Rep. Gregory Meeks warns that proposed Venezuela strikes ignore congressional war powers, citing 140 overdose deaths in Rep. Maria Salazar’s district and questioning Trump’s drug-focused justification amid a $20B military buildup seizing oil tankers instead. Salazar counters, framing Maduro as a "narco-trafficker" and invoking OAS Charter precedent, but Meeks accuses her of overlooking deportations and oil interests over U.S. safety. Meanwhile, the House debates expiring ACA tax credits, with Republicans pushing an 11% premium cut bill while Democrats demand extensions to prevent 22 million from facing skyrocketing costs—exposing partisan health care priorities amid rising costs and fraud. [Automatically generated summary]
If you're too sick to make a choice and you're in the hospital or critical care unit, I'm not clear where we learn about how they're going to handle severe illness.
Again, their examples often have to do with LASIC surgery and outpatient choices.
Do you know or are we aware of what, say, a Cassidy proposal is suggesting for catastrophic illness?
Yes, no, I haven't seen anything about that, but that is a good question, Carl, and appreciate that call and appreciate everybody that called in today.
A couple of things for your schedule later today.
In about an hour, we've got a live hearing of the FCC Chair Brendan Carr.
That's the Federal Communications Commission.
He's going to be talking to the Senate Commerce Committee.
And with that, we will take you right over to the House of Representatives.
The chair has examined the journal of the last day's proceedings and announces to the House the approval thereof.
Pursuant to clause one of Rule 1, the journal stands approved.
unidentified
And the Pledge of Allegiance will be led by the gentleman from Florida, Mr. Billarakis.
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
The chair will now administer the oath to Ann Dressendorfer-Benstead of Virginia, appointed November 25th, 2025, to act as and to exercise the duties of Chief Administrative Officer of the House of Representatives, effective December 31, 2025.
The Chief Administrative Officer Designate will now approach the well.
You raise your right hand.
Do you solemnly swear that you will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic?
That you will bear true faith and allegiance to the same, that you take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion, and that you will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which you are about to enter, so help you God.
Congratulations.
Thank you so much.
The chair will entertain up to 15 requests for one-minute speeches on each side of the aisle.
For what purpose does the gentleman from Florida seek recognition?
Well, all right, to revise and extend my remarks.
Without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the life and legacy of Rabbi Gary Klein, a devoted spiritual leader, dear friend, and true bench.
For 35 years, Rabbi Klein served as the spiritual heart of Temple Ahavat Shalom in Palm Harbor, Florida.
He answered this sacred calling with humility, wisdom, and compassion, and he guided his congregation with warmth and moral clarity.
He built a community rooted in kindness, responsibility, and faith.
I was honored to join him and his congregations for many Passover Seders, moments that reflected his generosity of spirit that I will never, ever forget.
Rabbi Klein's commitment to Tikund Olam extended beyond the synagogue.
A trusted advisor on Israel, he served on APAC's National Council and worked tirelessly to strengthen the U.S.-Israel relationship.
I will miss him dearly.
He was one of a kind and irreplaceable, Mr. Speaker.
May his memory be eternal, be a blessing, of course, and may God comfort his grieving widow, Eileen, and devoted children.
unidentified
What a wonderful, wonderful person.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker, and I yield back.
Without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute.
unidentified
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.
No matter who you're shopping for this holiday season, you'll be paying a lot more due to Trump's illegal tariffs.
Prices for toys and games up 17%.
Clothing and shoes up 20%.
Electronics up 34%.
Home and kitchen gifts up a whopping 38%.
Too many Arizona families are getting squeezed and their paychecks are buying less and less.
Joy and happiness are being replaced with stress and fear.
Fear they can't provide for their families and fear that things aren't getting any better.
And until Congress stands up to Trump and his illegal, reckless tariffs, things won't get better and Arizona families will continue to face uncertainty.
But the Speaker of this House is about to send Congress home for the holidays without a single vote to rein in the President's abuse of tariff powers.
Not one vote.
Enough is enough.
House Republicans need to stand up for their constituents, stand up to Trump, and put an end to this tax on American families.
Without objection, the gentleman from Minnesota is recognized for one minute.
unidentified
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I rise today to recognize Sheriff Dave Lang, who is retiring this month after nearly 40-year career in law enforcement, including 29 years with the Nicola County Sheriff's Department.
Dave is a proud son of southern Minnesota.
Sheriff Lang joined the department right out of high school as a jail dispatcher, then went on to work briefly in North Mankato before returning to the Sheriff's Department for good.
In 2002, he was elected sheriff, a position he's proudly held for the past 23 consecutive years.
Since joining in the mid-80s, Sheriff Lang has seen the department navigate decades of change.
During his years of leadership, he spearheaded the procurement of new vehicles and equipment and oversaw the implementation of new technologies within the department.
Sheriff Lang, thank you for your years of service and the example that you've set for all of us in southern Minnesota.
Congratulations on your retirement and best luck in this next chapter.
Without objection, the gentleman from New York is recognized for one minute.
unidentified
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I rise today to honor the life and legacy of Rochester's own Chuck Manjone, a world-class musician whose unique sound carried our city's spirit to every corner of the globe.
Born and raised in Rochester, Chuck never forgot where he came from.
From his early days playing alongside his brother Gap as the Jazz Brothers, to studying at and later leading the Eastman School of Music's jazz program, Chuck's commitment to his hometown never wavered.
His fugal horn gave us classics like Feel So Good, earned Grammy Awards, and became the soundtrack to unforgettable moments.
In Rochester, we remember Chuck not just for his fame, but for his generosity, joy, and pride he shared in our community.
Mr. Speaker, I rise to honor the communities all over the 8th Congressional District and throughout Washington State that are feeling the tremendous impacts of this week's and last week's storms and floods.
Nearly 5 trillion gallons of rain in just seven days have swelled rivers to record highs and at record speed, trapping many before they even had a chance to evacuate.
One person drowned, countless houses severely damaged, some even lifted right off their foundations, farms underwater, livestock evacuated, and so many families worried about how they will ever get back on their feet.
Amid this tragedy, we are also seeing the very best in our communities, neighbors helping neighbors, emergency planners, and government leaders who kept careful watch, who planned the evacuations, who prevented dams from overtopping, monitored levees, and arranged for temporary shelter.
Our first responders have displayed immense bravery, working around the clock to conduct helicopter and swift water rescues, sometimes putting their own lives at risk.
And they are true heroes, and we are deeply grateful.
As our communities begin this process of recovery, I want them to know that I will do everything I can here with my colleagues to ensure they get the federal support they need to recover.
Without objection, the gentleman from New York is recognized for one minute.
unidentified
I rise today in support of legislation that promotes the health and well-being of America's school children while strengthening American agriculture, including the world-class dairy products and family farms across central New York and the Mohawk Valley.
That legislation, Mr. Speaker, is the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act.
Earlier this week, the House passed this bill with overwhelming bipartisan support, a clear sign that common sense policy can still bring Democrats and Republicans together.
This bipartisan bill that I proudly co-sponsored does something simple and practical.
It gives schools the flexibility to serve nutritious milk options while supporting local dairy farmers.
Since whole milk was removed from school cafeterias, milk consumption has dropped sharply.
Kids aren't meeting recommended daily intake, and that matters for their health, their focus, and speaking as a former teacher for nearly three decades, their academic success.
Notably, this bill doesn't mandate changes.
It simply restores choice.
Kids can't learn on empty stomachs.
This is the right policy for our schools, for our farmers, and for our country.
I thank my colleagues for supporting it, and I yield back.
For what purpose does the gentlewoman from Washington seek recognition?
Without objection, the gentlewoman from Washington is recognized for one minute.
unidentified
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to call out the impact of the Republican health care crisis in my community, particularly those hurt by the expiring tax credits.
One of those people is Jerry from Kirkland.
Jerry has cancer and depends on his Affordable Care Act coverage to afford treatment.
Right now, Jerry and his wife pay $2,800 a month in premiums.
Without the ACA tax credits, the same plan next year will cost him nearly $4,500 a month, a 67% increase.
Jerry and his wife thought they could retire comfortably.
Instead, they are facing $54,000 a year in insurance premiums alone because of the health care crisis that Republicans and Donald Trump created.
There is no way they'll be able to sustain themselves with that much of a price increase.
I'm going to keep fighting for Jerry and the millions of other Americans so that they can afford the coverage they need.
Nearly $200 billion stolen from federal food assistance in the big, ugly bill wasn't enough.
unidentified
Now they're literally trying to bury the data on hunger.
In September, USDA announced that it was canceling its annual Household Food Security Reports, which for 30 years has measured food insecurity data.
More recently, we're hearing that USDA is canceling food security questions as part of the Census Bureau's population surveys.
Mr. Speaker, at first blush, these cancellations may sound wonky, but this vital data helps researchers, policymakers, and community-based organizations understand the problem of hunger and target resources to those most in need.
It's no surprise that Trump doesn't want USDA to measure how many people go hungry as his big, ugly bill kicks millions and millions of people off of food assistance and makes hunger worse.
So Trump is literally burying the data to hide how terrible his policies are.
Without objection, the gentleman from New York is recognized for one minute.
unidentified
Mr. Speaker, today I rise to honor the life and legacy of Claudia Moyne, who served as Mayor of Seacliff when I was the mayor of Glen Cove and was a close colleague.
Claudia was an extraordinary educator, public servant, and pillar of the Seacliff community.
Her life reflected a deep commitment to learning and service.
She devoted her professional career to shaping young minds as a social studies teacher and department chair at Wheatley High School, where she inspired generations to think critically and believe in their own potential.
Claudia gave tirelessly to her community, most notably as the first woman to serve as the mayor of the village of Seacliff.
She knew her neighbors personally, cared deeply for their well-being for the village, and remained actively engaged until the very end of her life.
At the center of Claudia's life was her family.
She was a devoted wife of John, a loving mother to Nicholas and Parvin, and a proud grandmother and sister.
Those who knew her well will remember her sharp intellect, warmth, and exceptional energy.
Her life was a great example of a life well lived.
On behalf of the people of New York's 3rd Congressional District, I extend my deepest condolences to her family and loved ones, and I ask that this recognition and recollection of her remarkable life be entered into the congressional record.
Resolved that upon adoption of this resolution, it shall be in order to consider in the House the bill H.R. 6703 to ensure access to affordable health insurance.
All points of order against consideration of the bill are waived.
The bill shall be considered as read.
All points of order against provisions in the bill are waived.
The previous questions shall be considered as ordered on the bill and on any amendment thereto to final passage without intervening motion except one, one hour of debate equally divided among and controlled by the respective chairs and ranking minority members of the committees on education and workforce, energy and commerce and ways and means or their respective designees and two one motion to recommit.
Section two, upon adoption of this resolution, it shall be an order to consider in the House a bill H.R. 498 to amend Title 19 of the Social Security Act to prohibit Federal Medicaid funding for gender transition procedures for minors.
All points of order against consideration of the bill are waived.
The bill shall be considered as read.
All points of order against provisions in the bill are waived.
The previous question shall be considered as ordered on the bill and on any amendment thereto to final passage without intervening motion except one, one hour of debate equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the committee on energy and commerce or their respective designees and two one motion to recommit.
Section three upon adoption of this resolution it shall be an order to consider in the House a bill H.R. 3492 to amend section 116 of Title 18 United States Code with respect to genital and bodily mutilation and chemical castration of minors.
All points of order against consideration of the bill are waived.
The amendment in the nature of a substitute recommended by the Committee on the Judiciary now printed in the bill shall be considered as adopted.
The bill as amended shall be considered as read.
All points of order against provisions in the bill as amended are waived.
The previous question shall be considered as ordered, on the bill as amended and on any further amendment thereto to final passage, without intervening motion, except one, one hour of debate, equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the committee on the Judiciary or their respective designees.
Two, the further amendment printed in the report of the committee on rules accompanying this resolution, if offered by the member designated in the report, which shall be in order without intervention of any point of order, shall be considered as read, shall be separately debatable for the time specified in the report, equally divided and controlled by the proponent and an opponent, and shall not be subject to demand for division of the question.
And three, one motion to recommit section four during consideration of the bill hr 4776 to amend the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 to clarify ambiguous provisions and facilitate a more efficient, effective and timely environmental review process, pursuant to house resolution 951, the further amendments specified in section 5 of this resolution shall be considered as adopted in the house and in the committee.
Of the Whole section 5, the amendment referred to in section 4 of this resolution is as follows, page 29 after line 6, insert the following, section 4, preservation of ongoing administrative corrections.
This act and the amendments made by this act shall not apply to any agency action with respect to which a federal agency has, during the period beginning on january 20 2025 and ending on the date of enactment of this act, one filed a motion to voluntary remand or two otherwise reopened, reconsidered or initiated corrective action under the statutory authority of the federal agency,
regardless of whether the federal agency has completed such corrective action as of the date of enactment of this act.
The gentleman from the Commonwealth of Virginia is recognized for one hour.
unidentified
I thank the Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, for the purposes of debate only, I yield the customary 30 minutes to the gentleman from Massachusetts, 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, I ask the unanimous consent of all members that all members have five days in which to revise and extend their remarks.
The Rules Committee met last night and reported out a rule providing for consideration of three measures, H.R. 6703, Lower Health Care Premiums for All Americans Act, H.R. 498, Do Not Harm in Medicaid Act, and H.R. 3492, Protect Children's Innocence Act.
House Resolution 953 provides for consideration of H.R. 6703, the Lower Health Care Premiums for All Americans Act under a closed rule.
The rule provides one hour of general debate equally divided among and controlled by the respective chairs and ranking minority members of the Committee on Education and Workforce, Energy and Commerce, and Ways and Means, or their respective designees, in one motion to recommit.
The rule also provides for consideration of H.R. 498, the Do No Harm in Medicaid Act under a closed rule with one hour of general debate equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the Committee on Energy and Commerce or their respective designees and provides one motion to recommit.
The rule further provides for consideration of H.R. 3492 to Protect Children's Innocence Act under a structured rule with one hour of general debate equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the Committee on Judiciary or their respective designees and provides each one a motion to recommit.
Finally, the rule provides that during consideration of H.R. 4776, pursuant to House Resolution 951, the further amendments specified in Section 5 of this resolution shall be considered as adopted.
This rule deals with several important bills that will lower health care costs for Americans and protect children, Mr. Speaker.
One of the bills, H.R. 3492, the Protect Children's Innocent Act, is led by Representative Green from Georgia.
This bill prohibits genital and bodily mutilation and chemical castration for a minor, which generally is anyone under the age of 18 years, while also preserving the exception for this care if there is legitimate medical need for certain procedures.
Another bill we are considering in this rule is H.R. 498, the Do Not Harm in Medicaid Act, led by Representative Crenshaw from Texas.
This is a simple bill that prohibits federal Medicaid dollars to pay for gender transition procedures for individuals under the age of 18.
The bill also includes protections for individuals if some of those treatments are medically necessary.
These are important bills to ensure that federal taxpayer dollars are not going towards a minor's gender transition surgery if it is not medically necessary.
These bills also put guardrails in place so minors cannot make permanent life-altering decisions before they are 18 years of age.
unidentified
Finally, we are considering H.R. 6703, the Lower Health Care Premiums for All Americans Act, led by Representative Miller Meeks from Iowa.
This bill lowers premiums for Americans, creates more insurance options, brings greater transparency, and cuts red tape.
Unlike our Democrat Friends plan, our Republican plan actually lowers premiums by double digits, roughly 11 percent, according to the data.
All the Democrats want to do is throw billions more dollars towards insurance companies.
Instead of attempting to lower the premiums of the individuals who are on the insurance plan, the Democrats created which should be called the Unaffordable Care Act.
The Democrats have cried wolf that Republicans are responsible for premiums being unaffordable.
But let's get the facts straight.
Every single Democrat voted in support of the so-called Affordable Care Act.
They claimed people's premiums would be lowered, patients would have more choice, and if you like your doctor, you can keep him or her.
However, just the opposite has happened.
Their so-called Affordable Care Act has caused premiums to skyrocket.
Because of this, the Democrats are too afraid to own up to the fact that their health plan has failed to actually lower premiums.
So instead, they have said to themselves, hey, instead of acknowledging our failure, let's just blame the Republicans for that failure.
I distinctly remember a hearing at Energy and Commerce shortly after I was elected where most of the witnesses said the so-called Affordable Care Act was going to make insurance premiums go up for Americans.
Folks watching this debate at home won't be surprised to know it.
unidentified
Democrats want to throw billions of additional dollars to health care insurance companies in an attempt to distract the American people from their own policy failures.
I don't know if you all have been following the news closely, but the insurance companies, the Democrats, want to give an additional $85 billion to with their three-year clean extension of the temporary COVID-enhanced premium tax credits.
The Independent Government Accountability Office recently came out with a preliminary report that showed one Social Security number was used to receive over 125 different insurance policies in 2023 alone.
Mr. Speaker, my estimate based on data I've seen is that roughly 20% of enrollees in the temporary COVID-enhanced premium tax credits don't really exist.
unidentified
They are shadow enrollees.
Let me explain.
In most health care insurance plans, you only generally have about 15% of the enrollees who make no claims in a given year.
So if you signed up for a program in North Florida to receive the enhanced premium tax credit, and then you move to South Georgia or even another city in Florida and you sign up again thinking, well, I've moved, I probably need a different plan, the consumer has a right to believe that somebody at their new plan or new company will notify the old carrier that they've switched policies.
unidentified
But the way the program was designed by our friends on the other side of the aisle, that never happens.
And because you are automatically re-enrolled each year, this can go on for years.
Thus, over time, you build up to that 20% of shadow enrollees.
We cannot, in good conscience, in defense of the American taxpayers' money, we cannot just cleanly extend these temporary COVID-enhanced premium tax credits without addressing the realities behind the waste, the fraud, and the abuse that is occurring in this program.
unidentified
I also find it interesting that the Democrats voted twice to extend these temporary enhanced premium tax credits, but specifically did not make these premium tax credits permanent.
They had many opportunities to make these permanent if they wanted to do that as much as they say today, but they didn't.
unidentified
They had many opportunities to make these permanent if the premium enhanced tax credits were as imperative to make the system work as they will claim here on the floor today and have been for several weeks.
But when it comes to health care, the Democrats are never willing to admit their policies failed.
So what do they do?
Blame Republicans.
The Inflation Reduction Act, the Democrats, in the Inflation Reduction Act, Mr. Speaker, the Democrats prioritized giving out around $1 trillion to Green New Deal initiatives instead of making their temporary premium tax credit program permanent.
The fact is, even they couldn't find the votes when they had control of both houses in the White House to make the enhanced premium tax credits permanent.
And now they're demanding Republicans do what they could not do and clean up their mess, which was an add-on to the so-called Affordable Care Act.
Another temporary extension that fails to address the underlying causes of the skyrocketing costs, doesn't deal with the waste, fraud, and abuse, and worsens health care access caused by their so-called Affordable Care Act.
Nope, instead, they just want to blame Republicans, use it as a political issue, and give more money to insurance companies making enormous profits.
What the Republicans have drafted is a plan to address health issues across the board for our people and for our nation.
This bill brings more transparency on the pharmacy benefit manager, middlemen, better known as PBMs for employers.
unidentified
For too long, PBMs have gotten away with operating in a black box and causing drug prices to rise.
We are bringing transparency into the commercial market for PBMs under this bill.
The bill also expands access to association health plans, which allows small businesses and self-employed workers to band together and purchase health insurance.
One of the biggest complaints we hear from businesses, especially small businesses, is the rising cost of premiums that they have.
unidentified
In fact, Mr. Speaker, Virginia tried to create these plans and CMS told them they couldn't do it, that they would penalize them.
And the Virginia Association of Realtors, let's see if I got the name right, in an article from 2023, the leader said that they would create a plan for 7,000 association members who are uninsured because they don't make enough money to afford the federal marketplace, that would be the so-called Affordable Care Act.
They don't make enough money to afford the federal marketplace coverage or to qualify for subsidies in the small group and individual plans.
These small businesses don't have the bargaining power that larger businesses do to help lower their premiums.
unidentified
Allowing these small businesses to join together and have more bargaining power will help lower their health insurance costs.
Another part of the plan codifies a 2019 Trump administration rule that allows employers to give tax advantage dollars to their employees who can then use those dollars to purchase health insurance and for other medical costs.
When businesses are planning their financial future, unpredictable health insurance costs and rising premiums make it almost financially unviable in some cases.
Allowing businesses to have this option brings them more certainty and will give power to their employees to choose a plan that is best for them.
Another flexibility we grant under this bill, under these bills or under this bill, is by exempting stop-loss insurance from the definition of health insurance coverage.
Stop-loss coverage is a type of coverage for an employer who can purchase them to protect the employer from unexpected catastrophic health claims if that employer has chosen to self-insure their employees' health care.
unidentified
This allows an employee, an employer, to limit the financial risk imposed on them if an employee or a few of them have unusually high medical claims that exceed the budgeted amount.
Some states have attempted to restrict or prohibit these plans, which make a self-insured option less attractive.
This bill clarifies that this type of coverage is exempted from the definition of health insurance coverage, which means that these states would be limited in how they can regulate stop loss coverage while still allowing it to follow the regulations of ERISA.
On top of all this, I would like to reiterate that the bill lowers individual premiums who are enrolled in the so-called Affordable Care Act plans by roughly 11 percent.
It does this by appropriating dollars for cost-sharing reductions.
This will stop the practice of silver loading by putting dollars towards lowering beneficiaries' out-of-pocket costs, which in turn lowers premiums for Americans, again, by roughly 11 percent.
Who are on the so-called, those Americans who are on the so-called Affordable Care Act.
Today, you will hear, Mr. Speaker, you'll hear my friends and colleagues on the other side of the Democrats tell you this plan is not meaningful and that the only way to help individuals is to throw more money at big insurance.
unidentified
Throwing more money at the insurance companies, Mr. Speaker, is not the answer.
Mr. Speaker, thank you, and I want to thank the gentleman for Virginia for yielding me the customary 30 minutes, and I yield myself such time as I may consume.
The American people are begging for action on affordability.
They are begging for action to lower the cost of health care.
What more do they need to do to get Republicans to take action?
Premiums are about to double, triple, and in some cases, quadruple.
Families could see their premiums increase as much as $1,000 a month.
Open enrollment deadlines have already passed.
Parents have sat at their kitchen tables and realized that between rent, groceries, child care, and Trump's tariffs driving up the cost of damn near everything, health insurance is something they could no longer afford.
And instead of a plan on health care, last night in the Rules Committee, I heard one Republican excuse after another about why they can't extend these tax credits that help people get insurance coverage.
I mean, you guys have been in charge of this place for three years, for God's sake.
Donald Trump has been president or running for president for like a decade.
Where the hell is the Republican plan on health care?
Where is it?
Republicans keep blaming the ACA.
They've spent years and years trying to repeal it, but they haven't repealed it yet because they have no replacement, no alternative.
Mr. Speaker, one of your own Republican members called this entire charade political malpractice.
He was right.
He was right.
Meanwhile, Democrats have been trying for months to avert this crisis.
Governors, doctors, patients have been sounding the alarm.
And instead of working with us, you guys decided to shut down the government.
And instead of trying to partner with us, Donald Trump is calling affordability a con job.
Unbelievable.
Unbelievable.
So out of touch with reality.
And now Republicans have slapped together this pathetic bill to provide cover.
A bill that's not worth the paper it's printed on.
A bill that actually kicks people off of coverage and that fails to extend the tax credits that keep health care affordable for over 20 million Americans.
I mean, come on, get real.
And just to make sure that we all know that they aren't serious, Republicans included a poison pill, which brings us closer and closer to a nationwide abortion ban.
They are going after abortion even in states where it is legal.
I mean, who the hell asked for this?
This is like a plot of the handmaid's tale.
And despite Republicans' endless attempts to undermine the ACA, It's popular because it works.
And after Democrats strengthened people's ability to pay for health care by plusing up the premium tax credits, enrollment more than doubled from around 11 million to over 24 million Americans with real health insurance.
88% of that growth happened in states that Donald Trump won in 2024, by the way.
So by choosing to not extend these credits, Republicans are simply hurting their own constituents, hurting the people who trusted them, hurting the people who voted for them.
More than 20 million Americans will see their health care costs explode on January 1st.
And instead of a fix, we get a stupid, pathetic, last-minute bill designed to let Republicans cover their ass before they flee town for the holidays.
What a lousy, rotten, pathetic thing to do.
This is a terrible bill that screws over millions of American families.
I'm here this morning to urge my colleagues to support the rule, which includes H.R. 3492, the Protect Children's Innocence Act.
My bill criminalizes the genital mutilation, such as this young lady right here, and chemical castration of children, imprisoning offenders for up to 10 years.
For far too long, children have been sexually exploited under the malicious falsehood of so-called gender-affirming care.
Mutilating children's bodies and giving them sterilizing drugs is anything but affirming and anything but care, especially given the fact that this is happening in too many cases before these kids are ever old enough to legally vote, legally get a tattoo ink printed on their own bodies, and make real adult decisions.
The same drug that has been used to chemically castrate sex offenders has been given to children who have been manipulated into thinking they were born in the wrong body.
Everyone knows that children many times are confused about who they want to be when they grow up or about their identity, and the children are not to blame.
It's our job as adults to protect these kids and allow them to grow up safely and healthy and not make decisions that last a lifetime, such as this right here that happened to this teenage girl.
I urge my colleagues to vote yes to the rule, and I urge my colleagues to do the most responsible thing any adult can do for a child and protect them while they grow up.
The gentleman from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is recognized.
unidentified
Mr. Speaker, the gentleman from Virginia keeps saying that if we really supported the enhanced premium tax credits, that we would have made them permanent.
I think we all know that's kind of ridiculous because I want to point out that their number one floor protocol, their number one floor protocol requires that programs end or sunset by a certain date.
I mean, it was part of their ridiculous pledge to America.
In a bill that they call big and beautiful, Republicans have approved the biggest reduction in access to health care in American history.
They rejected my amendment and committee to maintain the tax credits that make the Affordable Care Act truly affordable.
And now, after shutting down the government for weeks, delaying further weeks, they offer this sorry bill, this loser, as wrapped up in a bow for Christmas.
To Andrew and his family down in Austin, this phony bill means zero relief on premiums, premiums that are going to spike for his family by nearly $2,000 per month.
Nothing for Russell, a prostate cancer survivor, just two years away from Medicare, wondering how he will afford the screenings and any necessary care.
And for a mother in Austin who contacted me about the stop-loss provision that is reinforced in this bill, the possibility that after her three-year-old child is diagnosed with cancer, they will lose all their coverage.
These are real-life stories from my neighbors who've been forgotten by Republicans in their rush to provide more tax benefits for their billionaire buddies.
They forget the struggles of so many working Americans.
Republicans have made over 70 attempts to destroy the Affordable Care Act, which they all opposed.
They peddled junk insurance policies that would deny essential consumer protection benefits under the Affordable Care Act.
They could even make matters worse with one provision in this bill that will allow the reinstituting of pre-existing conditions that were used to bar coverage for so many people before the Affordable Care Act.
This is their commitment to deny health care, to provide no relief on premiums that are soaring.
Gentleman from Massachusetts referenced that our protocol is to have sunsets.
But when my colleagues on the other side of the aisle had the opportunity to make permanent the premium-enhanced tax credits, we didn't control the floor.
They controlled the floor.
They don't have that protocol, as I understand it.
They don't have that protocol that they put sunsets on things.
They could have and did make other programs in the Green New Deal permanent, but they could have made it permanent.
They chose not to.
They had the Senate, the House, and the Presidency.
So it's not House Republican protocol that stopped them.
It was a lack of votes or will.
If the program was so imperative, if the program is so imperative today, why wasn't it imperative for them three years ago?
I submit this is a paper tiger and that there is no substance in their arguments.
Or if some substance, just a small amount.
But Mr. Speaker, they had the chance.
They had the power.
They didn't use it to do what they want us to do today to fix their problems with their so-called Affordable Care Act.
And the 25 million people in this country who are relying on the enhanced tax credits so they don't lose their health insurance, they're basically telling them to hell with you.
unidentified
I mean, that is where their priorities are.
We don't share the same values when it comes to making sure that people in this country have health care that is affordable and that is quality.
And that's the difference.
And that is the difference.
And we are here today to fight to make sure that we have a vote to extend these tax credits so that people do not lose their health insurance and people do not see their health care premiums explode.
Mr. Speaker, I yield two minutes to the gentlewoman from Ohio, Ms. Sykes.
In two weeks, 22 million Americans will see their health care premiums double, triple, or quadruple, costing them hundreds of additional dollars a month, and more than 4 million Americans will lose their coverage entirely.
This includes 12,300 Ohioans in my district alone.
This Republican health care crisis is completely and entirely preventable.
And House Democrats and even a few Republicans have a solution.
unidentified
Extend the Affordable Care Act enhanced premium tax credits.
A collection of failed policies that would raise prices, leaving an additional 100,000 people without insurance and restricting access to abortion care, setting the stage for a national abortion ban.
But I believe it's my job to offer solutions to help the American people and specifically my constituents in Ohio.
unidentified
That's why I propose an amendment to remove the section responsible for increasing costs and limiting access to reproductive health care.
Right now, any and all abortion coverage provided under marketplace plans are not paid for by the federal dollars.
However, this bill would impose unprecedented restrictions on private dollars and is yet another Republican attempt to ban reproductive health care coverage across this country.
It is unacceptable that Congress is about to head home having done nothing, nothing to protect the millions of Americans who will lose coverage on January 1st.
unidentified
The heartbreaking stories from my constituents who have no clue how they're going to make ends meet as we enter into what should be a merry holiday season.
Mr. Speaker, I had a professor in college who was very clear in calling us out when we were unprepared when we showed up for our class.
He would call us derelict, negligent, and trifling.
This Congress, Mr. Speaker, is derelict, negligent, and trifling for failing to ensure that Americans have health care coverage and we are actually lowering their costs.
This bill is deceptive at best, cruel at worst.
And I encourage my colleagues to extend these enhanced tax credits before it's too late.
But second, it was the Affordable Care Act, you know, the bill that the gentleman and a lot of Republicans want to repeal, which mandated that greedy insurance companies have to spend 80 percent to 85 percent of premiums on medical care.
It's called the medical loss ratio.
unidentified
The gentleman should look it up, and it's in the Affordable Care Act.
So when he's talking about repealing the ACA, he is the one who wants to overturn that provision and let insurance companies rip people off even more than they already do.
Let me make one last point.
We could easily move away from health insurance companies ripping people off.
We could do what the vast majority of developed nations do and move toward a public option so that people don't have to choose a private health insurance company.
But to say that Democrats are the ones who want to enrich insurance companies is absurd.
Mr. Speaker, Republicans support big banks.
They support big tech.
They support billionaires.
unidentified
They support tax breaks for huge, greedy corporations.
And they accuse Democrats of being in the pocket of the insurance industry?
Give me a break.
Nobody believes this BS.
I mean, look at your big, ugly bill.
Look at all the tax breaks that go to millionaires and billionaires and big corporations.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank the Vice Chair of the Committee for yielding.
Mr. Speaker, the Unaffordable Care Act was born as a lie and continues to be promoted in terms that are lies.
Remember these promises?
If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor.
If you like your health insurance, you can keep your insurance.
Americans will serve over $2,500 per year.
All of those were lies.
And now those who continue to support the Unaffordable Care Act are misleading Americans about its current situation.
When the law was first debated, Democrats insisted that over 50 million Americans couldn't afford health insurance.
That was exposed as a lie.
Many Americans proved simply to be foregoing insurance in many instances.
Democrats use this as an excuse to rewrite the entire framework of the individual health care insurance marketplace, forcing people onto plans that had their premiums rise by 129% since 2014.
Indeed, the very first year Obamacare went into effect, premiums skyrocketed by 47%.
This is the true record of the Unaffordable Care Act.
And despite the lies that continue to be told in the media to this day, Republicans have always proposed alternatives to the failed Unaffordable Care Act framework that Democrats continue to force onto Americans, and we're doing it again with this bill.
Instead of simply enabling the current fraud, waste, and abuse exposed in the unaffordable care subsidy scheme that Democrats are addicted to, we're offering transformative policies that will root out hidden costs, attack inflationary programs, and increase competition throughout the entire health care insurance marketplace, lowering premiums for all Americans.
But Mr. Speaker, even when all the evidence is presented to them on how rancid of a health care scheme the Unaffordable Care Act really is, Democrats leap to their feet and become entirely apoplectic.
They do not tell the truth about the current situation or what we are doing.
This is why they fused themselves to the Unaffordable Care Act to such a point that they outright refuse to seek reasonable reforms that help Americans afford health care.
They won't do it.
Look at how they've superglued themselves to their temporary COVID subsidies that they themselves concocted and stamped an end date on, as my colleague has said.
I suppose all they know how to do is prop up a failed program that's littered with waste, fraud, and abuse, like cancerous lesions.
Don't take my word for it.
Just look at the GAO report.
Its estimates show millions of improper enrollments costing American taxpayers up to $275 billion annually.
One Social Security number used for 26,000 days of coverage.
More than 58,000 deceased people receiving tax credits.
All in all, a massive fraudulent boondoggle for the American people.
Meanwhile, Republicans remain committed to rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse in all corners of the federal government.
The CBO already confirmed that our efforts to root out waste, fraud, and abuse in the Unaffordable Care Act by way of H.R. 1 lowered health care premiums for enrollees.
Imagine that.
Attacking waste and fraud lowers cost.
Yet Democrats want to embrace the opposite and cement a system of inflation.
And here's the kicker, Mr. Speaker.
Only 7% of Americans enrolled in an unaffordable care act plan would see a paltry 4% decrease in their premiums if these subsidies were extended.
Republicans are advancing real reforms in health care.
Unlike Democrats, we're not attempting to place a band-aid on a ruptured artery and call it a day.
Mr. Speaker, the Lower Health Care Premiums for All Americans Act is our solution.
It's the solution that the American people deserve.
It would lower health care premiums by 11% for all Americans, increase health care access, expand choice in health care, and bring about greater transparency to the health care system in the United States.
Republicans are offering a clear, responsible, and straightforward solution so that all Americans have access to health care that is affordable and meets their respective needs.
If our colleagues were serious about making health care more affordable for Americans, they'd support this bill alongside Republicans.
June 16th, 2019, the president said, we're going to produce a phenomenal health care plan, and we already have the concept of a plan, and it will be so much better health care.
unidentified
Yeah, well, we'll be announcing it in about two months, maybe less.
August 3rd, 2020, the president says we're going to be introducing a tremendous health care plan sometime prior, hopefully prior to the end of the month.
unidentified
It's just about completed.
Nothing.
September 15th, 2020, you know, the president says you're going to have a new health care.
Republicans have been in the majority and in control for this whole year, and yet they have not put forward a bill that helps working families with the rising costs of living or to prevent hardworking Americans' health care premiums from skyrocketing in price.
Republicans drove the country into a health care crisis, and they continue to have no pathway to get us out of it.
With health care premiums set to skyrocket at the end of December, Republicans' solution is an unserious proposal that kicks millions of Americans off their coverage, puts health care out of reach, and takes away women's freedom to make their own health care decisions.
Under Republicans' concept of a health care plan, working Americans will be forced to make tough decisions, such as if they should take their child to the doctor or buy groceries for the week.
Republicans' concept of a health care plan means bankruptcy will be one medical emergency away for millions of Americans.
If Republicans were serious about helping their constituents and addressing the health care crisis that they manufactured with the big ugly bill, they would join Democrats and vote to extend the ACA tax credits for three years.
We only need one more Republican to sign, one more to help American families afford health care.
I will vote no on this rule and the underlying bill to protect my over 31,000 constituents who rely on these ACA tax credits to make their health care affordable.
I've been directed by the Senate to inform the House that the Senate has passed S-355, an act to require the Secretary of Health and Human Services, acting through the Commissioner of Food and Drugs, to publish a final rule relating to non-clinical testing methods in which the concurrence of the House is requested.
And my colleagues on the other side continually say that we haven't done anything.
We just received a message from the Senate on a Republican bill that does something.
Now, they may not like it, but I find it fascinating.
And these debates are always so interesting, Mr. Speaker.
They say we haven't put forward anything at some points, and at other points in their debate, they claim that this bill is terrible.
It does nothing.
But let me remind you, Mr. Speaker, that a part of this bill revives a Democrat plan that was supposed to be short-term called cost-sharing reductions.
And it's fascinating because during the first Trump administration in May of 2017, My Democrat colleagues, and I know some of them weren't here yet, but 196 signed a letter, including the gentleman from Massachusetts, asking, because it was not codified to go on,
but asking President Trump to use his executive power to continue the cost-sharing reduction plan.
Now, Mr. Speaker, I would love to hear from my colleagues why cost-sharing reduction by them was considered to be so, so important to be continued to help 7 million hardworking Americans and their families, more than half, I'm reading from their letter, of all the marketplace enrollees for 2017 afford their out-of-pocket health care costs.
That's what cost-sharing reduction does.
Today they claim that as a part of our bill, it's nothing.
It's worthless.
It's not worth the paper it's written on.
But in 2017, 196 of them, including the gentleman from Massachusetts, asked the President of the United States to continue the program.
Today we're answering that call and saying, okay, we will answer that and put it in our bill.
But because it's now proposed as part of a Republican bill, my colleagues, for some reason, don't remember their position in 2017 and call it trash.
Could it be mere political posturing for November elections?
The gentleman from Virginia Reserves, the gentleman from Massachusetts is recognized.
unidentified
Mr. Speaker, if we defeat the previous question, I will offer an amendment to the rule to provide for consideration of H.R. 6074, which would extend the Affordable Care Act enhanced premium tax credits for three years through 2028.
I mean, this is the one last chance this year, this session, for this Republican majority to do the right thing and vote to extend the ACA enhanced premium tax credits.
And if Republicans allow them to expire, millions of Americans, millions of their constituents, will be faced with rising health insurance costs, and in some cases, by more than $1,000 per month.
But, Mr. Speaker, I have an important announcement to make.
And if there's anybody in the press gallery listening, I want them to hear this.
You know, I have called on Republicans to put country over politics, put country over their party, to do the right thing for their constituents.
And we have a discharge petition that 214 Democrats have signed on to to force a bill on a three-year clean extension.
And while we have been debating, four Republicans have actually done that.
And so we want to preserve the tax credits for 20 million working class Americans that rely on them.
And Democrats in this House and in the Senate have acted like adults in this room our entire, you know, during our entire months-long effort to get Republicans to do the right thing.
unidentified
And again, I want to thank those Republicans who signed the discharge petition, because that is actually going to make sure that we have a vote and we can extend These tax benefits.
But again, you know, we can kind of short-circuit the process.
If we defeat the previous question, we could vote on it today.
And so, Mr. Speaker, we're offering this to be able to bring it up immediately.
And I ask unanimous consent to insert the text of my amendment into the record along with any extraneous material immediately prior to the vote on the previous question.
So, while we're thankful that it's delayed in decision of four Republicans here at the last minute to join the discharge.
Discharge petition, unless they join us in voting in favor of this action on the previous question, there's nothing that can be done this year because the Speaker will continue to obstruct premium relief for Americans.
Mr. Speaker, I rise to defeat the previous question and bring up H.R. 6074, which provides for a clean three-year extension of the Affordable Care Act enhanced tax credits.
Congress has three legislative days left to extend the ACA tax credits, or they will expire at the end of the year.
The impact of the tax credits expiring is devastating.
Expiration of the tax credits will result in health premiums increasing by an average of 114 percent for individuals who rely on the marketplace, forcing 4.2 million people to lose their health insurance.
I hear the fear in the voices of my constituents, Republicans and Democrats, and Americans across the country who talk about health care and the looming crisis.
Small business owners, independent contractors, retirees, farmers, constituents in my district continue to call my office or stop me to share how they will be unable to afford health care as they continue to experience rising costs for essentials like groceries, insurance, utilities, and housing.
If Republicans can find a way to provide tax cuts for billionaires, Congress can find a way to provide relief for individuals to access health care.
As I've said, we are under the pressure of time.
We have a discharge petition, but that will take seven days for a ripening through the House procedures.
What we can do today is vote to defeat this previous question.
I again thank the four Republicans who have joined us, but time is of the essence, and they need to go one step farther and vote to defeat the previous question alongside Democrats so that we can have a vote today in this House before we go on break.
Congress must protect health care and lower the costs for all Americans by extending the AACA tax credits.
As my colleague Mr. McGovern said, this isn't about Democrats.
This is all of our constituents who benefit from the Affordable Care Act.
This is all of our constituents who face rising deductibles and premiums.
This is all of our constituents who fear that they will lose their health care.
No reasonable proposal has been introduced.
This is what we have today.
Help us defeat the previous question, and I yield back.
Mr. Speaker, Republicans love to find ways to justify kicking millions of working people off of health care.
The chairwoman of the Rules Committee talked about fraud.
Well, if fraud is your primary concern, how about you start with President Trump, who was pardoned or commuted not one, not two, but 12 people, 12 people convicted of health care fraud.
And my Republican friends have been silent.
unidentified
Not a word, not a word.
One guy was convicted of $1.3 billion in a Medicare fraud scheme, the largest health care fraud scheme charged by the Department of Justice.
We had another woman convicted of orchestrating $205 million in a Medicare fraud scheme involving assisted living facilities.
We had another guy convicted of 67 counts of health care fraud and related charges relating to Medicare and other health care programs.
I can go on and on and on, Mr. Speaker.
I'm not sure what they did to earn those pardons, but maybe they promised to say nice things about Trump.
But when Republicans come to the floor and talk about fraud, just remember that they are the ones who pardon over and over and over again health care fraudsters while at the same time screwing over the American people by taking away their health care.
Mr. Speaker, let's be honest about what's happening here, because this really is not that complicated, and the American people aren't stupid.
This Republican bill does not fix the health care crisis facing this country.
It doesn't even try.
And instead, Republicans are going to raise costs, weaken coverage, and deliberately allow the Affordable Care Act tax credits to expire, knowing full well that millions of families will lose affordable coverage as a result.
For more than a decade, Republicans have promised a better health care system, a replacement for the ACA, something, anything that would justify taking coverage away from people who need it.
Ten years later, there is still no plan, no replacement, no solution.
And why?
unidentified
Because they are totally fine with the system of the haves and have-nots.
They want a system where those at the top have affordable care and everyone else is left in the dust.
Republicans have controlled the House of Representatives for three long years.
And during that time, the priorities of this majority have been crystal clear.
Regulations vanish into thin air while big oil, big tech, big banks get whatever they want.
Republicans have no problem handing out massive tax giveaways to donors who write big campaign checks, no problem patting the profits of greedy corporations, no problem voting to give the Pentagon $8 billion more than it even asked for without so much as a shrug.
unidentified
But when it comes to working people, when they need affordable health care, suddenly the story changes.
Because the bottom line is this country has a Republican Congress that works just fine for the rich and powerful while telling everybody else to tighten their belts.
unidentified
There is always money for giveaways to CEOs and corporate stock buybacks.
There is always money for billionaire tax shelters.
But when a working family needs help staying insured, Republicans say it's too expensive.
So this is a question of our priorities as a nation.
What makes this even more infuriating is that Democrats have already put forward a responsible and reasonable solution that would help stop this crisis in its tracks.
We have 218 people who have signed this discharge petition.
unidentified
Four Republicans signed this discharge petition, and I hope that they will vote to bring this same bill up today.
It is because powerful interests make too much money from the status quo.
So, to any Republican who knows this bill is wrong, who understands what this will do back home, and who still believes in this institution, that this institution should work for the people it represents, this is the moment.
Extend the tax credits, protect the coverage of your constituents, and stand with us to say that it is time for Congress to put patients ahead of profits and working families ahead of billionaires.
I urge a no vote on this rule, and I yield back my time.
Mr. Speaker, the gentleman is absolutely correct in this one point.
If what they want is socialized medicine, yes, I am against it, and so are most of the Republicans in this House.
We are not for socialized medicine.
I remember being in Edinburgh in 1979 when I was a student, and Mr. Finch across the hall in socialized medicine had to wait 10 months to get surgery for a blockage in his heart.
When I came home, I discovered that in the United States, it would have been three days before we would have had that surgery.
He died a couple of years later because socialized medicine warehouses people until they have time to get to them.
Further, I would tell you that the Democrats come here today, it's their health care system.
unidentified
They created it.
When they created the Affordable Care Act, there were no Republican votes.
When they extended it or changed it a little bit and eventually renewed it again in the Inflation Reduction Act, there were no Republican votes for that.
But today they want to blame Republicans for their failures, for their policy failures.
The American people will eventually see through that.
I know they've done a great job of convincing the American people that's the case, but it isn't true.
And they talk about the fact that as the costs are going up and they want this new plan to throw $85 billion at the insurance companies, that 85% has to be spent on health care.
unidentified
And that's true.
But 15%, what the insurance company gets to put in their pockets of $500 is a whole lot less than 15% of $2,000.
So if you throw more money at the insurance companies, the big insurance executives get more money to put in their pockets, and they're smiling like Cheshire cats as the costs go up and they pocket larger profits.
And perhaps my Democrat colleagues don't want to admit it or don't realize that they are being the front men for big insurance, but that's what they are.
unidentified
They're the frontmen for big insurance.
Instead of facing reality, their answer is blame the Republicans and throw more insurance money at the throw more taxpayer money at the big insurance companies.
Those favoring a vote by the yeas and nays will rise.
A sufficient number has risen.
The yeas and nays are ordered.
Members will record their votes by electronic device.
And pursuant to clause 9 of Rule 20, the chair will reduce to five minutes the minimum time for any electronic vote on the question of adoption of the resolution if ordered.
This is a 15-minute vote.
unidentified
In a busy day here in the House as members try to wrap up legislation before the holiday recess, this first vote of the day is on whether to begin debate on three bills, including one that's the main focus in the chamber today, the GOP health care package.
The measure does not include proposed amendments to extend expiring health care subsidies, although CNN reporting several Republicans, including most recently New York's Mike Lawler, are signing on to a discharge petition put forward by Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries that would force a vote on extending subsidies.
Now just two members needed to sign on to that discharge petition.
Without the subsidies, premiums for about 45 million Americans using health care marketplace are expected to increase in the new year.
Members also deciding on whether to begin debate on two bills blocking gender-affirming care for minors.
And later, war powers resolutions will come to the floor to block military action in the Caribbean related to boat strikes and against potential military action in Venezuela.
During this vote, we'll take you live to another part of the Capitol.
Nancy Pelosi and the Democratic Women's Caucus are holding a briefing on health care.
Like, so they were willing to go to bat for 700, maybe 800 now, billionaires, but they were not willing to go to bat for 20 million Americans.
That, I think, is the biggest difference, as they continuously stand with the biggest corporations and the wealthiest Americans instead of those small business says, working families who need the help.
And one more thing point as to the Madam Chair said, they did this in the same bill.
They gave a tax cut to the wealthiest people in our country at the same time as they were cutting off millions of people from Medicaid, took a half a trillion dollars out of Medicare.
Half a trillion dollars out of Medicare, and again, millions of people off of Medicaid.
And they said, it's not just poor children, although that would be justification enough to have Medicaid, but it's a middle-income benefit too, because long-term health care for middle-income families is paid for largely by Medicaid.
So how do you, who in the room, one time I said to them, I said to them in the course of another debate, I am following Pope Francis on this.
And the Republicans said, you're following Pope Francis.
And the first photo of the day underway, members deciding whether to begin debate on three bills, including one that's the main focus in the chamber, the GOP health care package.
And while we wait for members to vote, we'll show some of the rules committee meeting from last night, hearing testimony from moderate Republicans who are in favor of extending health care subsidies ahead of their expiration at the end of this month.
They include Pennsylvania's Brian Fitzpatrick, who signed the discharge petition to force a vote on subsidies this morning.
And since this morning, that discharge petition now has enough votes to move forward.
Thank you, Chairwoman Fox, Ranking Member McGovern, the members of this committee.
Merry Christmas.
Happy Hanukkah to all of our colleagues.
And thank you for allowing us to testify to our amendment, Amendment 13, to the Lower Health Care Premiums for All Act.
Without action to address this growing unaffordability of the ACA marketplace and the looming expiration of the enhanced ACA premium tax credits, millions of Americans will be facing the impossible decision of whether or not to forego health insurance.
Our amendment is a two-party solution to address not only the expiration of the enhanced credits, but also the waste and fraud that is partially driving up the costs of the ACA marketplace.
Madam Chair, including in this policy are common sense reforms, a two-year extension of the enhanced credits with targeted income caps at 700 percent of the federal poverty line, equivalent to roughly $225,000 in annual income for a family of four.
The wealthiest in America should not be eligible for heavily subsidized insurance, and this limit keeps the credits targeted to the lower and middle-income earners.
Moreover, this amendment establishes guardrails to protect against fraudulent actors who have taken advantage of the system and removed them from operating, as well as improve notification for recipients as well as enrollment verifications.
This amendment also expands the opportunity for individuals receiving credits in the marketplace to direct a portion of that credit into a health savings account.
For enrollees who decide to utilize this HSA, they will have flexibility to use their credit for health care expenses.
There is increasing appetite to look at options to give the credits directly to the individual.
And this is a targeted approach that increases HSA flexibility and also looks at ways to expand the accessibility of HSAs.
Madam Chair, we have worked with the committee to assure that this amendment is germane to the underlying bill to address lowering the cost of premiums for Americans, and it is 100% paid for.
Moreover, this amendment builds on the efforts of the Lower Health Care Premiums for All Act to responsibly build an off-ramp from the growing unaffordability of the enhanced COVID-era credits in the marketplace.
Madam Chair, I'd also like to add that the cut-go rule is not a law.
It is a rule that is self-imposed.
And the current policy baseline, and I know this issue came up before, makes this provision entirely paid for.
In fact, it's a cost savings because we do apply income caps.
I believe Ranking Member McGovern raised this issue earlier.
This amendment is germane.
We actually had to remove a large section of this bill, the HSA section, I am sorry, the PBM section.
We were puzzled as to how that was not germane because there is a PBM section in the underlying bill.
However, we did conform with committee's request to remove that.
So it is germane.
It is paid for.
And we ask this committee to adopt this amendment, and I yield back.
Thank you, Chairwoman Fox and Ranking Member McGovern and colleagues on the Rules Committee.
For 43 days, the government was shut down.
And our Democratic colleagues said that this existential issue of the premium tax credits that were put in place during COVID, the expiration of it, was existential and that we needed to pass an extension.
When the government was reopened, Mr. Fitzpatrick, Mr. Lelotta, myself, Ms. Kiggins, among many others, sat down in a bipartisan way with our colleagues across the aisle and in the other chamber to come up with ideas about how we could agree to legislation to extend the enhanced premium tax credit and get the necessary.
support to get it across the finish line.
There are numerous bills that have been put forward and ideas that have been outlaid.
But the objective was to find bipartisan consensus because you need 218 votes in the House and 60 votes in the Senate.
Senator Schumer went through a messaging exercise last week and put a Democrat-only bill on the floor, a three-year clean extension that did not get 60 votes.
We know that is the position of the Democratic leader in the House, a clean three-year extension that, as of now, does not have 218 votes.
We have two pieces of bipartisan legislation that have been worked over that have support and should get an up or down vote on the House floor.
And so to me, this is very simple.
Regardless of party, if we agree that there needs to be an extension, if we agree that the expiration of the enhanced premium tax credit would cause a spike in premiums, then we have to come together in a bipartisan way.
The my way or the highway approach to governing here is not going to work.
There are two discharge petitions on the floor right now that have more than enough Republican signatures on them.
If the Democrats would join us in that, we can get a straight up or down vote on this.
These amendments are being offered.
We hope this committee will approve them and allow for an up or down vote.
But in the event that they do not, there is a very simple way for this to be resolved and a vote to be forced.
And I would encourage all of my colleagues on the Democratic side to join those of us who have signed the discharge petitions to do so.
This is not about politics.
This is about addressing an issue that we both agree is a problem.
And we can all agree that, unfortunately, Obamacare has not actually produced the result it was intended.
It was intended to reduce health care costs.
But since Obamacare took effect in 2010, health care costs have risen by 96 percent nationwide.
So there obviously has to be a larger conversation about how we address health care costs in America, and we should work on that in a bipartisan way.
But the immediate issue before us is the expiration of the enhanced premium tax credit.
That is why we are here.
That is why we are offering a product that has been worked over in a bipartisan way and has the support of 11 Republicans on the floor in a discharge petition.
I ask everybody to vote in favor of moving this out of committee, but in the event it does not, I encourage my Democratic colleagues to join us on that discharge.
I am here tonight to speak in favor of Lota Amendments 23 and 24, because Congress must confront the long-term affordability and accessibility challenges in our health care system.
Since Obamacare became law, insurers have post record profits on the back of taxpayers and patients, while premiums have risen 60 percent more than inflation, and nearly one in three claims are denied.
Families pay more, get less, and we are left with few choices.
Congress must also confront the short-term realities facing families today.
At the end of this year, the ACA enhanced premium tax credit subsidies expire, an outcome that will raise health care costs for many of our constituents.
Madam Chair, I intend to support the underlying bill before us, the Lower Health Care Premiums for All Americans Act, because it begins to address the structural flaws driving up costs and limiting access in our health care system.
Reforms that increase competition, transparency, and accountability are essential if we are serious about lowering costs over the long term.
But long-term reform alone is not enough.
We also need responsible temporary solutions for Americans who rely on the Affordable Care Act exchanges today, roughly 7 percent of the population, many of whom depend on the enhanced premium tax credits to afford coverage.
Those credits were presented to the American people as temporary and pandemic-related when they were enacted.
Yet, three years later, millions of families have come to rely upon them, and simply doing nothing would be irresponsible.
That's why the Fitzpatrick and Kiggins amendments matter.
They provide a needed runway for families as the long-term reforms in the underlying bill begin to take effect and actually bring costs down.
My two amendments, written with the goal of earning 60 votes in the Senate, build on that approach.
They keep the underlying bill intact.
They preserve the reform provisions in the Fitzpatrick and Kiggins amendments.
Amendment 23 relates to the Fitzpatrick Bill and Amendment 24 relates to the Kiggins bill, while maintaining the reform components of each.
But instead of continuing subsidies that flow through Washington to insurance companies, my amendments replace the ACA enhanced premium tax credit subsidies with $25 to $30 billion in above-the-line tax relief for Americans purchasing coverage on Obamacare.
If enacted, Americans would receive this tax relief when they file their 2025 and 2026 taxes at the same time those premiums are rising.
These amendments improve the policy for three important reasons, Madam Chair.
First, they put money directly back into the pockets of patients and families rather than perpetuating a system where taxpayer dollars are routed through insurance companies that have already proven to prioritize profits over affordability.
Second, they comply with House rules.
Unlike new spending programs, tax relief does not require an offset, making this approach fiscally responsible, procedurally sound, and immediately workable.
Third, these amendments make the underlying bill more achievable by helping build the bipartisan coalition necessary to pass both the House and ultimately earn 60 votes in the Senate.
While extremes on both sides may find reasons to oppose this effort, pragmatic members focused on both short and long-term solutions for Americans should find little reason to object to a bill that balances immediate relief with long-lasting reform.
It helps those in the ACA in the short term, a stated goal of many of my colleagues on the left, and it advances transparency, accountability, and structural reform, a stated goal of many of my colleagues on the right.
This is a balanced common sense approach, protect families in the short term, fix a system in the long term, and stop rewarding the very interests that created this problem in the first place.
For that reason, I urge support, and I yield back, Madam Chair.
I have several amendments, and I am going to withdraw them for now, but I would like to talk about health care.
I think we, as Congress, fail the American people, resolve this issue.
I know that we do a lot of messaging here, but people are really struggling.
Our health care premiums are unaffordable.
We cannot continue subsidizing health care cartels.
We cannot keep making insurance profits higher at expense of our children and grandchildren.
We cannot create protectionism in every market and shield it that now we have oligopolies and oligarchy on every market sector, and they are now being lobby very hard here, and everyone is getting screwed back home.
So we have to find some solutions.
We have to acknowledge that so-called Affordable Care Act failed miserably, and some of the provisions that were actually good in it were actually taken out on a bipartisan basis.
Let's just be honest, because this place is not governing for with the people.
So we have to really become serious and propose some solution.
You know, I think there is some good language in this bill, but it's not enough.
We need to move forward.
We need to do more stuff.
I think association health plan language needs to be improved that we have larger stakeholders be able to utilize.
We need to help people in the short term how they're going to survive with these premiums because these premiums for American families becoming completely unaffordable.
We need to have more transparency.
So I think we have to have that conversation in January.
This is the only time that we still maybe have a chance to govern.
After January and our fiscal bill, we're going to be all politicking again and worrying about election.
But I think for change, we need to worry about the American people and not cartels on health care.
Hospitals and insurance are destroying marketplace.
It doesn't exist anymore.
You know, hospitals charging egregious prices, over two and a half times increase in the last 20 years.
And insurance is not insurance anymore.
They actually do markup.
They make money on top of these high prices and destroying any competition.
The states are not able to create in the project products that actually able to protect the consumer with guaranteed renewable.
The states are not able to provide any services and will not allow physicians under Obamacare to own hospitals, but they now own most of the physicians.
Provide a market and insurance market has to be reformed.
And this institution had for a change that governed for with the people, not for big cartels and lobbying group here.
They're destroying health care and fiscal state of our nation, our states, our families, small and large employees.
So I hope it will be a good step forward and we can work to improve this bill.
And I hope we maybe have some bipartisanship.
And actually, both parties will put money where the mouth is and do something for the people, not just messages and talking and politicking.
Representative Kiggins asks that her written testimony on her amendment be entered into the record without objection.
Let me see.
Mr. Langworthy, do you have any questions of our witnesses?
unidentified
I want to thank the witnesses for coming here to present their ideas.
There's a lot of different opinions in the conference on the future of health care.
We have to get to the solutions that will help all citizens, because this is something that is not just for the members of affordable health care and the people that depend on that program, although that is an important thing in front of us, but we have to look at why these costs explode.
And I think every single health care meeting I take, I ask that question of the people involved as to why are we in this position?
Why are we having double-digit increases year over year?
And this is something that we have to dedicate ourselves to on both sides of the aisle, is getting solutions that we can unite the American people behind, that we can actually solve this crisis once and for all.
So I appreciate your dedication to the cause, dedication to all of our mutual constituents in trying to help find a way forward.
The panel before you on health care brought before this committee a bill that did not go through regular order.
We're still trying to understand all the implications of that bill, but it was kind of pieced together at the last minute and brought here.
Obviously, you know, just a cursory review makes me very concerned that it doesn't do any of the things that any of you just talked about.
You know, I appreciate you trying to find a way forward.
And I'm going to tell you right now that my prediction is, and maybe I'll be proven wrong on this, is that this Rules Committee will decide that every one of your measures is either non-germane or scores.
And they will use that as an excuse to not make these amendments in order.
And again, the Rules Committee can do anything it wants to do.
I mean, we could waive germaneness and we can waive the cut go provisions.
I mean, we do whatever we want if the political will existed here.
I'm not sure that it does.
We will try to make the case when we get to the point where we're actually reporting out a rule.
But I'm going to just say this.
I guess what happens, how do you guys vote on a rule if everything is blocked?
And the reason why I asked you that question is because we just the meet, the panel just right before you was on two bills dealing with the transgender community.
One didn't even go through committee, but it was brought up here because it was a way to basically get some of your members to vote for the rule on the NDAA.
And this person got their amendments made in order.
I'm just wondering, I mean, do you support the rule if all of the everything is blocked?
Or because I think at the end of the day, I mean, we've got to find a way to force these votes.
And I'm just not sure that, you know, without The current leadership of this Congress, understanding that there is a cost to not making these amendments in order, I just don't think they will do it.
I will vote for rules and bills based on the merits, not out of retaliation or spite, but there will be consequences if these amendments are not made in order.
I think the only thing worse than a clean extension without any income limits and any reforms, because it is not a perfect system, the only thing worse than that would be expiration.
And I would make that decision.
But I would never vote against a rule or a bill out of spite.
It is based on the policy and whether it is good or bad for the district.
But I hope.
unidentified
And I appreciate that.
I don't know whether you've had a chance to review the bill that's brought before this committee or not.
It doesn't do anything about extending the enhanced.
But I am very hopeful, Mr. Ranking Member, that this committee does rule them in order because there are many people in our conference, many people in this Congress on both sides of the aisle that know that where the overwhelming majority of American people are is they want these credits extended, but with guardrails, with income caps, targeting the lower to middle-income earners, doing what we can to clean up fraud.
It doesn't say there's a lot of fraud, but every system can be improved, especially single-party solutions, right?
They can always be improved.
And my colleagues raise great points.
The expiration of credits doesn't mean you don't revisit them and decide whether or not to extend them, right?
That's exactly what the Republican Conference did this year.
So this is really, really important.
And, you know, we all know people.
We can talk about the small percentage of people that are impacted here, 7 percent.
That's irrelevant.
To set those 7 percent, this is everything to them.
It's everything to them.
And this is about our friends and neighbors.
Take politics, take all that stuff out of the equation.
These are people that we know back home that need our help.
And they are not stuck in this echo chamber here.
They are not getting involved in this Hatfield versus McCoy nonsense.
They just want us to work together to fix this.
And that is my answer to your question, Ranking Member.
I'll let my colleague also.
unidentified
What I would say is governing by extraction is not a good strategy.
And we have seen that repeatedly in the last Congress and at times in this Congress.
And while it may work in one instance, it generally does not work overall.
And I certainly don't think you would support that strategy in your own conference if you were chair of the Rules Committee.
I wouldn't at all.
But moreover, the issue I see before us is that we have a Republican majority in the House and the Senate, which means in order to get something through the House, you need Republican votes.
And in order to get something through the Senate, you need Democratic votes.
Those are the rules, which means that you need bipartisanship.
And in the absence of our leadership putting a vote on the floor, as you just alluded to, it's not in the bill, which is why we're here offering an amendment.
204, the nays are 203.
The previous question is over.
Those in favor say aye.
Those opposed say nay.
In the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it.
For what purpose does the gentleman from Massachusetts move, Mr. Speaker?
He was in the world, Mr. Speaker.
He was in the world.
This is an outrage.
A sufficient number having risen, a recorded vote is ordered.
Members will record their vote by electronic device.
This is a five-minute vote.
And hearing the upraised voices here on the floor as Republicans cut off the vote and did not let Democratic members continue voting.
On to this second of the two votes being held this morning on the debate rules for three bills, including the GOP health care package, which would loosen restrictions on association health plans and lift some requirements related to how small businesses offer insurance benefits.
Some moderate Republicans also signed on this morning to a discharge petition.
That was put forward by Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries.
That petition would force a vote on a three-year extension of health care subsidies, but it would not be held until the second session of this Congress in January.
Current subsidies expire at the end of this year.
The Hill newspaper reporting on the GOP proposal that's under consideration, calling it a narrowly crafted measure with leaders shutting out any chance of amendments to add health care subsidies.
The impending lapse of those subsidies, which began during the COVID era and are expected to surge health care costs, have put Republicans on the offense ahead of next year's midterm elections.
After this, expect to see up to an hour of debate on the Republican health care plan, the rules, also including two bills blocking gender-affirming health care for minors.
A second round of votes expected this afternoon at 5.30 Eastern Time.
While members continue their voting, hear some more of the debate from this morning on the House Republican health care plan.
United Healthcare, $400 billion in revenue, Cigna, $247 billion in revenue.
That's just three of the insurance carriers receiving the subsidies.
That's $1,089 billion.
I know all of you have negotiated in good faith, and I appreciate that.
I can't say that for every member on this issue.
You also know that all three of these carriers own pharmacy benefit managers as well.
I'm not interested in giving subsidies, as much as I respect all three of you.
I'm not interested in taxing hard-earned American citizens to give subsidies to people who own pharmacy benefit managers and have treated the American citizens the way PBMs have.
I think it's very unfortunate that we have had the consolidation in the markets we have, but I want to remind you of this.
Up to and until 2021, the health insurance industry was exempt from the antitrust laws of the country.
And because they were exempt from the antitrust laws of the country, you had massive consolidations.
Those consolidations, some were occurring, but the massive ones occurred after the Affordable Care Act was passed.
And if the Democrats actually wanted to fix the system, when they passed the Affordable Care Act, they would have taken the antitrust exemption away from the health insurance carriers.
And we sure shouldn't have ever allowed the health insurance industry to own the pharmacy benefit managers.
Again, I appreciate the fact that you all have all conducted yourselves as a professional manager.
I will not vote to give subsidies to anybody who owns a pharmacy benefit manager, though.
We had PBM language in our bill that this committee stripped out.
It was in our bill.
This committee stripped it out.
unidentified
This member wants to prohibit the health insurance industry from owning pharmacy benefit managers.
Agreed.
Can I just respond real quick?
Briefly.
I don't think there is any question when you look at United Health Care, which owns the largest provider in the country, when you look at the situation with CBS CareMark, insurance companies should not be owning providers.
They should not be owning PBMs.
That should be prohibited, period.
And we should actually pass legislation to that effect.
Federal Trade Commission could deal with it right now.
Federal Trade Commission said that the drug companies can't own them.
Federal Trade Commission could come out today.
Maybe our Federal Trade Commissioner should wake up and actually do their job and prohibit the insurance industry from owning PBMs.
I will just say, Mr. Fitzpatrick, you were, I don't think you were in the room for this particular exchange, but I'm glad you're here now to just reestablish your understanding of how at least the current policy baseline discussion has evolved over the last week.
Because earlier, I had the opportunity to question some of the chairmen who testified on this particular issue.
And when I attested, at least I described what I had read in public reporting, which was that the suggestion that House Republicans, the leadership, had decided to impose a different standard with respect to current policy baseline on your effort and the amendment, the amendment efforts of all of the members who are here today, the chairwoman artfully noted that that was hearsay, because of course I was not in the room, which is true, with Speaker Johnson and yourself and others.
So I don't know if you have more information.
Perhaps you can establish that that is not hearsay, that in fact your caucus, your conference, is adopting a different current policy based on that.
I mean, I agree with you completely that it would be hypocritical and, as I said to Chairman Smith, in very bad faith for them to now, them, meaning, of course, your colleagues here on the Rules Committee in the majority, to not impose the same understanding of current policy baseline with respect to the extension of the tax credits.
And I hope they offer some justification or rationalization as to how they managed to get there.
The last thing I would say, I don't want to belabor it because I think Reiki Member McGovern.
And I will take at face value your encouragement, Mr. Lawler, regarding potential signing of the discharge petitions that you all have introduced.
Ranking Member McGovern noted the discharge petition that's pending that has 214 signatures from the Democratic side of the aisle.
The much easier approach, though, of course, would be to convince three Republicans to simply rule your amendments in order.
That's all it takes.
Right?
And I appreciate you being here.
You know, at 7 o'clock, you're making the case, because if just three Republicans say, you know what, we don't necessarily even agree with the substance of your amendments, but you deserve to have an up or down vote, we'll have an upper-down vote tomorrow.
Reykjavi Memorial Governance point, I think, which is valid, is that there's no way, and I hate to break this to you, but I think you know, that they're going to rule these amendments in order.
They won't.
We're going to support, I think we're going to offer an amendment to make your amendments in order, and I'm certainly going to support that, but I don't think they're going to.
Of course, the secondary option is to vote against the rule on the floor tomorrow.
And I think Reiki Member McGovern was essentially articulating before you all were in the room, Chip Roy, actually you were here, Mr. Fitzpatrick, you heard this, but the whole reason we're considering one of the bills tomorrow is because Representative Taylor Greene, I guess, according to Mr. Roy, voted against the rule and secured an agreement to get a vote on her bill.
And so that obviously is an option that's open to all of you.
I understand your point, Mr. Fitzpatrick.
You articulated, I think, a principled view about why you don't want to necessarily vote against the rule.
And so I will hope to read between the lines here.
And we'll just hope that in the event the Republicans on this committee reject these amendments and don't rule them in order, in the event that the rule passes tomorrow, that you all would consider signing that discharge petition.
Because convincing just four people, four people, to sign the discharge petition that has 214 signatures on it is going to be a lot easier than convincing 200 people, or I don't know what that number was, I guess 180 people, let's say 175 people, to sign onto the two petitions that you all have pending in the amount of time that we have.
And so that would just be my request.
But again, I appreciate you all being here and making the pitch.
I'm concerned about affordability across the board, everything from food to fuel to housing to transportation to health care to child care.
And these are our friends and neighbors who are having a very, very tough time making ends meet.
You see the stress they go through.
You see the lost sleep and the damaged relationships and the challenge of marriages and everything that ensues from financial struggles.
And, you know, government can't fix all of that, but we can certainly do our part here, our little part, to try to relieve a little bit of that stress and pressure.
So I think anybody that approaches this job with empathy and you hear these people out, it tugs at your heart.
If you have a heart and you're listening to your constituents, it should move you to act.
Well, we hope that people's hearts are not two sizes too small and that they will indeed try to act on lowering the health care prices.
Because I think, I mean, the health care premium is, because I think that's the other question is, without your amendment, does the bill as presently reported solve the problem that the people that you're doing?
Pursuant to House Resolution 953, the bill is considered red.
The bill shall be debatable for one hour, equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking member of the Committee on Education and Workforce, or their respective designees, the chair and ranking member of the Committee on Energy and Commerce or their respective designees, and the chair and ranking member on the Committee of Ways and Means or their respective designees.
The gentleman from Michigan, Mr. Wahlberg, the gentleman from Virginia, Mr. Scott, the gentleman from Kentucky, Mr. Guthrie, the gentleman from New Jersey, Mr. Palone, the gentleman from Missouri, Mr. Smith, and the gentleman from Massachusetts, Mr. Neal, shall each control 10 minutes.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all members have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks on the legislation and to insert extraneous material on H.R. 6703.
I rise today in strong support of H.R. 6703, the Lower Health Care Premiums for All Americans Act.
When the Democrats passed Obamacare over a decade ago, they sold the bill on the promise that it would lower health care costs and preserve plan options.
If you like your plan, you can keep it.
If you like your doctor, you can keep them, we remember quoted.
These famous last words still haunt us.
Today, we know that Obamacare has not lived up to the Democrats' lofty promises.
Instead, the consequences of that bill continue to burden American patients as they have since its enactment.
Health care spending has nearly doubled since Obamacare passed.
Health care plan options have been decimated by Democrat overreach, and millions of Americans are saddled with medical debt across the country.
Obamacare premiums are up 80 percent since the program's inception, with patients paying on average $5,000 out of their own pocket to hit their deductible.
The average out-of-pocket spending maximum for one year is over $20,000.
Without a doubt, Obamacare has proven to be unaffordable and unsustainable.
In an attempt to respond to the affordability crisis created by Obamacare, Democrats leveraged a public health emergency to shovel hundreds of billions of dollars to big health insurance plans to mask the risk of rising unaffordability of coverage.
First, in the American Rescue Plan of 2021 and then again in the Inflation Reduction Act of 2023, Democrats sent temporary taxpayer-funded enhanced premium tax credits directly to the coffers of big insurance plans.
They did this without a single Republican vote of support.
And on both occasions, Democrats chose to make these COVID credits temporary.
They could have made them permanent, but they chose instead to focus on advancing priorities for wealthy Americans, which some of these they did make permanent, to buy subsidized electric vehicles for politically connected cronies to siphon off federal dollars of the greenhouse gas sludge fund.
Now, Democrats are uniting behind a policy to send billions more of taxpayer dollars to big health insurance plans.
With the Democrats' temporary COVID credit set to expire at the end of the year, they are attempting to turn their policy failures into political gains using the American people as collateral.
It is worth reiterating Democrats funded temporary band-aids to cover up unaffordable care.
They chose to fund liberal priorities instead of making them permanent.
While Democrats continue to fearmonger, I want to shed light on what Republicans are doing to fix the Democrats' affordability crisis with policies that deliver real lasting relief to the American people.
These include eliminating health plan gimmicks like silver loading, which will lower AC premiums by 11 percent, increasing transparency for pharmacy benefit managers, the middlemen, and the lower cost for drugs for all Americans, and increasing affordable plan choices and putting patients back in the driver's seat for their own health care plan choices by instituting a association health plans, choice arrangements, and stop loss insurance.
This proposal results in more than double the premium reduction in the Democrats' extension of the enhanced tax credit subsidies.
The Congressional Budget Office estimates this plan will lower premiums by 11 percent to compare just 5 percent from the Democrat subsidies.
These policies will also lower health care costs for all Americans, not just the roughly 7 percent enrolled in the Obamacare marketplace.
And many of these policies are bipartisan.
Ending silver loading addresses the nefarious ending silver loading, addressing nefarious PBM practices, and strengthening employer insurance marketplace all have garnered broad bipartisan support.
I hope we can overlook politics that are clouding the issue and come together to pass this bill and continue to work together in 2026 to deliver more affordable health care to all Americans.
Mr. Speaker, I rise to call on Speaker Johnson to immediately bring the bipartisan three-year extension of the Affordable Care Act tax credits to the floor.
This bill now has the support pursuant to a discharge petition of a majority of House members and should get a vote immediately before the ACA tax credits expire.
Now, Mr. Speaker, without this tax credit extension bill by Mr. Jeffries, health insurance premiers are going to skyrocket for more than 20 million Americans across the country.
They will see prices double, triple, and even quadruple.
It will leave millions with the difficult decision of going without coverage because they simply cannot afford rising costs.
Now, just days before prices skyrocket for American families, Republicans are bringing a bill to the floor that does absolutely nothing to lower prices.
Instead, Republicans are using this affordability crisis to prop up junk health insurance plans that discriminate against people and leave them hanging when they get sick.
Mr. Speaker, the American people are desperate for our help, and this Republican bill doesn't do a thing to provide it.
This bill is a sham, and a majority of the House knows it.
I urge my colleagues to vote no.
We should take real action immediately by passing the Jeffries bill.
I rise today in strong support of my bill, the Lower Health Care Premiums for All Americans Act, a bill rightfully named because that's exactly what it does.
Republicans want to lower health care costs and premiums for all Americans.
All of the Americans on commercial insurance, all the small businesses, all of the people on the ACA exchanges, and all of the self-insured, not just a select few, and not subsidizing profitable insurance companies.
Insurance, especially bad insurance, is not care.
The lower health care premiums for all Americans offer common-sense solutions to Americans' broken health care system by lowering premiums through choice and competition.
By expanding association health plans, we give small businesses and self-employed workers the buying power of large employers, cutting premiums by as much as 30%.
Giving families control over their dollars, we strengthen choice arrangements, allowing defined contributions and pre-tax options so workers can choose the right plan for their needs rather than being stuck in plans that cost too much and deliver too little care.
Being transparent to drug pricing, we take on the pharmacy benefit managers who have long operated behind the scenes as middlemen, collecting hidden fees while prescription prices climb.
Our reforms force transparency so families can finally see where their health care dollars go and pay less at the pharmacy counter.
Protecting access to employer-sponsored insurance.
By clarifying access to stop loss insurance, we safeguard small businesses from being financially ruined by catastrophic health claims.
Stabilizing premiums responsibly, we responsibly fund cost-sharing reduction payments, lowering ACA premium costs for all in the marketplace by 11 percent.
This policy alone results in an average premium savings of $900 nationally while reducing federal spending, saving taxpayers $36 billion.
And contrary to what you hear from my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, the premium tax credits continue and revert back to their 2021 levels.
This bill delivers what Americans have been asking for: lower premiums, more choices, and a health care system that works for them, not against them.
It's time to put all Americans and their doctors in the driver's seat and ahead of profitable insurance companies.
I urge my colleagues to support this legislation, and I yield back.
Gentlemen Reserves, the gentleman from New Jersey is recognized.
unidentified
Mr. Speaker, before I yield time, I want to make sure that the gentlewoman from Iowa knows that without the ACA tax credit extension, a middle-class 60-year-old couple in her district is seeing their premium go up by $1,422 per month.
And with that, I yield two minutes to the Democratic whip, Ms. Clark from Massachusetts.
Mr. Speaker, my question to the Republican Party is: what are you doing?
What are you doing?
Why won't you use your immense powers, the majority, to help the American people?
The bill before us does nothing for the 15 million Americans who are about to lose their health insurance, the 1 million children who are about to become uninsured, the hundreds of hospitals that are closing or are on the verge of closing, 24 million people who are staring down premiums they simply cannot afford.
It does nothing to solve a crisis that the Republicans have inflicted on the American people.
But, but, but, in typical fashion, here's what it does do: it does promote the GOP dream of a nationwide abortion ban.
You found time for that.
But today is the day to stop these tax credits from expiring.
You called us back in July from recess to make sure that we voted on tax cuts, make them permanent for the very richest Americans.
But now that we have a bipartisan discharge petition ready to vote on today, you can't find the time to do it.
We are ready to vote, Mr. Speaker.
You have the power to bring that to the floor today.
Let the will of the people be the will of the people's House.
Let's stop the premium hikes, extend the ACA tax credits, and get back to building a health care system that is worthy of the American people.
And I'll remind my colleagues across the aisle that not a single Republican has ever voted for Obamacare.
This is y'all's plan.
You put it into law.
It was a disaster then.
It's a disaster now.
It's more expensive now than it's ever been.
And it's your plan.
And it's our job to fix it, which is exactly what we're doing.
Obamacare has failed to deliver on its promises.
It's left millions of Americans with higher premiums.
Again, your votes did that.
Fewer choices, less coverage, and it's plagued by fraud, waste, and abuse.
Mr. Speaker, I recently had a constituent write into me outlining her and her husband's experience demonstrating systematic fraud within the ACA marketplace.
Her husband has been repeatedly enrolled in an ACA plan without consent since November of 2023 in a scheme where brokers and agents are fraudulently enrolling individuals to collect commissions and meet enrollment quotas.
This broker gained unauthorized access to his prescription records and replaces legitimate employee-sponsored insurance coverage at his pharmacy.
I wish I could say that these examples are one-time instances, but we know they're not.
The system was built for this kind of fraud.
They represent the broader failure that is Obamacare, and we must take action to fix this broken system and make health care actually affordable, not a Ponzi scheme that it currently is.
The Lower Health Care Premiums for All Americans Act is a great first step toward this mission, and we will drive down health insurance premiums immediately by 11 percent through cost-sharing reduction payments, provide patients with greater transparency, and support small businesses that offer employment-based health care.
And we should do more as a Republican conference, including creating Trump Health Freedom accounts and allowing Americans to shop across state lines, encouraging competition.
Not a single Republican ever voted for y'all's plan, but we are fixing it now, and this is a good first step.
Gentlemen Yields, the gentleman reserves, the gentleman from New Jersey is recognized.
unidentified
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Before I yield, Tom, I want to make sure the gentleman from Texas knows that without the ACA tax credit extension, a middle-class 60-year-old couple in his district is seeing their premium go up by $2,049 per month.
And now I would yield to the gentlewoman from California, Ms. Matsui, one minute.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in opposition to this bill.
This should be called the Lower Health Care Premiums for None Act.
Next year, my constituent, Natalie's insurance, will go from $175 to $400 a month, a fifth of her monthly wages.
She's a colleague student who relies upon her insurance for mental health care.
She wrote to me, I don't want to pick between my dream, mental health, and food.
What does this bill do for her?
Nothing.
I know Republicans are getting similar calls, yet instead of caring about the millions of Americans who are being forced to make impossible choices, they're putting up the sham of a bill.
They should be ashamed.
We came here to deliver for our constituents.
Let's vote on a clean extension and avert the cliff.
Last night in the Rules Committee, the Rules Chairman read through different stuff.
He said he was in the Rules Ranking Member.
He was in town halls and hearing stories that we've seen that people have to buy care on the marketplace.
It's failing, the Affordable Care Act Marketplace.
And the one thing nobody's ever answered, they said, I have to face my constituents.
And do you explain to them that in the bill that you voted that gave billions of dollars of the Green New Deal in the same bill you set these tax cuts to expire?
There's a way in reconciliation to do permanency as well.
unidentified
But nobody on the other side has ever explained why they chose to make these tax credits expire.
And I'm still waiting to hear the answer for that.
In the meantime, we have our bill that will lower premiums by CBO in the individual market by 11 percent as opposed to the 5 percent that would happen if we just passed the enhanced tax credits.
And not just the 7% in the Obamacare marketplace will benefit, but all Americans benefit from this bill, and I reserve my time.
Gentleman Reserves, the gentleman from New Jersey is recognized.
unidentified
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Before I yield, I want to make sure the chairman from Kentucky knows that a middle-class 60-year-old couple in his district is seeing their premium go up by $1,700, $711 per month unless we extend the ACA tax credits.
And now I yield one minute to our ranking member of the Energy Subcommittee, Ms. Caster from Florida.
I rise to oppose this Republican charade and to stand up for my neighbors back home who deserve quality, affordable health coverage.
That includes over half a million of my hardworking neighbors across the Tampa Bay area.
4.7 Floridians, or one in five, who live in the Sunshine State, who are doing everything right.
They're entrepreneurs, they're caregivers, they're part-time workers, and small business owners like Linda Meisner and her husband, whose premium will go from $288 per month to over $3,200 per month next year.
They cannot afford $39,000 for their health care.
They are terrified that they're going to lose everything.
And David, who is being treated for pancreatic cancer, who is unsure how he will continue treatments and afford everything else.
It is unconscionable that Republicans are ripping away coverage to fund their tax breaks for billionaires and the wealthy and the well-connected.
Americans deserve so much better.
So defeat this Republican bill and bring the three-year extension, the bipartisan extension, to the floor now.
Mr. Speaker, I again ask the question, why were these set to expire?
unidentified
As we're hearing stories that people are reading about people in their districts and say how it's unconscionable, it's unconscionable that money was spent on the Green New Deal at the expense of the enhanced tax credits that they talk about.
We want to solve $39,000 as was brought up for health care.
As a result, 4 million people will lose their insurance, and everyone else on an ACA plan will pay more for worse coverage while billionaires sit comfortably enjoying their tax breaks from the one big, beautiful bill.
So remember, in the summer and fall, when Republicans told us that this wasn't the right time to negotiate these subsidies over the shutdown, they said, don't worry, that doesn't expire until later in the year.
We're working on a plan.
Well, later is here.
So what does this Republican plan do to extend the ACA subsidies?
Nothing.
Absolutely nothing.
This is unacceptable and downright cruel.
While I'm disappointed that Republicans refused to extend this lifeline, I'm not surprised that they had no intention of voting on extending ACA subsidies.
In fact, I heard that Republican leadership told my fellow New York Republicans that they needed to find a way to pay for the ACA subsidy extension if they wanted to even have a vote on it.
But playing under the Republicans' new rules, shouldn't this be free?
Or does that math only apply for your billionaire buddies and their tax breaks?
So I urge every member who cares about their constituents having affordable health care to oppose this plan and sign our petition, Jeffrey's petition, do it for the people, and I yield back.
Americans should run away as far and as fast as they can from Republicans' last-minute mess of a health care plan.
Under Republicans' plan, millions of Americans will not be able to afford health insurance because Republicans don't provide money for Americans to pay for the health care under the Affordable Care Act.
Americans don't have an extra $1,000 or $2,000 in their pockets every month to pay for health insurance, and they shouldn't have to choose between being able to afford a doctor's visit or feeding their family.
House Democrats discharge the petition will extend the tax credits that lower costs and help Americans buy health insurance.
Four Republicans just joined our efforts.
We welcome more.
Speaker Johnson should bring the bill to the floor immediately.
Don't send Congress on holiday without making sure that we protect health care for over 20 million Americans.
Nothing in this Republican health care plan will stop Americans' health care premiums from skyrocketing.
When this bill fails to become law, and it will fail, 20 million Americans will see their premiums surge on January 1.
Many will not even be able to afford hundreds or even thousands more each month, and they will lose their health care coverage altogether.
This is a partisan exercise that does nothing to address the crisis before us.
That's why moments ago, four Republicans signed on to the bipartisan legislation to end this crisis and protect Americans' health care, giving it the signatures necessary to be considered on the House floor.
The American people expect us to act with urgency, decisiveness, and transparency.
Mr. Speaker, cancel this vote, call up the bipartisan bill to save Americans' health care before you take another vacation.
I rise in opposition to the disingenuously named Lower Health Care Premiums for All Americans Act, which does not, in fact, lower health care premiums for all Americans.
In response to political pressure from the very real health care crisis before us, House Republicans have rushed this bill to the floor without input from House Democrats and without going through the Energy and Commerce Committee as it should or any actual legislative process.
And that might sound like it's in the weeds, but it's not.
It's a glaring failure to engage in real, meaningful policy that the country is demanding.
It's a response to the crisis that this Republican Congress has created with the cuts it made earlier this year and its failure to extend the premium tax credits, which we can fix today.
It's another example of this Congress failing to do its real work.
And we have to see the big picture here.
Congress isn't working as it should.
Speaker Johnson and House Republicans are pushing this bill on the floor to address a political crisis, not the health care crisis.
And if House Republicans were serious, this bill would actually do something to lower costs.
Instead, the experts tell us this bill will do nothing to decrease costs for Americans, nothing to curb junk plans, but it does have a backdoor ban on abortion for people on ACA plans.
When it comes to health care, Republicans are focused on lowering cost and expanding choice for all Americans.
That's 347 million people, not just 7% of the population, which is all you're going to hear from the other side of the aisle, and that's all you have been hearing from the other side of the aisle.
For more than a decade, for more than a decade, Mr. Speaker, Democrats have promised that Obamacare would lower costs.
unidentified
They actually named the bill the Affordable Care Act.
Find one American, find one American that says that their health care is now cheaper today than it was when they passed this disastrous bill.
You won't.
You won't find one.
In fact, the sky is falling because of their enhanced premium tax credits that they made temporary because they decided to make permanent tax benefits for wealthy environmentalists that support them.
Obamacare is riddled with waste, fraud, and abuse.
The GAO led a covert investigation, creating fictitious Obamacare applicants with fake documentation, where 100% of those applicants were accepted and enrolled.
And guess what?
A year later, this year, of that 100%, 90% was still being subsidized.
So that means insurance companies were still being subsidized for fake accounts that the people didn't even exist.
Data analysis from GAO also finds that 58,000 plus enrollees matched Social Security numbers with death records, with 7,000 of them dead before even enrollment began.
We should not continue propping up a system that has completely failed to lower costs for Americans.
The Lower Health Care Premiums for All Americans Act takes a much different approach, one that delivers real relief.
First, it provides more freedom and flexibility through choice arrangements, empowering small businesses to offer tax-free benefits so their employees can find health coverage that works for them.
unidentified
This levels the playing field for small businesses, putting them on equal footing with large employers when competing for workers.
These arrangements are proven to be successful.
In fact, 83% of employers using choice arrangements are offering coverage for the very first time.
The bill also brings transparency to pharmacy benefit managers, requiring them to open up the books to finally give employers the data they need to increase competition and negotiate better drug prices for workers.
The result?
Health care costs and premiums will be lowered for all, for all Americans, not just the 7% that the Democrats are fighting for in the enhanced COVID-era premium tax credits, but also for the 300-plus million Americans.
Mr. Speaker, Obamacare has driven cost up and choice down.
This bill does the complete opposite.
I urge my colleagues to support the Lower Premiums for All Americans Act and stand with families, workers, and small businesses who deserve.
Mr. Speaker, let me simplify the debate today for the American people.
Republicans are bringing forward reforms that will actually lower the cost of care.
According to the CBO, which is the gold standard for my Democrat colleagues, says it will reduce premiums by 11%.
Now, the only other time premiums have gone down since Obamacare was enacted is when Republicans actually advance reforms in the big beautiful bill, namely rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse, that lowered the cost of care.
So we continue to bail out the Unaffordable Care Act and actually make it more affordable, along with other policies that provide the federal assistance to the people, not insurance agencies, and give the private market more competition and transparency so people have more choice, okay?
That's our plan, and it lowers costs for everybody.
The Democrats are trying to put forward an extension of a COVID-era fraud-ridden subsidy that has proven time and again, GAO, CBO, all the watchdogs say it is fraught with tens of billions of fraud.
Tens of thousands of Social Security numbers from dead people have been used to siphon money away from this program.
Millions of people, according to the CBO, are ineligibly on the program.
And the answer from the Democrats is to perpetuate this fraud bag, which is a completely egregious and reckless thing to do as stewards of tax dollars.
Not to mention it's propping up the underlying program that year after year has raised premiums and deductibles two times.
It's doubled premiums and deductibles since Obamacare has been enacted.
We've got fewer choices.
Things are worse.
As Ronald Reagan said so beautifully, so aptly, in this moment, I can't think of any better words.
Government is not the solution here.
You all have proven that.
Government is the problem.
And we've got the solution that actually delivers the affordability to the American people.
I rise to call for a vote immediately to save America's health care.
Across our country, American families are being squeezed by high grocery prices, high utility bills, and soaring costs for the holiday gifts.
Families can't afford to pay double for their health care.
Republicans cut a trillion dollars from health care to give a tax break to their billionaire donors.
Americans of every party stripe are being hurt, and they've had enough.
This morning, four Republicans joined every Democrat to sign a petition forcing you to hold a vote on our bill that will save health care for 4 million people.
Mr. Speaker, it's your turn to act.
Hold the vote to save health care now.
And it's important to point out that the CBO analysis that my Republican friends keep talking about says it is going to cost 100,000 people more every year their health care.
Hold the vote on the bill that will save health care.
I'm pleased this bill is coming to the floor today.
Every patient's health needs are unique, and every person's situation is different.
This is why it's so important to expand and protect the different options available to individuals.
And this bill does exactly that.
It gives the decision-making process back to the American people.
I'm honored that this package includes my bill, the Choice Arrangement Act, which makes it easier for small businesses, something that I know something about after 35 years in business, to offer health care coverage and gives individuals more option to choose health plans that works for them.
Choice accounts put individuals in the driver's seat when it comes to picking their health care plan and lets their employer financially support their decision.
This empowers people in one of their most personal decisions, their health care.
Over the last 15 years, health care has become unaffordable for everyone.
Everyone, including 164 million Americans covered by employer-sponsored health.
Yet my colleagues on the other side of the aisle continue to ignore these individuals in their health care conversations.
The gentleman from California just stated, this is for $4 million, what they're talking about.
We're wanting to lower the health care costs for over 300 million people in America.
Premiums are rising for all Americans, whether you're on the exchange or an employer-sponsored plan, whether you're a Democrat or you're a Republican, whether you're healthy or you're unhealthy.
We should be focused on making health care affordable for all Americans that include those on the exchange, employer-sponsored plans, Medicare and Medicaid.
The provisions this bill are starting to do.
So many giving Americans what they need.
Lower costs, more choices, and increased transparency.
I strongly urge my colleagues to vote yes, thank you, and I yield back.
A constituent in my district in Middletown is going to be paying more for health insurance than he does for his mortgage.
Let's cut right to the chase.
This is about a vote.
The American people, this great democracy that we live in, this once chamber that could actually discuss and debate issues, Speaker Johnson should be bringing this bill to the floor today.
unidentified
Do you have the courage to vote or are you going to run and hide?
I got this note this morning from a constituent of mine who said, Dear Congressman Davis, I wish you were voting to extend the tax credits for health care today.
I am a single mother with a daughter in college.
Without these federal tax credits, we will be in an extremely vulnerable position.
Access in health care would be virtually impossible, and the stability of our lives would be at serious risk.
Mr. Speaker, Ohio families and small businesses continue to face unprecedented health care costs, making it increasingly difficult for my constituents to access affordable, high-quality care.
Since the enactment of the so-called Affordable Care Act in 2010, health care costs have risen dramatically, with premiums increasing by more than 25% over the last five years.
This trend makes clear that our nation's health care system needs reform to lower costs for patients and ensure stability for providers.
The Lower Health Care Premiums for All Americans Act is a critical step forward in curbing rising premiums, expanding choice, and improving transparency.
The legislation includes provisions to improve affordability, particularly for small businesses, along with cost-sharing reduction, funding, and PBM reforms.
As we move toward these goals, I urge the adoption of the Lower Health Care Premiums for All Americans Act and remain committed to reforming our broken health care system and increasing choice and competition to lower health care costs for our nation.
In a matter of days, roughly 130,000 people in my home state of Alabama will lose their health care coverage because Republicans in this body refuse to extend the ACA tax credits.
Millions of Americans will find themselves one diagnosis away from bankruptcy.
But rather than addressing the crisis that they created, Republicans are pushing legislation that will make matters worse.
Not only does this bill fail to extend the tax credit, but it promotes junk insurance plans that will rip off consumers and make health care even more unaffordable.
House Republicans are incapable of dealing with our nation's affordability crisis.
They should stop their political games and put the bipartisan Jeffreys bills on the floor today.
We can't wait another 15 years for Republicans to offer a real health care proposal that provides full coverage to all Americans.
Lowering health care costs may be in the title, but they're nowhere in this proposal today.
I know that my own senator, Ron Johnson, a millionaire, has told me he'd be just fine reverting to the pre-ACA world of hybrid schools and plans with limited benefits.
This bill carries us back to a time when millions of people are in their wallet that covers little to nothing.
Let me first thank Richie Neal, the once and future chairman of the Powerful Ways and Means Committee, as well as Frank Pallone, Bobby Scott, all of my colleagues in government on the Democratic side and the Republicans who have joined us now to make sure that we extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits, which are scheduled to expire at the end of this month.
For months now, Democrats have made clear that we have a broken health care system that Republicans continue to destroy.
They've exacerbated our health care crisis month after month after month, including with the one big ugly bill, largest cut to Medicaid in American history, ripping health care away from 14 million Americans.
Hospitals, nursing homes, and community-based health centers are closing all across the country, including in rural America, because of the Republican health care crisis.
Republicans, Mr. Speaker, continue to attack the National Institute of Health, the Centers for Disease Control, the FDA, and vaccine availability.
Republicans have launched an all-out assault on the health care of the American people, and it continues today with this toxic piece of legislation that will rip health care away from an additional 4 million people and jam junk health insurance plans down the throats of the American people.
unidentified
Democrats are strongly opposed to this legislation, and the American people know Republicans have zero credibility on fighting to protect their health care.
In this great country of ours, the wealthiest country in the history of the world, it should be the case, we believe, that access to high-quality health care should not simply be a privilege available only to the wealthy, the well-off, and the well-connected.
Access to high-quality health care should be a right available to every single American.
And that's what House Democrats are continuing to fight hard to achieve.
And one of the ways we can make sure that we strive to achieve that principle is to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits, which are scheduled to expire in 15 days.
And that means that tens of millions of Americans, working class Americans, middle-class Americans, people in urban America, rural America, small-town America, suburban America, the heartland of America,
black and brown communities all throughout America, tens of millions of people, Americans of every stripe in every region, are about to experience their health insurance premiums increase in some instances by $1,000 or $2,000 per month.
That is unacceptable.
And now we have a bipartisan coalition here in the House of Representatives, at least 218 votes to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits for three years to provide everyday Americans with the certainty that they deserve in terms of being able to afford to go see a doctor when they need one.
Mr. Speaker, Republicans need to bring the Affordable Care Act tax credit extension bill to the floor today.
Under no circumstances should we leave this Capitol this week before voting on an extension of the Affordable Care Act tax credit bill that we know will pass, that the votes exist in a bipartisan way to protect the health care of everyday Americans.
House Democrats have made clear we are in this fight until we win this fight to cancel the cuts, lower the costs, save health care, and extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits.
I yield back.
The gentleman yields.
Message reserved.
The gentleman from Missouri, you're recognized.
Thank you, Mr. Grass.
You nameless consent to enter into the record the bombshell GAO report showing the waste, fraud, and abuse within the Obamacare exchanges.
Without objection.
Does the word say bombshell on it?
Gentleman Reserves.
General from Massachusetts.
My God.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I yield 45 seconds to the gentleman from Virginia, Mr. Beyer.
The gentleman from Virginia is recognized.
Mr. Speaker, thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you very much.
Earlier this year, House Republicans passed a bill that strips health care from millions of Americans and raises costs for millions more.
That was a monstrous bill, but this is a cowardly bill.
It does nothing to stop the higher skyrocketing costs that we've been warning about for months.
Nothing in this bill will extend the tax credits that help 20 million Americans afford health insurance.
And this bill won't stop the Republican cuts that will raise my Republicans' constituents' costs by consistent costs by $900 a month or restore coverage to millions whose coverage was sacrificed to give billionaires tax cuts.
Yet developed countries around the world have figured out how to give affordable health care to their citizens.
A vote for this bill is a vote for the Republican health care crisis.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back.
Gentlemen from Massachusetts Reserves, General from Missouri.
Thank the gentleman from Virginia, and I want to yield 45 seconds to the gentleman from Illinois, Mr. Schneider.
Thank you.
My Republican colleagues, Mr. Speaker, are saying we're seeing inflation.
Inflation in health care has been going on for generations.
In fact, during the years of the George W. Bush administration, premiums increased 118 percent.
And Republican legislation they're presenting to us today is barely even a concept of a health care plan.
After 15 years of efforts, they should be embarrassed by this slapdash effort.
Not only does the bill not address the expiring tax credits, it hurts patients, it hurts families, it hurts women and seniors.
I want to be very clear.
My Republican colleagues are taking zero action to extend the tax subsidies that help American families provide insurance to their families.
We need to do better.
We can vote today on a clean three-year extension because we have Republicans who have joined Democrats to call for that.
I urge my colleagues to support the three-year extension, and I yield back.
High Reserve.
Gentlemen Reserves.
General Reserves.
General from Massachusetts is recognized.
I yield 45 seconds to the gentleman from California, Mr. Padetta.
You're recognized.
If we don't extend the tax credits for the Affordable Care Act, costs for health care will go up for 20 million people and millions more will lose their health insurance.
Three-quarters of those who rely on those tax credits live in Republican one states.
Yet, Speaker Johnson and President Trump, who are in charge and had all year to do anything to do something on health care, did nothing.
And rather than fulfill the president's promise to reduce prices, you gave tax breaks to billionaires, you gutted Medicaid, and you added trillions to our debt.
Look, I get that division and dysfunction define the Republican Party, but we can't keep letting it define Congress.
Put the Democratic discharge petition on the floor, extend the tax credits so that together we can actually do something to fix health care.
By doing that, we do our job, not just in Congress, but for all Americans.
Thank you.
I yield back.
I reserve.
Gentleman from Massachusetts Reserves.
Gentlemen from Missouri Reserves.
Gentlemen from Massachusetts, recognized.
Thank you.
I yield 45 seconds to the gentleman from Nevada, Mr. Horsford.
Gentleman's recognized.
Mr. Speaker, after 15 years of talk, House Republicans have finally brought their health care bill to the floor, yet it fails working families.
Despite its name, it does nothing to lower costs.
Republicans found time to lock in tax breaks for big corporations and billionaires, but not the urgency or respect to help Americans afford their health care.
House Democrats are 100 percent united, and now with four Republicans who, after months of delay, have finally chosen to join us to extend the advanced premium tax credits.
That's why, Mr. Speaker, it's time for you to bring the House Democrats' bipartisan discharge petition to the floor immediately.
Every member must make a choice.
Stand with the working men and women of this country and small businesses, or Donald Trump.
Vote no on this sham of a bill.
Vote yes on the Jeffries discharge petition.
Gentleman from Massachusetts Reserves.
Gentleman from Missouri.
Mr. Speaker, I have no additional speakers and we are prepared to close.
This bill before you will lower health care costs for all Americans, not just the 7% that they're fighting for, all $347 million.
unidentified
The gentleman from Michigan, Mr. Wahlberg, and the gentleman from Virginia, Mr. Scott, each will control 10 minutes.
The chair recognizes the gentleman from Michigan.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I yield myself such time as I may consume.
The gentleman is recognized.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 6703.
Because of the Unaffordable Care Act, health care costs are out of control, and small businesses and the families that they employ are paying the price.
The Unaffordable Care Act drove premiums up and added red tape, forcing many small employers to drop coverage or stop offering it altogether.
unidentified
And now my Democrat colleagues want to extend enhanced benefits that they couldn't get their own party to support for more than three years when they passed them.
They made this problem, and now they want us to fix it by doing the same thing that has extended this problem.
They want our family, friends, and neighbors to suffer further pain as opposed to joining us and fixing the problem as opposed to extending it.
My bill, the Association Health Plans Act, allows small businesses and self-employed Americans to band together, like large companies, to lower costs and deliver high-quality coverage.
unidentified
The CPO reported today estimates that this could cover more than 200,000 previously uninsured Americans and attract 700,000 people annually to association health plants.
Complementing this, the Self-Insurance Protection Act, authored by Representative Bob Ander, shields small businesses from regulatory overreach while expanding affordable health care options.
unidentified
Together, these measures included in the Lower Health Care Premiums for All Americans Act cut red tape, protect choice, and lower costs.
I plead with my Democrat colleagues to join us in bringing about a remedy to our health care system, which is broken because of the Unaffordable Care Act.
They broke it, but please join us to fix it.
unidentified
I reserve the balance of my time.
Gentleman Reserves, the gentleman from Virginia is recognized.
Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
I rise in opposition to the so-called Lower Health Care Premiums for All Americans Act.
unidentified
This package includes two partisan proposals marked up in Education and Workforce Committee.
First, it recklessly expands association health plans, which would allow small employer groups and individuals to join associations to offer health insurance that are subject to fewer regulations than traditional plans in individual and small group markets.
AHPs will make it easier for associations to cherry-pick small employers with younger, mostly male workforces who are healthier and can be charged lower rates.
Small employers whose workers are older and sicker would remain in the traditional market.
And a simple arithmetic dictates that if you pull healthy groups out, all of those left behind will be paying more.
Furthermore, these plans, if history is any guide, will show that they're more vulnerable to fraud and insolvency than those in the marketplace.
Second proposal is the self-insurance protection plan, which prohibits the Department of Labor and states from ever regulating stop-loss insurance, inviting nefarious practices that could hurt consumers and employers by creating loopholes for plans that will escape any regulatory oversight.
Further, Mr. Speaker, this plan does nothing to extend the ACA-enhanced tax credits, which are set to expire.
unidentified
Millions of people will be able to see their premiums skyrocket.
Millions more won't be able to afford any insurance at all.
If we bring up the bipartisan bill, we can avoid that result.
unidentified
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Gentleman from Virginia Reserves, the gentleman from Michigan, is recognized.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I yield two minutes to the gentleman from Utah, the chairman of the Subcommittee on Higher Education, Mr. Burgess.
Mr. Burgess Owens.
The gentleman from Utah is recognized.
Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, today I rise to speak in strong support of the Lower Health Care Premiums for All Americans Act.
This legislation will make it easier for small businesses to offer quality, affordable health care coverage to their employees by allowing them to band together to have access to the same regulatory and economic benefits as large group plans.
Right now, small businesses are on unequal playing fields with larger companies and unions.
Because they have fewer employees, small businesses have limited bargaining power when it comes to negotiating lower insurance costs for their workers.
Since 2010, the share of small businesses with fewer than 50 employees offering health coverage has dropped from 39 to 30 percent.
Small businesses have ranked the costs of health insurance as their number one problem for 32 straight years.
For nearly four decades, it's remained the top concern.
In fact, 98 percent of small businesses report that health care costs will become unsustainable in the next five to ten years, threatening their ability to survive and remain competitive.
This is not because small businesses are not wanting to offer health care benefits.
Small business workers, small businesses work hard for very hard to provide for their employees.
The problem is that health care in this country has become simply unaffordable for far too many small businesses and working families.
Employers are looking for innovative solutions to lower costs and increase coverage for their employees.
When asked, 79% of employers reported they were interested in joining an association health plan.
We know that these plans work.
Under the first Trump administration's association health plan rule, health care costs for those enrolled in the AHP decreased for some industries by more than 50 percent.
The lower health care Premiums for All Americans Act will level the playing field for small businesses and empower their employees to access quality health care at lower costs.
It also represents an essential step toward purchasing health insurance across state lines.
As we continue our efforts to lower costs for small business owners and workers, this is just one step to make sure that more Americans can access high-quality, affordable health care.
I urge my colleagues to vote yes for H.R. 667-03.
Thank you, and I yield back.
Gentlemen, his time has expired.
Gentleman from Virginia is recognized.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I yield one minute to the gentleman from California, the ranking member of the Health, Employment and Labor Subcommittee, Mr. DeSonier.
The gentleman from California is recognized.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you for the ranking member.
I rise as a former small business owner, having over three decades owning and managing restaurants in strong opposition to this sad health care plan.
After kicking 10 million Americans off Medicaid in the big ugly bill, Republicans are following up with this proposal that the Congressional Budget Office says will take health care away from an additional 100,000 Americans a year.
We need to make more affordable for all Americans our health care.
Despite spending 18,5% of our GDP in the United States on health care, we have the worst outcomes, the highest mortality rate and life expectancy and acuity.
We need to make it more affordable.
I agree with the ranking member and the chair that we should work together on the inefficiencies in the system.
However, this is not it.
After spending 15 years on their health care plan, Republicans have just repackaged some of their old ideas and they're hoping the American people won't notice that it's not going to help.
Instead, we should extend the tax credits for three years and come together.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Gentleman Reserves, gentleman from Michigan is recognized.
Mr. Speaker, I now yield two minutes to the chairman of the Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education, the gentleman from California, Mr. Kiley.
Mr. Speaker, I'll be voting for this measure today because the policy is good.
But let's be realistic.
It's extremely modest and it has no chance of becoming law because it was hastily thrown together without apparently any bipartisan input when bipartisan support is necessary to pass any measure like this.
But worst of all, the bill does not address the immediate urgent problem in front of us, which is that 22 million people are about to pay a lot more for health insurance.
These are independent contractors, freelancers, gig workers, Uber drivers.
It's small business owners and their employees.
It's retirees who are not yet eligible for Medicare are going to pay thousands of dollars more in many cases.
Some people won't be able to afford health insurance at all.
So what are we supposed to tell these folks?
Oh, don't worry, it's Obama's fault.
Or, oh, no, don't worry, we did a show vote on this lower health care premiums for all Americans Act.
Is that going to be any consolation?
Now, I've been extremely critical of the House Speaker for refusing to put any measure to extend these tax credits on the floor.
And I think that criticism right now is more well-deserved than ever.
We have in the past seen measures come to the floor that divided the Republican conference but that were able to pass with bipartisan support on continuing resolutions, on foreign aid bills.
There is no reason that cannot be done here.
And let the House work its will.
That, after all, is the best expression of the will of the people.
But what about the minority leader, Akeem Jeffries?
He has had every opportunity to endorse a compromise measure that has a temporary extension with reforms.
There are three bills that have numerous bipartisan co-authors.
But instead of supporting any of those, he's directed his members to only support an uncompromising measure that has zero bipartisan co-sponsors and that has already been rejected by the Senate and so has no chance of becoming law.
This whole issue encapsulates what is wrong with this institution, where party leaders focus most of their time and energy on trying to blame problems on the other side rather than trying to solve those problems.
But it is not too late for action now.
I'm calling on the Speaker or the minority leader or both to get a vote bill to the floor.
That's what this institution needs.
It's what America needs.
I yield back.
unidentified
Gentleman Reserves, the gentleman from Virginia is recognized.
Mr. Speaker, I yield one minute to the gentlewoman from North Carolina, the ranking member of the Higher Education and Workforce Development Subcommittee, Ms. Adams.
The gentlewoman is recognized.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank the Ranking Member.
I rise to speak for the 186 Americans who've lost their lives today, not because of disease or illness, but because they did not have access to the health insurance they needed to get treatment.
Every year, 68,000 Americans die because they do not have health insurance.
And Republicans, they've chosen to turn their backs on these Americans and make this crisis worse.
Not only does their bill fail to extend the ACA tax credit, something that helps 88,000 folks in my district afford health insurance, it abandons financial assistance for middle-class families when they're already struggling to make the ends meet.
It strips away protections for patients, opening them up to discrimination and predatory practices.
It restricts access to abortion care, which, by the way, is health care, putting the government, not a woman and her doctor, in charge of her body.
People are dying, Mr. Speaker, and it's time Republicans take this crisis serious.
Come on, Republicans, let's wake up.
Have some compassion.
Our constituents cannot wait.
Let's vote no on this awful Republican bill.
Mr. Chair, I yield back.
Gentlewoman yields.
Gentleman Reserves, gentleman from Michigan is recognized.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I now yield two minutes to the gentleman from Missouri, Dr. Bob Ander.
The gentleman from Missouri is recognized.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I rise in strong support of the Lower Health Care Premiums for All Americans Act, which includes legislation which I introduced earlier this year, the Self-Insurance Protection Act.
This bill ensures that employers who choose to self-insure retain access to a critical financial tool, stop-loss insurance.
Many employers choose to self-insure so they can tailor coverage to the specific needs of their workforce.
This flexibility lowers health care costs and increases take-home pay for employees.
But self-insurance carries a greater financial risk, which is why employers rely on stop-loss insurance to protect against catastrophic claims.
In recent years, some states have tried to regulate self-insurance out of existence.
States like New York have barred small employers from purchasing stop-loss insurance.
And for years, Democrats, in their pursuit of single-payer health care, have tried to regulate it as traditional health insurance.
The Self-Insurance Protection Act makes it clear that stop-loss insurance is a financial safeguard, not health insurance.
The Lower Health Care Premiums for All Americans Act will expand access to other options that increase competition and lower costs, like association health plans.
The first Trump administration expanded access to associated health plans and lowered costs by 26 percent.
Through our AHPs, employers can pool together to set up their own insurance plan and negotiate better health care coverage.
This approach could eventually allow Costco or Sams to offer their own revolutionary low-cost health insurance.
As a physician, I've seen firsthand that increasing competition and choice lowers costs, and the lower health care premiums for all Americans will deliver lower costs for the 78 percent of Americans who receive insurance through their employer, and it will lower Obamacare premiums by 11 percent.
I strongly support this bill and urge its passage.
I yield back.
Gentleman Yields.
Reserve.
Gentleman Reserves, gentleman from Virginia is recognized.
Mr. Speaker, I yield 45 seconds to the gentleman from Ohio, Mr. Lanceman.
unidentified
The gentleman from Ohio is recognized.
I thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Of the 22 million Americans who rely on the Affordable Care Act subsidies, 32,000 live in my district.
They are about to experience health care costs that are skyrocketing, and they want one thing.
That's it.
Mr. Speaker, they want one thing, and they want us to extend the Affordable Care Act subsidy.
80 percent of Americans have said this is what they want.
These are farmers, small businesses, families, and if they were in this chamber today, they would point to the well and say there are 218 signatures on this discharge petition.
Just put it on the floor, vote for it, and give us the subsidies that help us pay for our health care.
I yield back.
Gentleman Yields.
Gentleman Reserves, gentlemen from Michigan is recognized.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I now yield one minute to the gentleman from Georgia, Mr. Carter.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of the Lower Health Care Premiums for All Americans Act, which is the right prescription to lower health care costs and provide American citizens with more affordable coverage.
Nearly 15 years ago, the Democrats' Unaffordable Care Act broke our health care system.
They broke our health care system.
Since its inception, Obamacare premiums have skyrocketed by over 220 percent.
A family of four now pays $10,000 more for coverage today than they did before Obamacare.
And their deductibles have doubled, in part to offset waste, fraud, and abuse that runs rampant throughout the program.
But rather than fix the problems, the Unaffordable Care Act, Democrats in Congress want to continue to send billions of taxpayer money directly to giant insurance companies and leave families with thousands of dollars in health care costs that they cannot afford.
The Unaffordable Care Act is broken, and throwing more hard-earned taxpayer money after bad policy is not going to fix it.
That's why we must give power to the patient, not to the big insurance companies.
While Republicans are working to make life more affordable, Democrats' prescription is to raise taxes.
Mr. Speaker, I encourage my colleagues to support the lower health care premiums.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong opposition to this bill.
My Republican colleagues have tried and failed to repeal or weaken the Affordable Care Act more than 70 times over the past 15 years.
The bill before us does nothing to address expiring tax credits, and contrary to what my colleague Mr. Kiley has said, the bill that would extend the tax credits is bipartisan.
It would pass this House.
In the richest country in the world, the country is the global leader of medical innovation.
Republicans claim that their bill will give consumers more choices.
No choice.
This is not about choice.
People will have the choice to be refused health insurance for pre-existing conditions by unregulated junk health insurance plans and be denied reproductive health care.
Instead of making the ACA tax credits permanent, Republicans have once again proposed a peaceful non-solution that makes health insurance more expensive and strips Americans of their basic health care rights.
In just 15 days, health insurance premiums will skyrocket for more than 28 million Americans.
At a time when people are already struggling with higher costs for groceries, rent, child care, and utilities, this bill does nothing to stop the immediate harm heading their way on January 1st.
And here's what that looks like for Virginians in Virginia.
A 60-year-old couple earning $85,600 a year will see their premiums rise by $15,446.
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A family of four earning $66,000 a year will see their premiums jump $2,651.
These are not abstract numbers.
They're small business owners, employees, farmers, gig workers, self-employed, and more who will be forced to make impossible choices.
First and foremost, I want to state that nobody should ever be denied basic health care, period.
No one is better off when people are forced to receive health care in emergency rooms or receive a later stage diagnosis because of lack of preventative care or seeing a doctor on a regular basis.
Over 22 million people, including 400,000 Arizonans with marketplace coverage, are seeing their premiums skyrocket.
I cannot state this any clearer.
People cannot afford to pay more for their health care and shouldn't be forced to.
Allowing premiums to skyrocket, enacting backdoor abortion ban, and allowing plans to not cover things like maternity care and pre-existing conditions is not a solution.
It's abandonment.
I urge a no vote on this bill and yield back my time.
Mr. Speaker, for months, Democrats have urged Republicans to come to the table, work together on a clean extension of the Affordable Care Act tax credits.
Now, we're just days away from the deadline, and Republicans are scrambling to push through an unserious proposal at the 11th hour.
People aren't stupid.
They can see this.
Their so-called Lower Health Care Premiums for All Americans Act would have exact opposite effects on what it claims to do.
Most importantly, it does nothing to extend the ACA tax credits.
The tax credits have been a lifeline for countless hardworking families, small business owners, and seniors in Louisiana and across our country.
Helping them find the courage in a time when the cost of living continues to climb is something that we, as members of Congress, should do.
Without these extensions, their premiums will skyrocket.
Health care is not a luxury.
It's a fundamental human right.
I stand with Leader Jeffries and House Democrats as we continue our fight for affordable, quality health care in this country.
Gentlelady from Illinois is recognized for one minute.
Thank you.
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Mr. Speaker, I rise today because in just two weeks, the Affordable Care Act tax credits that help millions of Americans afford their premiums will expire.
And this Republican health care bill does absolutely nothing to keep costs from surging.
In fact, every House Democrat has signed a discharge petition for my bill to extend these tax credits for three years.
And now, four Republicans have signed on as well.
For this reason, at the appropriate time, I will offer a motion to recommit this bill back to committee.
If the House rules permitted, I would have offered the motion with an important amendment to this bill.
My amendment would extend the enhanced premium tax credits for three years to do what this Republican bill fails to do and help American families afford their health care.
I ask unanimous consent to insert into the record the text of this amendment.
I hope my colleagues will join me in voting for the motion to recommit, and I yield back.
Mr. Speaker, Republicans just passed their big, ugly law that rips Medicaid by nearly a trillion dollars, adds 15 million people uninsured, raises costs for everybody.
And now to add insult to injury, they refuse to extend the Affordable Care Act.
And this bill that they want to replace it with is a bamboozo, it's hoodwink, it's a scam for the American people.
It promotes junk plans that rips off the American people, does not cover essential health benefits, allows them to discriminate against people with pre-existing conditions, increases out-of-pocket costs, and will lead to millions more on the banks.
Gentlelady from Oregon is recognized for 30 seconds.
unidentified
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I rise today in strong opposition to the GOP Higher Health Care Costs for Worse Coverage Act.
I did not spend 20 years as an ICU doctor saving lives to come to Congress and sit back while Republicans strip health care coverage for millions.
No, I came to Congress to fight for affordable, accessible health care for all.
This bill does nothing to accomplish that goal.
And worse than that, it pushes people towards less coverage at a higher cost and opens a backdoor abortion ban that marches us a step closer to a national one.
Mr. Speaker, this bill does nothing to reduce costs for all Americans by weakening protections, undermining state oversight, and siphoning healthy individuals out of the ACA.
Most Americans rely on employer-provided health care, but government-driven costs are making that coverage more expensive every year.
Families are paying more, and small businesses are struggling to keep up with the mandates and the red tape.
Americans deserve affordable, high-quality coverage that puts decisions back where they belong with workers, families, and employers, not the federal government.
Bottom line, the Lower Health Care Premiums for All Americans Act empowers workers and job creators and makes health care more affordable for everyday Americans.
And by the way, perchance you want to keep the Unaffordable Care Act for yourself.
Mr. Speaker, pursuant to the order of the House of December 16, 2025, I call up House Concurrent Resolution 61 and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.
Concurrent Resolution Directing the President, pursuant to Section 5C of the War Powers Resolution, to remove United States Armed Forces from hostilities with presidentially designated terrorist organizations in the Western Hemisphere.
Pursuant to the order of the House of December 16, 2025, the concurrent resolution is considered as read.
The concurrent resolution shall be debatable for one hour, equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs or their respective designees.
The gentleman from Florida, Mr. Mast, and the gentleman from New York, Mr. Meeks, each shall control 30 minutes.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that members all have five legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the resolution under consideration.
Right now, we have cartels operating in our backyard.
They are kidnapping Americans, extorting families, trafficking women and children, and flooding our towns with fentanyl to maximize death and addiction on American soil.
These drug cartels are highly organized, militarized.
They are terrorist networks that have convinced my colleagues that they're nothing more than small street gangs.
They control territory, run armed convoys, use drones for surveillance, communicate through encrypted networks like the military.
They terrorize entire countries with extreme violence, and they terrorize the United States of America and our people.
They spread carnage wherever they go, not just across the border, but on our side of the border as well, right here in the United States of America.
Look at this morbid scene that we're going to put up here.
These are two men about to be decapitated, literally out in the open by the Gulf cartel.
The tactics of these cartels are the same as those used by al-Qaeda and ISIS.
These are terrorist networks.
Some are given safe haven by foreign governments.
Others, like Trende Aragua, take orders from Nicolas Maduro.
I can tell you that Americans have paid the price for it.
Lake and Riley, 22-year-old nursing student murdered in Georgia by a confirmed member of Trende Aragua.
Claritha Daniels and Justin Lawless executed outside of their Bronx apartment by six Trende Aragua terrorists.
These were neighbors to my ranking member.
74-year-old American rancher killed in Brownsville, Texas, when his truck hit a cartel plant at IED.
Exactly the same kind of thing that took my legs off.
Democrats don't want the president to be able to defend America from these terrorists.
Even more tragic is the fact that nearly 80,000 Americans overdosed last year on fentanyl, cocaine, and other cartel traffic drugs.
But Democrats don't want to protect you from that either.
In fact, yesterday, after we had a classified briefing, the gentleman on my left, the ranking member, went directly to the press to claim that these strikes were not protecting America, literally said these strikes were not stopping drugs.
Everything that he said is very easy for me to prove wrong.
Every drug boat sunk is literally drugs not coming to the United States of America.
Every narco-terrorist killed is an American life, like Lake and Riley or Claritha Daniels saved.
The threat is pressing and it's frequent.
In November, the Coast Guard announced it seized 510,000 pounds of cocaine in the Eastern Pacific and the Caribbean since the start of 2025.
This is enough cocaine to harm nearly 170 million Americans.
Congressional authorization is not required to carry out precise limited strikes.
My colleagues did not object when prior presidents conducted military operations in Yemen and Libya and Syria, operations which were also limited and successful.
This resolution is also reckless and poorly written.
It prevents the president from acting against any foreign terrorist organization in the Western Hemisphere.
Under this resolution, the president could strike al-Qaeda or ISIS in the Middle East.
But if those same terrorists came across into the Western hemisphere, they could be untouchable and free to kill as many Americans as they want.
Democrats are not putting forward an authorized use of military force telling the president how to combat any of these issues.
Democrats are putting forward a resolution to say the president cannot do anything about MS-13 or Trende Aragua and every other cartel.
That is getting aid and comfort to narco-terrorists.
That is ignoring an imminent threat.
The cartels are relentless and ruthless.
They have military capabilities and use them every day against the American homeland.
When a threat poses immediate danger to Americans, the Constitution gives the President the authority to act.
Among these was a so-called double-tap strike, where U.S. forces killed two survivors clinging to the wreckage of a destroyed vessel in open sea.
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The administration now refuses to release the video of this strike, denying the American people the ability to see for themselves what is being done in their names.
Fact, denying members of this House, including me and I believe the chairman himself, from seeing that video.
Many believe this strike may constitute a war crime.
Following another strike, on October 16th, the Department of Defense repatriated two survivors to their home countries rather than prosecuting them in the United States courts, as we would expect if these individuals were, in fact, dangerous drug traffickers bound for the United States.
Fact of the matter is, a number of the individuals that he talked about, if they went to the United States, they would have been tried in our courts.
That decision raises serious questions about the administration's own assessment of threat, necessity, and purpose.
These strikes have not been authorized by Congress, and the administration has not sought congressional authorization to use lethal military force to address alleged criminal activity that under the United States law and we are a country of laws does not carry the death penalty.
That is a profound escalation and one Congress has neither debated nor approved.
They've openly converted, they openly convert and covet Venezuelan oil.
And despite promises to end wars, this president is threatening military invasions not just in Venezuela, but across the Western Hemisphere.
Just last night, President Trump declared, and I quote, Venezuela is completely surrounded by the largest Armanda ever assembled in the history of South America, and that the shock will be nothing like they have ever seen.
This is not a strategy.
This is a game.
And the president is playing it with the lives of American service members, threatening a regime change war with no plan for what would happen next.
This president wants to be the judge, the jury, and the executioner.
But this Congress, Congress, is not a part of the executive branch.
We are a co-equal branch of government.
And the Constitution vests this body with authority over matters of war and peace.
That power has too often been ceded to the executive branch.
Earlier this month, on a bipartisan and bicameral basis, we repealed outdated authorizations for use of military force to prevent presidents of either party from abusing it.
We cannot now abandon our constitutional duty over these strikes in the Western Hemisphere.
Even if you happen to disagree with me when I say these strikes, and they are not about making Americans safer, that these strikes are about oil, that they are about another reckless foreign war, or stretching presidential power toward that of a would-be king.
All of those things happen to be true, by the way.
This vote is ultimately not about whether you agree with the administration's policy.
It's not about whether any president can take these actions.
No, it is about, and what it should be about, is whether this president can take these actions without congressional approval.
And every member of Congress should want to do their job.
Congress must make clear, all of us, that no president can unilaterally draw the United States into a conflict the American people do not want.
Democrats and Republicans, those of us who are elected by the people, we are the closest to the people.
We should make sure that right here we do what the Constitution tells us to do and have debate and vote on the House floor so that all of America knows where we stand on matters of going to war or not.
And I would let the ranking member know that just in the last year in his district, he's lost at least 140 people to overdose, which apparently he does not want to protect his community from those like the president wants to protect his community.
I now yield four minutes to the chairwoman of the Western Hemisphere, Ms. Salazar of Florida.
It does not include law enforcement or counter-narcotics operations against declared terrorists like Nicolas Maduro, who happens to be the head of a major drug cartel in the Western Hemisphere.
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Therefore, we do not need this resolution because what the President is doing is well within the law.
The President does not need congressional approval to protect Americans from terrorist attacks.
The Founding Fathers vested in Congress the power to declare war, but they were equally clear that the power to defend the homeland from foreign and domestic threats belongs to the President as Commander-in-Chief.
Therefore, President Trump does not need congressional permission to kill terrorists at sea who are bringing cocaine and fentanyl to the streets of Miami, New York, or Chicago.
Let's see what international law says.
The United States is waging a non-international armed conflict with Venezuela.
What does that mean?
Our issue is not with Venezuela as a country, but with Nicolas Maduro, the narco-trafficker who hijacked that country after he stole the elections last year.
Under the law of armed conflict, we can use military force to stop his drug curtail from flooding the streets of the United States.
According to Article 29 of the Charter of the Organization of American States, which the United States is a member, says that the countries of the Western Hemisphere may take military action against a threat that endangers the peace of the Americas.
The Maduro regime has destroyed the peace of the whole Western Hemisphere.
If not ask anyone that lives in my district, the city of Miami.
Now let's go back to American history, which says that Maduro is the world's largest drug trafficker.
In 2020, he was indicted by a federal grand jury in this country for pushing hundreds of thousands of tons of cocaine to the streets of the United States.
Back in 1989, we had a very similar experience in Panama with Manuel Noruega.
President Bush at the time took action in Panama to remove Noriega.
There was no need for congressional approval.
But as commander-in-chief, he did what he needed to do.
Today, Panamanians are eternally grateful to the United States.
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Or in 1983, President Ronald Reagan ordered United States forces into the island of Grenada to protect the lives of American citizens.
Once again, the president did not ask approval from Congress.
Reagan acted swiftly, lawfully, and decisively.
Today, the actions taken against the Cartel de Los Solis, headed by Maduro, fall squarely into this same category: operations against non-state actors and criminal organizations, not a war against a sovereign nation or a legitimate president.
This resolution presented by the Democratic Party would tie President Trump's hands into the fight against drug trafficking terrorists.
Every Venezuelan knows that Maduro is just a thug and a delinquent who has been in the drug trafficking business for 27 years since he took over the country.
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They have totally destroyed the most prosperous country, Latin America, Venezuela.
Of course, Congress has a crucial role in authorizing wars, but the president has independent authority to defend the mainland.
Panama is thriving, Grenada is thriving.
Once Maduro is gone and order is restored to the country, it will be the most prosperous country in Latin America, having the largest reserves of oil in the world, which will give them enough resources not to depend on the charity of the United States or any other country to fix the destruction Maduro wrought.
For those reasons, I strongly oppose this resolution, and I urge my colleagues to do the same.
I only wish she had the same passion to speak out against the Trump administration's mass deportation of Venezuelans legally in the United States of America.
And Mr. Chairman, if this truly was about addressing drugs, then tell me why the administration pardoned Russ Ulbrick, who ran one of the largest online drug marketplaces in history and was serving a double life sentence.
Why did the president pardon the former president of Honduras, whom a U.S. court convicted and sentenced for flunting, incentivized for flooding the U.S. with 400 tons of cocaine and bragged?
unidentified
He quoted, he said, shoved the drugs right up the noses of the gringos.
Pardoned by the president of the United States into your district and my district.
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I'm a former special narcotics prosecutor, and I know this to be a fact.
You don't run a serious counter-narcotic strategy by carrying out the death penalty for those who are on the bottom of the drug trade while freeing those who are very at the top in ordering them to come.
And at the same time, the administration asked us to believe that deploying fighter jets, an aircraft carrier, and more than 15,000 troops to the Caribbean is merely a counter-drug mission.
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This is the largest U.S. military buildup in the region since the Cuban missile crisis.