Louise Slaughter

Ms. SLAUGHTER

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, it is clear after The Indianapolis Star uncovered the widespread abuse scandal that Congress must act to implement consistent, stricter laws governing the reporting of abuses to our Nation's athletes and to all our children. Once again, The Indianapolis Star has shown us the importance of investigative journalism and a free press. Many of these athletes are too young and are not empowered to speak out against authority figures when they are hurt or abused by them. But each of us as Members of Congress is in a position to do something about it, and we must. Mr. Speaker, again, I urge my colleagues to listen to the voices of the American people before hurling our Nation further toward disaster with this dangerous healthcare bill. The majority hasn't held any hearings or gotten input from experts, advocates, or patients. They are ignoring the opposition from groups like AARP, American Medical Association, March of Dimes, and American Hospital Association. The score later today from the Congressional Budget Office won't change the underlying facts of this bill. It will gut protections for people with preexisting conditions. It will gut essential health benefits, kick millions of people off of health insurance, and place a crushing age tax on those aged 50 to 64 whose premiums will go up. It will also cut billions from Medicaid to pay for a major tax cut for the wealthy. That is $880 billion that they want to take away from Medicaid to give to the rich and corporations. This is so unAmerican, I stumbled over saying it. Mr. Speaker, a bad process has led to a bad bill. We should be doing what the American people want and improving the Affordable Care Act. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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

Ms. SLAUGHTER

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

Ms. SLAUGHTER

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I certainly thank my colleague for yielding to me. Mr. Speaker, I was fortunate enough to bring the ACA to the floor after years of working on it and experts writing it. It had such incredible things in it. I think it would behoove us this morning to talk about what every one of us who has health insurance is going to lose because the benefits of the ACA accrued to all of us. Now, you need to know first that we are going to lose the fact that 85 cents of every premium dollar will go for health care. It will go back to insurance profits. We are also going to lose the fact that families could no longer go bankrupt because of health care. The largest cause of bankruptcy are families with medical bills, and the ACA took care of that. Nobody ever talks about that much, but if a single person spent $4,500 a year on health care, a family $12,500, the insurance companies picked up the rest of it. How about that? That is a pretty good loss that we are going to face. So why in the world are we rushing into this thing? Well, the President of the United States, Donald Trump, verified as recently as last Saturday evening in Pennsylvania that we have to do this first because $800 billion has to come out of health care so that they could do the tax bill with great corporate tax relief for the 1 percent. So as you lose your health care, your ability to go to the doctor, and your preexisting conditions because risk pools don't work, be comforted by the fact that we are in the hands of people who put the needs of corporations and wealthy people ahead of the citizens of the United States. Just in case you think people aren't paying any attention, for the first time in my life, my office has 185 applications for six seats as interns in the summertime. It is unheard of. Calls in my office have gone from about 10 a day to 80, all of them talking about this. I have never seen political suicide in my life like I am seeing today. I think our leader put it so succinctly: you are tattooing that on your foreheads. Now, those people out there who have really gotten sort of used to this, all we have heard all the way through is that this is going to fall apart. The problems going on with the ACA right now are that the insurance companies have uncertainty because of what has been going on here. I need to bring up one of the greatest hoaxes in America in any institution that passes laws. For over 60 times, you brought to the floor of this House and we debated bills to do away with the health care. ``Repeal and replace,'' you shouted. Millions and millions of dollars' worth of time on this floor were spent on what was absolutely a hoax because you had no repeal-and-replace plan. It was simply all talk, and now you have got to rush through this so you can do your big tax bill. I am sorry to see this happen. It is a sad day for the United States.

Ms. SLAUGHTER

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I was unavoidably detained and missed Roll Call vote numbers 237, 238 and 239. Had I been present, I would have voted ``aye'' on votes 237, 238 and 239.

Ms. SLAUGHTER

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I was unavoidably detained and missed rollcall vote Nos. 240, 241, 242, 243, 244, and 245. Had I been present, I would have voted ``aye'' on votes 242 and 243. I would have voted ``nay'' on votes 240, 241, 244 and 245.

Ms. SLAUGHTER

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank Rep. Clay for hosting this important special order hour, and thank him for all his hard work on this very important issue over the past few months. As co-chair of the Congressional Arts Caucus, I wanted to share my appreciation this evening for David Pulphus and his artwork ``Untitled #1'' which won the Congressional Art Competition in Missouri's 1st Congressional District, home to the city of St. Louis. David's painting is a wonderful piece of artwork, a contribution that we will not soon forget, and should still be hanging in the Capitol. As the great poet Langston Hughes once said ``An artist must be free to choose what he does, certainly, but he must also never be afraid to do what he might choose.'' David's artwork strikes at the core of our nation. He bravely chose his subject and expressed it in a beautiful and moving painting and it is my hope that he continue to express himself and his artwork without fear. In February I sent David a letter expressing my apologies that his painting was unfairly taken down from the halls of the Capitol. It is my sincere hope that this experience does not deter him, or other aspiring young artists, from future endeavors in the arts. Thank you Rep. Clay for allowing me to speak tonight.

Ms. SLAUGHTER

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I was unavoidably detained and missed Roll Call vote numbers 229, 230, 231, 232, 233, 234. Had I been present, I would have voted ``aye'' on vote 231, 232 and 233. I would have voted ``nay'' on votes 229, 230 and 234.

Ms. SLAUGHTER

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I was unavoidably detained and missed rollcall vote Nos. 235 and 236. Had I been present, I would have voted ``aye'' on vote 236. I would have voted ``nay'' on vote 235. personal explanation

Ms. SLAUGHTER

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I was unavoidably detained and missed Roll Call vote numbers 224, 225, 226, 227 and 228. Had I been present, I would have voted ``aye'' on votes 226 and 227. I would have voted ``nay'' on votes 224, 225, and 228.

Ms. SLAUGHTER

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I was unavoidably detained and missed Roll Call vote numbers 222 and 223. Had I been present, I would have voted ``aye'' on both.

Ms. SLAUGHTER

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Madam Speaker, I was unavoidably detained and missed rollcall vote Nos. 217, 218, 219, 220, 221, and 222. Had I been present, I would have voted ``aye'' on votes 220 and 221. I would have voted ``nay'' on votes 217, 218, 219, and 222.

Ms. SLAUGHTER

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I was unavoidably detained and missed Roll Call vote numbers 209, 210, 211, 212, 213 and 214. Had I been present, I would have voted aye on votes 209, 210, 215 and 216. I would have voted nay on votes 211, 212, 213, and 214.

Ms. SLAUGHTER

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize April 9-22, 2017 as National Young Audiences Arts-for-Learning Week. Young Audiences (YA) Arts for Learning was established in 1952 and is the nation's largest arts-in-education learning network. Young Audiences currently serves over 5 million children and youth each year in 8,300 schools and community centers across the country, through its diversified network of 30 local affiliates. This year, Young Audiences, and its affiliates, will be celebrating ``Young Audiences Week'' with numerous community events, educational programs, and initiatives across the country, culminating on April 21st and 22nd, at the Digital Transformation National Arts-in-Education Conference. Young Audiences empowers our nation's next generation of scientists, mathematicians, entrepreneurs, artists, writers, parents, and community leaders, to be innovative, creative and critical thinkers. YA partners with nearly 9,000 local and national organizations, corporations, foundations, and government agencies, to create community-wide collaborations on behalf of arts-in-education. These partnerships enable YA to extend their work and reach more children year by year. Young Audience's network strives to connect 4,600 teaching artists with over 80,000 educators to provide in-depth arts-in-education opportunities that raise academic and artistic achievement, while enhancing and developing learning skills that translate across curricula. In my district, Young Audiences of Rochester, established in 1962, is upstate New York's oldest and most comprehensive arts-in-education organization, having worked with over 186,000 students in the past year. As co-chair of the Congressional Arts Caucus, I understand firsthand the benefits that comprehensive arts education has on our nation's youth. Students engaged in arts learning have higher GPAs, standardized test scores, stronger critical thinking skills, better decision making skills, and lower drop-out rates. Participating in the arts can have incredible benefits on our nation's students. I encourage all of my colleagues to join me in recognizing National Young Audiences Arts-for-Learning Week.

Ms. SLAUGHTER

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I was unavoidably detained and missed rollcall vote Nos. 203, 204, 205, 206, 207, and 208. Had I been present, I would have voted ``aye'' on votes 205 and 207. I would have voted ``nay'' on votes 203, 204, 206, and 208.

Ms. SLAUGHTER

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I was unavoidably detained and missed Roll Call vote numbers 197, 198, 199, 200, 201, and 202. Had I been present, I would have voted nay each of these votes.

Ms. SLAUGHTER

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I was unavoidably detained and missed Roll Call vote Nos. 195 and 196. Had I been present, I would have voted aye on both.

Ms. SLAUGHTER

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I was unavoidably detained and missed Roll Call vote numbers 182, 183, 184, 185, 186 and 187. Had I been present, I would have voted Aye on votes 183, 184, 185 and 187. I would have voted Nay on votes 182 and 186.

Ms. SLAUGHTER

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I was unavoidably detained and missed Roll Call vote numbers 176, 177, 178, 179, 180 and 181. Had I been present, I would have voted Aye on votes 178 and 181. I would have voted Nay on votes 176, 177, 179 and 180.

Ms. SLAUGHTER

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I was unavoidably detained and missed Roll Call vote numbers 173, 174, and 175. Had I been present, I would have voted Aye on all of these measures.

Ms. SLAUGHTER

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I was unavoidably detained and missed Roll Call vote numbers 165, 166, 167, 168, and 169. Had I been present, I would have voted Aye on roll call votes number 165, 166, 167. I would have voted Nay on roll call votes 168 and 169.

Ms. SLAUGHTER

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I was unavoidably detained and missed rollcall vote Nos. 170, 171, and 172. Had I been present, I would have voted Aye on roll call vote Nos. 170 and 171. I would have voted `nay'' on rollcall vote No. 172.

Ms. SLAUGHTER

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I was unavoidably detained and missed Roll Call vote numbers 159, 160, and 161. Had I been present, I would have voted Aye on roll call numbers 159, 160 and nay on roll call vote 161.

Ms. SLAUGHTER

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I was unavoidably detained and missed rollcall vote numbers 162, 163, and 164. Had I been present, I would have voted ``nay'' on each vote.

Ms. SLAUGHTER

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