Hoyer Statement on House Republicans’ Sixtieth Attempt to Undermine the Affordable Care Act

WASHINGTON, DC - House Democratic Whip Steny H. Hoyer (MD) spoke on the House Floor today in opposition to House Republicans' sixtieth attempt to undermine the Affordable Care Act:

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“The Gentleman indicated there were 235 people for this bill in this House. I just observed a few minutes ago there are 240 people for Export-Import Bank. If you brought this bill to the Floor, I would hope the Gentleman would urge his side, when sixty of his folks are for it – all of ours are for it – to bring the Export-Import Bank to the Floor, because it's about jobs.

“Having said that – and I want to acknowledge that I’m a good friend and have great respect for the sponsor of this bill, Dr. Roe. He and I have worked together on anaphylactic shock and the dangers caused by the eating of peanuts. He is a good doctor. He's a good person. We happen to disagree on this bill, however.

“This essentially will be the sixtieth vote – over the next two days, four days – on the repeal of the Affordable Care Act. We obviously have a difference of opinion on the Affordable Care Act. I believe it's working. I believe that millions of people are covered by insurance because of the Affordable Care Act. Millions of children are covered under their parents' policy. Millions of seniors are paying less for prescription drugs. Millions of people with a pre-existing condition have the confidence that they can get insurance.

“But the bill we are debating today and voting on next week would repeal the Independent Payment Advisory Board – or IPAB, as it's referred to. Now, I was disappointed [by] that reference of bureaucrats, used as an epithet, unfortunately, not a descriptive term. The fact of the matter is these folks are appointed, and they make recommendations. They make recommendations to the Congress of the United States, and the Congress of the United States can reject them. And/or the President of the United States, if the Congress passes legislation to set that aside, can consider it as well. IPAB develops proposals to contain the rate of growth of Medicare spending. The board hasn’t been formed. No members [have been] appointed yet. Yet Republicans are asking taxpayers to spend $7+ billion dollars over the next ten years to eliminate it. It's not that it has acted badly. It's not that they are irresponsible. There are no people appointed to this board yet.

“The Affordable Care Act has slowed the growth of health care costs to its lowest rate in fifty years. That helps every American, whether they are covered by the Affordable Care Act or private employer insurance or self-insured. As a result, CBO predicts that action by the board would not even be triggered until 2024. But the cuts to the prevention fund would act now. Republicans are paying for this bill by cutting funding for disease prevention and public health – now. But even then CBO reports that this bill still bends the health care cost curve in the wrong direction over the long run. Today as has been observed, we passed another bill. That one was without offsets. That will create an additional $24 billion deficit.

“Mr. Speaker, the House has a choice. It can continue the same old partisan attacks against the affordable health care and add billions to the deficit, undermine prevention and public health, bringing deficit-financed tax cuts passed by this Republican-led Congress up to $610.7 billion since January. Somebody is going to pay that bill, because we're not. My generation is not being asked to pay for it – $610.7 billion. It could reject, of course, the politics as usual and instead work together in a bipartisan way to focus on creating jobs, lowering the deficit, and investing in a competitive economy.

“You heard the sponsor of this bill saying: I cannot support it, the Gentlelady from California, because the proponents of this bill would rather attack the Affordable Care Act than they would to pass this bill. They want to pass this bill. But their priority is undermining the Affordable Care Act, which is why they didn't work with Congresswoman Sanchez and others who agree with them on the policy. I'd have to disagree with them on the policy, but they even put people who agree with them in a place where they cannot support the undermining of the Affordable Care Act and preventive health [care] in America.

“Let's choose to work together and do what American people are asking us to do, not undermine the critical health care reforms that are containing costs, increasing access, and improving quality. That's why I opposed the medical device tax bill, and that's why I’m urging my colleagues to defeat this one as well.”