Jim McDermott

Mr. McDERMOTT

Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Chairman, this budget is not a real plan to address the urgent needs of the American people. This budget is an announcement of a campaign for the Presidency of the United States. This bill is intended not to stir great debate in Congress that ultimately delivers fiercely needed solutions for Americans; instead, this bill is written for the 2016 Republican National Convention. When you listen to the chairman talk about this budget, what you are really hearing is the inaugural address of the 45th President of the United States, a rousing address that asks not what you can do for your country, but proudly proclaims your country refuses to do a thing for you: millions of seniors will be tossed off Medicare; the social safety net will be gutted to pay for millionaire tax cuts; infrastructure projects left to rot; denying millions of Americans health security; and Medicaid slashed to the bone. And that is just going to be the first 100 days. Remember as you vote: a budget is a statement of your moral principles of what you think ought to go on in a society. Today's vote is the first vote. If that kind of people get elected either in the Senate or in the Presidency in 2016, this is what you are going to see. They are putting it right out there for everybody in America to see. And that is why you must vote ``no.''

Mr. McDERMOTT

Mr. McDERMOTT. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, on a rainy September day in 2008, a constituent of mine named Ingrid was badly injured after a terrible fall in her home. She was rushed to the emergency room, where she was cared for and her life was spared, yet Ingrid came out of that experience stuck with a $23,000 hospital bill because she couldn't afford to have health insurance. A few months later, Ingrid was forced to sell her home to pay off that enormous hospital bill. Today, on a rainy day in April of 2014, there is a different story to tell. It is a rainy day in Seattle, not here. It is the story of the Affordable Care Act, the story of 7.1 million mothers and sons, fathers and daughters, who have a newfound sense of health security and peace of mind. That is 7.1 million honest, hardworking Americans, in addition to the 2 million young adults who are protected by staying on their parents' plan, in addition to the millions more who are now covered through the Children's Health Insurance Program and Medicaid expansion. One of them is Ingrid. Ingrid's life is vastly different now from what it was in 2008. She still is one of the hardest working people her friends and neighbors have ever met. She still loves the outdoors and drives a pickup truck, but today, she is happy, healthy, and covered because of the ACA. So as this Chamber, for the 52nd time, considers a radical and extremist Republican bill to kill the Affordable Care Act, I stand with millions of people who have been covered because of the ACA and the millions who still need health security. I stand in opposition to the idea that this Nation is incapable of guaranteeing health security for all its citizens. Republicans have no plan to cover the American people. Speaker Boehner earlier this week would not commit to releasing a Republican plan until after the election. How transparent can you be? Proof that this is political. So the introduction of this bill is simply surrender in the face of the health care crisis in America. How else can you explain the Republicans' introduction of a bill that cancels the health insurance policies of 1 million Americans? That sounds like surrender to me. How else can you explain a bill that raises the deficit by $75 billion? More surrender. How else can you explain a bill that puts five times the number of American workers at risk of losing hours at work? How else do you explain a bill that does anything but dare employers to slash work hours for workers in order to avoid the responsibility to offer health insurance coverage? How can they say this bill solves a problem of employers cutting hours and refusing benefits when it really only makes it worse? It is unconditional surrender by the Republicans, pure and simple, to force yet another vote on a bill that has no chance of becoming law. There isn't one chance in a million. One thing I learned in medicine was you never say never, but this is one time I can say it. It will never, ever pass the Congress. It is a bill crafted purely to appeal to the Koch brothers and the producers of FOX News, rather than forged to protect honest Americans like Ingrid. The latest Republican bill also denies a confirmed truth; the ACA is succeeding in its primary mission to expand access to quality health care for each and every American. So make no mistake. I have got news for you. The ACA is not going away. It is not going away. It is here to stay. The mission before the Congress now should be--in fact, must be--to move forward to further implement the ACA and to improve the law, where needed. I talked to Bill Frist about a year ago, former Republican leader of the Senate. He said: Don't repeal; fix. That is what we ought to be about doing--but we are not doing that-- in order to guarantee not just access for each and every American, but to lower health care costs across the board; yet this rather perverse bill raises health care costs for everyone by increasing the number of uninsured. That is surrender, pure and simple surrender. It is surrendering to an idea that our Nation is no longer capable of accomplishing great things and surrendering to the idea that America, the richest and the most advanced country on the Earth, can't guarantee that its citizens won't lose their homes when they get sick. That is what you are admitting by this bill. You are saying they have to choose between food on the breakfast table instead of medicine on their bedside table. That, in my view, is a situation that has no explanation, other than the fact that you have surrendered. You have given up the idea that America can take care of its own people. It was a choice that Ingrid once had to make, but she will never have to make again. That is what is true about the ACA. She has health care coverage. That is what is right about the ACA, and this bill under consideration, H.R. 2575, has nothing to do with what is either true or right. I urge my colleagues to vote ``no,'' and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. McDERMOTT. Madam Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Van Hollen).

Mr. McDERMOTT. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. McDERMOTT. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. A little history might be helpful here. There was a time in this country where people worked 60 hours a week, 7 days a week, 6 days a week. The only reason we have a 40-hour week at all were labor unions who went out and struck and forced the process to get a 40-hour workweek. They also were the ones who created the health care system in this country after the Second World War. People didn't have health insurance prior to that. When the President said, we can't have an increase in wages, that we can't have an increase in benefits, that prices can't go up, the labor unions said, well, let's have something called a benefits package. The benefits package that was created in the middle forties included health care and pensions. It came from the union movement. They are the ones that stood in the rain and the sleet and the snow on the picket lines to get these changes. Now, we have a law that comes in and says, let's deal with everybody in this country, and the judgment of this Congress was that an employer had the responsibility to provide health insurance for his or her employees if they worked 30 hours a week. That was considered full time. It doesn't change the other laws, the labor laws or any of the other things. It is for the purpose of this act that employers must consider their people full time if they work 30 hours. Now, if employers don't care, if they say, well, let me figure out how I can cheat my people out of any benefits, I am going to drop them down to 29 hours--well, you know, there are people like that. But the law says, if do you that, then you have to pay a penalty for everybody you didn't cover. So we tried in every way possible to make it possible to give people flexibility. But this law will not work, according to the American Enterprise Institute, without a mandate that everybody be covered. We are not changing the labor law. We are not changing overtime rules. We are not changing any of that stuff. We are saying, for the purpose of this law, an employer must cover anybody who works 30 hours. And if they don't care about their employees, if they run a restaurant, and they don't want their employees to be healthy, knock them all down to 29 hours, and let them come in sick. Then you have got a restaurant where you are going to eat lunch, and the employees haven't been able to see a doctor. That is what you are asking for. We are saying everybody in this country ought to have health insurance, and they ought to have the access to go to a doctor when they need it. So this business about we are somehow destroying the work ethic in this country and all that kind of nonsense is simply nonsense. That is not what this is about. This is about another way to destroy the act. And you know it. We know it. And the world should understand that this is the 52nd attempt to repeal the law, to undermine it so it will not work. I urge people to vote ``no.'' I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. McDERMOTT. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. McDERMOTT. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. McDERMOTT. Madam Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. Blumenauer).

Mr. McDERMOTT. I yield an additional 1 minute to the gentleman from Oregon.

Mr. McDERMOTT. Madam Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Becerra).

Mr. McDERMOTT. I yield the gentleman an additional 30 seconds.

Mr. McDERMOTT. Madam Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Miller), my good friend.

Mr. McDERMOTT. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time; but could you give us an accounting of our time?

Mr. McDERMOTT. Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pallone).

Mr. McDERMOTT. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. McDERMOTT. Madam Speaker, I yield myself 30 seconds to point out to my colleagues that CBO did not say people would lose their jobs. They said because they have health care, they no longer have to stay in the job that they have, and they will be able to stay home or do something else, and that will reduce the number of hours of work. They did not say the bill cuts them out or knocks them out of work. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Connolly).

Mr. McDERMOTT. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Lipinski).

Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker, would you give us an accounting of the time?

Mr. McDERMOTT. I reserve the balance of my time.

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

Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker, I now yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Chicago, Illinois (Ms. Schakowsky).

Mr. McDERMOTT. I yield the gentlelady an additional 1 minute.

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

Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. My colleagues out here today have really had a good time telling personal stories, so I have got a few of them for them. Last week, the distinguished Senator from Texas, Senator Cruz, put a poll up on his Facebook, asking if people are better off under the law. The responses were not what he expected. The overwhelming number of responses--he got nearly 56,000 responses--were in support of the ACA. If you look at it online, of the most recent 100 comments, there are just two that appear more negative than positive, so that is 2 percent that are against it. One of them said: Not only am I better off now, but I have friends who are better off, too. The second one said: Yes. I have MS, and I lost my job, and I wasn't able to get any other insurance because of my preexisting condition. Thank you, President Obama. Another one said: This Nation is better off for helping people avoid the devastation that poor health can bring. Thank you, ACA. I reserve the balance of my time. Senator Ted Cruz Quick poll: Obamacare was signed into law four years ago yesterday. Are you better off now than you were then? Comment with YES or NO! Like--Comment--March 24 at 5:45am-- Martha Hall Hansen, Pat White Garcia, Linda Hidy and Top Comments 10,204 others like this. 5,120 shares Carol Rietz Gates: Not only am I better off, but I have friends that are better off. Furthermore, this nation is better off for helping folks avoid the devastation that poor health can bring. Thank you, ACA! 1,359--March 25 at 6:46pm 13 Replies--1 hr Kris Williams: I and a few million other people are a lot better off. I hope you are enjoying your Cadillac plan given to you by your wife's employer, Goldman Sachs. Stop trying to deny the rest of us the peace of mind that quality, affordable health insurance provides us. 1,342--March 24 at 10:13pm 16 Replies--11 mins Benjamin Corey Feinblum: Yes. Costs stopped climbing. I'm a small business guy and I don't have to worry because insurance companies can't drop us anymore. 2,901--March 24 at 3:14pm 52 Replies--10 mins Lili Ann Fuller: YES, best law ever! And way overdue! I spent all my retirement savings on overpriced insurance in order to save my life when I got cancer in 2005. I had no income and now have no savings. If it had been in place back then, I wouldn't be looking at a poor retirement, but at least I am not worried about having care anymore. 2,300--March 24 at 2:04pm--Edited 25 Replies--7 hrs Lashawn Bell: Yes I have MS and I lost my job I wouldn't be able to get any other insurance because of my pre existing condition thank you President Obama. If people get sick they will realize how this is good. 1,288--March 24 at 2:00pm 16 Replies--1 hr Anne Wittig Pryor: I don't have Obamacare, but someone I know who had bad mouthed it for the past for years, recently had to get coverage after her husband recently passed away. The first words out of her mouth, ``Thank God for Obamacare.'' She is a staunch Republican and believes everything she hears on Fox News. And those who are saying they won't comply are cutting off their noses to spite their faces. Wake up! 2,798--March 24 at 1:49pm 52 Replies--2 hrs Paige Brennan: Impeach Ted Cruz! He caused the shutdown that hurt this country badly! 3,188--March 24 at 1:18pm 73 Replies--1 hr Joe Caparco: Isn't it funny that the govemment ``makes'' you buy car insurance and home owners insurance and no one says a word. For those of you who say you can't afford health insurance what will you do when you need your health insurance. No need to answer I alre . . . see more 1,984--March 24 at 1:11pm 68 Replies Larry E White: Absolutely better off, now lets push for universal healthcare for everyone. 2,705--March 24 at 1:08pm 26 Replies--1 hr Sherry Scott Stewart: Absolutely Yes! I have pre-existing condition that I was born with but didn't appear until later in life and could not get health insurance at all. I finally have decent affordable insurance. What a huge relief! 1,134--March 24 at 1:05pm 4 Replies Dave Ninehouser: Yes, my wife's little niece who is very sick would have hit her lifetime limit by now if not for the ACA. The nation is better off. 1,684--March 24 at 11:44am 10 Replies Kris Williams: What is really sad is how the American people have been kept in the dark as to what the ACA really is. The whole purpose and driving force behind the ACA was to Improve care and lower costs. The majority of the law deals with Medicare. The medical cost . . . See More 1,047--March 25 at 1:08am--Edited 32 Replies Robin Conrad: Yes, my son has Healthcare for the first time and I know many friends it is helping. The ACA is awesome. 1,101--March 24 at 7:16pm 18 Replies Shelley Laysi Peterson: hummm something tells me this isn't quite the response Mr Cruz was hoping for ROFLMAO 1,828--March 24 at 5:58pm 36 Replies--4 hrs Shelley Laysi Peterson: YES, YES & YES!! Hands Off My Obamacare!! 1,076--March 24 at 5:52pm 16 Replies--14 mins Felicia Willems: Yes! Everyone in my family has a pre- existing condition that range from minor to serious. We were uninsurable on the individual market Now we've got great coverage through healthcare.gov. We did NOT get a subsidy but it still fits our budget! 2,711--March 24 at 3:19pm 69 Replies Meredith Stark: Oh Senator Cruz, four years ago we didn't have health insurance, and now we do. It's helping my husband and I. 914--March 24 at 2:26pm 11 Replies--1 hr Laura Eakes: Only in America would people be cursing other people for finally being able to get health insurance, and calling them mooches and socialists. I'd rather be a socialist than a selfish psychopath like many right wingers on here 1,081--March 24 at 2:09pm 27 Replies--9 hrs Jeffrey Albuna: Well Mr. Cruz, firstly I want to say, I think your actions putting our country hostage for your 21 hour publicity stunt were awful and despicable. You stood up there for 21 hours railing against Obamacare, to show the Tea Party you ``care'' about their v . . . See More 1,444--March 24 at 1:53pm 18 Replies Brenda Myrick Yasulevicz: For those of you who think that anyone who answered yes ``is a part of the problem'', I have worked hard my entire life and done fairly well. I always had jobs with insurance. Then I became self employed and found out I couldn't get insured because of pre-existing conditions. (None are serious or life threatening, or even require much care) I am very grateful for this insurance! 997--March 24 at 1:26pm 16 Replies--2 hrs David C. Brown: Yes Ted. In spite of your empty pandering rhetoric I am better off now that I was four years ago. I now have an insurance plan, purchased from a private company, that must insure me rather than suck profit from me. Before, I was dumped from insurance f . . . See More 2,071--March 24 at 11:47am 47 Replies--2 hrs Art Zimmerman: Damn straight I am . . . we all are after the Bush/Cheney near destruction of our country and the bullshit trickle-down Republican garbage!! 576--March 24 at 6:34pm--Edited Joy Williams: Of course we are better off. We will now have consistent care without it destroying our finances. 491--March 24 at 4:32pm 2 Replies Chuck Provonchee: Yes, Cruz, you pitiful waste of space, we are all much better off under the ACA. The only ones who would not agree with that are the mindless people who blindly follow the GOP and vote against their own best interests. You should enjoy your time as senator because I don't think you will ever win another election. 548--March 24 at 2:45pm 11 Replies--2 hrs Russ Campbell: Thank God for Obama Care. I now have health care and they discovered I have cancer. I'm going to have surgery in one week and I might live. Without Obamacare I would just die. 576--March 24 at 1:10pm 34 Replies--2 hrs Terry Kelley-King: YES . . . I have insurance and am very happy to have it . . . of course it could be better by making it single payer . . . but this is a republican health plan so it can't be perfect 1,699--March 24 at 1:05pm--Edited 47 Replies Dave Posmontier: Definitely YES!. We now have drug coverage and do pay a little bit more in co-pays but get this--My wife and I are saving $550 a month in premiums. Thanks you President Obama . . . 609--March 24 at 1:04pm 4 Replies Kevin Lawton: Much better off. We'd be even better off if people like you weren't in the US Senate. 1,736--March 24 at 12:15pm 32 Replies Barbara J Cobuzzi: Yes, much better off. 1,042--March 24 at 12:06pm 11 Replies--1 hr LN Winchester: YES, It's great! Not only for myself and my kids, but for the other five million people who can now get the medical care they need! I'm actually paying a bit more, but I don't mind because so many families are getting the medical services they need, in some cases desperately. That makes it all worthwhile. 1,169--March 24 at 11:56am 28 Replies Amanda Rosales: YES . . . I was denied heath insurance because of having MS as a pre-existing condition and would soon be going medically bankrupt or stop getting treatment. I now have excellent coverage and have a brighter future! 1,205--March 24 at 11:52am 33 Replies--6 hrs Bruce Lindner: I just left my insurance agent's office. He walked me through my options with the ACA, and to put it mildly, I'm one happy customer! As a self-employed cancer survivor and a heart attack survivor--factoring in the outrageous prices they've been gougin . . . See More 397--March 28 at 3:56pm 11 Replies Alisha Clark: Obamacare does not regulate health care, it regulates health insurance companies. Who in their right mind wouldn't want health insurance companies to be regulated? 472--March 26 at 12:26pm 15 Replies--1 hr Alisha Clark: This morning I received a private message from one of my many fb friends This person would like me to share her story. I can only imagine what this person is going through and I want her to know that we are now in this fight together. Hi Alisha: I am n . . . See More 434--March 26 at 5:48am 23 Replies--4 hrs Cathy Paganelli Kaelin: YES! Saving $350 per month, preventative care plus dental & vision. And now my 2 adult children have health insurance which they went without for 2 years. Yes, this family is grateful for the ACA. Thank you, President Obama, for taking this country into the direction of health care for all! 434--March 25 at 5:17am 13 Replies Bonnie Flournoy: Yes. Previously, I had your plan whereby the ER was my primary physician. Having a strategy alone to seek medical help has lifted a burden. The burden was making me just as sick as my condition. In fact, I think the stress caused the illness. 874--March 24 at 2:08pm 15 Replies Kathe Mendelsohn-White: YES! Without the ACA, my 21 year old autistic son would not have any insurance. Thank you President Obama. 1,778--March 24 at 1:12pm 66 Replies Paulina Trefault: At the same time, costs are coming down. The Congressional Budget Office found the health care law is making significant contributions to fiscal responsibility. The CBO's most recent estimates show that repealing the law would actually increase deficit . . . See More 435--March 24 at 12:15pm 8 Replies Tricia Barsamian-Wise: Yes . . . I no longer work 2 jobs and have the security of not being denied, my insurance going up or being canceled. I clearly understand Ted Cruz's POV on this, his financial backers only hired him to do their dirty work. But what I find so hard to comprehend is average Americans being so cruel and hateful. 950--March 24 at 11:52am 28 Replies--6 hrs Vik Verma: Yes 404--March 24 at 11:34am Charles Reff: Yes, it allowed me to get better insurance then my job was offering and for less. 1,368--March 24 at 6:38am 28 Replies Chuck Myers: What I'd REALLY like to know, Senator Cruz, is are you a big enough man to READ the tens of thousands of comments below and admit that just MAYBE, you were WRONG!!!!! If you were truly a representative OF THE PEOPLE you would instantly see how desperat . . . See More 351--March 29 at 10:51pm 13 Replies--4 hrs Ilene Leftwing: Yes, but would be even better off if my Republican Governor, Nathan Deal, saw fit to help the citizens of Georgia by implementing the medicaid expansion. Anyone who stands against the ACA does not get MY vote. 316--March 25 at 9:26am 11 Replies--33 miss Sandie Cohen: Please do not take away our health coverage. 357--March 24 at 3:43pm 11 Replies--32 mins Scotty-Miguel Sandoe: YES! Access to Obamacare saves me money, and as former cancer patient, it means I can no longer be denied health insurance because of a pre-existing condition. This is the best government program since Medicare--thank heavens we have a President who cares about American citizens for a change! 1,404--March 24 at 11:38am 54 Replies Jeanne Carver: Yes I am. I had a junky plan, which paid nothing until after 7500 per year. I now have affordable healthcare, which costs much less. 780--March 24 at 1:12pm 14 Replies David Davis: No. I couldn't afford healthcare before and I still can't and now will also have to pay a fine. Wish I could fine the government for making my life hell everyday. 1,458--March 24 at 5:47am 322 Replies--4 hrs Rick LaCrosse: The politicians that rule should live by their rules & laws!!! 253--March 24 at 5:52am 13 Replies--1 hr Elizabeth Dubrulle: What an incredibly stupid and badly written question! Were you actually trying to start a discussion about healthcare, in which case your question should have been: is your health care better today than it was four years ago? (my answer would have been . . . See More 406--March 24 at 8:05am 23 Replies--2 hrs Chris Marko: As a concerned Canadian, I apologize for both Ted Cruz and Justin Beiber, that being said, you can keep both of them, we have a no return policy for defective merchandise. 135--March 29 at 8:28pm Breana Corea: LMAO!!! Nice! 14--March 29 at 9:40pm Something Liberal: please take them back . . . you can imprison them or torture them . . . we don't care. 15--March 29 at 10:22pm View more replies Lamar Birdsey: In 1995 I had my first heart attack. At that point I was insured. However, my coverage was immediately terminated by my insurance company. Six months later I had my second heart attack and had no insurance. Subsequently I have had two more attacks and was not covered. I have spent my life savings attempting to stay alive. In 2014, I purchased a wonderful Florida Blue policy. My premium is $88.73 per month. My deductible is $600.00 annually and any co-payments are extremely low. EVERYTHING IS COVERED! The most out of pocket expense I will have to pay in a given year is $2250.00. I am much better off now that the ACA has become law. Senator Cruz, I suggest you pack your bags and go back to where you came from, Canada. You are a scourge on this great nation. We do not need or want your ilk here. If you want to screw up a health care program, by all means return to Canada and mess with that one. DO NOT TREAD ON MY

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