Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2020
Floor Speech
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Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Madam Chair, I rise in support of my amendment to the Labor-Health and Human Services appropriations package, which strikes all guidance related to the obligation of funds for the Affordable Care Act's navigator program. By passing this amendment, we can prevent further wasteful spending on this failed and very inefficient program.
For plan year 2017, navigators received a total of $62.5 million in grants and enrolled 81,000 individuals. Each of these enrollments cost taxpayers $767. Further, those 81,000 individuals accounted for less than 1 percent of all the enrollment in ACA plans for that year.
Arkansas does not use the Federal marketplace, but I think it is worth noting that according to CMS, only 2.3 percent of the people in my district purchased their healthcare on the exchange in 2017. Nationwide, less than 4 percent of the population bought Affordable Care Act plans. With a little bit of math, we come to the conclusion that we are spending $62.5 million to enroll less than three-tenths of 1 percent of the population.
The administration wisely decided that this money could be better spent elsewhere and cut funding for the program to a more reasonable level of $10 million. Yet for some reason, my colleagues on the other side of the aisle would like to force the administration to spend $100 million on this, in my view, wasteful and ineffective program.
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Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Madam Chair, well, we are all interested in having affordable healthcare, and that is why we have more market-based healthcare. If we open up this market and reduce constraints, then we will get more affordable policies.
I would submit to the Chair tonight that the reason people don't accept these policies is not due to a lack of advertising, Madam Chair, but due to the expense, complexity, and unaffordability of these plans.
In this regard, Madam Chair, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. David P. Roe). My good friend is the ranking member on the House Veterans' Affairs Committee.
Mr. DAVID P. ROE of Tennessee. Madam Chair, I rise today in support of my good friend from Arkansas' amendment.
This bill contains a line item directing $100 million be spent on the ACA navigator program. Unless I am mistaken, just last month, House Democrats decided it was more important to play politics than consider legitimate, bipartisan proposals to address the constantly increasing healthcare costs.
Madam Chair, in Tennessee, since the ACA went into effect, our premiums have gone up in the ACA silo 174 percent. We remember long ago the claim that the ACA would eliminate constantly increasing healthcare costs and included $100 million for the navigator program in that bill.
How many times will we go through this exercise before my colleagues on the other side of the aisle realize this program just doesn't work?
I have never heard of a government program in the history of the country that suddenly started to work without making any changes by simply throwing $100 million at it. Madam Chair, we can't do the same thing over and over again and expect a different outcome.
In plan year 2017, the navigators received $62.5 million and enrolled 81,426 people. With just over 8 million enrollees for 2019, I am not sure how in the world it makes sense to spend $768 per enrollee to sign them up. Now House Democrats want to nearly double that money for a program that has been shown to be ineffective in its sole function, just to enroll people in the ACA.
With ObamaCare enrollment nearly 20 million people below the original CBO estimate this year--and over 3 million more people gaining private, employer-sponsored coverage over the last 2 years because of the strong economy and job market--we should be using this money for programs that actually work.
I support this amendment that eliminates this line-item funding mandate because I offered a similar amendment that Democratic leadership decided was not in order. It would have moved the money from the navigator program to the substance abuse treatment fund, allowing additional grants to treat those suffering from substance abuse disorders, which actually would save lives.
Madam Chair, let's stop wasting time and money on programs that don't work and support those that do. I ask my colleagues to support this amendment.
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Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Madam Chair, let me simply say that, simply put, at $768 per enrollee, the navigator program is a waste of taxpayer resources.
With ever-shrinking budget pressure, we are better off spending this money on NIH research or doing something that will help long-term health, as my friend Dr. Roe is interested in: drug abuse, mental health attention. Those are the issues that are facing this country and a better use of this money.
Madam Chair, I urge a ``yes'' vote on the amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.
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Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Madam Chair, I would like to return to the topic today of apprenticeships that are so important to our workforce across this country.
My amendment would strip a portion of the bill that would spend hundreds of millions of dollars to only support Department of Labor- registered apprenticeship programs, a stipulation that has not been in place in previous bills regarding apprenticeship grant funding.
So, let me be clear. I support Department of Labor-registered apprenticeship programs. I am not here to speak ill of those programs because they do a good job of equipping workers across this country with the skills they need to be successful.
But I am here because I have a problem with the Congress telling the American public that the only way to fill the skills gap and create opportunities is through government-defined apprenticeship programs.
Right now, our economy is facing an enormous skilled workforce shortage. According to the Department of Labor, there are 7.4 million job vacancies, and, with our continued economic prosperity, that number will only grow.
I speak with businesses in my district on a regular basis, in all sectors. Many would like to expand, create new jobs; but a consistent message, Madam Chair, is they are not able to because they cannot find workers with the necessary skills.
It is an unfortunate fact that the registered apprenticeship programs come up short of adequately skilling our entire workforce. For example, in the construction industry, which uses more registered apprenticeship programs than any other industry, only 26,000 people graduated from a registered apprenticeship program in 2018.
Currently, the construction industry employs nearly 7.5 million people, which means that less than 1 percent of the workers in that industry went through a registered apprenticeship program.
Economic estimates have the number of current job openings in construction at 444,000 in total. So, if we were to rely only on registered apprenticeship programs, it would take 17 years to fill those openings, Madam Chair.
That is why this amendment is so important: to offer flexibility and to let other industry-related apprenticeship programs also get grant funding.
We are not denying registered apprenticeship grant funding. We are just simply saying that nonindustry- registered grant funding should be effective. They are safe, efficient, and result in stackable and portable credentials.
Madam Chair, I would like to call on my friend from Kentucky, Andy Barr, a member of the House Financial Services Committee, a man who chairs the Republican Study Committee's American Worker Task Force, and ask him for his views.
Madam Chair, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Barr).
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Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Madam Chair, let me say that I appreciate the in-demand job work that the committee has put in place in the bill. That is wonderful. And I appreciate my friend from Connecticut's passion for this topic. I share it. I support DOL-supported apprenticeships. That has nothing to do with it.
This simply says that we strike the word ``only'' and that, if there is a gap somewhere in a local economy in this country, we have the flexibility to have an industry apprenticeship receive a grant.
This is supported by the Associated Builders and Contractors, the general contractors, the equipment manufacturers, the electrical contractors, the home builders, the roofing contractors, so this bill has full support.
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