Providing for consideration of the bill (H.R. 1834) to advance policy priorities that will break the gridlock.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Arrington).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Bean).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Moran).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith).

Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 30 seconds to the gentleman from New Jersey.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Utah (Mr. Kennedy).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from California (Mr. Kiley).

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I remind this body that the reason why these COVID-era tax credits expired is because the Democrats focused all their resources on helping their wealthy environmentalists with permanent tax credits for electric vehicles and solar panels.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record a bombshell GAO report documenting evidence of widespread fraud, with billions of dollars going to fraudulent enrollees, including as many as 58,000 dead people.

U.S. Government

Accountability Office,

Washington, DC, December 3, 2025.

Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act: Preliminary

Results from Ongoing Review Suggest Fraud Risks in the

Advance Premium Tax Credit Persist

Hon. Brett Guthrie,

Chairman, Committee on Energy and Commerce,

House of Representatives.

Hon. Jim Jordan,

Chairman, Committee on the Judiciary,

House of Representatives.

Hon. Jason Smith,

Chairman, Committee on Ways and Means,

House of Representatives.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA)

provides premium tax credits to those who purchase private

health insurance plans and meet certain income and other

requirements. Individuals may have the federal government pay

this credit to their health insurance issuers in advance on

their behalf, known as the advance premium tax credit (APTC),

which lowers their monthly premium payments.

Millions of consumers have purchased health insurance plans

through the marketplaces established under PPACA. The Centers

for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), within the Department

of Health and Human Services (HHS), is responsible for

maintaining the federal Marketplace and overseeing state-

based marketplaces. Under PPACA, states may elect to operate

their own state-based marketplace or to use the federal

Marketplace. These marketplaces determine eligibility for

APTC, based in part on income, and allow individuals to

compare and choose among insurance plans offered by

participating private health care coverage issuers. CMS

estimated it paid nearly $124 billion in APTC for about 19.5

million enrollees for plan year 2024.

Consumers can enroll in health insurance coverage through a

marketplace independently or with assistance, such as from an

insurance agent or broker. As discussed later in this report,

agents and brokers can help a consumer apply for coverage,

including for related financial assistance, and enroll in a

plan. Assistance from an agent or broker is of no cost to a

consumer. Rather, agents and brokers are allowed to receive

compensation directly from health insurance issuers in

accordance with agreements with those issuers and any

applicable state requirements.

Indictments from December 2024 and February 2025 highlight

concerns about agent and broker practices in the federal

Marketplace. Specifically, the indictments allege that bad

actors enrolled consumers in insurance through the federal

Marketplace by falsifying information on their applications.

Additionally, according to CMS, the agency received

approximately 275,000 complaints between January and August

2024 that consumers were enrolled in a plan or had their plan

changed without their consent. Such practices can result in

wasteful federal spending on APTC for enrollees who are not

eligible. Further, such practices can result in harm and

unexpected costs for consumers. These can include loss of

access to medical providers and medications, higher

copayments and deductibles, or repayment of APTC if income or

other eligibility was misrepresented.

We previously reported that APTC is at risk of fraud. For

example, in September 2016, we found that federal and state

marketplaces approved coverage for our fictitious applicants.

Nearly all of these fictitious applicants remained covered

after we sent fictitious documents or no documents to resolve

issues with our applications. Further, in July 2017, we found

that CMS did not design processes to verify eligibility for

APTC, including preventing duplicate coverage.

You asked us to review issues related to fraud risk

management in APTC. This report is based on preliminary

results and analyses from that ongoing work. Specifically,

this report addresses preliminary results from our

1. covert testing of federal Marketplace enrollment

controls for plan years 2024 and 2025,

2. analyses of federal Marketplace enrollment data for plan

years 2023 and 2024, and

3. evaluation of CMS's fraud risk assessment and antifraud

strategy for APTC.

To perform covert testing of federal Marketplace enrollment

controls, we created 20 fictitious identities and submitted

applications for individual health care coverage in the

federal Marketplace. We submitted applications for four of

these fictitious identities in October 2024 for coverage

through December 2024, which was the remainder of that plan

year. We pursued coverage for plan year 2025 for all 20

fictitious identities, including the four identities for

which we already submitted applications. Our covert testing

for plan year 2025 is ongoing, since the plan year is not yet

complete. As a result, we will describe additional details of

the 2025 applications in a future report.

Our covert testing included applications submitted

independently through HealthCare.gov, which is the federal

Marketplace's website, and applications submitted with

assistance from an insurance agent or broker. For all our

applicant scenarios, we sought to act as an ordinary consumer

would in attempting to make a successful application. For

example, if, during online applications, we were directed to

make phone calls to complete the process, we acted as

instructed.

For applications for plan year 2024, our covert tests

included fictitious applicants

who provided invalid (i.e., never issued) Social Security

numbers (SSN). Additionally, we stated income at a level

eligible to obtain APTC. As appropriate, we used publicly

available information to construct our applications for

coverage and subsidies. We also used publicly available

hardware, software, and materials to produce counterfeit

documents that we submitted, if appropriate for our testing,

when instructed to do so. We then observed the outcomes of

the document submissions, such as any approvals received or

requests to provide additional supporting documentation. The

results of our covert testing, while illustrative of

potential enrollment control weaknesses, cannot be

generalized to the overall enrollment population.

To examine federal Marketplace enrollment for plan years

2023 and 2024, we obtained and analyzed federal Marketplace

enrollment and payment data, including APTC information, from

CMS. We also matched enrollee SSNs in the data to two

additional data sources: (1) Social Security Administration's

(SSA) full death file, a database containing records of death

that have been reported to SSA, as of November 2024 and (2)

April 2025 data from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) on

APTC reconciliation from tax forms filed for tax year 2023.

We assessed the reliability of all data sets by performing

electronic tests to determine the completeness and accuracy

of key fields. We also reviewed agency documentation and

interviewed knowledgeable agency officials about the

reliability of the data. Overall, we found that the data were

reliable for our purposes.

To examine CMS's fraud risk assessment and antifraud

strategy for APTC, we reviewed documentation of CMS's

policies and fraud risk management activities related to

APTC. This included CMS's 2018 fraud risk assessment for

APTC. Additionally, we interviewed agency officials about

CMS's fraud risk management activities in this program. We

reviewed relevant reports from GAO and HHS's Office of the

Inspector General. We evaluated information from relevant

documentation and interviews of agency officials against

relevant leading practices in GAO's A Framework for Managing

Fraud Risks in Federal Programs (Fraud Risk Framework).

To support all three objectives, we interviewed CMS

officials and representatives from seven stakeholder

organizations that represent agents and brokers, state

insurance regulators, researchers, and one of the entities

that CMS approved to host a non-marketplace website where

consumers can apply for and enroll in a plan offered through

the federal Marketplace.

The ongoing work upon which this report is based is being

conducted in accordance with generally accepted government

auditing standards. Those standards require that we plan and

perform the audit to obtain sufficient, appropriate evidence

to provide a reasonable basis for our findings and

conclusions based on our audit objectives. We believe that

the evidence obtained provides a reasonable basis for our

preliminary findings and conclusions based on our audit

objectives. Additionally, our related investigative work is

being conducted in accordance with standards prescribed by

the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and

Efficiency.

Background

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Haridopolos).

Mr. Speaker, I am prepared to close, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I will remind the body that the reason why these enhanced subsidies are expiring is because the Democrats are the only ones in this Chamber who voted for them to expire on December 31. Apparently, they regret that vote because they focused most of their dollars on making permanent environmental tax policy in the Green New Deal.

Mr. Speaker, they are the only ones who have voted to take away these subsidies. It is laughable, Mr. Speaker, when you hear Members on the other side say that the Republicans created this healthcare crisis.

Guess what. It was the Democrats who wrote the Affordable Care Act that is being debated on the floor right now. They are upset because, as of December 31, it reverted back to the Affordable Care Act, which they have championed, what they passed, not Republicans, Democrats.

Mr. Speaker, the healthcare crisis is clearly created by the Democrats.

We have highlighted the fraud and waste within the exchanges. More than half of the people on the exchanges did not even file one medical claim last year, but those insurance companies were being subsidized.

I want to remind the American people that not $1 goes to them. It all goes to the big health insurance companies that have been doing very well, while premiums for every single American have been rising for the last decade and a half.

Mr. Speaker, with that, I urge this body to vote ``no.''

Mr. Speaker, during consideration of this resolution, all time yielded is for the purposes of debate only.

General Leave

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, all I can say is, it is about damn time. I mean, we have had to wait months while the Republican leadership of this House dragged their feet, all so we could take up a simple vote on whether to stop people's healthcare premiums from doubling or tripling.

We could have done this months ago. Instead, Republican leadership literally shut down the entire government rather than just allow this one vote on making sure that regular people can afford their healthcare. That is absurd.

If billionaires want another tax break, they get it in a nanosecond. If the rich and powerful want another loophole, it materializes out of thin air. Somehow days stretch into weeks and then stretch into months when it comes to healthcare for hardworking families.

Every night, those families are sitting around their kitchen tables trying to figure out how to pay for childcare so they can get to work. They are trying to figure out how they can pay their rent so their kids have a safe place to grow up. They are trying to figure out how they can afford groceries amid skyrocketing costs.

Because of the stalling and hesitation and delay from this President and this Speaker, millions of these families are now left trying to figure out how they can afford their healthcare.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to think it is not up for debate that in the richest country in the history of the world, no person--and I mean no person--should be left without healthcare. No mom or dad should have to forego their own health insurance because they can't afford to pay for their kids and themselves. No small business owner should have to go without coverage to pay the bills.

That is exactly what is happening right now. It is happening all because this leadership here in this House refused to lift a finger. They were too busy helping Big Banks, Big Oil, Big Tech, and whatever billionaire needed a handout.

This Congress musters up the will to spend trillions of dollars on tax breaks for billionaires and to send the Pentagon billions of dollars more than they even ask for.

Mr. Speaker, the administration came up with tens of billions of dollars to bail out Argentina, for God's sake. Somehow, helping moms and dads, grandparents, and kids afford trips to the doctor is a step too far for this Republican leadership.

The truth is that this should not be a partisan issue. We are here today debating this rule because four Republicans joined Democrats to put good policy ahead of party and demand that this House take up this measure. Thanks to their efforts to be on the right side of this, we were able to get around the Speaker's logjam and force a vote on this bill.

We have a moral obligation to act, Mr. Speaker. It is unconscionable that anyone in the richest country in history should not have access to good, quality healthcare.

How long have we heard that the Republican healthcare plan is coming? It still hasn't materialized. The reality is that, in the meantime, reversing the massive premium increases that families across this country are grappling with is the bare, bare minimum that we should do.

America's healthcare system is broken, and I am not going to defend the status quo. It has been broken for decades. America spends more per patient than any other major country for the worst outcomes. People lack access to care. Medical bills still leave families in debt. This sure as hell isn't the healthcare system that I would have designed.

In fact, Democrats believe that every person in the United States should have high-quality, affordable healthcare. I personally believe in Medicare for All. Also, there is no doubt in my mind that the American people are better off due to the Affordable Care Act.

Like I said, our system was broken long before the ACA, and the ACA took major steps to try to move us toward comprehensive coverage. That is part of the reason that the ACA is so popular. An overwhelming majority of Americans support the ACA because it protects people with preexisting conditions, provides free preventative care, and requires coverage for essential health benefits like emergency services and maternity care.

The ACA gave health insurance to millions of people, and improvements made to the law made premiums more affordable. Failing to act and failing to extend these tax credits will leave millions of Americans paying more for their healthcare.

Families in my district are reaching out to me to share that their healthcare premiums are going up by hundreds and even thousands of dollars every month due to the inaction of this Congress.

Mr. Speaker, I know that many of the people back home must be writing to you with similar stories. We can't fail these families. We can't turn our backs on working people who are struggling to get by. Healthcare is a basic and fundamental human right. If we have it in our power right now, today, to help make people's lives better, how could we not take the opportunity to do that?

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pallone), the distinguished ranking member of the Committee on Energy and Commerce.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Lawler).

Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 30 seconds to the gentleman from New York.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Olszewski).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Wasserman Schultz).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Johnson).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Oregon (Ms. Bonamici).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Virginia (Ms. McClellan).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Castor).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Hawaii (Ms. Tokuda).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Vermont (Ms. Balint).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Rhode Island (Mr. Magaziner).

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

This is it, Mr. Speaker. We need a majority of this House to vote ``yes'' on this rule so that we can have an up-or-down vote on reversing the premium increases. It is that simple.

If we do nothing, millions of families will lose their healthcare. People won't be able to see doctors if they get sick. Medical bills will stack up. Millions more will be left paying hundreds or even thousands of dollars more every month just to maintain their coverage. They will have to cut back on food or won't be able to make their rent because of these steep increases.

In some cases, the damage has already been done. Many people have already decided to forgo coverage. In my home State of Massachusetts, over 25,000 people canceled their coverage because Republicans let premiums skyrocket.

That is nearly double the number of people who canceled coverage last year. It is a huge increase that will drive up costs for everyone and make America less healthy. I am sure that my colleagues are seeing their constituents make similar choices.

Let me end with this. We have the power right now to give peace of mind to working families that they won't go bankrupt just trying to afford health insurance. We can make their lives a little easier. We can help them sleep a little more soundly and breathe more easily knowing that they can afford coverage for their families.

I have said this over and over and over again, but we are the richest country in the history of the world. People ought to have better coverage. They ought to have more affordable coverage. Healthcare is a fundamental human right, and we should come together in a bipartisan way and support this rule and support the underlying legislation. We can prevent a catastrophe from impacting millions and millions of people in this country.

We have lots of disagreements, but, boy, I would like to think if we could all agree on one thing, it ought to be that people ought to not get screwed over when it comes to healthcare, that they ought not be paying double, triple, quadruple what they normally pay for their health insurance premiums.

I urge a ``yes'' vote on this rule. I yield back the balance of my time, and I move the previous question on the resolution.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, this argument is about universal access. For years, the Republican leadership in this institution has attempted to avert this very moment. For us this is not to be about spiking the football. This is not to be about an end-zone dance. This is about to declare a major victory for the American people.

Despite what I have heard, they have used every maneuver and procedure to prevent the very debate that we are going to have for the next hour. All these years later, they never even had a plan or an alternative.

We can finally choose families, and they can join us today in extending the ACA tax credits and save healthcare for millions of members of the American family. How easily and quickly they did a massive tax cut for the wealthiest amongst us while subsequently arguing that they could deny average men and women an opportunity for health insurance.

So here we are all these years later, as one who helped to write the Affordable Care Act, the ACA is still standing. We will continue to improve it every single year. When I consider now the uninsured enrollment in America is down to 6 percent, it is thanks to the ACA.

If Congress did not do what we are about to do in the next hour, a family of four making $130,000 would see their marketplace premium go from $921 to $1,992. That would be an 18.4 percent increase. Our enhanced credits make sure that nobody would pay more than 8.5 percent of their income for coverage.

Now, Republicans think that people can afford increased premiums by 37 percent, and that is what they are proposing today. They said 2 weeks ago that they had a healthcare plan that they wrote on Friday night. As I noted at the time, it was held together by bubble gum and Elmer's Glue. By the way, Democrats never even got to see it. If they had a healthcare plan alternative, they should have shown it to us.

Let me say this, Mr. Speaker. This is a good day for the American family. This is an important consideration for this institution. Despite repeated denials and efforts to thwart this very moment, in the next hour, my colleagues are going to do for the American family what they said they would do, and that is to extend these tax credits for the ACA.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Massachusetts (Ms. Clark), the Democratic minority whip, who can stand at that microphone and say the following: Every child in Massachusetts has health insurance and 97 percent of the adults in Massachusetts are covered because of the ObamaCare plan.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the distinguished gentleman from New York (Mr. Jeffries), the Democratic leader, whose tactful leadership has brought us to this moment.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Pelosi). There is no finer leader or person who was more determined to help bring us to this moment and whose fortitude helped to give us the ACA than Speaker Emerita Pelosi.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Doggett).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from California (Mr. Thompson).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Larson).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the distinguished gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Davis).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Sanchez).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Alabama (Ms. Sewell).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Washington (Ms. DelBene).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Chu).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Beyer).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Schneider).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from California (Mr. Panetta).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Nevada (Mr. Horsford).

Mr. Speaker, may I inquire as to how much time is remaining.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the distinguished gentleman from New York (Mr. Suozzi).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from the Virgin Islands (Ms. Plaskett).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the distinguished gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Scott), the ranking member of the Committee on Education and Workforce.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from California (Mr. Gomez).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Illinois (Ms. Underwood).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Oregon (Ms. Salinas).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Krishnamoorthi).

Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers, and I am prepared to close.

May I inquire as to how much time is remaining.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, it is too bad that we had to play this out to the anxiety and consternation of the American people. Think of what this might be like if you didn't know a month ago whether or not your children were going to have health insurance. Think of the anguish that you might feel proceeding into the holidays while not knowing whether or not that child would be able to complete the doctor's appointment that you had made for them because you didn't have health insurance.

I didn't hear the other side complaining about keeping 26-year-olds on their parents' health insurance. How about the idea that, in the ACA, we were able to abolish preexisting conditions being routinely used to deny the opportunity to access even primary care for millions and millions of Americans.

Mr. Speaker, I call attention to this because I have watched over these years how the ACA has not only become more popular, but the American people have come to expect the benefits of the ACA.

This argument for those of us who were here and participated at the time was not really complex at all. The argument was that we would proceed on the basis of the notion of universal access and that you wouldn't have to worry that if you went to the emergency room, you somehow might be turned away because you had not been able to pay another bill.

We don't get a chance on this Earth to predict when we are going to get sick. Those are the basic actuarial realities of what insurance is about. By way of example, we don't get to buy homeowners' insurance after the house has burned down. We don't get to buy life insurance after we die.

The idea of what we did here was to spread the notion of risk, an entirely reasonable consequence, authored by former President Obama and, by the way, the steadfast determination at the time of Speaker Pelosi.

This was negotiated across the board with all members of the healthcare system, and we came up with a reasonable solution that we continue to build upon.

Mr. Speaker, I will point out a couple of pretty important statistics: 4 years straight of record enrollment in the Affordable Care Act, and 24.3 million Americans have now signed up.

That is what we had in mind. When you look back at these enhanced premium tax credits, we keep hearing the other side say that there are billionaires and millionaires who are driving the benefit. JCT has said that nobody over $500,000 is getting this benefit. We are open to these conversations as we go forward, as well. Yet, only 38 percent of their tax cuts inure to the benefit of people at the lower end of the economic spectrum.

By ending these enhanced tax credits, we will stop the Republican assault on the ACA. They have repeatedly said that they want to work with us, but there has been no effort on the Republican side to work with us on expanding and extending these tax credits.

There has been no concerted effort from our Republican colleagues to really put on a piece of legislation, a tax bill, that stands up under the magnifying glass of critical analysis. It is patchwork. It is announced every time we get near some cliff in the debate that somehow they have a healthcare plan. We haven't seen it yet.

Mr. Speaker, I am going to close by saying the same words that I opened with: This is a most significant day. This is a happy day for the American people.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the distinguished gentleman from the great Commonwealth of Massachusetts for yielding and for his tremendous leadership on behalf of protecting the healthcare of the American people.

I rise today, Mr. Speaker, in strong support of this bipartisan effort to protect the healthcare of the American people and ensure that we extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits, to make sure that tens of millions of Americans do not experience dramatically increased premiums, copays, and deductibles.

From the very beginning of this Congress, House Democrats have made it clear that we will find bipartisan common ground with any of our Republican colleagues in order to address the affordability issues that are making life more expensive for everyday Americans, working-class Americans, and middle-class Americans. That has been our commitment from the very beginning.

Today, we are able to take a substantial step forward to address the healthcare crisis that does exist in the United States of America and was made worse by the one big, ugly bill. Medicaid was cut by the largest amount in American history. As a result of the policies that were part of that legislation, hospitals, nursing homes, and community- based health clinics are closing all across America.

We have also seen an extraordinary assault on the Centers for Disease Control and the National Institutes of Health and the Food and Drug Administration, on vaccine availability, on public health, and on healthcare of everyday Americans here in the United States of America.

Today, we have an opportunity to push back against that assault and do it in a bipartisan way. That is what the American people have been calling for: Democrats and Republicans working together to address the affordability crisis in this country. It is not a hoax. It is very real.

Housing costs are out of control. Grocery costs are out of control. Electricity bills are out of control. Childcare costs are out of control. Healthcare costs are out of control.

What we do here today will not be the end of the effort that is necessary, but we can begin the effort that is necessary and extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits.

Several things that were mentioned earlier by some of my colleagues are completely and totally inaccurate. The Affordable Care Act tax credits benefit working-class Americans, middle-class Americans, and everyday Americans. That is why we are waging this fight.

We know that over 90 percent of the people who benefit from the tax credits that we are working to protect today make on average $63,000 a year. That is working-class America. That is middle-class America. That is the heartland of America. That is rural America. That is urban America. That is small-town America. That is what we are protecting when we extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits.

This is not a partisan issue for us. This is an American issue.

In fact, we know that the 10 States that will be most adversely impacted by the lapse in the Affordable Care Act tax credits are all, Mr. Speaker, run by Republicans. We are standing up for the American people. We are talking about States like West Virginia, Wyoming, Alaska, Tennessee, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas, Alabama, South Dakota, and North Dakota will be the States most impacted by the lapse in the Affordable Care Act tax credits.

This is not a partisan issue for us. It is a patriotic one, and we will always defend the healthcare of the American people. That is exactly why.

This is an important moment for everyday Americans. It is what they want to see out of this Congress, the people's House, the Article I branch of government, the House of Representatives, the first amongst equals coming together today, every single House Democrat and at least 10 House Republicans to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits.

Now, we believe as House Democrats that in this great country of ours you work hard, you play by the rules, you should be able to live a comfortable life, an affordable life, live the good life. You should have a good-paying job, good housing, good education for your children, good healthcare, and a good retirement. That is not too much to ask for in the wealthiest country in the history of the world.

There is a lot of work that needs to be done to make that aspiration, the American Dream, the good life, a reality. Today, we take an important step forward in that regard by extending the Affordable Care Act tax credits.

When we get this done, we can send it over to the Senate, and, hopefully, get it out of that Chamber and to the President's desk. It will be part of our continuing commitment to lower the high cost-of- living, fix our broken healthcare system here in the United States of America, and ensure that in every single part of this country, for working-class America, urban America, rural America, suburban America, exurban America, the heartland of America, and small-town America, we can bring the American Dream to life.

We will protect the healthcare of the American people today, but our commitment doesn't end today. We will protect it tomorrow, this week, next week, this month, this year, and next year. We will protect the healthcare of the American people always and forever, and we will always fight to bring the great American Dream to life.

Vote ``yes'' on extending the Affordable Care Act tax credits.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my good friend for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, Hyde amendment protections need to be added to this bill. Taxpayer funds should not be forced to subsidize the killing of an unborn child by dismemberment or by baby poison pills.

The Hyde amendment was not--I will say it again, was not--included when the ACA was enacted in 2010, nor was it included when President Biden significantly expanded subsidies during COVID.

It has gotten so bad, Mr. Speaker, that, according to a 2025 article by the Kaiser Family Foundation, 12 States, including my own State of New Jersey, absolutely require all plans on the ACA marketplace to cover abortion on demand. We permit abortion until birth in my State, as do many others. That is all covered by ObamaCare.

The House has passed my bill, the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act, on four separate occasions beginning in 2011. It is pending again in this Congress, but every time it has gone over to the Senate, it got nowhere, sadly.

I remember the day, Mr. Speaker, when my friend and colleague, the author of the amendment, Henry Hyde, first learned that about 1 million children were alive because of his amendment. He was overcome with joy. He had a tear in his eye. I was there when it happened, when he found out that 1 million mothers were spared the agony of post-abortion pain, and 1 million children were alive and well, growing up, going to school, playing sports, dating, marrying, and having kids of their own.

Today, that number is estimated at over 2.6 million children not aborted, all because abortion subsidies have been prohibited by the Hyde amendment in Federal Medicaid programs and other HHS programs.

It is time to add the Hyde amendment to the ACA.

I believe it is time, as well, for all of us to face the harsh reality of what abortion does to children and look beyond the slogans and the surface appeal arguments.

The so-called abortion pill, mifepristone, is baby poison. It kills the unborn child by how? Starving the innocent child to death. That is its operation. They can't get food, so they die. Then, the body of that baby is often flushed down the toilet.

We know, however, now, that mifepristone is extremely dangerous to women. A big study, the biggest study ever done, found that 1 in 10 women experienced serious adverse events.

Mr. Speaker, that is not what you hear from the abortion lobby. You hear about how safe it is. It ain't safe. They suffer things like sepsis, infection, and hemorrhaging, all within about 45 days.

Let me also say to my colleagues, another method of aborting a baby is dismemberment. It tears the child's fragile body to pieces and includes decapitation. Until rendered unconscious or dead by this hideous procedure, the baby feels pain with every cut of the knife.

It is no wonder that the polling shows that the majority of Americans do not want public funding for abortion. Abortion is the polar opposite of healthcare.

Mr. Speaker, abortion is not healthcare unless one construes the life of an unborn child to be analogous to a tumor to be excised or a disease to be vanquished.

I appeal to my colleagues: Don't ignore or trivialize the battered victim in the womb. Unborn babies need Members of Congress to be their friends and advocates, not powerful adversaries.

Abortion violence must be replaced with compassion and empathy for women and respect for the weakest and most vulnerable.