Kevin Brady

Mr. BRADY of Texas

Mr. BRADY of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. BRADY of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I continue to reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. BRADY of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I am prepared to close.

Mr. BRADY of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. First, I want to commend and thank our Democrat colleagues on the Ways and Means Committee and the staff for working so hard, along with Energy and Commerce and the Finance Committee in the Senate, to find a good, solid solution. I think we have made a big step forward. We have got some work to do. I know we can do it. I went to see my doctor the other week. He is 66 years old, looks like he is 46; kind of makes me mad. But he has got a successful practice, a very good doctor. He told me he would like to keep practicing for another 5 or 6 years, and he said: But Kevin, I am not going to. This will probably be my last year. Medicare has just made it too hard for him to stay this practice. As I left the examining room, I looked at his assistant who has been with him 30-some years, all his professional staff, a full waiting room, and I thought, what are we doing chasing a doctor like this out of practice early? Who is going to replace him? Who is going to take care of these people? He is not alone. In Texas, less than half of Texas family physicians take new Medicare patients. Many of them are rethinking their relationship with Medicare. Others are closing their private practices. So more and more seniors are chasing fewer and fewer doctors, and that is the dilemma we face today. Maybe I am an optimist, but I think we are 90 percent of the way toward solving this solution. We have broad support for this policy and this bill. We have a duty to make sure our seniors have access to their doctors, and Democrats and Republicans have been putting in a lot of work to solve this problem. Yeah, we have some work to do. Now is the time to permanently fix the way we reimburse our doctors. As we move forward, let's work in a bipartisan way, across the Chambers, across the parties to get it done. I am absolutely confident we can do that. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. BRADY of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Boustany), a physician and a key member of the Ways and Means Committee. I cannot describe how much of an important role he has played in finding this new solution to how we reimburse doctors under Medicare.

Mr. BRADY of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Enough really is enough. The unfair way Medicare pays our local doctors to treat our seniors has gone on for far too long. It is making it harder for seniors to see a doctor they know and who knows them. It is chasing local doctors out of Medicare and out of private practice, and it is encouraging too much waste and too many unnecessary procedures within Medicare. As chairman of the Health Subcommittee of Ways and Means, my top priority has been to find a permanent, reliable 21st century solution that both political parties and physicians can embrace. H.R. 4015 repeals the current flawed formula for reimbursing our doctors, and it ends the yearly threat of massive cuts. In working with America's physicians, it establishes a more patient- centered approach that provides stability to our doctors, rewards them for high-quality care, begins to streamline the red tape our physicians face, and encourages better coordination and prevention. Over time, it transitions to a model that rewards value over volume by using the real-life approaches that doctors use, not what Washington wants. H.R. 4015 is a solid foundation from which to build an even better Medicare system, and it has overwhelming support from physicians. This is a major step forward, but we need to finish the job. We need to work together--Republicans and Democrats, the House and the Senate--to figure out how to make this policy a reality in a way that doesn't increase the deficit. There may be disagreements over how to pay for this reform. That is understandable as it is difficult, and today's bill is not the last word. Let's continue to advance this long overdue solution and commit to finding a bipartisan solution between the House and the Senate. The clock is ticking, so let's act together today. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. BRADY of Texas

Mr. BRADY of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 3979) to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to ensure that emergency services volunteers are not taken into account as employees under the shared responsibility requirements contained in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, as amended.

Mr. BRADY of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself as much time as I may consume. This is such a commonsense and important bill, and this challenge was brought to me as well by one of my local firefighters, the fire chief of Magnolia Volunteer Fire Department, Gary Vincent. The bill introduced by the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Barletta) ensures the work our Nation's volunteers, including volunteer firefighters and emergency responders, are honored, protected, and recognized. The tradition of volunteer firefighting dates back to colonial times, yet remains vital to thousands of communities throughout the country who rely exclusively upon volunteer fire departments for fire protection and emergency medical services. The problem is the Affordable Care Act is a complicated law, and sometimes, the IRS has treated volunteers as full-time workers for other purposes. This confusion in the law has created uncertainty for local communities and their firefighters and could jeopardize their ability to respond to emergencies. No one wants to put local governments and nonprofits at a risk of huge cost increases that could result if volunteers were considered employees under the Affordable Care Act. The White House does not want that, and neither does Congress. This bill is critical to permanently protecting the 780,000 volunteer firefighters and emergency responders and all other volunteers at our Nation's nonprofits and tribal governments. The bill provides the certainty of congressional action, rather than relying on regulations that could be repealed, changed, or amended. I call on my colleagues to put a bipartisan stamp on this bill to honor a value we all agree on, volunteerism. I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 3979, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. BRADY of Texas. Mr. Speaker, yielding myself such time as I may consume, I have about 4 or 5 additional speakers to move through on this important bill. At this time, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Kelly), a fellow member of the Ways and Means Committee, who has been a champion on this issue as well.

Mr. BRADY of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Renacci), another one of the new, young leaders on the House Ways and Means Committee.

Mr. BRADY of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 1 minute to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Lance), another champion of firefighters and emergency responders.

Mr. BRADY of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Collins).

Mr. BRADY of Texas. At this time, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Barr).

Mr. BRADY of Texas. I am pleased to yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Rodney Davis).

Mr. BRADY of Texas. In closing, I would like to reference the title of this bill, Protecting Volunteer Firefighters and Emergency Responders. Democrats and Republicans coming together today are here to make sure that is the law of the land. We are protecting our volunteer firefighters and emergency responders. This bill deserves our support, and I urge its passage. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. BRADY of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I would like to begin by first rising in support of this bill, the Protecting Volunteer Firefighters and Emergency Responders Act. I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Barletta), the author of this very important bill.

Mr. BRADY of Texas

Mr. BRADY of Texas. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. BRADY of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. BRADY of Texas. Mr. Speaker, as we close, I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Rodney Davis), the author of this bill.

Mr. BRADY of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I am proud to yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Barr), another champion for veterans.

Mr. BRADY of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Rodney Davis), the author of this bill, whose family is a small business-owning family, whose bill came from his own Veterans' Advisory Committee.

Mr. BRADY of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 3474, the Hire More Heroes Act, introduced by Representative Rodney Davis of Illinois. The Hire More Heroes Act will help ease the burden on small businesses while incentivizing them to hire veterans who have found themselves out of work as they return home from overseas. President Obama has repeatedly said: If you've got good ideas, bring them to me--let's go. Well, Mr. President, here is a really good idea. So let's go. Our veterans have sacrificed for our country, and as they return home they deserve opportunities and they deserve a job. One thing I routinely hear from my communities back home is that entrepreneurs want to invest in America and they want to grow their businesses. Well, here is an opportunity to do both. Too often, we use the term that something is a win-win. Well, I can think of no better term. This is a win for businesses who need workers with outstanding skills and ethics, and a win for veterans who just want a job. The Hire More Heroes Act allows businesses that hire a veteran enrolled in TRICARE or through the VA to not count that veteran towards the 50-employee threshold for triggering the ACA employee mandate. The 50-employee threshold has been a big disincentive for small businesses to grow. If they have more than 50 workers, they fall under that mandate, and their costs go up. So firms with 45, 46, 47 workers are very reluctant to grow any bigger, but if they hire a veteran, under this legislation, that won't count for purposes of determining if they have enough workers to trigger the mandate. If that isn't an incentive to hire more veterans, I don't know what it is. These are veterans who already have health care. They just want and deserve a job. I urge my colleagues to support this commonsense bill. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. BRADY of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous material on the subject of the bill under consideration.

Mr. BRADY of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 3474) to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow employers to exempt employees with health coverage under TRICARE or the Veterans Administration from being taken into account for purposes of the employer mandate under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

Mr. BRADY of Texas

Mr. BRADY of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 1814, the Equitable Access to Care and Health Act. One of our inalienable rights as American citizens is that we have the right to proscribe in whatever faith we so choose. With this right comes also the freedom from persecution and different treatment under the law. This body has long recognized the freedom of religion and has worked to ensure individuals of all faiths are treated fairly under the law. Even the Affordable Care Act, which imposes the burden of mandating the purchase of insurance, includes a religious conscience exemption from that individual mandate. However, this exemption is not fairly distributed to all Americans. While covering many faiths, it doesn't cover all who seek protection. What the EACH Act does is to ensure that this exemption equally applies to every American who wants it. It also protects individuals' First Amendment rights from being placed in jeopardy because of a requirement to purchase health insurance or pay a penalty. This is commonsense fairness legislation that extends a fundamental right to all Americans that have religious objections to standard medical care. This is a chance for us to right a wrong that I believe was just a drafting oversight. Of course, we ensure that the government doesn't impose a $1.5 billion tax on Americans simply because of their religious beliefs. I thank my good friend and colleague from Illinois on the Committee on Ways and Means (Mr. Schock) for his leadership, as well as the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Keating) for introducing this bipartisan legislation. I urge all my colleagues to support this bill and vote ``yes'' for religious freedom.