Newsletter: Appropriations Bills Move through Congress, Fighting for Americans' Privacy, Repealing & Replacing Obamacare

Statement

Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Appropriations

The 114th Congress is getting work done on appropriations bills faster than any Congress since 1974.

As the Vice Chairman of the THUD Appropriations Subcommittee, I spoke on the floor of the House of Representatives last Wednesday on behalf of the 2016 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Appropriations Bill - a bill that helps grow our economy, improves safety, and smartly prioritizes spending.

This week, the House will resume its consideration of the bill. I look forward to its passage and urge my colleagues in the Senate to work towards passing their version in the coming months so it can become law.

Commerce, Justice, and Science Appropriations

The House of Representatives passed the 2016 Commerce, Justice, and Science Appropriations Bill. This bill prioritizes funding for various federal agencies critical to our nation's safety, economy, and leadership in innovation and research. It provides $51.4 billion in discretionary spending - $661 million less than the President's Budget Request - and instead adheres to the balanced budget agreement between the House and the Senate.

The bill provides our law enforcement officers, counterterrorism agents, and cyber security experts with the resources they need to keep Americans safe. Specifically, it continues the prohibition on the transfer of detainees from the US Naval Facility in Guantanamo Bay to Ft. Leavenworth in Kansas.

To keep America at the global forefront of innovation, it also makes sound investments in scientific research through agencies like the National Science Foundation. It increases funding for NSF by $50 million above the last year's level to fund critical research on advanced manufacturing, cybersecurity, neuroscience, and STEM education.
Defense Appropriations

Last week with my support, the House Appropriations Committee passed the 2016 Defense Appropriations Bill. This bill responsibly provides funding to keep our nation safe at home, support our military engagements abroad, and maintain and improve the vital healthcare and benefits programs our servicemembers have earned through their sacrifice.

This bill follows the road map approved in the House and Senate balanced budget agreement, providing $578.6 billion in discretionary funding for the Department of Defense and $88.4 billion for the Global War on Terrorism.

Global War on Terrorism (GWOT) -- $88.4 billion

Military Personnel and Pay -- $133.2 billion

Operation and Maintenance -- $218.8 billion

Research and Development -- $67.9 billion

Equipment Procurement -- $116.7 billion

Defense Health and Military Family Programs -- $31.7 billion

Savings and Reductions to the President's Request -- The bill reflects common-sense decisions to save taxpayer dollars where possible in areas that will not affect the safety or success of our troops and missions. Some of these savings include: $1.15 billion for favorable foreign currency fluctuations, $814 million from lower than expected fuel costs, and $870 million in savings from rescissions of unused prior-year funding.
In a world where threats to our security continue to emerge in the Middle East in the form of ISIL and around the world in would-be aggressors like Iran, Russia, and North Korea, providing our defense community with the capability to meet its demands is more important than ever.

Email Privacy Act

In light of the USA Freedom Act being signed into law last week, I took to the House floor to call for the passage of the Email Privacy Act to assure the American people that our government has moved into the 21st Century and not forgotten the Constitution along the way.

American Health Care Reform Act

Last week, the Republican Study Committee introduced the American Health Care Reform Act, a bill to repeal and replace Obamacare with a patient-centered, free-market solution to reform our health care system. This is one of several alternatives to Obamacare that Republicans in Congress have put forward since 2010, and one that I believe would benefit American consumers without relying on onerous mandates and massive tax increases.

This legislation levels the playing field between those with employer-based insurance and those who purchase insurance on the individual market. It does so by creating an above-the-line standard deduction for health insurance (SDHI) in the tax code. Individuals with qualifying health plans would receive a deduction of $7,500 applied to income and payroll taxes and familes with qualifying plans would receive $20,500. This will give added flexibility to employees and families who feel tied to their current job because of their health insurance coverage. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, this plan would result in a tax cut for the vast majority of Americans.

Additionally, it will expand access to health savings accounts (HSAs) and increase the maximum allowable contribution into HSAs. In order to encourage better and healthier habits to prevent the need for costly back-end care, it will allow employers to offer larger benefits than currently permitted for the completion of a wellness program.

In order to protect Americans with preexisting conditions, the bill expands federal support for state high risk pools to $25 billion over 10 years. This solution ensures that the segment of the population that has been unable to obtain affordable insurance in the past is now protected. To ensure coverage remains affordable, the premiums in these pools will be capped under law at two times the average premium in that particular state.

One of the biggest cost drivers in the health insurance market is the lack of competition due to the limitation on options within your own state. In order to inject more competition into the markets, thereby driving down prices, our bill allows Americans to purchase health insurance across state lines. Additionally, it allows small businesses to pool together into larger groups with greater leverage to negotiate better premium rates for their employees.

As a long-time advocate for increased funding for critical research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), I strongly support the infusion of a $15 billion Medical Breakthrough Fund. This funding will support the development of biomedical breakthroughs, potentially leading to treatments and maybe even cures for the most lethal diseases in the United States. The research supported by this fund will focus on heart disease, cancer, stroke, Alzheimer's, and diabetes, which kill more than 1.5 million people a year and threaten to bankrupt our health system in long-term costs.

Unlike Obamacare, our bill achieves all of these measures without raising a single penny in taxes. As an original cosponsor, I urge my colleagues in the House of Representatives to consider this proposal to get rid of the wet blanket on our economy that is Obamacare. Hardworking Americans deserve a health care system that puts the patients first and doesn't rely on mandates and taxes imposed by central planners in Washington.

Veterans' Mental Health Care Access Act

Last week, I signed on as a cosponsor to H.R. 1604 - the Veterans' Mental Health Care Access Act, which expands the Choice Card program at the Department of Veterans' Affairs (VA) to allow veterans to seek immediate mental health care at any facility eligible to receive reimbursement through the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

The bill waives the current 30-day waiting period and 40-mile distance provisions of the existing Choice Card program, allowing a veteran to use their card to receive mental health care. It will increase the number of veterans who take advantage of mental health care because they will access it in a more confidential manner, with no fear of stigma, at a private facility.

Given the national tragedy of veterans' suicide and continuing efforts to lessen the trend, I support this effort and urge my colleagues in the House of Representatives to swiftly pass this bill.

National Head Start Association Visit in DC

It was great to meet with National Head Start Association's Yasmina Vinci last week to discuss the importance of the Head Start Program. As a member of the Appropriations Committee, I've worked hard to show my colleagues the value of early childhood education so that it remains a top priority in Congress, and was chosen as a recipient of the Head Start PROMISE Award by NHSA in January. I look forward to continuing to advocate on behalf of early childhood education and supporting investments in our children's future through Head Start.

Organ Donation Advocacy

As a recent recipient of the American Society of Transplantation's Legislator of the Year Award, I will continue to support policies that remove disincentives to organ donation, improve promotion and education regarding living organ donation, develop better donor registries, and encourage collaboration between government and private sector groups.

Thank you to Luke and Kim Harbur for your advocacy on this issue. We as policymakers need to work towards raising the donor consent rates around the nation to levels that we see in Kansas and the Midwest so we can continue to save lives through this amazing gift.

Source