Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume, and I rise in strong support of H. Res. 599, urging the Government of the People's Republic of China to respect the freedom of assembly, expression, religion, and all fundamental human rights of its citizens.

I would like to begin by thanking Mr. Smith for his leadership on this issue. I would also would like to thank Chairman Royce, Ranking Member Engel, and the entire Committee on Foreign Affairs for the bipartisan manner with which we continue to work to shed light upon the gross violation of human and political rights in China.

Mr. Speaker, next week we will commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square demonstrations, where hundreds of student protestors demanding political and economic reforms were murdered. Today the image of an unknown man standing in peaceful protest to government tanks rolling into Tiananmen Square is among the most iconic of the 20th century and continues to serve as a source of inspiration to political and human rights advocates around the world.

Unfortunately, many in China will never know of this sad chapter of Chinese history. The Communist Party of China is determined to erase all memory of the Tiananmen Square massacre from national memory. The Chinese Government continues to block all uncensored Internet Web sites and blogs related to the events of June 3 and June 4, 1989, and willfully distributes misinformation to its people. Even today, Beijing continues to harass, arrest, and discriminate against the relatives and friends of those killed in Tiananmen Square.

Censorship of the Tiananmen Square massacre is just the tip of the iceberg. Unfortunately, the Chinese Government continues to suppress political dissent by imprisoning pro-democracy activists, lawyers, journalists, labor union leaders, religious believers, members of ethnic minority rights organizations, and other individuals who seek to express their political or religious views or assert their ethnic identity.

According to a prisoner database maintained by the United States Congressional Executive Commission on China, over 1,300 prisoners of conscience are being held at various ``black jails,'' where they are often tortured, forced into labor camps, or even killed.

Mr. Speaker, H. Res. 599 condemns the Chinese Government for its appalling human rights record and calls for an end to the harassment, detention, torture, and imprisonment of Chinese citizens practicing their legitimate freedom of religion, expression, and association. It also calls on the Broadcasting Board of Governors to provide the people of China with information about the Tiananmen Square massacre.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this important and timely resolution, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Pelosi), our very distinguished Democratic leader.

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

With no other speakers, I would simply say that the worth of a nation is not measured in dollars and cents alone, by size of the military or armaments. As China's economy continues to grow into among the nations' largest, so too should its commitment to human rights, democracy, and transparency. We are proud to support this resolution.

With that, I yield back the balance of my time.

Thank you, Ranking Member Van Hollen, for all of your work on this.

Mr. Chair, there are many damaging cuts in this budget, but I would like to speak just a minute about the cuts to education. In ancient civilizations, literacy and education were closed off to all but the very affluent; and the beauty of America, since its founding, has been the democratization of a way to become educated, make your way into the middle class and to do well.

This budget would threaten that, and it does it in several ways. First, it cuts Pell grants, that is, grants to college students, by $145 billion. It also very significantly makes Pell grant aid unavailable to part-time students.

I want to focus on that for just a second because this is something we see over and over in our districts again: single moms or working parents, men or women, who are trying to balance a job and go to school at the same time. They are trying to take two or three classes maybe, make their way, still be able to work to support their families, but also go to college and finish off and slowly get their degree.

This budget would not allow them to access Pell grants. It would make

achieving their goal of getting their education, maybe training for another kind of job, impossible for millions of Americans. The cuts to Pell grants are especially significant because in States like mine, in Texas, since 2003, tuition has gone up an average of 104 percent for thousands and thousands of Texans.

So when Republicans put forward a budget that cuts off access to higher education, what they are doing is cutting off a path to the middle class for millions of Americans, and every American, young and old, should be concerned about that.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the late Joan Price, a leader in San Antonio whose life and work was a testament that neighborhood associations are vital to a democracy and in exercising civic responsibility and power.

Mrs. Price was born in Philadelphia, PA in 1932 but it was in San Antonio, TX where, as one of the founders of the Ingram Hills Neighborhood Association, she made an enduring mark. For 14 remarkable and trail-blazing years, she served as the association's president.

Earlier than most, Mrs. Price saw the democratic and communitarian potential of neighborhoods. She understood and demonstrated that neighborhood associations are ideal for building relationships, creating community, developing leadership, raising voices and keeping officials accountable. She knew that the advocacy of good neighborhood associations led to quality services such as public safety, parks, community centers and zoning laws that did not violate the character of a neighborhood.

Mrs. Price worked closely with all of her elected officials in thinking about and carrying out projects that would benefit not just the neighborhood she deeply loved but also the city she equally cherished. For many years, Mrs. Price successfully fought hard for a neighborhood park. In 2011, that park was renamed in her honor

Mrs. Price wrote the award-winning Ingram Hills Neighborhood Association newsletter, ``The Neighbor Connection.'' That title also speaks to her life and work. Not only was she the distinctive voice of a neighborhood but in the true spirit of neighborliness, she connected people with each other, connected them with their elected officials and connected them with their civic ideals and responsibilities.

Mr. Speaker, I am honored to have been blessed to have Joan Price as a friend and I am honored to have the opportunity to recognize this magnificent woman, great San Antonian and true neighbor to all she knew.

Thank you, Ranking Member Levin, for yielding.

We speak a lot in this body about the freedoms that we as Americans have been endowed with by our forefathers and that are enshrined in the Constitution, whether it is the freedom of speech, the freedom of religion, or our Second Amendment freedoms.

I think we all understand and know--unfortunately, too many Americans know firsthand--that when you are sick and lying in a hospital bed or at home and have a child that you can't afford to take to the doctor, those freedoms mean very little.

For someone who couldn't get health insurance, whose life is spiraling downward, who can't afford to make their car or mortgage payment, how much are those freedoms worth when their life is spiraling downward because they can't afford health care anymore?

The fact is one of the greatest things that the Affordable Care Act has done is allowed more Americans to be able to enjoy the freedoms that all of us here in Congress fight so hard to protect for the American people.

A few of the troubling things about this bill is that up to a million people would lose their health care coverage if this piece of legislation was enacted. As Congressman Levin mentioned, it would cost $74 billion to the American people, adding to our debt and deficit.

What is also interesting is that just about every bill that is now allowed to pass through the House of Representatives requires a pay- for. In other words, the Republican majority does not allow a piece of legislation to be passed unless it is paid for by cutting something else.

What is different about this piece of legislation is that there is no question that it would cost $74 billion, and yet there is absolutely no pay-for in this bill.

I would also note, as was mentioned, that this would cost American business some money. Well, a few things; first, many, many American businesses don't define the workweek as 40 hours. They define it as 32 hours or, sometimes, lower. Sometimes, it is 30.

So this is inconsistent even with how millions of American businesses define full-time employment, and I would also point out this: we know that, as our economy has started to rebound from the worst recession that we have had since the Great Depression, many American businesses are doing well.

Wall Street is hitting all-time highs, and the stock market has soared. That is a good thing for America. We certainly don't begrudge any company or business that, but small businesses are already exempted from the ACA requirements, so this is about more sizable companies.

In an economy where business is doing well, why should we say to all of these workers--people who are going to work every day, who have incredible work ethic, who are powering our economy--that they don't deserve health insurance?

I was in San Antonio--and I know it happened in many cities--and we had long lines on Monday to enroll in the Affordable Care Act. People's faces lit up because, for the first time in many of their lives, they were going to be able to afford health care coverage. Many of them had their kids with them. There were teenagers and senior citizens there.

This is a milestone in people's lives, and this bill would take that away from a million people.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the subject of my Special Order.

Today, we are here to talk about the Affordable Care Act, and especially the big week that we have had in this country in making sure that millions of Americans will now enjoy access to quality, affordable health care.

Last week, we had a chance to talk about this and had other Members from all over the country who represent wonderful districts come forward and talk about how the Affordable Care Act has been very beneficial to their constituents. Part of the discussion last week and in the previous months, really since October, has been about whether Americans would accept the Affordable Care Act and how many people would enroll and how many States would expand Medicaid.

The numbers are very clear that, despite all of the advertisements and the millions of dollars that has been spent on television promoting misinformation about the Affordable Care Act, demonizing this as socialism and other bad things, that despite all of that, the American people have clearly rejected that narrative, that they believe the Affordable Care Act and what it is doing for this country are good things and that in the wealthiest nation on Earth, as we are, that people should be able to afford health care, that they should not be denied because of preexisting conditions, that students should be able to stay on their parents' plans after college, and that Medicaid for low-income Americans should be made more readily available.

Let's look at some of those numbers. We know, for example, that 7.1 million people ended up signing up for the Affordable Care Act in the exchanges. Now, that is on top of the 3 million students who can now stay on their parents' plans because of this act. That is on top of all of the States that expanded Medicaid to make sure that folks who don't make a lot of money, the vast majority of these people working hard day in and day out, that they are going to be covered, too.

There are still about 19 States, including my home State of Texas, that have chosen not to expand Medicaid. That has been such an incredible blow to the people of my State. For example, we have the highest percentage of people in the Nation that have no health care coverage.

On Monday, I was back home in San Antonio and there was a large enrollment fair, as there was in many cities throughout the country on Monday. It was probably about 6, 7, and this fair was going to close at 8. So I went over to see how it was going and to say hello to folks. There was a long line of people waiting. Families were there, two and three and four and five family members. People brought their young kids to enroll them in insurance.

One of the narratives during this debate has been this idea that has been pushed that this is just benefiting people who may be lazy or not working. One of the things that struck me when I was making my way through that line was that there were so many people there that had the insignia of the company that they work for or their uniform on. They told me that they had just come straight from work and how grateful they were that this was going to go on until 8 so that they had time to come after work.

It was really a stark reminder that--despite all of the stories or this idea of the makers and the takers in this country, or 47 percent of people versus 53 percent--the vast majority of people who are benefiting from this law, benefiting from things like Medicaid, are, in fact, not just takers, but are hardworking Americans who are powering our economy. All they want is a fair chance at the American Dream.

We talk a lot about freedoms in this body. The United States Congress is, of course, one of the main bodies in government that is entrusted with protecting American freedoms. So we talk about our First Amendment rights, whether it is freedom of expression, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, or Second Amendment rights, other amendments, the right against self-incrimination, all of these things, all of the Bill of Rights enshrined in the Constitution. But I pose the question to those who continue to want to repeal the Affordable Care Act: What good are any of those rights that we are entitled to as Americans, that previous generations of Americans and this generation of Americans have fought so hard to preserve, what good is freedom of expression, freedom of religion, freedom of speech if you are stuck in a hospital bed sick, broke because you can't pay your hospital bills, worried about your family and your future?

Remember, that is not an uncommon situation for Americans over the years.

The biggest reason for personal bankruptcies before the Affordable Care Act was the fact that people were racking up these huge health care bills that they couldn't pay, and this happened for a few reasons. Sometimes people just couldn't afford the insurance for their primary care physicians--the doctors they would go see--or emergency room doctors, not doctors in some clinic or private practice. Sometimes, even if they could afford insurance, they were hitting lifetime caps-- somebody with cancer, somebody with MS--somebody like my grandmother and my mother with diabetes, who suffer from complications. My grandmother, before she passed away from congenital heart failure because of diabetes, had her leg amputated.

There are so many people who can't enjoy the freedoms that we are supposed to be able to enjoy because they can't afford health care coverage, so they have ended up not going to the doctor for many years. They have put off going to the doctor for a long time because, if they went without insurance to the doctor, then they wouldn't be able to make their mortgage payments or to pay their rent or pay their car bills, cars that they need in order to get to work. These are the common experiences of millions of Americans, not just of low-income Americans--certainly, low-income Americans--but also of Americans in the middle class, who power our Nation and power our economy.

I want us to consider the success of the Affordable Care Act. Of course, there was the Web site that had a tough rollout, and a lot of people doubted whether the program would be successful. This has shown also that the Affordable Care Act is about more than just a Web site that had a glitch. Again, the fundamental reason that this law has passed is that America is the wealthiest nation on Earth, and for generations, other countries with a lot less money have been able to provide and make available health care to their citizens a lot better than the United States of America has.

Consider this: with the Affordable Care Act, up to 129 million Americans who have preexisting health conditions, including up to 17 million children, no longer have to worry about being denied coverage or being charged higher premiums due to their health statuses. Again, you might have a woman who is 55 years old or 60 years old. She loses her job that gave her insurance, so now she tries to find another job, and tries to buy insurance, and she is rejected. She tries to go on to the individual market, and finds that she can't afford the prices on the individual market.

What is that person to do? A lot of them are suffering from chronic diseases.

In south Texas, for example, we have an incredibly high rate of diabetes. In other parts of the country, in other communities, it is other diseases, but whatever it is, these ailments are common, and they are forcing people oftentimes into bankruptcy, into not being able to pay their bills or in not being able to get health care coverage. So lifting the lifetime caps has made a mountain of difference for people. It has helped ease their minds, and it has also made things more fair.

Yesterday, the President was pretty very forceful in his comments. I think they did the press conference in the Rose Garden, but I was on an airplane, so I couldn't watch the press conference, but I got to see some of the clips. He made a comment that really struck me, which is that the Affordable Care Act is here to stay. This law is not going anywhere despite all of the opponents and despite the millions of dollars that have been spent on television for misinformation and demonizing this law.

The reason it is not going anywhere is not just because of the political reality. I mean, the politics, really, are tough on both sides. The country had been evenly divided for a long time. The reason that it is not going anywhere is because of the human reality, because we want fewer people going bankrupt because they are hitting lifetime caps and their insurance companies won't pay for their bills anymore. It is because you want more people who are not using the emergency rooms as their only way to get medical care and putting off ailments and diseases because, if they go to the doctor, they know that a month later or 3 weeks later they are going to run up these huge bills, and they know they can't pay them.

By the way, many folks have pointed this out, but certainly, when we had a dialogue last week, I pointed out again that there is a measure here also of personal responsibility, of people getting insurance in the same way that many States require you to get auto insurance. Why do States require you to get auto insurance? It is because, if you rear- end somebody, somebody has got to fix his car. In many public hospitals throughout the Nation, certainly in Texas--in San Antonio, for example--what happens routinely, oftentimes not from San Antonio but from surrounding counties, is that these folks come in, and you can't deny anybody emergency room coverage. You have to treat them. Then you send them a bill, and they can't pay the bill. They don't have insurance, and they can't pay the bill. Guess who pays the bill? That bill has to be paid somehow. The taxpayers end up paying that bill. Somebody has to eat that cost, and it is not the hospital. They pay a fraction of it, but those costs are spread, and all Americans have to pay them State by State, county by county. So this is a way that people can not only benefit from the Act but can also take a measure of personal responsibility for their own health care coverage.

That is why in the 1980s and in the 1990s, which was before this issue became so political and before President Obama was inaugurated in 2009, that originally the kind of legislation that we now know as ObamaCare, or the Affordable Care Act, was actually legislation that was promoted by the very conservative Heritage Foundation. It was considered to be a conservative idea in the same way that somebody getting car insurance--taking personal responsibility in case you hit somebody on the road--is thought to be a conservative idea. You are going to own up to your responsibilities. It has been very interesting over the last 4 years and even over the last few months to see the evolution of the arguments about health care coverage and about the Affordable Care Act and about how politics sometimes and often has trumped public policy.

In a minute, I would like to yield to my good friend from California, Mark Takano, but before I do that, I want to share with you just a few stories of

people from my area, from Texas, who said that I could share their stories with them and how grateful they are that they are now able to afford health care.

The first one is a woman named Magdalena. She is a substitute teacher and had a hard time transitioning to San Antonio since moving from Del Rio. Del Rio is a city right along the Texas-Mexico border. It is about 2\1/2\ hours from San Antonio. She has dedicated herself to taking care of her family, and she often puts her family in front of herself. Like many mothers, she was worried about her health as she moved into her senior years. She was skeptical about trying to fill out an application, but she eventually came to an Enroll SA event. Many cities had Enroll SA or Enroll Austin or Enroll Dallas. After sitting down with a counselor, she was able to get a plan for 5 cents a month. This is a woman who had previously been unable to get health care coverage. She returned to the registration table and wept tears of joy, with her eyes filled with hope, and the volunteers wept along with her. Her face just lit up because now her life was truly changing.

Like many others, Magdalena is a hardworking American, somebody who has taken care of her family, who is going to work day in and day out, who is not asking for very much--just a chance to enjoy the freedoms that we talk about here in Congress a lot.

With that, I would like to yield to my colleague from California, Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez.

Thank you, Congresswoman. Thank you for your passion over the many years on health care and many other issues, and you raised several wonderful points, but there are a few in particular that I wanted to mention.

We debate our national debt and deficit here a lot. Since the Affordable Care Act was passed, as we know, health care has been the biggest driver of our debt. The Affordable Care Act has actually slowed the cost of health care, the slowest growth that we have seen in decades.

So this is something that has actually been good and will be good for our fiscal health in this country. Thank you for alluding to that.

Also, you mentioned that in many of the communities we represent--not only in California or in Texas, but many places--ailments like diabetes are things that affect so many people in our neighborhoods and our cities, but it is not just diabetes.

In other places, it could be cancer or sickle cell anemia or multiple sclerosis. All of those patients will now find a lot more relief because the United States Congress passed this bill.

Thank you, Congresswoman Sanchez.

Now, I would like to yield to my friend from Houston, Texas, Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee.

Thank you, Congresswoman Jackson Lee. Thank you for all of your work on this and many other issues. You are one of the most tireless folks, Republican or Democrat, who is involved in all the floor debates and amendments and proposing legislation. So thank you.

Just a few things that you mentioned. You were talking about the bill that we just discussed, and it was essentially saying that for sizeable businesses, not small businesses, because the small businesses are exempted from the requirements of the Affordable Care Act. That is worth repeating again. Small businesses are exempted from the requirements of the Affordable Care Act, so this was about larger businesses.

Instead of requiring that they offer health care coverage to their employees at 30 hours, the Republicans wanted to move it up to 40. One of the myths has been that all of these employers are reducing hours and cutting employees hours and this is hurting the workers. Well, the Congressional Budget Office, which both sides use as a neutral resource to figure out what's what, said that there is no evidence of that. There is no trend that says that part-time work versus full-time work is increasing because of the Affordable Care Act.

I also pointed out earlier in the discussion that part of the challenge in this economy is that American business has bounced back, but ordinary Americans still have not fully bounced back.

So, when we see that the stock market every other week, if not every other day, is hitting alltime highs and at the same time there are millions of Americans still struggling to find work, I think it is fair to ask why an employer shouldn't offer health care coverage to somebody that is working 32 or 35 hours a week.

Under the Republican plan, somebody that was working 39 hours a week, as Steny Hoyer mentioned earlier, you wouldn't be offered health care coverage necessarily. And we believe that that is wrong. We believe that the freedoms that we would otherwise enjoy as Americans, those freedoms are harder to enjoy if you are sick and unhealthy and broke because of medical bills.

So the Affordable Care Act is not perfect and, quite frankly, nothing this Congress does, from health care to education to any other issue, is ever going to be perfect. If anybody is expecting perfection from this place, they are always going to be disappointed. But this is a bill that is absolutely a step in the right direction and one that we are going to continue to improve with the help of the American people, with the voices of the American people.

But I will tell you what. As I mentioned earlier, this law is not going to be repealed. We are not going to go backward. We are not going to go to the way things were because the way they were was not good, and this is much better.

Thank you, Congresswoman.

Thank you.

I yield now to a wonderful legislator from California (Mr. Takano).

Thank you, Congressman. Thank you for your comments, and also thank you for all of you in California who have been one of the States that has shown the Nation what is possible in helping to offer insurance to the hardworking men and women of your State.

We, as Americans, we appreciate that.

You make a wonderful point. California and several other States have had the benefit of a State legislature and a Governor who have been helpful in making sure that the Affordable Care Act, health care coverage, is available to their residents.

In places like the State where I live, in Texas, you have a Governor, State legislators, both Senators who are actively working and campaigning against the Affordable Care Act. So, many of us, not just elected officials but others who are trying to make sure that people have health care coverage, have faced a very strong headwind when trying to get the word out about the Affordable Care Act.

I told a story earlier about a woman who showed up at an enrollment fair in San Antonio and she ended up being able to provide insurance for herself and her family, but she went there and she was skeptical at first. Well, part of the reason she was skeptical is because there has been so much misinformation about this law and so much demonization about the law that I am not surprised that a lot of Americans would say, hey, you know, that thing doesn't sound like a good thing. It sounds like a bad thing.

That is right. You bring up a good point.

There was a group that was specifically set up to go on to college campuses, funneled millions of dollars to go on to college campuses to convince college students not to enroll in the Affordable Care Act. That is just amazing to me.

California also, I believe, expanded Medicaid, and that is something that Texas didn't do. In fact, I remember several months back, when the State legislative session in Texas was still going on, and usually it goes to about the end of May or early June. We went down there and we were doing a press conference, and at the same time, the Governor and the Senators, Lieutenant Governor, all Republicans were doing their press conference.

Our junior Senator, Senator Cruz, compared folks who need Medicaid and accept Medicaid to drug addicts, compared them to drug addicts. And the State's leadership implied that--not implied, said--allowing Medicaid to low-income Texans was like getting people hooked on sugar or drugs.

I appreciate those words. Unfortunately, in Texas there are a lot of people suffering needlessly, hardworking people. These are not lazy people. These are people that are going to work day in and day out, but they are suffering because their State leadership--even though Texas was going to get up to $90 billion for Medicaid expansion. The Federal Government was providing the funds through 2017 and then providing 90 percent of the funds after that. Despite the fact that it made economic sense, still, the State's leadership refused to do it.

I think it is worth mentioning a few other things. A lot of us, we saw there were long lines on Monday, March 31 of people waiting to enroll in the Affordable Care Act. It is worth noting that anybody that started that process on March 31 but was not able to complete it has until April 15 to actually finish it off. So the 7.1 million number of the number of folks that have enrolled will very likely, I would think, go up by at least a few hundred thousand people.

Thank you very much, Congressman.

There is another benefit of the Affordable Care Act that I haven't talked about yet that is also very important to know. We know that 7.1 million people have signed up. Three million or more college students or young adults are able to stay on their parents' plans because of the Affordable Care Act. Millions more have benefited from Medicaid expansion. Millions of Americans also benefit because there is no longer lifetime caps. You know, you are not going to have somebody who is suffering from cancer in a hospital bed have a doctor or an administrative billing person from the hospital come talk

to you about the fact that you are about to hit your lifetime cap. So now, not only are you lying there sick in the hospital bed, but you are also thinking about how you are going to pay your mortgage and keep your kids in college. That is not going to happen anymore.

So when you hear people talk about repeal--and first of all, repeal with no plan to replace it. I mean, the only thing coming from the other side is, just get rid of this whole thing. There is no plan to replace it.

So I think what we owe the American people is, when we talk about repealing a law, especially something as important and big as this, I think it is a very fair and necessary question to ask: What are you going to replace it with? Are we going to go back to the old system, where that cancer patient lying in a hospital bed now is going to hit a lifetime cap with the insurance company so they are going to be told that they either have to leave the hospital or they are going to get stuck with $250,000 of bills, and they have to sell their house because they can't afford it anymore? When you hear the word ``repeal,'' you should understand that that is what is at stake, that is what we would go back to, the old system.

Until folks come up with an alternative--and in 4 years, there has been no alternative, and really, there is no reason to think that over the next 4 years there is going to be one. Unless you can come up with an alternative, then we are talking about going back to that time.

But the thing that I wanted to mention and something that is often overlooked here is that part of the Affordable Care Act, another benefit of it is that mental health care coverage is vastly expanded because of the Affordable Care Act. That is extremely important. Millions of families in this country, individuals and families, have either suffered themselves or have family members who suffer from serious depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, other mental health afflictions that--quite frankly, in America and many other countries of the world, for the longest time, we never took mental health issues as seriously as we have taken physical health issues.

So for a long time, people would tell you, oh, you are depressed. Well, you just need to snap out of it. Or they treated things like bipolar disorder very lightly. They thought somebody just had a bad attitude.

In Texas, in 2011, I and others worked on getting young people with serious emotional disturbances covered by insurance companies in Texas. And, you know, the Democrats are in a deep minority in Texas. The whole time I was there, for five terms, we were in a deep minority. So you would have a Republican-controlled legislature. And my bill went nowhere. It didn't go anywhere. It died. So serious emotional disturbances weren't covered. But under the Affordable Care Act, things like that will be.

The reason that was important was because families were coming to me--in my district office, there is one family in particular that came to me and said, We are scared of our son. Our son is a teenager, and he has gotten violent before. So we call the cops. The cops take him to the hospital. There is nowhere to keep him for any kind of long-term treatment because, by the way, the State provides inadequate resources for mental health care coverage. They can't really put him in jail unless he has really assaulted somebody. So there is just this cycle, where we are having this issue with our son, and we are scared to be in the same house with him. But we can't really do anything. And the law offers us no relief.

Well, one of the benefits of the Affordable Care Act is that serious emotional disturbances and many other mental health issues will now be taken more seriously, and they will be more covered by health care companies than they have ever been in the history of the United States. And that hasn't been a big focus because a lot of this has been about politics. And a lot of the milestones and, quite frankly, the celebrations about the more than 7 million people signing up, that has been the big focus of this whole thing. But we shouldn't overlook some of the things that haven't gotten as much attention.

For me, as somebody that worked on mental health legislation in Texas, and I know many other people, Republicans and Democrats, have worked on things like that--to the families who are dealing with situations like that, that is a big deal. That means a lot to them. And that is helping them out.

So, as Americans, when you hear folks talk about repealing this law, I hope that we all fully understand exactly what we would be going back to. And those legislators who propose repealing it are irresponsible if they don't provide to the American people a full alternative and an explanation for what that alternative would do for them and what it would cost for the country. You know what the Affordable Care Act is about. We have seen no plan on the other side.

So as I close, I would like to say ``thank you'' to all the Members of Congress from different places in the Nation who joined me today in talking about this milestone for the Affordable Care Act. I am very personally glad that over 7 million people have now signed up and are benefiting. And millions more are benefiting through Medicaid expansion, college students, and all of these people who won't be kicked off of insurance because they have hit lifetime caps. Or, you know, somebody that tries to get insurance, and the insurance company sends them a letter back saying, we can't insure you because you have a preexisting condition, or your doctor submits a bill to the insurance company, as it used to be, and the insurance company writes back saying, Well, you know what, we are not going to cover that $3,000 bill because you had a preexisting condition. That is what repeal would be about, going backward.

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

Mr. Speaker, a couple of weeks ago, I was proud to host a women's economic agenda event at the Young Women's Leadership Academy in San Antonio, Texas. It was a great way to celebrate Women's History Month by having a conversation about what we can all do to ensure that women in our Nation are empowered. There were three specific issues that we spoke of that concern our Nation greatly.

The first one was fair pay, making sure that when women put in a full day's work they make the same amount of money as men do. The second was family leave, the ability to be able to take time off to be with sick parents or when you have a child. That is extremely important for working women. Also, there is child care. Many women are unable to take and keep jobs because they simply don't have the child care resources they need to make sure their children are safe so they can go on to work.

It is imperative that the United States Congress takes up these issues and continues to make sure that there is parity in our society and that women are able to enjoy the same benefits as men.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the subject of my Special Order.

Mr. Speaker, today, we are here to talk about the Affordable Care Act, about some of its milestones and the benefits to the people of the United States, also about some of the critiques that have come up over the last few years and in the last few months.

The Affordable Care Act has succeeded in doing a few things. The United States, for a long time, has been the wealthiest nation on Earth; however, millions and millions of Americans, despite our country's wealth, have been unable to get health care insurance. Many folks have suffered a very long time, either themselves or their family members, in not being able to see a doctor when they have needed to and in being kicked off of insurance because they have hit lifetime caps. College students have gone without insurance for years because they could no longer stay on their parents' plans.

There was, I know, a discussion earlier on the floor--I think during the lunch hour--and there was a question raised by one of the Republican Members. Essentially, his question was: What has the Affordable Care Act done?

Well, there are several concrete things that it has done for the United States. The first is that 3 million students have been able to stay on their parents' insurance plans, where they otherwise would have been kicked off before. The average age where students were kicked off before was about 19. Under the Affordable Care Act, millions of college students can now stay on until the age of 26.

We know this number--5 million people, so far, and growing--have signed up for health care through the exchanges. Five million people. That is very significant. That number continues to grow, as some of the busiest days for the health care Web site and for the call-in number have been over the last few weeks.

Also, 4.4 million Americans have signed up for health care through Medicaid. They have been covered through Medicaid expansion.

We can talk about the fact that some States have decided not to expand Medicaid. So millions of these people, including in my home State of Texas, low-income Americans, most of these people going to work every day, working hard to support themselves and their family members who are still low-income Americans, but because the State governments have not expanded Medicaid in many States, they have not been able to get covered. So we are going to talk about that.

Another issue I want to talk a little bit about is something that is very significant for millions and millions of Americans, and that is mental health parity with physical health.

For years, we tried in State legislatures--I know I tried in Texas, as well as people across the United States--to make sure that mental health issues are covered by insurance in the same way that you would cover a broken arm or broken leg or even cancer. Millions of Americans suffer from anxiety, depression, and a slew of mental health issues. Previously, they were unable to get covered.

So those are some of the issues that we are going to talk about this evening.

I now yield to my good friend Congressman, Gene Green from Texas.

That is right.

Congressman, once upon a time, these were the ideas of the Heritage Foundation. This was a conservative movement, conservative ideas, about how folks would take individual responsibility. Because, as you know, being in Harris County, our large hospitals systems end up with millions of dollars in uncompensated care every year.

Thank you, Congressman.

A few things that you pointed out that I think are especially noteworthy. The first is that there is no perfect bill that we pass here. And especially, the larger the bill is, the more you are going to have to come back and change it and tweak it. That is what you have seen with the Affordable Care Act. So there is no surprise that we are going to have to have some changes to it. Quite frankly, there have been some changes in deadlines. There have been some other changes. Americans rightly ask, Well, why is the President or the administration doing that?

Well, it is very simple. Last year, for example, Congress passed the least amount of legislation of any year on record. The President is taking action to improve the law because the Congress will not or cannot. Somebody has got to be doing something here in Washington. Unfortunately, in the House of Representatives, we have hit a standstill. So the administration is making sure and listening to Americans and making the changes that are necessary.

No bill is ever going to be perfect. Social Security was deeply criticized when it was enacted. For several years, Medicare was deeply criticized when it was enacted.

So this is no surprise. Americans in previous generations have seen this before, have lived through this before, and this program has been a successful one. It will be even more successful as we go forward, and we will continue to talk a bit about some of the benefits to millions of Americans.

Before I yield to my colleague from California, Lucille Roybal- Allard, I want to point out that there are a few ways people can get information and sign up. We have been talking a lot about the Web site and asking people to go online, but there is also the traditional method.

We have the online Web site at healthcare.gov, of course. Also, by mail. You can download an application and send it in by mail. You can go in person here. You can also call by phone at 1-800-318-2596. I know there has been a lot of emphasis on the Web site, but you can also enroll by these traditional methods. That means a lot to a lot of folks in different communities.

I was at an enrollment fair on Saturday, and there was a woman who looked to be somewhere between 55 and 60. Quite honestly, she was a bit baffled by having to get on the computer, even thought she was being assisted, and she asked, Is there another way I can do it where I don't have to use a computer? The answer to that is yes, there are traditional methods.

With that, I want to yield to Congresswoman Roybal-Allard from the wonderful city of Los Angeles.

Thank you, Congresswoman. And what a powerful story that you have told. I am glad to hear that California has done such an incredible job in making health care available to its constituents and to its residents. Thank you.

I would also point out, Congresswoman Roybal-Allard mentioned something that is very significant because Republicans have tried to repeal the Affordable Care Act now--I think it is about 51 times--50, 51 times.

We make no bones about it. There are a lot of Americans--a decent number of Americans who agree with that argument, who say repeal it; but let's understand, if your argument is repeal it, then understand exactly what you are repealing.

First, there is no plan that has been offered by the other side--no alternative. Also, if you repeal it, what you are saying now is you are going to, again, allow insurance companies to kick off cancer patients because they hit a lifetime limit, send them out of the hospital, send them home.

You are not going to allow recent college graduates to stay on their parents' insurance until they are 26 years old.

Remember, health care problems and big hospital bills, for years now, have been the number one reason for personal bankruptcies. People would run out of insurance money.

They would have to take out all of their savings from their bank accounts to pay their hospital bills; and then, they could no longer make their mortgage payment, their car payment. They couldn't help their kids go to college. They essentially became broke.

If you are talking about repealing the Affordable Care Act, then you have to accept and be upfront about the kind of future that you are inviting, which is a travel back to the past.

I have been surprised in my time here that Republicans have tried to repeal this law 51 times, and what is more surprising is that there is no alternative plan to the Affordable Care Act.

That is why, in the surveys, you see over 60 percent of Americans that say: Yeah, I may have an issue with it. I didn't like the way the Web site was done. I disagree with some parts of it, but I don't want it repealed. I want it improved.

Unfortunately, on the other side of the aisle, the strategy has not been to improve this thing and work with us to make it better. Like I said, any big law--any big law--whether it is about health care or mortgages or financial services or anything, any big law is going to require some tweaks and some changes.

So I hope that they will listen to the voice of Americans and take a different tack.

Mr. Speaker, I yield to my friend, the gentleman from California (Mr. Cardenas).

Thank you, Congressman Cardenas. Thank you for all of your work.

You also raise a great point, which is folks will often see the sticker price of the insurance on the exchanges.

By the way, I, as well as many other Members of Congress, bought our insurance off of the exchanges. We were getting asked that question a lot. You know, are you going to buy ObamaCare?

The answer is yes. I bought my insurance off the exchanges, and I saved money.

Folks should make sure that they also check, besides the sticker price, what kind of subsidy they get because it is meant to make insurance affordable for middle class Americans and others.

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from New Mexico (Ms. Michelle Lujan Grisham).

Thank you, Congresswoman.

We only have a few minutes left, and I would like to yield to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Doggett).

Thank you, Congressman Doggett, and thank you for your work when this bill was being worked on and drafted. Thank you for helping to pass it and, since then, passionately making sure that people get on to the ACA.

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

Mr. Speaker, I move that the House do now adjourn.

The motion was agreed to; accordingly (at 6 o'clock and 29 minutes p.m.), under its previous order, the House adjourned until tomorrow, Thursday, March 27, 2014, at 9 a.m.

Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 91 on H.R. 3370, Homeowner Flood Insurance Affordability Act of 2013, I am not recorded. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea.''

Thank you, Congressman Polis, and thank you for your leadership on the issue of comprehensive immigration reform.

I am proud to join you and Congressman Garcia of Florida as cochairs of the New Dem Coalition advocating for comprehensive immigration reform. As you mentioned, there are very compelling moral and economic reasons for the United States Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform in the year 2014.

We know, for example, that there are a handful of American industries, four or five or six major American industries, that literally would not exist the way they do and would not be nearly as productive as they are but for immigrant labor--both legal and undocumented immigrant labor. For example, we know that about 40 percent of the tech businesses that have been started in Silicon Valley have been started by foreign-born persons, by immigrants. We know, for example, that with respect to the agricultural industry, they self- report that 50 percent of their workers are undocumented, which probably means that 75 percent of their workers are undocumented.

So, on everything from the high-tech industry to the agriculture industry, construction and other trades, we can appreciate, especially myself coming from the great State of Texas, that Texas does more trade than any other State in the Nation. It has the longest border with Mexico of any State in the Nation. We can appreciate the role that immigrants have played in our society and continue to play in our economy.

I want to share with you, Congressman, just a quick story of an immigrant that I met recently back home in San Antonio, because I know that over the course of this debate there has been a lot of divisiveness and some disparaging remarks that have been made about immigrants. The overwhelming majority of these folks are not people who come to America to do us any harm or to commit crimes. These are people who are fundamentally seeking a better life in the way that, throughout the generations, people have come here to this country.

A few months back, right around the time of the government shutdown, I went back home to San Antonio. I was home for about 36 hours, and my hair had gotten too long, so I decided to get a haircut. It was a Sunday, and the place that I usually go to was closed. So I drove around and I came to a strip mall. I was looking for a place that might be open.

I came across this place called J Cuts. I went inside and sat down. There was a woman who welcomed me into the chair, and she started telling me her story as she was cutting my hair. She told me the story of how she arrived in the United States. She said that she had come from Latin America I guess about 25 years ago, that she had come in a raft of inner tubes across the Rio Grande. She had ended up marrying-- and I imagine, marrying an American citizen--and becoming a U.S. citizen.

This woman said that she worked for a few years cleaning houses and cleaning businesses. She had often been cheated out of money by her employers. She mentioned that one job that had promised her $1,000 turned into $100. After that, she worked at Fantastic Sams and Supercuts, a few haircutting chains, and that is how she learned how to speak English.

But the long and short of it is, eventually this woman, Ms. Gonzalez, came to own her own hair salon, became an entrepreneur, and was now employing other people. She said her brothers who also immigrated also were businessowners now.

So those are very promising and not atypical stories of immigrants who come here and are very productive members of our society and who have a lot to contribute.

It has been my hope throughout this debate that, in the rhetoric that comes out of the United States Congress, we will realize and acknowledge that immigrants play such an important role in the life of our Nation and that they always have, that this is a nation of immigrants and continues to be a nation of immigrants.

I would also say that there is a scarier day in America than a time when everybody wants to come here. The scarier day is a time when nobody wants to come here, and that is a day that we should truly be worried about.

No. You raise an incredible point. I served 10 years, five terms in the Texas Legislature. This is my first term in Congress.

But consider this: Last year, in 2013, we had what was, on record, the least productive Congress in American history. Something like only 58 bills went to the President's desk. So you can imagine in this place there is a lot of gridlock. The wheels, essentially, in 2013 came to a halt.

But of all of the major issues, immigration reform is the one that had the most bipartisan support and the strongest support. And consider this for a second: I think it was sometime in the summer the President of the United States had a press conference over at the White House, and he had standing on either side of him the head of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the head of the AFL-CIO. Now, think about that for a second. How often do you have the head of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the head of the AFL-CIO standing next to each other agreeing on anything? But that is how deep and how profound the wide range of support is for comprehensive immigration reform.

And it is not just business and labor, it is people from throughout the political spectrum: the evangelical community that, quite honestly, has been fairly conservative, so the religious community and the social advocates who are ordinarily on the left. It has just been a wide array of people from throughout the political spectrum who have come out in support of comprehensive reform, which really begs the question of why Congress has not moved on this issue when, on the other side, there has been no organized opposition.

There has been a clear indication that a majority of Americans support comprehensive immigration reform, and so it has left a lot of Americans wondering why on Earth Congress can't pass comprehensive immigration reform.

You bring up a wonderful point, which is that you have got--we have, in our Nation, 10 to 15 million people, undocumented immigrants, who essentially are off the radar that we can't account for. And so a large part of this bill is bringing those people out of the shadows and making sure that we can account for their activities, making sure that they are paying taxes and that they are able to purchase health care insurance.

Right now, as you know in Colorado, and certainly we know in Texas, when somebody shows up at a county hospital and they can't afford to pay for their services, their emergency services, all of us, as taxpayers, end up paying those bills, and that includes a lot of undocumented folks. And those services, of course, have to be provided. Everybody needs to be provided emergency services. So this would be a way to essentially bring them under the grid, understand who they are, and bring them into society's fold. Those are definitive benefits of the bill that we propose.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the late William ``Bill'' Sinkin, a truly remarkable citizen of San Antonio. Throughout his lifetime, Mr. Sinkin dedicated himself to improving and serving the city of San Antonio.

For almost 70 years, Mr. Sinkin dedicated his life to civic accomplishments and advocating for all citizens of San Antonio. He had a true passion for people, diversity, and innovation. Mr. Sinkin helped put San Antonio on the map as a tourist destination with his leadership role in creating HemisFair, a celebration of San Antonio's 250th anniversary and the first world fair to be held in Texas. Mr. Sinkin had a first-hand role in the redevelopment of HemisFair Park which eventually led to the Institute of Texan cultures, the Convention Center, and the River Walk.

Mr. Sinkin was a groundbreaking chairman of the San Antonio Housing Authority where he added 2,500 new housing units to the city, promoted diversity and hired the organization's first female executive director. He co-founded the Goodwill Industries of San Antonio in 1946, and provided employment opportunities for those affected with mental and physical disabilities and founded the Urban Coalition of San Antonio to address issues affecting low income communities.

Mr. Sinkin was a civic leader and active voice for the community throughout his entire life. As a banker, he advocated for racial equality, minority hiring, and business development by increasing minority representation and small business lending. In the way he lived his life, in the relationships he cultivated, and in the community groups he belonged to and nurtured, Mr. Sinkin fostered greater understanding between people from different cultural, ethnic, and religious backgrounds. Enduring relationships were created in the Jewish-Latino and Black-Jewish Dialogues which he was instrumental in starting.

As a pioneer and avid supporter of alternative energy, Mr. Sinkin worked to raise awareness about solar power. He founded Solar San Antonio in 1999, which promotes the use of solar electricity as a major source of power and launched Metropolitan Partnership for Energy which became Build San Antonio Green. Mr. Sinkin's efforts in alternative energy led to San Antonio being designated as a Solar America City.

Mr. Speaker, I am honored to have had the opportunity to recognize the late Bill Sinkin. His extensive record of service and achievement has truly impacted many lives and our community.

Mr. Chair, I have an amendment at the desk.

I thank Chairman Hastings and Ranking Member DeFazio for considering this amendment.

Mr. Chair, this amendment concerns the composition of the Hunting Heritage Conservation Council Committee, which will advise the Secretaries of Agriculture and the Interior on policies and programs related to hunting and recreational activities on Federal lands. More specifically, the amendment adds a requirement that women and minority hunting and fishing advocacy, outreach or education organizations are included as discretionary committee members. Examples of such groups include the Women's Hunting and Sporting Foundation, Hispanics Enjoying Camping, Hunting, and Outdoors organization, and the African American Hunting Organization.

This will bring the number of groups in that discretionary committee group to 14 from 12.

The groups that I am adding with this amendment were originally included in the committee's charter. This amendment simply codifies their inclusion. I am proud to offer the amendment to reflect a more diverse perspective on America's land use.

I yield to the gentleman.

I yield to the ranking member.

I thank both gentlemen and yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 630 on H.R. 3521-- The Department of Veterans Affairs Major Medical Facility Lease Authorization Act of 2013, I am not recorded because I was absent due to awaiting the impending birth of my daughter. Had I been present, I would have voted ``aye.''

Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 631 on H.R. 1402--VA Expiring Authorities Extension Act of 2013, I am not recorded because I was absent due to awaiting the impending birth of my daughter. Had I been present, I would have voted ``aye.''

Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 632 on H.R. 2019--Gabriella Miller Kids First Research Act of 2013, I am not recorded because I was absent due to awaiting the impending birth of my daughter. Had I been present I would have voted ``nay.''

Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 633 on H.R. 2319--Native American Veterans' Memorial Amendments Act of 2013, I am not recorded because I was absent due to awaiting the impending birth of my daughter. Had I been present, I would have voted ``aye.''

Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 634 on S. 1471--Alicia Dawn Koehl Respect for National Cemeteries Act, I am not recorded because I was absent due to awaiting the impending birth of my daughter. Had I been present I would have voted ``aye.''

Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 635 on H.R. 3212--Sean and David Goldman International Child Abduction Prevention and Return Act of 2013, I am not recorded because I was absent due to awaiting the impending birth of my daughter. Had I been present, I would have voted ``aye.''

Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 636 on H.R. 1992--Israel QME Enhancement Act, I am not recorded because I was absent due to awaiting the impending birth of my daughter. Had I been present I would have voted ``aye.''

Mr. Speaker, I'm encouraged to see the spirit of bipartisanship at work on this budget deal displayed. This bill mitigates the effects of sequestration and helps prevent another government shutdown. I support H.J. Res. 59 because it offers relief from the irresponsible sequestration cuts. Thousands of San Antonians were furloughed for more than a week because of sequestration and then found themselves out of a job again in October for almost two weeks as a result of the government shutdown. However, this bill is not without flaws. I am deeply concerned on how these changes will affect military pension benefits. I am hopeful that in the coming years Congress will continue to work together toward a sensible budget.

Mr. Speaker, I was not recorded on today's votes because I was absent due to awaiting the impending birth of my daughter. On rollcall No. 637 on motion on ordering the previous question on the Rule, had I been present, I would have voted ``nay.''

On rollcall No. 638 on H. Res. 438, Rule providing consideration of the House Amendment to the Senate Amendment to H.J. Res 59 and H.R. 3693, had I been present, I would have voted ``nay.''

On rollcall No. 640 on H.J. Res. 59--Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013 and Pathway for Sustainable Growth in Medicare (SGR) Reform Act of 2013, had I been present, I would have voted ``aye.''

On rollcall No. 641 on H. Res. 441, providing for the concurrence by the House in the Senate amendments to H.R. 3304--National Defense Authorization Act, with an amendment, had I been present, I would have voted ``aye.''