Pete Sessions

Mr. SESSIONS

Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Wyoming (Ms. Cheney), who is the favorite daughter of Wyoming and serves on the Rules Committee.

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

Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time, and I am prepared to close.

Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. Mr. Speaker, I want to begin by thanking our colleagues, the gentleman from Massachusetts leading the Rules Committee, and his ranking members as they came from each of the committees, some 50 hours' worth of hearings and markups, including some 16 hours in the Rules Committee to not only talk about and vet, but to understand more clearly what we would be voting on. Mr. Speaker, today is a bill that is a compromise bill, no doubt about it. I had my own plan and I had my own ideas. I took 2 years to get involved in this process. It is difficult to write a healthcare bill. But it didn't have to be my bill; it had to be a bill that we could all work together on. President Trump has been a part of that. President Trump took time out of his schedule to do this. It is important to the American people. President Trump, more than any single Member of Congress, gave the message to the American people about what was necessary and what he would do. He is going to live up to that, and we should, too. Mr. Speaker, the bottom line to this whole thing is we are going to present a Republican plan, and we are going to stand behind what we sell. It is better for the American people. But make no mistake about it: we are transferring power, authority, and responsibility not just to States, but also to the American people. It will be up to them to make determinations about their own health care because, for the first time, we will allow some 50 million Americans to have a tax equity, an opportunity to use tax credits that will be available to families anywhere from $2,000 for an individual to $14,000 for a family. This will empower people who have not found a fair shot at the tax advantages it will give them: small-business owners; the American people; the average worker in this country, including those who work two or three different jobs; as well as those who are uninsured. We believe it is a better shot, an opportunity. We are willing to put our name on it and behind it. For these reasons, Mr. Speaker, I urge us to move forward. There will be 4 hours of debate that remain in this opportunity. For that reason, I urge my colleagues to support this rule and the underlying bill.

Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time, and I move the previous question on the resolution.

Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. SESSIONS

Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. Speaker, by direction of the Committee on Rules, I call up House Resolution 221 and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. Speaker, for the purpose of debate only, I yield the customary 30 minutes to the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern), my dear friend, pending which I yield myself such time as I may consume. During consideration of this resolution, all time yielded is for the purpose of debate only. Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the Rules Committee met for some 13 hours, maybe a little bit more, where we were tasked with the opportunity to bring forth from the Republican Conference the new bill that is to replace the Affordable Care Act. That discussion involved us taking testimony from the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, Kevin Brady; the chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, Greg Walden; and the chairman of the Budget Committee, Mrs. Black. It also involved three other ranking members for those committees. They assembled up in the Rules Committee. We had a very vigorous and open debate about the bill, about the effects of the bill, about the things which were occurring within the Republican majority dealing with the United States Senate and dealing with the President of the United States. All three are necessary to agree upon a bill if we are to sign it into law. There was a vigorous demand from Democrats to know more information, and I believe I forthrightly attempted to answer those questions. We did not have all the pieces of the puzzle together. We recognized that by the evening hour. So by 11 p.m. last night, upon my consultation with Ranking Member McGovern, I made a decision that we would not stay up during the evening, we would ask that we would come back today. So we did not actually complete our work last night. I am here today because last night the Rules Committee issued a rule that would be a same-day rule. The issues really don't change. The facts of the case really don't change. Information is necessary for us to make an informed decision. That is a change. I have told the gentleman, Mr. McGovern. I have told the gentlewoman, the former Speaker, the leader of the Democrat Party, Ms. Pelosi. I have told Mr. Hoyer in a direct dialogue that we had that I would do my best to make sure that we answer the questions that would be necessary. The gentleman, Mr. McGovern, who very ably represents his party, understood that I did not have all the answers that I needed. So we are here today with the opportunity to say we are going to do a same-day rule. We are going to try to pass this rule. We are going to try to explain what we are doing. We are going to allow my team, our Republican Conference, to get back together today because they, too, want to know what is the final deal. That is what my conference is doing right now. They are in this building, several hundred Members of Congress, talking, debating, understanding, listening, compromising, yes, on a way that we can approach a chance to change what we see as one of the most devastating pieces of legislation to the economy, to the healthcare system, and, quite honestly, to the standing of America as the greatest country in the world. We think we have to make changes. But today we are here right now to say that we don't have all those answers. A complete agreement was not available by the time I chose to end the matter last night in the Rules Committee. So rather than staying up all night, we are here today. We will be back here today. This is not the debate about the bill. More information is needed. An agreement is needed from my party. And when we reach that agreement, I will then come back. But make no mistake about it, Mr. Speaker, my party intends to bring forth an agreed-to bill that we will be able to show to the American people, and we will own it. We are very capable of saying that we believe that market forces, we believe that free right of individuals, we believe that free physicians and opportunities exist and abound, and we will bring that to the floor, and we will openly debate it. Much is being said about a Congressional Budget Office report that has caused much fear. Unrightly? No, I can't say that. But it is certainly explainable. Mr. Speaker, I will start right now. The bottom line is that there are some 30 million people who are uninsured in the United States of America, 30 million people who did not find a home or chose not to take a government-provided available system that is called the Affordable Care Act. Even more people included within that are paying a penalty of several thousand dollars rather than taking that healthcare system, that availability. So we believe the right thing to do is not to force anybody, not to have mandates, not to penalize people, but, rather, to make available to them opportunities where it is their decision about what they would do. The corresponding facts of the case are real simple. The Congressional Budget Office said: Fine, if you don't force people to do it, then some 24 million people won't do it within the next 7 years. Well, there are 30 million people today that do not have it and not taking it. So to go from 30 million to 24 million will be a very interesting task for us to understand. Mr. Speaker, no freedom is free. But if we engage in telling the American people that Washington, D.C., knows better than they do, then that is a false promise--is a false promise that our friends, the Democrats, tried and actually failed at. So Republicans, in order to put together their plan--yes, even with the consequences of a ``CBO report that say there will be 24 million people who are uninsured,'' that is probably right, because they chose not to accept what would be an equal opportunity for them to take what might be called a tax credit that equals some $8,000 for a family of four, allowing them straight up to purchase their own health care for their family. But if they choose not to do it, that is their business. Mr. Speaker, one of my attributes is I come from Dallas, Texas. And Dallas, Texas, for all the great things that we have about us, we think that some of the great things come from the way we believe. We deeply believe we are in some ways a very open city. We have many different thought processes, many people, but we respect each other and don't try to tell each other what to do. It creates a flourishing environment about ourselves where, when we get in trouble, we stick together; when we see trouble, we ban together. But we tend not to tell each other what to do in our own lives. That is one thing that I think makes us a little bit different. We do not count on government to do the things that we should do for ourselves. That is part of the freedom model that I buy off on and part of what we are offering--the Republican Party--today for the American people rather than mandates, dictates, fines, the IRS and all sorts of other government organizations that we could throw in a person's way simply to tell them what to do. We reject that notion. We will, as quickly as possible, bring about a bill that we can explain, that we will own, and that we will pass. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

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

Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, the chance for us to be here today means that a lot of people are going to have a lot of opinions, and I appreciate the gentleman having an opinion. He knows what we are doing. So do the American people. The American people are watching TV, and they are seeing where Republicans are huddling together and pushing this activity of health care, debating ideas right, really, before the American people, really, hundreds of TV shows. I have been on 15 or 20 myself where I am saying that the Republican replacement or repeal of ObamaCare is something we are taking our time to discuss. We are taking our time to make sure our colleagues understand it. We are taking time to be thoughtful. Otherwise, we would have just rushed it through. In fact, we took some 13 hours last night, yesterday, at the Rules Committee to do exactly that. Ms. Pelosi spent 3 hours before the Rules Committee, essentially talking about things that--we see things differently. She thinks she sees things differently than we do, and that is okay. It gave her a chance to have a debate opportunity. This is what this is all about. It does not bother me at all. General Leave

Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks.

Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. Speaker, we want Members to have a chance to have their thoughts and ideas on the record, to take their time to be thoughtful about what we are doing. And it does matter. Mr. Speaker, at this time I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Collinsville, Illinois (Mr. Shimkus), a gentleman whom I came to Congress with in the 105th Congress. The gentleman is from the 15th District of Illinois and served our country as a veteran. He was a West Point graduate, and he is a really good guy. (Mr. SHIMKUS asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I am delighted that the distinguished gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Lowey) came down. She, not unlike many of those in her party, are intensely interested in making sure that the American people are going to get the opportunity to have something that I have always said is equal to or better than. The bottom line is that families on ObamaCare, or the Affordable Care Act, today--and that includes almost every single Member of Congress, including myself and my family--did not get what we were told would happen. Much of the Affordable Care Act was not even decided and developed until after the bill was put together, and we knew that ahead of time. They told us it is going to take a couple of years for us to put this together. Right now, here, today, only about 24 out of 100 physicians across this country even accept ObamaCare. The Republican plan is not simple, but it is easy to understand, and that is this: We allow every single person to stay on ObamaCare 2017, 2018, and 2019. That is undeniably in the bill, and they know that. We are allowing every single American that does not, today, receive the tax benefit, the benefit that goes back to World War II, an untaxed benefit by employers--we are allowing every single American family to be able to receive a tax credit. You cannot use both. You cannot double-dip into another system. But we are allowing every single one of those families that, today, was completely excluded or chose not to take ObamaCare to receive a tax credit. That tax credit for families is important because, today, they are paying after-tax dollars if they choose to get health care. And tomorrow what we will do is allow up to $8,000 for a family of four-- that is $8,000 for a tax credit for a family--effective in November of a year to be able to, before they purchase their health care in January, to designate the first $8,000 to the healthcare plan of their choice. Well, that obviously doesn't fly well either because the Democrats want to tell people what they have to have. Most families don't need many things that are covered. Why should they pay for that? Oh, because the Democratic Party, Washington, D.C., says you have to. These are essential items. No, no, no. A family will be able to make their own decisions and not pay for what they don't need. So, Mr. Speaker, there always are at least two sides of the story. And it is true that what the Republican Party is going to do is allow people to make their own choice, but to give them the tools necessary. And if a family decides to do that, then they can; if they decide not to, they don't have to. Just like what is happening today where people are required to get health care but 30 million people are uninsured, figure that one out, Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. We have at least two different sides up here, and people are entitled to believe whatever they want to believe. I am entitled to the same opinion of myself, also. There are also a set of answers and facts that need to be given, evidently, and that is, in fact, we do make changes in the bill to ObamaCare. We do. Mr. Speaker, the law, the way it was written, we have virtually few 30-year-olds to 45-year-olds that actually pay for ObamaCare, the people we were told who needed it the most. The reason why is because it was dictated from Washington how to rate the coverage. In rating that coverage, it became so illogically expensive for a young person to pay an astronomical amount for their insurance, and even many times a higher value for their deductible, to where 30-year-olds, 35-year-olds, 36-year-olds, 37-year-olds chose simply not to take the policy offered. So what do Republicans do? It is real simple. Here is what Republicans do: They allow the States the flexibility to determine what might be called a rating. And it is true that, now, people will be rated based upon their own actuarial experience of where they are in life, their age. Mr. Speaker, it is true that a 25-year-old, 30-year-old, 35-year-old needs less necessary intricate and expensive health care. And it is actuarially true that the older that we get--I celebrated my birthday yesterday. I get it. I am getting older, and I probably am a little more expensive at the doctor in things that I need, especially into my future. So what we did is we said where you have that rating system, we will allow more money through the tax credit system to adjust that so that a 50- to 64-year-old will not be at a disadvantage because those, too, are the people we want in the healthcare plan. So we are actually going to add, by making it actuarially sound and attractive, a whole bunch of younger people; and we are going to recognize this balance, and we are going to provide more of an incentive to balance out for those who are older. That makes sense. It is also reality based, Mr. Speaker. But to say that someone is going to be paying more without us recognizing that and doing something about it would not be a fair argument. I reserve the balance of my time.

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

Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. What a shame the gentleman was not here to vote for the Affordable Care Act when it took hold several years ago, and he would have known this is a bad deal. Mr. Speaker, even the American people cannot be fooled. The American people saw ObamaCare, the Affordable Care Act, waste billions of dollars simply to try and put together a computer system. Mr. Speaker, the American people understand it was a tax bill. It is about using the IRS, and they were going to add 17,000 employees, literally, to beat the brains out of the American people to force them into having health care from Washington. Mr. Speaker, no wonder Republicans won the majority several years ago. No wonder Republicans have saved the American people not only from the IRS, but from the massive taxes that were embedded within this huge government takeover of our healthcare system. The bottom line is that my colleagues have not yet met a tax they wouldn't be for. They have not yet built and grown these massive government organizations to the tune that they want to force the American people to do things. And they are having a difficult time understanding today why the American people--if given a choice and an opportunity and an advantage that would be fair for all Americans to have a tax credit, why that is something that people really want to see. Mr. Speaker, Mr. Trump may or may not have contemplated every single part of the healthcare issue, but I will tell you what he did understand. And that is, draining the swamp from a system that takes away your freedom, that saps the economic growth and vitality of this country, and that empowers the Internal Revenue Service is a bad idea. Mr. Speaker, having to qualify by going through the IRS to look at your records first to determine whether you qualify for a subsidy should be an embarrassment, and it was seen that way by the American people. Mr. Speaker, to guess at how much money and work you would have during the year, and then if you are wrong, pay up, was a system that did not work because many physicians across this country and many hospitals simply do not take ObamaCare. They are acting like it was a gift from God. Mr. Speaker, it did not work, and it does not work. The Republican Party is going to find a way, and we are going to get our act together, and we are going to gleefully go and do the right thing. It is a process, Mr. Speaker. It is a long process. It actually does take the House, the Senate, and the President, and we are going to get our job done. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

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

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

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

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

Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Seven years ago, Mr. Speaker, this town was abuzz with this new healthcare plan, the Affordable Care Act, that was signed by the President of the United States. We were promised an enormous opportunity to make health care better. Mr. Speaker, fortunately, the American people had a chance to make a decision, and the American people--after watching and seeing not only people incapable of putting databases together, incapable of understanding marketplaces, and incapable of understanding the limits of the American people's real need to understand and to have a better healthcare system--gave up on ObamaCare, the Affordable Care Act. They gave up on it because, after 7 long years, they understood it simply didn't equal what they were sold. The Republican Party is selling what we believe in, and this is the beginning of that sell. It is a beginning of an understanding for most Members of this body and the American people to understand you can keep your own doctor and you can keep your own healthcare plan, but you, too, can make your own decisions. You can become a consumer. Oh, my gosh, somebody from Washington isn't going to tell us exactly what to do? Let's scare everybody; let's make them think that the American people can't make their own decisions without the IRS or Washington telling them what to do. I understand there are some frustrations. I get that. I can be frustrated; I am not. It is true last week I held a townhall meeting in Dallas, Texas. It is true a bunch of people yelled and screamed at me. They simply wanted to know: Yes or no, yes or no. Mr. Speaker, policy is not like that in our country. The Republican Party does owe people thoughts, ideas, and plans. We will have the bill, and when we do it, we will own it, and we will be proud of it. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this rule. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time, and I move the previous question on the resolution.

Mr. SESSIONS

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

Mr. SESSIONS

Mr. SESSIONS. Madam Speaker, the Rules Committee will be issuing announcements outlining the amendment processes for two measures that will likely be before the Rules Committee next week. An amendment deadline has been set for Monday, March 27, at 10 a.m., for H.R. 1215, the Protecting Access to Care Act of 2017; and H.R. 1304, the Self-Insurance Protection Act. The text of these measures will be available on the Rules Committee website upon this announcement. Please feel free to contact me or my staff if you have any questions.

Mr. SESSIONS. I yield to the gentleman from Massachusetts.

Mr. SESSIONS. I appreciate the gentleman asking this question. As the gentleman has previously asked at the Rules Committee, I advised the gentleman that tomorrow, at 10 a.m., the Rules Committee will be convening for the purpose of amendment and discussion of the text that will come, and it would be my belief that that would be available in the evening hour, as I assume we will still be in.