Tim Griffin

Mr. GRIFFIN of Arkansas

Mr. GRIFFIN of Arkansas. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to tell the stories of real people in Arkansas' Second Congressional District who are being hurt by ObamaCare. Many of them have seen their work hours reduced. Others are seeing their premiums double, triple, and quadruple. Many are losing the health insurance plans they would like to keep and wondering why President Obama told them repeatedly that that would never happen. One single mom in Little Rock told me that her current health insurance plan will be canceled at the end of the year in just 6 weeks. She is worried this will affect her daughter who is about to start graduate school. Terry and his wife in Rose Bud, Arkansas, will see their premium rise from $380 to more than $1,000 per month. That is not affordable. Daniel Hanley, here with his horse, a vet in Little Rock, received notification that his health insurance plan was being canceled because of ObamaCare. The cancelation notice says: ObamaCare will ultimately prevent us from offering competitive medical insurance . . . as a result, we anticipate that your medical insurance policy will be ending effective midnight December 31, 2013. It is clear that ObamaCare is a broken law, and its broken Web site is only the beginning. ObamaCare must be repealed so we can pass real patient-centered health care reform.

Mr. GRIFFIN of Arkansas

Mr. GRIFFIN of Arkansas. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Dr. Linda Rushton Selman, whose strong intellect, work ethic, and determination are being recognized through the creation of the Dr. Linda Elizabeth Rushton Selman and Jo Ann Rushton Endowed English Scholarship. Linda hails from Magnolia, Arkansas, my hometown. She graduated first in her class at Magnolia High School. Her talents, drive and work ethic took her to Sullins College in Virginia, where she earned her Associate of Arts degree and, once again, graduated first in her class. She pursued further education at the University of Arkansas, where she was a ROTC Cadet Colonel, named an Arkansas Traveler and was voted a Razorback Beauty. At UA, she pledged Chi Omega and earned both her Bachelor's and Master's degrees, with Phi Beta Kappa honors. Throughout her life, Linda has been steadfast in her commitment to educating and teaching. She has taught at the University of Arkansas and Southern Methodist University, and has spent the majority of her career at Southern Arkansas University in Magnolia, where she recently began her 38th year in the university's English department. In 1983, she earned her Ph.D. from the University of Arkansas, and while teaching at SAU, she raised four children. Linda has continued to support the University of Arkansas, with numerous gifts to Fulbright College, the Alumni Association, the graduate school and the English department. She remains active in Chi Omega and is a life member of the Arkansas Alumni Association. She has been a 27-year contributor to the Razorback Foundation and Arkansas Athletics, where she sits in the very same seats at Razorback Stadium and War Memorial Stadium as she did when she rooted for the Razorbacks over 50 years ago. Through Linda's tenacity and vigor she has made good on the promise she made to her younger sister, Jo Ann, who passed away from a kidney infection in 1952 at the age of two. Linda, who was 11 at the time, promised her dying sister that she would live her life for both of them. Without question, she has honored that promise. The scholarship in Linda's honor has been established by her husband, Dr. Frank Selman, in an effort to preserve Jo Ann's memory and to honor Linda. I am proud to call Frank and Linda my longtime friends. On behalf of Arkansans and Americans everywhere, I congratulate Linda Selman for being a leader in education and for the establishment of this scholarship in her name.

Mr. GRIFFIN of Arkansas

Mr. GRIFFIN of Arkansas. Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of House Joint Resolution 99, offered by the gentleman from Indiana, my good friend and colleague on the House Ways and Means Committee. And I want to be clear: this is not a resolution for default. This is an opportunity to talk about how we have got to, when raising the debt ceiling, deal with the underlying drivers of the debt. History shows numerous instances in which spending cuts and reforms have been coupled with increases in the debt limit. This dates back to the inception of the debt ceiling limit in 1917. It also includes two instances during the 110th Congress when President Obama served in the Senate. Further, in March 2006, then-Senator Obama voted against raising the debt limit. And we have heard some folks tonight talk about how they agree with President Obama. Well, let's listen to what he said in March 2006: Increasing America's debt weakens us domestically and internationally. Leadership means that the buck stops here. Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better. Well, I also agreed with then-Senator, now President, Obama. And it is abundantly clear that no one is going to fail to raise the debt ceiling. No one is going to jeopardize our credit, but we must speak out on the failure to address the debt drivers. In July 2008, then-Senator Obama said that adding $4 trillion to the national debt over 8 years was ``irresponsible'' and ``unpatriotic.'' I agree with what he said then. Since he became President in 2009, President Obama has increased the total Federal debt from $10.6 trillion to over $17 trillion. One has to wonder what then-Senator Obama would have to say about President Obama. He has continually called for raising the debt ceiling during his Presidency without implementing any of the necessary reforms needed to get our Federal spending under control. My focus has always been on working with anyone who is willing to find a real, long-term solution to Washington's spending addiction. This resolution shows the House is ready to start talking across party lines about how to fix our debt problems now, not at the next deadline. Late last year, CNN reported that ``the United States spends about 71 cents of every Federal tax dollar it collects on what is called the Big 4--Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and interest on the debt.'' If nothing is done, in just 13 years the Big 4 could eat up every penny of tax revenue collected by the Federal Government, leaving nothing to pay for the discretionary spending that we like. That includes spending on defense, veterans benefits, education, roads, national parks, museums, medical research, food safety and air traffic control, to name a few. CNN further said that ``by 2040, more than half of all Federal tax revenue would be eaten up by interest payments on the debt alone.'' In 2006, then-Senator Obama said those ``interest payments are a significant tax on all Americans, a debt tax that Washington doesn't want to talk about.'' But let's be clear: House Republicans in Congress, and the voters who put us here, are the only reason--the only reason--anyone in August of 2011 talked about the debt problem and reached a debt deal. Otherwise, the President would have simply had the debt ceiling raised, and there would have been nothing done structurally. And we are the only reason why we talk about it now. Otherwise, it would be a clean debt ceiling increase with no strings attached. I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this important resolution and getting our excessive spending under control.

Mr. GRIFFIN of Arkansas

Mr. GRIFFIN of Arkansas. I thank the gentleman, and I thank the gentleman for his service. Mr. Speaker, I want to talk first here about a fellow Screaming Eagle, a fellow member of the 101st Airborne Division, who was wounded in action, Sergeant Carl Moore, III, from Bigelow, Arkansas, in the Second Congressional District, my district. Sergeant Moore in early June of this year was wounded while on patrol in Afghanistan. A bullet struck him under his arm, puncturing one of his lungs and grazing his spine. I pray for Carl's speedy recovery so he can get back to enjoying the things that he loves. My thoughts go out to his parents, Carl and Teresa of Conway, Arkansas, also in my district, and his wife, Heather, and their 4-year-old daughter, Addison. This is just one example of the type of service that we should all be thankful for, and tonight I want to thank Sergeant Carl Moore for his service and for his sacrifice, and for his family's sacrifice. When I think about all the vets who have impacted my life personally, it is a list that is too long to read, and they have impacted me in so many ways. I often think of my grandfather who served in World War I in France in 1918. I never met my grandfather on my mother's side. He died in 1966, just 2 years before I was born, but he was in the Army. He processed through Camp Pike in Little Rock, Arkansas, where I did a lot of Reserve duty. I often thought of him when I was there. I went to basic at Fort Lee in Virginia, and come to find out, that is where he went. He went to Fort Lee before he went to France in 1918, and I thank him for his service. I also want to mention one of our famous vets in closing, one of our most famous vets from the Second Congressional District of Arkansas, and that is Nick Bacon. We recently were able to name a post office after Nick Bacon. He is a Medal of Honor winner. He passed away recently. He was born in Caraway, Arkansas, in 1945. He enlisted in 1963 at age 17. The story goes that he was too young to enlist, so he just sort of fudged a little bit on the age. He was stationed in Germany for awhile, did a tour in Vietnam. He was wounded three times during his first tour in Vietnam when the helicopter he rode in collided with another, and all were killed but Bacon and one other. So he volunteered for a second tour in Vietnam because that wasn't enough. I want to read this little paragraph that talks about what happened that led to him being awarded the Medal of Honor. On August 16, 1968, while leading a squad in Bravo Company's 1st Platoon, in an operation, Bacon and his unit came under fire from an enemy position. He personally destroyed the position with hand grenades, but the platoon leader was wounded on open ground. Bacon assumed command, led the platoon in destroying still more enemy emplacements. The 3rd Platoon lost its leader, and Bacon took command of that platoon as well and led both platoons against the remaining enemy positions. During the evacuation of the wounded, Bacon climbed the side of a nearby tank to gain vantage point and direct fire into enemy positions, despite being exposed to enemy fire himself. He was personally credited with killing at least four enemy soldiers and destroying an antitank gun. For his actions in this battle, Bacon received the Medal of Honor, formally presented to him by President Richard Nixon during a 1969 White House ceremony. He earned multiple awards within the military for various accomplishments. In addition to the Medal of Honor, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, Legion of Merit, Bronze Star Medal with two Valor devices, and two Purple Hearts. Then he went back to Arkansas and years later served as the director of the Department of Veterans Affairs, and was reappointed by Governor Mike Huckabee in that position, and he served until February 2005. We lost Nick in 2010, but he is a shining example of the type of selfless service that veterans often give, demonstrate for their country, and I just want to say thank you to Nick Bacon and the many veterans that he represents, the thousands of veterans from Arkansas that he represents. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from Ohio for putting this together. A lot of times we come down here and debate a lot of policy issues, but I think it is the right thing to do, to take this time tonight to honor our veterans.

Mr. GRIFFIN of Arkansas

Mr. GRIFFIN of Arkansas. Mr. Speaker, when I look across this country and look at who opposes the President's health care law, ObamaCare, it's not just Republicans. The New York Times today says the AFL-CIO is fed up with the law and ready to get it repealed if they can't fix it. Employers across this country are fed up with it. That's why the President delayed it for a year till after the elections. Come on, let's get a grip and face reality. But my dislike of the law aside, that's not what this is about. This is about the Federal Government handing out money without verifying who's getting it. That's ludicrous. It's unbelievable. We have to verify, when I, as an Army Reservist, sign up for TRICARE Select, because now I'm thrown into the ObamaCare exchanges. If you buy alcohol, you have to show an ID. I mean, this is pretty basic. We just want to verify who's getting government cash. That's it. And that's why I support the bill. It's common sense. Let's pass it.

Mr. GRIFFIN of Arkansas

Mr. GRIFFIN of Arkansas. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Sergeant Carl Moore, III, from Bigelow, Arkansas, for his continuing service to our country. Sergeant Moore, a fellow Screaming Eagle, is with the 101st Airborne Division. In early June of this year, Sergeant Moore was wounded while on patrol in Afghanistan. A bullet struck him under his arm, puncturing one of his lungs and grazing his spine. Sergeant Moore is currently at Tampa Polytrauma Rehabilitation Center where he is recovering. He's unable to walk, but he has feeling in his legs and toes, and his prognosis is good. I pray for Carl's speedy recovery so he can get back to enjoying the things he loves. My thoughts go out to his parents, Carl and Teresa, of Conway, Arkansas, and his wife, Heather, and their 4-year-old daughter, Addison. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to join me in thanking Sergeant Moore for his service and saluting all who have served and continue to serve our Nation.

Mr. GRIFFIN of Arkansas

Mr. GRIFFIN of Arkansas. Mr. Speaker, I want to take a little time tonight with my colleague, Representative Young from Indiana, to talk a little bit about health care in America, talk a little bit about the Affordable Care Act that is currently being implemented, and talk about the need for real health care reform in this country. I want to start out by just emphasizing that I firmly believe we need health care reform. I believe that the health care reform we got in the form of the Affordable Care Act, or ObamaCare, is not the health care reform that we need. And I would say that we have lots of proposals here in the House. I think last Congress we had over 200 bills introduced that related to the health care system, reforming our health care system. And this Congress, we have dozens of health care reform related bills as well. So the idea that it's either the Affordable Care Act as we're seeing it unfold, or nothing at all, it's a false choice. That's not the choice that we have. There are lots of ideas; lots of much better ideas, I must add. And while I am personally for repeal--I certainly want the Affordable Care Act repealed--I want to replace it with quality, patient-centered health care reform. I am not against providing relief to Americans who are feeling the burden of the Affordable Care Act or ObamaCare right now. In fact, we had a hearing on the implementation of the ObamaCare law in the Ways and Means Committee today, a committee of which I am a member. And my colleague Representative Young is also a member. And we heard a lot of people say hey, this is the law of the land, don't mess with it. This is the law of the land, let it go. This is the law of the land, any attempt to criticize it, to discuss its shortcomings, is a waste of time. Well, I reject that outright. And, you know, I think the President, through his actions, has rejected that. What am I talking about? Well, it's interesting because we've passed seven bills in this House, seven bills, that relate to ObamaCare, changing ObamaCare, repealing a part of ObamaCare, seven that not only passed this House, we sent them to the other side of the Capitol. They passed the Senate. And you know what? The President signed them into law. That may come as a surprise to some folks, but it's the truth. We passed seven bills to change, to modify, to repeal parts of, to make better ObamaCare, and the President has agreed with us on all seven. He signed them into law.

Mr. GRIFFIN of Arkansas. Those are the same bills, and I would like to go through, if I can, the seven bills, and talk a little bit about what they do and how they were an improvement. I think they are evidence that yes, we'd like to replace this bill with something much better, this law, but in the short term, we will do whatever it takes to provide relief to American workers, relief to American families, relief to small businesses that are under the burden of ObamaCare. So let me mention a few of these. H.R. 4: H.R. 4 repealed the small business paperwork 1099 mandate. I remember when I first got to Congress, I heard from a bunch of folks about the 1099 filing obligation under the President's health care law. We repealed that. You know what the President did? He agreed. Bad part of the law. Next, H.R. 1473. We cut $2.2 billion from what was characterized as a stealth public plan, a consumer-operated and -oriented plan, and froze the IRS budget. The President signed that into law. Next, H.R. 674. We saved taxpayers $13 billion by adjusting the eligibility for ObamaCare programs. The President signed that into law. H.R. 2055 made more reductions to the consumer-operated and -oriented plan that I mentioned earlier, also to the IPAB, the Independent Payment Advisory Board, an independent board that's going to cut Medicare, because it hasn't been reformed, when it runs out of money. So that was signed into law. And again in today's hearing in the Ways and Means Committee, folks on the other side of the aisle were saying this talk, this criticism about the President's law, ObamaCare, a waste of time, meaningless, all politics. Hogwash; the President signed a bunch of it into law.

Mr. GRIFFIN of Arkansas. Precisely. And a lot of people ask, why all the focus, why all the energy, why all the speeches? Because it's important, number one. And, number two, it takes the energy, the focus, the time, the prioritization, the resources, to convince people, the President included, that this is not the way to go. Now, I think if you were to throw these seven different bills out there a few years ago when ObamaCare passed and say, hey, what are the chances of the President signing this? People would have said no way. No way it's going to happen. So it's a process. It's a process of making the argument with facts; not through personal attack, with facts. Make the vigorous argument. That's what this body and democracy is about, make the argument, win the argument, and then repeal or change. And I would mention, there are three more: H.R. 3630 slashed billions of dollars from some discretionary funds, some slush funds which they had some flexibility to use, and the President agreed with that. He signed that into law. H.R. 4348 adjusted a drafting error. It saved $670 million. And H.R. 8 repealed what was called the CLASS program--Community Living Assistance Services and Support program. The former Democratic chairman of the Senate Budget Committee called the CLASS program ``a Ponzi scheme of the first order, the kind of thing Bernie Madoff would be proud of.'' We saved billions of dollars through the repeal of H.R. 8. So to reiterate, there are seven bills we fought hard for, and every single one of them ultimately was signed into law by the President of the United States. Now, I would be remiss if I didn't mention that the biggest change, the most consequential change to ObamaCare, the most open and full recognition that the President's health care law is unworkable and problematic and a burden is the fact that the President himself just a few weeks ago on July 2, through a blog post, a Department of Treasury blog post, said, you know what? I am going to suspend, postpone for a year the so-called employer mandate that is one of the key pillars of the ObamaCare law. Now, what is that mandate?

Mr. GRIFFIN of Arkansas. If you were to ask me what does full-time mean to you, I'd say, growing up in south Arkansas, full-time means 40 hours in a week or more, right? That's a commonsense, practical application of what full-time is. Would that be right under ObamaCare?

Mr. GRIFFIN of Arkansas. So the bottom line is the President recognized--and I applaud him for this--I applaud him for recognizing the problem, the burden of his law, particularly the employer mandate. And he said, I'm going to postpone that part of the law. I'm basically going to repeal, in effect, repeal that for a year; just make that go away for a year as a practical matter. Now, I applaud his recognition that the law has problems. The problem I had with that action is I don't think, still do not believe the President had the power to do that. If he wants the law changed, he should have called Congress. We would have been more than happy to deliver up a bill--send it over to the Senate--that postponed the employer mandate a year. In fact, because of the President doing that, that's precisely what we did. So I introduced H.R. 2667, that does that in legislation, not through a regulatory change, a blog post. But I introduced the Authority for Mandate Delay Act, which we voted on. We passed on this floor. Why? It does the same basic thing, a little bit different, but the same basic thing that the President was doing, and we did it so that what he did would be legal. And you know what? Thirty-five Democrats supported this bill. Thirty-five Democrats supported this bill, and I applaud them for doing it.

Mr. GRIFFIN of Arkansas. And I would add to that there are many of us that believe the reason this law is not working is because it will never work. It is unworkable by design. It is top-down. It is the old way of doing things in a world that is becoming network bottom-up, innovative, new way of doing things. This is an old central control, top-down way of legislating. And so the President recognized that. But, of course, for partisan politics reasons, even though my bill did basically what he did, he opposed it. He opposed the bill that would have made his actions legal. And, of course, now it is sitting, napping, because we hope to awake it, it's napping in the Senate, in the United States Senate, with your companion bill, the Individual Mandate Delay.

Mr. GRIFFIN of Arkansas. Thirty-five Democrats.

Mr. GRIFFIN of Arkansas. That's right.

Mr. GRIFFIN of Arkansas. That's exactly right.

Mr. GRIFFIN of Arkansas. Well, and one in nine of the Democrats voted for your bill. I think it was 22 total. I think, just a year or two ago, that would have been unthinkable, that 35 would have joined voting for the Employer Mandate Delay and 22 or so for your bill. It would have been unthinkable. It is because we have been relentless in pursuit of a better way, relentless in pursuit of real health care reform, relentless in identifying and letting folks in Washington know that the people back home, constituents, have made their voice very clear, where I live, in Arkansas, on the issue of the Affordable Care Act or ObamaCare. And what's interesting is, today, in the Ways and Means Committee, we had the head of the IRS testifying. And he was explaining why the President decided to delay, for 1 year, one of the two key components of the Affordable Care Act--one being the employer mandate, and the other part of the law being the individual mandate. We know that the President delayed that one, the employer mandate, and he was explaining why he did that. And this is a paraphrase of what he said. It's the head of the IRS describing why the President gave 1 year relief to businesses impacted by the employer mandate. He said, to paraphrase, not a direct quote, but to paraphrase, he said, in effect, we heard from a lot of American small businesses that this was a burden on them, and so we acted to give them relief. That's a paraphrase, but that's effectively what he said. I agree with the general sentiment. It is a burden on American workers and small businesses, et cetera, and they do need relief, and I'm glad they're getting it. But it raises the question, why wouldn't you give that same relief, as a matter of fairness, to individuals, families, workers impacted by the individual mandate, the other key component of ObamaCare, of the Affordable Care Act? Why would you give relief to small businesses and businesses and what have you, but not give relief to individuals? It fundamentally doesn't make sense. It's not fair. And when he said that, I thought to myself, well, is it possible that he doesn't know, that the head of the IRS and the administration don't know that individuals and families and workers are also impacted in a negative way, that they are burdened, many of them, by this law? Yes, they want health care reform. Yes, people need insurance. Yes, people want to be covered. But this is not the way to go. Does he not know the impact that this law is having? So I thought, why don't we put all the opinions aside, the op eds, the editorialists, and why don't we just talk about some of the news headlines? Without my commentary, I thought you and I could just read some of the headlines. These are news stories, not op eds, not editorial writers. These are news stories from a variety of publications from around the country. And I thought it would be instructive to run through some of those tonight.

Mr. GRIFFIN of Arkansas. I tell you what, I'll read through one of these, and I'll put one up. You could read through, and then I'll take one. These are headlines from around the country. And we're going to run through them because they are news stories that, regardless of what you hear from this administration, this is what's happening around the country. The AP: Florida Insurance Officials: Rates Will Rise Under ObamaCare. Georgia Insurance Rates Spike Under ObamaCare. Now, I would point out, we don't have to guess what's going to happen anymore. We don't have to predict what's going to happen. Why? Because we're already there. Implementation is under way. It's already happening. So we'll just let the facts speak. Chattanooga Business Owner Says ObamaCare Costing Workers Pay Raises and Benefits. Consumers Could See 25-Percent Premium Increases Under ObamaCare. UNA Asks Student Employees to Work Fewer Hours.

Mr. GRIFFIN of Arkansas. I would point out that these are from all over the country. Growing worries about ObamaCare forcing insurers out of State markets. Iowa Public Radio: Full-time vs part-time workers. Restaurants weigh ObamaCare. ObamaCare forces work-hour limits for CMU students. Brevard cuts some workers' part-time hours to avoid ObamaCare rules. ObamaCare delay is a relief for a family business.

Mr. GRIFFIN of Arkansas. As we see here: Texas Business Owner Facing $1 Million in Annual ObamaCare Costs; Maryland Employers Cutting Hours Due to ObamaCare; Waitress Said She's Losing Full-Time Status Due to the ObamaCare Rule; St. Pete College: HCC Cut Adjuncts' Hours Over Health Care; Local Entrepreneur Sells Part of Business Due to ObamaCare.

Mr. GRIFFIN of Arkansas. I share your feeling there. I found common ground with a lot of labor union folks on the Keystone pipeline because they want the jobs.

Mr. GRIFFIN of Arkansas. Here, the labor unions are realizing this is a nightmare.

Mr. GRIFFIN of Arkansas. The members are speaking out.

Mr. GRIFFIN of Arkansas. Here you see: Restaurant Shift: Sorry, Just Part-Time. There's a theme here. Workers' Hours Cut--`ObamaCare' Blamed. Again, for those just tuning in, we're just reading news headlines, not op-eds. These are news headlines, stories from around the country, everything from the Weekly Standard to the Huffington Post, the AP.

Mr. GRIFFIN of Arkansas. ObamaCare Strikes: Part-Time Jobs Surge to All-Time High; Full-Time Jobs Plunge by 240,000; 16,500 Working Fewer Hours Due to ObamaCare Mandate. This is one of the mandates we've been talking about here tonight.

Mr. GRIFFIN of Arkansas. Sure.