Alexander's Bill to Defund Health Care Law Passes House

Statement

U.S. Rep. Rodney Alexander's (R-Quitman) sponsored legislation, which will defund the job-destroying health care law, passed the U.S. House of Representatives today. His resolution, H.Con.Res. 35, will add provisions to the Continuing Resolution, H.R. 1437, to prohibit any funds in this act or any previous act from being used to implement the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PL 111-148) or the health care provisions of the reconciliation act (PL 111-152).

Moreover, Alexander's resolution will guarantee that his colleagues in the Senate will take an up-or-down vote on this important issue, of which he says "We can agree that this is a vote the American public has called for, and this is a vote we owe the American public to have on record."

Regarding the passage of his legislation, Alexander offered the following remarks:

"Our economy still suffers from apathetic growth and millions of individuals remain unemployed. Therefore, it only seems fair that a vote on the billions of dollars in both mandatory and discretionary money required to implement the health reform law is part of the discussion we have with the taxpayers footing the bill.

"I--along with many of my colleagues in the House--have long argued for a repeal of this law. Several Members have also maintained that for this strategy to be successful, it must include efforts to defund the enforcement and implementation of the law through the appropriations process. With the inclusion of this language in the CR, we move one step closer to reaching this goal.

"Under new leadership, the House has already begun to tackle the health care law from various fronts. In January of this year, this chamber approved a full repeal of the health care law. Additionally, during the historic open debate on a previous continuing resolution, H.R. 1, the House debated and approved various provisions that would prohibit, or slow, the progress of the health care law by restricting annual appropriations from going toward implementation. In fact, just yesterday, we passed a measure that would repeal one section of the law that included $17.5 billion in mandatory, "automatic' appropriations.

"My resolution will go further by eliminating all of the funding--both discretionary and mandatory appropriations--which we presently cannot afford. It will also allow time for us to offer new solutions to our nation's health care challenges that will not have long-term negative consequences for job creation and economic growth.

"Congress owes it to the American people to take a stand on whether or not the taxpayers should have to foot this massive bill. The House did it today. Now, I call on my colleagues in the Senate to do the same."

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