Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Ferguson), my esteemed colleague.

I rise today to recognize the New Yorkers who have been hit especially hard by the policies of the previous administration and ObamaCare's so-called reforms to our healthcare system. Patients have been hurt, doctors have been burdened, and families and taxpayers are being crushed by this terrible law, and its thousands of pages of onerous regulations.

Our most vulnerable citizens--seniors, the hardworking middle class, and veterans--are in worse shape now in upstate New York than they were before. In New York State and across the 22nd District, patients are being denied high-quality care that they deserve and need.

With higher costs, less accessible and affordable care, and mountains of red tape, this law has proven to be everything but a Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Now, some deductibles are higher than a house payment, and premiums across the Nation have increased on average by 25 percent. Our families didn't sign up for this.

Patients have had their plans canceled and their doctors are deemed out of network. They have fewer and worse choices than before. All the while, costs have skyrocketed with premiums and deductibles jumping by double digits and triple digits in some cases.

This failed law has hurt our economy, small-business owners, and family farms while driving hundreds of thousands of jobs out of our communities. Small businesses are being crushed by ObamaCare and have either stopped hiring or dropped insurance coverage for their employees. The CBO estimated that ObamaCare will result in the loss of at least 2 million jobs. In fact, the number one complaint of small- business owners in my district throughout the last 6 years has been ObamaCare, and 70 percent of the new jobs are created by the small businesses in our community.

One small-business owner, in fact, told me that she had to lay off nearly a dozen employees just to keep up with the cost of ObamaCare. Just think of looking at 12 families and saying: You have now lost the primary caregiver in your family just to keep up with ObamaCare mandates.

Another family that I met with told me they had their insurance lost after being canceled three times, and now their options are either limited or unaffordable.

Another independent, self-insured man with three children told me that he had an insurance plan, but he had no

health care, with a $12,000 annual deductible.

This is unfair and it is unsustainable for small-business owners, particularly those in the independent market.

Hardworking middle class families in New York are being burdened with nearly the highest taxes in the Nation. New York is one of only four States that passes the State 50 percent share Medicaid burden onto the local taxpayers. Twenty-five percent of the State's obligation to cover Medicaid costs are forced onto struggling local governments already suffocating under unfunded mandates from the State. This has caused property and sales taxes to increase year after year, crushing the pocketbooks of even the most vulnerable taxpayers.

In New York State, local taxpayers throughout our 63 counties will be forced to pay over $7.5 billion annually in this local share to support New York's Medicaid program. New York's Medicaid program is the largest in the Nation. In fiscal year 2018, the cost will be over $65 billion-- over 42 percent of New York's $152 billion proposed State budget. That is nearly the cost of the entire State of Florida's State budget.

Already, taxpayers in upstate and central New York are burdened with some of the highest combined property and sales tax in the country. Every penny that goes for this failing scheme is a penny less for our schools, our roads, care for our seniors, care for people with special needs, and actually the truly needy in our communities.

There is a better way that won't leave anyone behind. It is vitally important that we begin to repeal ObamaCare so we can provide relief for people across the country and the State.

I am currently reviewing the American Health Care Act, a reform initiative proposed to alleviate the pressures ObamaCare has put on patients, providers, and taxpayers. The proposals in the American Health Care Act will lower premiums by 10 percent, reduce taxes by $883 billion, and reduce the Federal deficit dollars by $337 billion. All are a significant step in the right direction.

However, I will continue to listen to constituents in the 22nd District as the House carefully considers this legislation before we vote on it and any future bills to improve and restore our healthcare system for all.

Current and future taxpayers must not be saddled with further debt and taxes to pay for lower quality and less access to care. Any new initiative must enshrine the freedom to choose a plan tailored to each person and each family. Any new initiative must include a competitive marketplace which provides better and broader options for families across all economic sectors. Any new initiative must protect seniors and the truly needy in our society, because we do have an obligation and a desire to help them.

But the status quo is unacceptable. ObamaCare is inefficient, ineffective, and tramples our precious liberties. We, as their duly elected representatives, should do all in our power to patient- centered, cost-conscious, high-quality system of health care in this country. I will continue to fight for everyone in our communities.

Mr. Speaker, today I am honored to rise and recognize and congratulate the new Section 4, Class B boys' basketball champions, the Norwich Purple Tornadoes. The hard work, dedication, and sportsmanship of these young men helped lead their team to claim the Section 4 victory for the second year in a row.

In the game against the Waverly Wolverines, senior forward Chris Jeffrey scored 17 hard-fought points, taking Norwich into the second half leading 18-17. In the final half, Norwich took the court by storm to claim the title of Section 4 champion with a final score of 49-35.

On behalf of the 22nd District, congratulations to Norwich and Coach Brian Collier on an outstanding win. We wish you luck in the State quarterfinal on March 11 against the Section 3 champions.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to address our commitment to civility.

Let me quote: ``Civility is not a tactic or a sentiment. It is the determined choice of trust over cynicism, of community over chaos.'' President George W. Bush spoke these words at his first inaugural address in 2001. It was a time for new beginnings then, and it is a time for new beginnings now.

I cannot think of a more well-intentioned way to begin the 115th Congress than to join my awesome freshman class, from both sides, in committing to work together civilly to unify and further strengthen our great Nation. Through this commitment, we promise to put people before politics, to thoughtfully advocate for the needs of our communities, and to renew confidence and trust in our political system. Although we may disagree on a number of issues, this commitment we make to each other today ensures that we will work together to always promote a positive and constructive discourse in our critically important work as representatives of the American people.

This job is not about any one of us individually, but about the hundreds of thousands of people we represent throughout our districts. As a Representative of the people's House, we are expected to provide positive leadership, a strong voice, and to set the example for the American people.

The ability to agree to disagree and to voice our differences is a critical part of the unique freedoms we cherish as Americans, but we must always do so respectfully. Malicious discourse is a disservice to those who risked their lives to fight for our freedoms and everything that our great Nation stands for.

It is truly unfortunate that the tone of political discourse throughout our Nation has become so contentious and hostile. It is detrimental to fostering an open and productive dialogue and the unity of our Nation. The commitment our class makes today solidifies this promise to work together peacefully to provide leadership and inspiration to the American people, while further promoting the freedoms and individual rights that make our Nation the greatest in the world.

We must look at 2017 positively, as a time for new beginnings. In the wake of new leadership, we are provided with a new opportunity for a fresh start and the chance to advance our shared mission of putting the American people first. It is my hope that the efforts of our great freshman class today, which, I argue, could be one of the greatest of this august body's history, will inspire people throughout the Nation to turn toward civility and to always treat each other with respect, despite our differences.

I thank my freshman colleagues who have all accepted--almost all have accepted--this particular commitment, and I especially would like to thank the gentleman from Louisiana for leading us on this very important issue.

Mr. Speaker, if you opened up your copy of Dodd-Frank, this big thick book with 2,300 pages of microscopic print, and went all the way back to title XV, way back in the back, under ``Miscellaneous Provisions,'' you would find excessive complexity and a regulation that only breeds corruption, not the other way around.

In these provisions lies section 1504, which directs the SEC, the Securities and Exchange Commission, to adopt a rule requiring resource extraction issuers to report payments to the U.S. and foreign governments for the commercial development of certain natural resources and make them available to the public.

Though we all fully support transparency and accountability, I believe that section 1504 fails to protect investors while simultaneously decreasing the productivity of capital markets and competition in the marketplace. This rule has stifled job growth and expansion.

The SEC estimated that the cost of the new rule would be somewhere between $239 million and $700 million in initial startup compliance costs alone. After the first year, the SEC projects it would be an annual ongoing cost of compliance ranging from $100 million to $591 million. Rather than this rule, companies could reinvest these dollars into creating opportunities for local communities, which will result in the creation of more good-paying jobs for Americans.

My district in central New York and the Southern Tier has the highest or one of the highest unemployment rates in the Nation and a lower median household income than the national average. Section 1504 is merely another example of how bureaucratic government overreach can result in lost opportunities for the people in the 22nd District of New York and all hardworking American workers. However, instead of taking this opportunity to empower our citizens who are eager to get back to work, we are fueling additional costly government regulations.

Let me emphasize, we are not eliminating the SEC's or the DOJ's enforcement authority. We are simply asking them to revisit this rule. Both of these agencies still retain their power to ensure a level playing field and to root out corruption.

It is important we recognize that vacating this rule is part of the joint resolution. I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of this resolution.

Amendment XXV, section 1:

``In case of the removal of the President from office or of his death or resignation, the Vice President shall become President.''

Section 2:

``Whenever there is a vacancy in the office of the Vice President, the President shall nominate a Vice President who shall take office upon confirmation by a majority vote of both Houses of Congress.''

Section 3:

``Whenever the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that he is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, and until he transmits to them a written declaration to the contrary, such powers and duties shall be discharged by the Vice President as Acting President.''

Section 4:

``Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.

``Thereafter, when the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that no inability exists, he shall resume the powers and duties of his office until the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive department or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit within four days to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.

``Thereupon Congress shall decide the issue, assembling within forty- eight hours for that purpose if not in session. If the Congress, within twenty-one days after receipt of the latter written declaration, or, if Congress is not in session, within twenty-one days after Congress is required to assemble, determines by two-thirds vote of both Houses that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall continue to discharge the same as Acting President; otherwise, the President shall resume the powers and duties of his office.''