Brett Guthrie

Mr. GUTHRIE

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. When the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pallone) had his poster, he didn't actually have the poster that President Trump was referring to when he was talking about affordability. It was a poster that showed the different States and the rising price of energy. It showed certain States and certain areas--he colored them blue and red States on his poster--and the difference in what people are paying for electric rates. You can tie it directly to State and local governments that are making decisions to shut down generation of energy. When you overregulate--why are people paying more for appliances, dishwashers and stoves? It is because of the regulations. Why are they paying more for showerheads? As we said, if people can have the choice, they can also turn down their water. As I said, it is just that simple. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Weber), my good friend, the vice chair of the Energy Subcommittee.

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, when we talk about affordability, we did pass and sign into law no tax on Social Security. It is a deduction for people who generally have incomes that are almost all Social Security. They won't pay any tax on that. We passed the no tax on tips. People working on tips income won't be paying tax on their tips. I come from the world of manufacturing where people work hard all week hoping for overtime over the weekend so they can earn more money for their families. Now there is no tax on overtime to make things affordable for people and give them more money in their pocket to pay for things, but we also need to make them cheaper. We worked hard on energy. We have passed bills out of committee and across the floor on permitting energy. We have energy in this country, but we have to be able to generate the electrons, and we have to be able to move the energy to where it needs to be. The problem is permitting. I am a believer in all of the above, and we need to develop an all-of-the-above energy strategy. We have 112-gigawatts of power--a gigawatt is the city of Seattle. There are 112-gigawatts of power scheduled to go offline in the next decade because of environmental regulations, which we can do safely and securely and save our environment and produce the energy that people need. Again, if you bring the poster that the President used, you can see States that have the highest energy prices, and it goes to their energy regulation that their State and local governments have done to themselves. Mr. Speaker, I was in California putting gas in a rental car, and I looked over to the guy next to me and said: Do you have any idea how much people pay for gas in the rest of the country? I paid $2.80 in Kentucky and paid over $4 in California. It is State and local governments that make these decisions, and they are bringing that to Washington, D.C. We want to make it cheaper and for our people to have more affordability. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Fry), the sponsor of this legislation and my good friend.

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Rulli), my good friend and member of the Energy and Commerce Committee.

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume to answer the question of the gentlewoman. Mr. Speaker, no, he did not ask to do this bill on the floor today. I know the President is very interested in this issue, but not on this floor today. Mr. Speaker, what I have tried to ask and nobody has answered is: The enhanced tax credits, the COVID-era tax credits, were set to expire in the Inflation Reduction Act, which was a bill under the reconciliation process. It was solely the Democratic Party who put that in place, and the question I have always asked is: Why did they set them to expire? They may say it was the reconciliation process. There were issues in that bill that they made permanent, but they chose to have the enhanced tax credits expire. What happens when the enhanced tax credits expire? They are enhanced, so we go back to the basic law. The basic law we are operating under is the Affordable Care Act. Why is the Affordable Care Act not saving people money? I remember when this first came out. I was speaking to a Rotary Club, and a person said to me at the end that I was talking so negatively on the Affordable Care Act. I said to him: You know, I really hope that people will keep the doctor they want to keep, have the choices they can have in healthcare, and their premiums will go down. If that happens, I will eat my words. I hope I can eat my words because there is no joy in having a bill pass and see people lose their doctors of choice, lose choice in health plans because it is consolidating, lose choices in healthcare because it is consolidating, and see their premiums skyrocketing. Talking about how much the premiums are skyrocketing, do you know why? What is the underlying law? The underlying law is the Affordable Care Act. Mr. Speaker, I wish I could answer the question. I wish I would get an answer to the question of why did they set them to expire and why is the Affordable Care Act not working. Mr. Speaker, I am prepared to close, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. Mr. Speaker, my point when I talked about the Affordable Care Act is that once it was in place, I wish it had worked. I wish what was believed to be in place worked because I think people with sincere hearts were the ones who voted for it and put it in place. If we did have choice and we had more people provided--we didn't have consolidation, and we had cheaper health insurance. That is what we wanted. I will tell you that the Energy and Commerce Committee and the Ways and Means Committee are going to be focusing on the cost of health insurance. We talked yesterday and put out that health insurance executives from the major health insurance companies, or CEOs, are going to come before our committee. We are going to spend this year to hopefully find ways that we can work together because the premiums reflect the cost of healthcare. We want to understand the premiums, how they devise the premiums, where the premium is going, who is getting the money, and what about the consolidations. We are going to have a series of hearings, and the first one is going to be CEOs of major insurance companies to come before our committees to do the proper oversight to see why it is going from $14,000 to $22,000 and why are people being affected that way. That is the answer the American people deserve. That is the work we must do, and I hope we can do it together. Mr. Speaker, I urge the support of the underlying bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. GUTHRIE

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I move that the House do now adjourn.

Mr. GUTHRIE

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to celebrate the birth of Henry David Boylan. Hank was born on November 24, 2025 at Virginia Hospital Center weighing eight pounds, two ounces to loving parents Ansley and Matt Boylan. Ansley serves as a valuable member of my team on the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. I am grateful to have Ansley as a part of the Energy and Commerce family, and I am excited for her and Matt to start their family with their newest addition.

Mr. GUTHRIE

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 953, I call up the bill (H.R. 498) to amend title XIX of the Social Security Act to prohibit Federal Medicaid funding for gender transition procedures for minors, and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 498.

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 498, the Do No Harm in Medicaid Act. This bill helps support our fellow hardworking Americans whose valuable and finite tax dollars should not continue to fund medically unnecessary care under the Medicaid program. It is our duty as Members of Congress to focus hard-earned taxpayer dollars on care that is medically necessary to improve the health of Americans. H.R. 498, Do No Harm in Medicaid Act, does just that. It prohibits Federal dollars from going toward specified gender transition procedures for individuals under 18. My fellow House Republicans, particularly my colleagues on the Energy and Commerce Committee, have worked diligently this Congress to eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse in the Medicaid program and the Working Families Tax Cut Act. Our goal is to eliminate unnecessary and improper procedures and strengthen Medicaid for expectant mothers and children, low-income seniors, and individuals with disabilities. The CBO estimates this bill would save taxpayers $445 million over a decade. I want to make it abundantly clear that it in no way prevents minors from accessing medical care that they truly need. It just simply prohibits the use of Medicaid funding on specified procedures that are medically unnecessary. This critical legislation builds upon our work in the Working Families Tax Cut Act to create a more sustainable Medicaid program. I ask my colleagues to support the bill. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Illinois (Mrs. Miller).

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Utah (Mr. Kennedy).

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 30 seconds to the gentleman from Utah.

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Crenshaw), the sponsor of the legislation and member of the Committee on Energy and Commerce.

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 1 minute to the gentleman from Texas.

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Crenshaw).

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, before I yield to my friend, I have asked, since we have been meeting this year, about the extension of the tax credits they keep bringing up. Remember, they are talking about the extension of the tax credits that they set to expire. So the question I have asked, and nobody has been able to answer, Mr. Speaker, is: Why did you set them to expire? Remember, they were set to expire in the Inflation Reduction Act, or the Green New Deal. Within the Inflation Reduction Act, tax cuts were made so-called permanent, although they were replaced in another bill, but they set these to expire. Nobody has ever explained to me why the Democrats made the decision to end the enhanced subsidies that they are talking about and shutting the government down for 43 days, when they chose to end them, and then coming in here today talking about we need to have a vote on it, when they chose to end them. They never explained why they chose to end them. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Crenshaw).

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman the Texas (Mr. Crenshaw).

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I am glad my friend from Illinois pointed out this only affects children because adults can make their decisions. We don't take any decisions away from adults. This affects children. It is very specific. I think my friend from Texas is going to talk about it. I would like for my friend from Illinois, or anybody, to read through what is specifically identified as prohibited in this bill and say which of those saves someone's life. It is permanent surgery to change someone. It is very limited what is in this bill. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Crenshaw).

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 1 minute. Since that is the motion to recommit, maybe it would be a good opportunity for my friends on the other side of the aisle to let the country know when they decided to let these tax credits expire in the same bill that they have permanent tax credits for the Green New Deal. I don't know, you would have to think maybe they want to take the money from the tax credits and spend it on the Green New Deal. Unless there is a better explanation than that, that is exactly what the bill did. Mr. Speaker, may I inquire how much time is remaining on my side of the aisle.

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.