Floor Statements

I thank the ranking member.

Mr. Chairman, I appeal to you to make this an urgent issue. Urgency, I think, is very critical here. So I rise in opposition to the previous question so that we can consider the Homeowner Flood Insurance Affordability Act.

In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, over 74,000 National Flood Insurance Program claims were submitted in New Jersey from policyholders. To date, the NFIP has paid over $3.5 billion in Sandy claims. It has served as a lifeline to thousands of New Jersey residents whose lives were turned upside down by the storm. The funds paid out through those claims have helped our neighbors rebuild their homes and businesses.

Regardless of what political affiliation or persuasion, we are all affected by this. Estimates indicate that the total cost of Sandy will be between $12 and $15 billion, making Sandy the second-costliest flood event after Hurricane Katrina.

So, it is true that we need to make changes to ensure that NFIP remains solvent. However, the rollout of the 2012 reforms to NFIP have been fraught with issues.

I am hearing from constituents in towns such as Little Ferry and Moonachie, particularly, which were devastated by Sandy. This is destroying property values and disrupting the real estate markets in the communities of New Jersey and across the country. That is why it is so crucial that we revisit flood insurance reform by passing H.R. 3370.

I thank the gentleman.

This legislation will prevent premium rate hikes until FEMA completes the affordability study called for in the original Biggert-Waters flood insurance reform legislation, giving FEMA a chance to implement an affordability framework before implementing new rates. The bill establishes

an appeal process for remapping and creates an advocate position within

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express my deep concerns regarding the Sochi Olympics. A number of issues have been raised regarding the misguided decision to host the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, from LGBT rights to the real threat of terrorism. However, I would like to discuss an issue which has not received the same level of attention: the historical mistreatment of the Circassian people by Russia.

The Circassians are an ethnic group originating in the North Caucasus region. Sochi is located in the historical nation of Circassia, which was conquered by the Russian Empire in a series of wars during the 18th and 19th centuries. In fact, Sochi served as the last capitol of Circassia.

Following their defeat in 1864, 90 percent of the Circassian population was forcibly deported or killed and Circassia was annexed by Russia. Hundreds of thousands of Circassians were exiled from their homeland, never to return.

Millions of Circassians are now spread around the world in diaspora communities, while only about 700,000 Circassians remain within their ancestral homeland, now a part of the Russian Federation.

Given this history, it is deeply disrespectful to the Circassian community for the Russian government to use Sochi as a stage to promote themselves to the world. Although I condemn the decision to hold the Olympics in Sochi, this year's Winter Olympics present the opportunity to raise the world's awareness of the historical injustices perpetrated by Russia against the Circassian people and homeland.

Today, Circassians worldwide strive to achieve the right of return to their homeland, and seek to gain self-determination and a revival of their language and culture. I am proud to represent a large and active Circassian-American community within New Jersey's Ninth Congressional District.

Colleagues, I urge you to join me in condemning the Sochi Olympics and celebrating the contributions of the Circassian people to the United States of America.

Mr. Speaker, I want to state for the record that yesterday, January 27, I missed several rollcall votes. Had I been present I would have voted: ``yes''--rollcall vote 24--H.R. 2166--Good Samaritan Search and Recovery Act; ``yes''--rollcall vote 25--H.R. 3008--To provide for the conveyance of a small parcel of National Forest System land in Los Padres National Forest in California, and for other purposes.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express my strong support for H.R. 3212--the Sean and David Goldman International Child Abduction Prevention and Return Act of 2013, which would help prevent additional child abductions to foreign countries in the future.

Recently, I was able to meet with a constituent of mine--Michael Elias. Michael has worked in the Bergen County Sheriffs Department and honorably served our country in the Iraq War. Upon his return from his service to our country, Michael and his wife, a citizen of Japan, agreed to separate.

In 2008, a Bergen County judge ordered joint custody of their two children--Jade and Michael, Jr. The judge also ordered that the children's passports be surrendered and they were. After a few months, on a day like any other, Michael was expecting his ex-wife to drop off Jade and Michael, Jr. to his house after spending the day with her. They never showed up. Somehow, his ex-wife was able to obtain new passports for Jade and Michael, Jr. and had fled to Japan, which is not a party to the Hague Convention on Abduction.

Despite Michael's years of inquiries and toil, The Government of Japan has produced no answers on how his ex-wife was able to obtain the new visas for Jade and Michael, Jr. And nearly five years later, Michael has not been able see his own children.

This bill will help countless families across the country that face the same heartbreaking situation that Michael Elias is still dealing with today. Our State Department must be on the frontlines for people like Michael, who have literally put their life on the line for this country. H.R. 1951 will empower the State Department to advocate for the victims of these tragic abductions.

And that is why I urge my colleagues to join me in passing H.R. 3212, for people like Michael Elias and the countless families that have been wrongfully torn apart.

Mr. Speaker, I want to state for the record that on December 2nd, I was unavoidably detained in my district and missed several rollcall votes. Had I been present I would have voted:

``aye''--rollcall Vote 612--On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass H.R. 3547, the Space Launch Liability Indemnification Extension Act.

``aye''--rollcall Vote 613--On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass H.R. 3588, the Community Fire Safety Act of 2013.

``aye''--rollcall Vote 614--On Approving the Journal.

Michael, thank you for putting this together tonight.

I come tonight not only to talk about Barry, but to talk about all the staff. Please understand what I am saying tonight. If you feel that there is an injection in my words of politics, so be it.

First of all, I never understood what Barry said at any time, so it is not a question of having a translation.

Thank you for your service to your country and thank you for your service to this Congress--every Congressperson. The entire membership has been so fortunate to have you here.

You know what I mean when I say Barry, Location, location, location. You were right: you fit, and you did what you said you were going to do.

I do not speak to you in terms of your title, because titles come and go. I speak to your character. You are a person of character. Your word is always your bond.

We joked and we kibitzed back and forth. We joked about sports. We joked about life. You are an example for all of us, as you move forward. And you may be on--as some might say--the down side of the mountain, but you are really not.

I say this to all the staff members.

I have been here for close to 17 years, and Barry, you are leaving at a time of most interest to me, since I always made it a habit, whether I was a teacher or whether I was in the mayor's office, whatever, to talk to everybody--the secretary, the administrator, the young lady on the elevator, the maintenance man, the guy who took care of the boiler. When I was the mayor, in the middle of the winter, the temperature in the council chambers was 80 degrees. I would tell him to go down and stoke the fire and make it so hot so we could get the meeting over with.

You have got to know who to talk to. You don't talk to the mayor, you don't talk to the superintendent of the schools, you don't talk to the Speaker. You talk to the Barry's of this world that make the place run. If you don't learn that, then you are in for a sad awakening when you get here.

Public servants have been maligned in this very institution. Public servants have not been appreciated. I want to speak--and I have done it many times on this floor, Barry--for public servants. They can speak for themselves. I guess I am a public servant, too.

But the disrespect shown, with a pat on the back and then a spit in your eye, doesn't belong here, because if we are really grateful for what you do, Mr. Barry, Mr. Police Officer, Mr. Firefighter, Mr. Teacher, Mr. Congressman, if we really appreciate it, we are straight with you. We respect you. We want to make sure you get fair compensation for your pay so you don't have to feel like you have your hat out.

You have raised this institution. You have made it a better place-- all of you.

So, Mr. Speaker, to go back to those who aren't here right now, I will tell them that when we lose the appreciation for the staff people who serve every day, serve our country every day, we are the worse for it, not the better.

Barry, I have never heard an evil word spoken about you because there was nothing to say of negativity. Thank you for who you are. I hope I see you again. You have made an impression on all of us.

God bless you, and God bless your beautiful family. God bless America.

Mr. Speaker, I rise as we recognize the anniversary of Hurricane Sandy, which made landfall in New Jersey one year ago today.

By now, we all know that Sandy was a storm of epic proportions. In New Jersey, 357,000 homes were damaged or destroyed, and 2.7 million households were left without power--some for weeks.

We pause to remember the over 3 dozen New Jerseyans tragically killed by the storm. It is only thanks to the heroic efforts of our first responders that many more were saved from the rising waters.

As media coverage focused on the destruction to shore communities, inland towns along the Hackensack River in Northern New Jersey were also being inundated by floodwaters

The towns of Little Ferry and Moonachie in Bergen County were particularly hard hit. About 90 percent of the homes there were damaged or destroyed.

Over $19.6 million in Individual Assistance from FEMA has been awarded in my district, including $9.3 million in Little Ferry and $6.2 million in Moonachie--two working class towns with a combined population of just over 13,000.

We have come far over the past year, but we still have a long way to go moving forward.

Moonachie's Borough Hall, which houses the municipal government and public safety department, is still operating out of temporary trailers.

In Little Ferry, many homeowners were only recently informed that after spending thousands on repairs, the extent of the damage was severe enough that their homes would have to be elevated--weeks after grant programs to help fund the elevations had closed their applications.

Unfortunately, the State of New Jersey has been slow to spend its initial allocation of HUD funding provided under the Sandy supplemental appropriations legislation. According to some estimates, just 25 percent of the funding allocated for housing programs has gone out the door to those in need.

With the next round of Community Development Block Grant--Disaster Recovery funding on the way for the regions impacted, I will be fighting to ensure that these critical aid dollars go towards addressing our outstanding needs and priorities quickly and efficiently.

Sandy taught us how utterly vulnerable we are when disaster strikes-- a lesson we cannot soon forget.

As we continue to rebuild for the long term, we need to focus on finding solutions which will make our communities more resilient to better protect us from future storms.

We must also work towards reducing our carbon emissions in order to slow the warming of our climate, which is driving stronger storms, sea level rise, and more severe weather.

As we move into the second year of our recovery efforts, I urge my colleagues to stay firm in their resolve to support us in the work we still have ahead of us.

Mr. Speaker, I rise personally ashamed at the political sideshow in front of the White House perpetrated by Ms. Palin and Senator Cruz and his congressional allies. For Members to protest against the consequences of a shutdown they, themselves, caused is the height of hypocrisy. The truth is we could pass a clean continuing resolution today and get our government back to work.

I was outraged by some of the imagery we saw from the Tea Partiers who were rallying in front of the White House. Calling for the President's impeachment not a year after his reelection by a large majority of the American people and continued lies about the President's religion, including one participant saying, Put the Quran down, have no place in civil discourse.

But I was especially disturbed by the waving of the Confederate flag, a symbol of racial oppression, being waved at our first African- American President.

I call on my colleagues to condemn this hateful rhetoric and to renounce these fringe voices within their coalition.

This is a shameful display of Members on the other side of the aisle, and they ought to stand up--the majority--to the extremists in their own party, as we have with our own party, and stop trying to hold the government and full faith and credit of the United States Government hostage.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Garamendi for bringing us all together tonight. I couldn't stand with better Americans than I am standing with tonight. I mean that.

Mr. Speaker, the latest supercommittee plan that folks on the other side of the aisle gave us today is really absurd. In fact, as a member of the Budget Committee, this new-found Republican insistence on negotiations, referred to by Mr. Doyle from Pennsylvania, is mind boggling, since my colleagues have spent the last 6 months avoiding negotiations. And I didn't come here tonight to water the wine, so we're going to say it like it is.

My fellow Americans, this House of Representatives passed its budget over 200 days ago on March 21. Then the Senate passed its budget 2 days later. Now, think about what I just said. What happened to it? Well, the usual protocol is the two sides name conferees, they come together in conference, and they work out a budget. That didn't happen. That's 6 months ago. We've been asking to go to conference so we can resolve our differences, and there are always differences within parties, between parties, you name it. We want to fund the government. We want to get rid of sequestration, like Chairman Rogers said on July 31, 2013:

I believe the House has made its choice. Sequestration--and

its unrealistic, ill-conceived discretionary cuts--must be

brought to an end.

Mr. Rogers is the chairman, a Republican, he said it. He said that; I didn't say that. He said it better than I could ever imagine saying it.

So what happened? Democrats attempted to go to conference 20 times. The Republicans objected every single time. Fact check this: over here in the House, we have almost 200 Members who signed the discharge petition calling for a conference on the budget. We tried four times to bring the resolution to the floor. Leader Pelosi even went so far as to name conferees. Some of them are in this room. Some of us are conferees. She did that on June 27. What's the date today--October 8? June 27. So why, after this stalling, have the Republicans finally found religion and now they want to negotiate?

I'll tell you why: we've just discovered we have a phantom government in the United States. Every Congressman, every House Member, every Senate Member should be concerned that they're elected by the people of this country, be they Democrat, Republican, Independent, Libertarian, it doesn't matter, they've been elected. They stood for election. We respect that, regardless of denomination, because we know that neither party is ever perfect. Come on, we all share in the pluses, we share in the minuses. There's never one party that has all of the answers. We know that. But why?

Well, just this past Saturday, October 5, we had a front page story in The New York Times. It was mind boggling--mind boggling--that article. Here's the title of that article, ``The Federal budget crisis months in planning.'' Well, I don't remember planning this. I don't know if any Republicans were out planning this. Who in God's name are they talking about? And this is what it says in the article in the second paragraph, which refers to a manifesto--a manifesto--put together by non-elected people in this country. Hear me, America, hear me.

They sat down one morning in a location the members insist on keeping secret. Wow. And came--little noticed--a blueprint. This is what they said, Mr. Speaker. A blueprint to defunding ObamaCare signed by--oh, you're going to love this, Ed Meese. Boy there's a name that pops up. I can't believe it. Ed Meese. It's not funny, it's serious; a phantom government. Leaders of more than three-dozen conservative groups, and I will put in the Record tonight who those groups are, and I got part of their manifesto. Listen to this. This is what they put together. And I'm sure there are only a few Congressmen on the other side who even knew about this. It says this:

Conservatives should not approve a CR unless it defunds

ObamaCare. This includes ObamaCare's unworkable exchanges,

unsustainable Medicaid expansion, and attack on life and

religious liberty.

They said that February 14, 2013. This did not just happen, Mr. Speaker. It didn't just happen. It wasn't an accident; it was planned. That is the lowest thing you could ever read about a government that wasn't even elected. Who the heck are these people to decide what we're going to do?

Now we know why Mr. Ryan did not want to go to conference. Now we know why Mr. Boehner did not want to go to conference, because that was not the plan. Read it. Judge for yourself. Judge for yourself.

It also said that these 30 groups, and the names of each group besides Mr. Meese's, are right here. You've got every right-wing group in the universe. They go into this manifesto on Medicaid expansion, permanent appropriations, implementation. They want to run the government. These people actually wanted to run the government.

My friends, the Republicans don't want to negotiate. They want to use this shutdown and the threat of default to invalidate the results of-- oh, an election last November. These people weren't elected, we were elected. And I love debating people from the other side who are elected. That's their God-given right. That's what liberty is all right. Why don't they come in here, this shadow government, this phantom group, why don't they stand there and tell us who they talked to within the Republican Party. Tell us. America has a right to know.

Don't you talk to me, Mr. Speaker, about let's have transparency in government when you have this vagabond group out here funded by--guess. I'll give you three guesses. No, I'll only give you one guess: the Koch brothers. They think they're running this government. The Supreme Court heard another case today--isn't that interesting. This is mild compared to what would happen if they were able to do and spend as much money as they want.

I did not come here to water the wine. You better listen to it, and every member of the staff better listen because they tried every trick in the book, putting your own health care in jeopardy, saying that you get a subsidy from the government when it's just like any company that in some way contributes to your health care. Somebody gets hired by the Federal Government to be a secretary, making $20,000, $25,000 a year, the cost of their health care will go up between $5,200 and $12,000. How are you going to live on that being a staff member here on the floor or back in your districts. They will stop at nothing, nothing, to bring the government down at any cost. At any cost.

The November election apparently did not occur in their minds. We are dealing with dangerous people. Either they are on hallucinogenic drugs or they just lost their minds. This is what we're dealing with. To bring us to this precipice only a few days away, something's wrong. This is not how we debate things in the United States of America. This is not in any manner, shape, or form. As President Obama said, Democrats are willing to negotiate, but not with a gun to our heads. Never. I'm from Paterson, New Jersey; you never put a gun to my head, I've got news for you.

Let's end this irresponsible shutdown and default threat, and let's get back to work. That's what we were sent here for.

I thank you, Mr. Garamendi for your patience.

Signed:

Edwin Meese III, Former Attorney General, President Ronald

Reagan; Chris Chocola, President, Club for Growth; Jenny Beth

Martin, Co-Founder, Tea Party Patriots; Penny Nance,

President, Concerned Women for America; The Honorable J.

Kenneth Blackwell, President, Constitutional Congress, Inc.;

William Wilson, President, Americans for Limited Government;

Duane Parde, President, National Taxpayers Union; Susan

Carleson, President, American Civil Rights Union; Andrea

Lafferty, President, Traditional Values Coalition; Alfred S.

Regnery, President, The Paul Revere Project; Lewis Uhler,

President, National Tax Limitation Committee; Brent Bozell,

President, ForAmerica; Matt Kibbe, President, FreedomWorks;

Marjorie Dannenfelser,

President, Susan B. Anthony List; David Williams, President,

Taxpayers Protection Alliance.

The Honorable David McIntosh, Former U.S. Representative,

Indiana; David Bozell, Executive Director, ForAmerica; Colin

Hanna, President, Let Freedom Ring; Stuart Epperson,

President, Council for National Policy; Heather Higgins,

President, Independent Women's Forum; Cindy Chafian,

President, The Mommy Lobby; Gary Bauer, President, American

Values; Mike Needham, CEO, Heritage Action for America; David

Bossie, President, Citizens United; Mathew D. Staver,

Chairman, Liberty Counsel Action; James Martin, Chairman, 60

Plus Association; Erick Erickson, Editor, RedState.com; T.

Kenneth Cribb, Former Domestic Advisor, President Ronald

Reagan; Becky Norton Dunlop, Former White House Advisor,

President Ronald Reagan; Grace-Marie Turner, President, The

Galen Institute.

Myron Ebell, President, Freedom Action; Craig Shirley,

Reagan Campaign Biographer; Rev. Lou Sheldon, Chairman,

Traditional Values Coalition; Richard Rahn, President, Inst.

for Global Economic Growth; Lee Beaman, Businessman,

Nashville, TN; Bob Reccord, Executive Director, Council for

National Policy; Angelo M. Codevilla, Professor, Emeritus,

Boston University; Tom Donelson, Chairman, America's PAC;

Brian Baker, President, Ending Spending; Kay R. Daly,

President, Coalition for a Fair Judiciary; Don Devine, Senior

Scholar, The Fund for American Studies; Gary Aldrich,

President, Patrick Henry Center for Individual Liberty; Ralph

Benko, President, Center for Civic Virtue; Andresen Blom,

Senior Strategist, Center for Civic Virtue; Joe Gregory, CEO,

Gregory Management Co.; Rebecca Hagelin.

Mr. Speaker, I regret that I was unable to attend today's session of Congress, as I was unavoidably detained in my district. Had I been present, I would have strongly supported passage of H.R. 3223, the Federal Employee Retroactive Pay Fairness Act.

Federal employees are currently caught in the crossfire, collateral damage in the Republican Party's war against the Affordable Care Act. The Republican Party's refusal to fund our government has resulted in a shutdown that is threatening our economic recovery and severely impacting crucial federal services. It needs to end immediately. This shutdown has caused 800,000 federal employees to be furloughed, with no end in sight. This is personally impacting these dedicated federal employees and their families, who are not receiving a pay check, while many Members of Congress continue to take theirs. Furthermore, there is no guarantee that these furloughed workers will receive back pay when this crisis is resolved.

These employees should not be punished because of Congress's failures. I support this legislation because it will ensure that as soon an as the Republican Party comes to its senses and allows an up or down vote on a clean Continuing Resolution, our government will reopen and these employees will receive their just compensation.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to correct the record regarding the health benefits for Members of Congress and their staff.

Recently, many on the other side have been falsely claiming that Congress is trying to exempt itself from the Affordable Care Act in an effort to distract the public from their failure to do their job and keep our government open. The fact is that Members of Congress and their staff are the only people who are required by law to give up current employer-provided health care and go into the exchanges.

I support this because I know the exchanges will provide all Americans, including Congress and its staff, quality, affordable health insurance. The exemption my friends want to get rid of is ending Congress' employer contribution, which all Federal employees currently receive.

Mr. Speaker, my Republican colleagues probably have, like many of us do, young staffers working in their offices that make around $25,000 a year. We are going to ask these devoted civil servants to pay $5,000 to $12,000 more per year for health insurance than they currently pay just to score a cheap political point?

Ask the Speaker. He supports maintaining this contribution. Case closed.

Madam Speaker, tragedy happens, and we say we are shocked. ``This is a quiet neighborhood.'' ``This is a quiet town.'' ``This is a quiet city.'' When you examine the mass shootings in America over the last decade, it becomes abundantly clear that there are serious cultural and spiritual problems that have not been recognized. Any attempt to be reasonable, thoughtful, earnest in facing the recognized horror is, even in the Congress of the United States, met with downright skepticism or outright hate.

I wonder if we want to resolve this unique national paralysis. Somewhere between taking everyone's guns away and maintaining the status quo, we must find some workable answer. Do Senators and House Members have to be directly threatened before we agree to work together? One of our own has been shot down in her own district. We all said all the appropriate things and didn't do anything to prevent this kind of violence from happening again.

It would seem to me, Madam Speaker, to be very desirable to review the

biography, at least, of any person who applies to own a gun. Oversight of the process could be left to citizens representing the entire gun issue. We won't accept these violent acts in America any longer.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to insert into the Record the story of Beatrize, a mother from Camden, New Jersey, a face of hunger. This is her child.

Mr. Speaker, I am opposed to this rule and the underlying bill.

My friends on the other side of the aisle like to act like 11 million unemployed Americans are out of work because they want to be out of work. This is a debate between two things, common sense versus no sense. You even offer a jewel to the States. And you say to the States, if you cut more people off your roles, we'll let you keep half the money. And then you can do with it whatever you want. That is immoral. That is totally nonsensical. It doesn't make any sense whatsoever.

We're talking about kids, we are talking about veterans, and we are talking about the disabled. That's what we're talking about. And if you don't think this bill cuts many of those people off the roles, then you, obviously--to use your term--you didn't read the bill.

Nearly 30,000 households in my current district benefit from this program. I would ask you to examine the bill and examine your conscience before you----

Thank you, Mr. Hastings.

I rise, Mr. Speaker, in strong opposition to the rule and the underlying bill before us today, H.R. 761, the National Strategic and Critical Minerals Production Act of 2013. I just think it goes too far.

I urge my colleagues to defeat the previous question and take up this legislation, which we've worked on for a full year now, the Bring Jobs Home Act, a bill which, for the first time, makes sure we promote insourcing of jobs and stop the corporate welfare business for outsourcing jobs.

The underlying legislation would set a dangerous precedent by waiving mining projects from environmental reviews and eliminating public access to the justice system itself. Pushing mining projects through the permitting process is sure to continue to degrade our environment and create workplace situations which are definitely unsafe. But it won't solve the employment problem.

Since that's been injected into the discussion, the legislation will simply allow our Nation's resources to be used to pad the pockets of the same international corporations who ship jobs overseas; and, by the way, that process of shipping jobs overseas is subsidized by the Federal Government. We have for years helped corporations send jobs overseas. What we should be doing is helping them get jobs back to America, particularly since we see an upgrading of the past 16 months in the manufacturing sector of our economy.

With this bill we're going to end the tax breaks that encourage companies to ship their jobs overseas and use that to pay for tax credits for patriotic companies that want to bring jobs back home. Do you want to have real job improvement? This is the way to do it.

Over the last decade we've lost 5.5 million manufacturing jobs--more than during the entire Great Depression. Our trade deficit increased by $300 billion. During the recession, the manufacturing workforce plummeted to a near 60-year low.

More troubling, Mr. Speaker, is that recent studies estimate that one-quarter of American jobs are at risk of being outsourced in the coming years. We're not talking about chump change here. This is a lot of jobs.

So let's defeat this motion so we can actually debate a bill that will end corporate welfare that allows companies to continue to engage in outsourcing and then get a tax cut for doing so. Instead, let's provide incentives that will grow good-paying manufacturing jobs in the

Mr. Speaker, like my Republican colleagues, I too am concerned about fraud in any public program, whether it's ObamaCare, food stamps, Medicare. Who could be against verification?

But this is not about verification. Again, the 41st failed attempt to submarine reform in health care.

The question before us today is whether or not the risk of fraud in ObamaCare is so pervasive that we should shut down an essential part of the law.

My friends on the other side would have you believe that the administration's decision to delay income and coverage verifications leaves the health care marketplace vulnerable to rampant fraud. This is not the case.

First, federally operated and partnership exchanges still will verify such information beginning in 2014. Only 16 States and the District of Columbia will wait until 2015 to begin more comprehensive verification.

In those instances, the incentive to provide false information is greatly overshadowed by the benefit of doing so. Lying on the exchange form carries with it a penalty of $25,000. On top of that, anyone who provides false income information will have to pay back the extra subsidies when filing a tax form for 2014.

Additionally, States will audit a statistically significant number of individuals, meaning that everyone has an equal opportunity to be audited.

Finally, fighting fraud requires an investment of funding and resources.

How dare you get up here and talk about a plan when you, in the regular budget, want to cut every penny from resources, from research, from helping us get to the point where American people will be served.

Look, you can't stand success. Help us improve the system, not continue a system where patients are playing second fiddle.