many as – I have said – thirty-nine hours.  That means the slightest reduction in hours could be used to deny employees the coverage they ought to be earning through their work so the rest of us do not have to pay their bill. As a result, up to half a million Americans would become uninsured, and this bill would increase the deficit by $53 billion.

“There's not enough time to really explain all the nuances of the adverse consequences of this bill. I ask my colleagues: let's have a decent and honest debate… let's have an honest debate, an honest discussion so that, yes, Mr. Young, we can protect those workers that we all should be able to protect. And then I’ll expect that to be accompanied with a minimum wage bill and the unemployment insurance extension.”