Save American Workers Act of 2014

Floor Speech

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Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Madam Speaker, last night in the House Budget Committee, we had a big debate, and at the end of the debate, we voted on the House Republican budget.

During that debate, there was a lot of talk about how we can reduce our long-term deficits. Our Republican colleagues in their budget said they didn't want to close one special interest tax break to help reduce our long-term deficit. They would rather cut the budget that helps provide for our kids' education. They wanted to reopen, in their budget, the doughnut hole so seniors with high prescription drug costs will pay $1,200 more per year.

So they were willing to do all that, but they wouldn't close a single tax loophole. But they said they cared about reducing the deficit. Now, lo and behold, we have a bill on the floor of the House that, in one fell swoop, if it is voted on, will increase the deficit by $74 billion.

Republicans have a rule that they put into the rules of the House that says you can't do that. You shouldn't be increasing the deficit. There should be some offset. You should cut somewhere else. We think you should also be able to cut some tax expenditures for very special interests. But the idea is that we shouldn't be doing things that increase the deficit. But those rules were waived for this, a little special wand in the Rules Committee: we are not going to abide by the rules, and so $79 billion increase to the deficit.

Now, here is the really interesting thing. We had a debate last night in the Budget Committee about the Affordable Care Act. We made the point that the Republican claim that their budget is balanced in year 10 is totally inconsistent with the claim that they want to get rid of the Affordable Care Act, and here is why:

In the Republican budget--and we all hope it will come to the floor next Thursday. In the Republican budget, they get rid of all the benefits for people in the Affordable Care Act. Right? They get rid of the tax credits that help more Americans purchase insurance. They get rid of the provision that says you can keep your child on your insurance policy until age 26. They get rid of that. But you keep very important parts of the Affordable Care Act. You keep all the revenues, $1 trillion in revenues. And you know what else you keep? You keep all the Medicare savings. In fact, you have $2 trillion embedded in the Affordable Care Act in your budget from the Affordable Care Act.

Today is the smoking gun, because if you pass this bill, the budget that was claimed to be balanced yesterday in the Budget Committee is no longer in balance. You know why? You claimed that in year 10, under your budget, in year 10, that you would have a surplus of $5 billion. But that's not true, because you can't at the same time claim with a straight face that you are getting rid of the Affordable Care Act because the Affordable Care Act provides, as I said, $2 trillion in your own budget.

In that year 10, when you pass this, $9 billion disappears from the Treasury in year 10. So today, by your own accounting, the budget that Republicans claimed to be balanced last night in the Budget Committee today will already be unbalanced, and that is just getting rid of a little piece of the Affordable Care Act. If you get rid of all of it, then you get rid of all the revenues that are in your budget, and you get rid of the savings in your budget, and your budget will not possibly balance.

So, Madam Speaker, it is a fraud to claim that the Republican budget balances and, at the same time, for Republicans to say they are in favor of getting rid of all of the Affordable Care Act. Both things cannot be true at the same time.

So either Republicans level with the American people that their budget is not in balance--and starting today, it won't be, by their own terms--or they acknowledge to the American people that they have gotten rid of all the good stuff in the Affordable Care Act, the stuff that helps people afford health care, but they kept all the savings.

So the moment of truth is today. The smoking gun is today. We had this big debate. I hope the Budget Committee members on the Republican side will come down here and fess up.

Mr. GRIFFIN of Arkansas. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Iowa (Mr. King).

Mr. KING of Iowa. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding and, also, Mr. Young for his authorship of this bill.

It changed dramatically what I had to say when I came down here when I heard that the Republican endeavor to reestablish the 40-hour workweek, which is a practical thing that is good for people, is a fraud. A fraud? People that have been the advocates for ObamaCare are using the word ``fraud''?

Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Will the gentleman yield, because that is not what I said was the fraud.

Mr. KING of Iowa. No, I won't yield. I heard what the gentleman had to say.

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Maryland will suspend. The gentleman from Iowa will suspend.

POINT OF ORDER

Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Madam Speaker, I ask for a point of order.

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Maryland may state his point of order.

Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Madam Speaker, what recourse, if any, do I have when the gentleman misstated my point totally?

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair will not provide an advisory opinion.

Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Well, if the gentleman would yield, we could clarify it, but apparently he won't.

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman has not yielded.

The gentleman from Iowa is recognized.

Mr. KING of Iowa. Madam Speaker, may I inquire as to how much time I might have?

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Iowa has 1 minute and 25 seconds remaining.

Mr. KING of Iowa. Madam Speaker, the gentleman used the term ``fraud.''

It is ironic that ObamaCare itself has been so misrepresented to the American people that, for the top three things that were stated by those who advocated for ObamaCare--if you like your policy, you can keep it; if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor, and, by the way, we are going to save these families $2,500 a year. There is not a single family in America that that promise has been kept for, and yet I hear the word ``fraud'' from the other side of the aisle.

It is not very far down to Mount Vernon where, at least by legend, it is alleged that George Washington was asked who chopped down the cherry tree. He said: I cannot tell a lie. I chopped down the cherry tree.

Well, calling the Affordable Care Act the ``Affordable Care Act'' is not true. George Washington could not utter these words. He might be able to say the ``Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act,'' because that is technically the name for it, but to utter those words and try to tell the American people it is affordable by anybody is not true, and I don't think George Washington could state that.

So we are watching here as people have jobs where they get paid overtime, 56 hours a week, 45 hours a week. They are getting paid time-and-a-half over 40 hours because that is the standard workweek, and now we see ObamaCare dropped it down to 30.

Employers did the rational thing, and we are hearing that that gap between 30 and 40 cancels insurance policies. It doesn't cancel any insurance policies. Instead, it gives people an opportunity to work, work longer, earn overtime, and for the employers and the employees to keep their contract with each other.

I strongly support this bill, H.R. 2575.

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