Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, millions of Americans find themselves in the heartbreaking situation of losing their health care plans thanks to a broken promise that the White House is not scrambling to try and fix.

Hoosiers like Jared from Woodburn, Indiana, were told that they could keep their plans. Unfortunately, Jared found this cancelation letter in his mailbox on September 23. He is just one of the more than 3.5 million Americans who lost coverage under ObamaCare.

For Jared, the timing couldn't have been worse. In the middle of selling their home and making an offer on another, Jared, his wife, and 1-year-old son were hit with a cancelation letter and the real possibility that their health care costs will become unaffordable.

President Obama's health care law is hurting Hoosiers. If he is serious about helping Americans like Jared, he should start by keeping his promise and signing the Keep Your Health Plan Act as soon as it is passed.

Enough is enough.

Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield,

San Antonio, TX, September 23, 2013.

Dear Jared Schortgen: Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield is

discontinuing your individual health benefit plan because it

doesn't meet all the requirements of the new health care

reform laws (also called the Affordable Care Act). As a

convenience to you, we're transitioning you to a health care

reform compliant plan upon your renewal date. Your current

individual health benefit plan will remain in effect until

01-Jan, 2014.

Don't worry, we've got options for you! We've selected a

new plan for you that meets the new requirements. This new

plan, ANTHEM CORE DIRECTACCESS WITH HSA-CABP is available at

$669.82. You don't need to do anything; you will

automatically transition into your new individual health

benefit plan. For additional plan details and to view a copy

of the Summary of Benefits and Coverage (SBC) go to

sbc.anthem.com/dps/CCD0S6M.

Or, we can help you choose a different plan. Just talk to

your Anthem agent, go to anthem.com and click

``Changemycoverage'', or call a Health Plan Advisor at 855-

809-2879 to find a plan that's right for you. You may choose

any of the health care reform compliant individual health

benefit plans that we offer.

You can also check into whether you're eligible for a

government subsidy to help you pay for your health coverage.

If you are, you could buy an Anthem plan on the government-

run Health Insurance Marketplace (also called the

``exchange'').

Your current individual health benefit plan is still in

effect until 01-Jan, 2014. If you choose to automatically

move into the plan we selected for you, payment of the new

premium will be considered acceptance into your new plan,

ANTHEM CORE DIRECTACCESS WITH HSA-CABP at $669.82. If your

premium is currently withdrawn electronically from your

account this will continue upon your transition. If you have

questions, please call your Anthem agent or Health Plan

Advisor team at 855-809-2879. Representatives are here Monday

through Friday, 7:30 a.m.-9:00 p.m. and Saturday 9:00 a.m.-

5:00 p.m., Eastern time.

Sincerely,

Robert W. Hillman, CLU,

President and General Manager,

Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my friend from Indiana (Mr. Young) for introducing this resolution.

This is about communicating with the American people. I am not quite sure what to say after the last speaker, who said he was a partisan Democrat, would not want to come together, both parties, to work together to find a problem to the $17 trillion of debt that we have. That seems to be more of the problem in Washington today--the fact that parties don't want to work together to find a problem to the threat to our children and our grandchildren.

Mr. Young mentioned earlier that that was the reason that he ran for office--because of the $17 trillion of debt that at the time in 2010 was roughly closer to $13 trillion and has only exceeded that since we have been elected to office.

We are Americans first--not partisans, Americans--who believe that we need to pass on a better future for our children and our grandchildren and for future generations here in America. That is what is wrong with Washington: too many partisans.

I believe we have got to find solutions that are going to balance the budget, like Americans do across the country every day, whether it is filling up gas at the gas station or whether it is the book dues for the kids at school, health care costs, the cost of utilities.

People are trying to make ends meet. Instead, Washington is only making it harder, through partisanship, on the American people. Both parties, Republican and Democrat, have driven Washington $17 trillion in debt. For decades, Republicans and Democrats offered empty promises and cheap excuses, but our fiscal crisis cannot be ignored any more.

The national debt now exceeds our gross domestic product and saddles every American with a $53,000 share of Washington's red ink. The facts are very clear. Our current path is unsustainable. Although Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security will grow dramatically over the next decade, recent budget debates between Congress and the White House have largely ignored these key drivers of the debt. So what is going to happen? Washington is going to continue to stumble from one crisis to the next. This is no way to run a country.

Madam Speaker, it is irresponsible to raise the debt ceiling without tackling the underlying spending problems of this crisis. Hoosiers don't expect Republicans and Democrats to agree on every proposal, but they do expect us to make the difficult choices to put us on a path of fiscal stability. Now is the time for both parties to break Washington's cycle of manufactured crises and pay down our debt.

I thank the gentleman for bringing this resolution to the floor of the House so we can discuss not only the spending problems, but what is the problem underlying the spending habits and the spending problems in Washington. Is it just ObamaCare, as the gentleman said previously? ObamaCare is part of the problem of our spending in Washington. Washington continues to look out for Washington interests and special interests rather than looking out for American interests.

Mr. Young, thank you for bringing this important resolution. If there is anything that threatens our security, it is our national debt. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in 2011, Admiral Mike Mullen, said that this is the greatest threat to our national security.

I thank the gentleman.

As I mentioned, Admiral Mike Mullen, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in 2011, after the last debt ceiling discussion in July and August of 2011, said that the debt was the greatest threat to our national security.

Not only is it a threat to our ability to protect our country militarily, but it is an even greater threat to our country economically. Families are feeling the brunt day to day in the fact that salaries are not increasing, jobs are not being created. This is the fundamental crisis that our country is facing today, and we do need to talk about it, and we do need to share with one another here in Congress ideas and ways that we can tackle our debt problems.

Mr. Young, thank you for this resolution. I proudly support it, and I am glad to work with anyone, Republican or Democrat, to tackle our debt problems.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of the legislation to be considered on the floor this afternoon, H.R. 3080, the Water Resources Reform and Development Act of 2013.

Mr. Speaker, my amendment, ruled in order and to be considered en bloc, addresses an issue very important to my district in northeast Indiana, as well as other similarly situated districts around the country.

I am proud to represent Fort Wayne, Indiana's second-largest city, which has more than 10 miles of levees that protect residents and businesses. In response to recent Army Corps of Engineers guidelines requiring levee devegetation, local governments across the country affected by this policy have made their voices heard. Unfortunately, this unnecessary policy will cost taxpayers in my district millions of dollars.

My amendment saves the city of Fort Wayne $25 million and makes levee safety the highest priority while allowing the Army Corps of Engineers to fully examine the guidelines study authorized in the underlying bill.

I thank Chairman Shuster for his assistance and look forward to further pursuing solutions to this issue.

First, I would like to thank the gentlewoman for yielding and organizing this Special Order about solutions. That is what the American people expect from us as Congress, whether you are a Republican or whether you are a Democrat. The American people are looking to Washington to find solutions, to work together, to make America strong again. So I want to thank you for your comments today and for representing your district so well.

It doesn't take much to sort out and to realize the difficulty that we are facing in our country and what our Federal Government is facing: $17 trillion in debt, a struggling economy, a health care system that does need to be fixed. People are looking to Washington to gain confidence in the marketplace. And in spite of Washington, you will find bright spots throughout the country where good things are happening, but it is not enough. We can still do better. And it is time for Washington to find solutions for our economy, for the American people, for American families so that way when a family sits down to have dinner tonight, they are not going to be wondering if Dad is going to be going to work next week. They don't have to worry whether Mom will have her job the following month. What is going to happen after Christmas time? What is going to happen next year? They hear so many different stories about the new health care law and what it means for them. What is their insurance plan going to be like next year? There are so many unknowns and questions that are not answered because of the uncertainty that Washington has placed irresponsibly on the American people.

While we know we have $17 trillion of debt, a deficit that is running out of balance, a health care law that is crushing the American people today, an Independent Payment Advisory Board that has 15 board members that are unelected and unaccountable who will be making health care decisions for Americans in the near term, we still have an unemployment rate of 8 percent and mandates from ObamaCare that are forcing companies to cut hours. Too much uncertainty is being created by our Federal Government.

Small businesses are trying to figure out how they are going to make ends meet next year, how they are going to plan their budget when they know the mandates and the cost of insurance continue to crush them, how they are going to create new jobs and expand their companies if regulations continue to hamper them and the new health care law continues to sidetrack them.

One of the taxes that is in the health care law that is driving jobs away from Indiana is the medical device tax, also known as the pacemaker tax, the wheelchair tax. Anything that is a medical device, such as a hip, a knee, a joint, these things are taxed now because of ObamaCare. It is over 20,000 jobs just in Indiana. Warsaw, Indiana, in particular, is the orthopedic capital of the world. It is the home to Zimmer, Biomet, DePuy, Paragon, and so many other companies that are doing so much remarkable work for the betterment of Americans.

I know that my grandmother had her hip replaced before she passed away 10 years ago, and it changed her life. It gave her a new ability to enjoy life with her children and her grandchildren. This is an industry that is being harmed by ObamaCare, and it is time that we take a step back and reevaluate and find new solutions.

Unfortunately, this tax is putting 2,000 jobs in jeopardy in Indiana, and I believe that it is time for Washington, for the President, for the Senate, and for the House to come together. Let's stop stumbling from crisis to crisis. That is not the best way to govern. The American people are tired of the way Washington has these cycles of political stunts and fiscal cliffs and all these other manufactured crises.

Hoosiers know, as many Americans know, that in order to get a job done, you have to sit down and figure out a way to get it done, talk about it, and then go out and do it. But Washington is broke because government spends too much and talks too little. So I think now is the time for us to get serious about our debt. We need to reform our entitlement programs. We need to work towards reforming our Tax Code. We have solutions. We have ideas. We can make things better for not only the American people, but for the world, if we would just trust the instincts of the American people. If we followed those instincts and followed the example of the American people, the Federal Government would be in a much better place today.

It is time for solutions, and I want to thank the gentlewoman for yielding and for her leadership on this issue tonight.

I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Madam Speaker, I call on my colleagues this afternoon to support this resolution, to further reform a harmful and unnecessary sugar program that puts 600,000 American manufacturing jobs at risk.

Back home in Indiana's Third Congressional District, companies like Aunt Millie's, small candy maker Plyleys Candies in Lagrange, Indiana, and Edy's Ice Cream in Fort Wayne are forced to pay artificially inflated prices, thanks to Washington's top-down control. This kind of price-fixing should be a bygone relic of the Soviet era and has no place in free-market policies. Today we have an opportunity to make commonsense reforms to help protect these jobs.

I would also like to urge this body to protect the victory for limited government when the House split the farm bill and ended the unholy alliance between food stamps and agricultural policy. These policies are completely different and must be considered separately, just like we are doing now in debating sugar policy.

For the first time in 40 years, we gave taxpayers an honest look at how Washington spends their money. We took a commonsense approach and considered food stamp policy and traditional ag policy separately.

Today the House sent to conference a bill that keeps these policies separate. We can make sure that, going forward, we keep our commitment to transparency and limited government.

I urge the conference committee to adopt this resolution, protect these jobs, and keep food and farm policies separate.

I thank the chairman. I want to also commend him for his hard work on the farm bill.

Mr. Speaker, I know this has been a long and drawn-out process. Obviously, there are a lot of changes in agriculture, and also with the food stamp policy and with the economy. I know that this has been very difficult.

But I do want to rise in opposition to this sense of the House. As a farmer from Indiana who uses the crop insurance program, I understand a little bit about how this does affect farmers.

First of all, I would say that I think it is the right thing for us to do to eliminate the direct payment program. I think that is the right policy. That is in the bill, and I would continue to support it. I do think that we have some work to do on the crop insurance program, but this is not the answer. If we are trying to limit or put a means test on those whom you would define as the wealthiest farmers in the country, I don't believe this is the correct way to do it.

Look at agriculture across the country. You have corn farmers in the Midwest, soybean farmers in the Midwest. You have specialty crops, whether it is green beans, strawberries, carrots, or potatoes. All of these have different variables in the amount of income that comes in per acre. So whether it is 10 acres or whether it is 10,000 acres, I believe that the risk is still great to American farmers and producers.

Let's also remember that the premium support is not a cash subsidy to farmers. Farmers don't all of a sudden open the mailbox and get a check in the mail, with premium support, which I think is an appropriate system for our insurance programs that the Federal Government can participate in; but I don't believe that using the AGI is the correct way to measure whether farmers should be participating at certain levels or not.

If we really wanted to means test, we would use taxable income, where farmers would be reporting certain incomes. AGI can vary from crop to crop, from farm to farm, and so taxable income would make much more sense if we are going to talk about any sort of means testing.

Also, I believe that it undermines the important landlord-tenant relationship. I have specifically been involved in this. Whether it comes to direct payments, obviously, with the increased cost of farmland over the past several years, those relationships are very, very important and very valuable.

Almost half of the farmland in this country is rented. I know that on our farm we rent almost three-quarters of the land that we farm. If land owners can no longer afford crop insurance, they can simply transfer that risk to tenants through cash leases. You end up hurting the smaller farmers that rely on rented farmland.

So I don't believe that this particular idea is ready for us to move forward on. I think that it needs more work. I think that the intentions by the author are sincere in trying to lessen the burden on the American taxpayer; but, at the same time, let's not hurt the American farmer and create, basically, a system that can treat a farmer in the South differently than a farmer in the Midwest or a farmer in the North.

Let's go back and reevaluate the system. I think that if you talk to the farming industry, you talk to farmers, they will come to the table and will try to find a reasonable way.

At this time, I would oppose this sense of the House.

Mr. Speaker, back home, Hoosiers know that we only solve problems by sitting down and talking. Unfortunately, President Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid refuse to join Republicans in the constructive, respectful dialogue that Washington desperately needs. Eight days ago, Senate Democrats shut down the government by refusing four separate House-passed bills to fund the government.

It's clear that the American people don't want this shutdown, and it's exactly why the House has passed nine bipartisan, commonsense bills to fund and reopen parts of government that we all agree on.

Together, House Republicans and House Democrats have passed bills to ensure that the National Guard is paid, veterans' benefits are funded, and our national parks are reopened. Unfortunately, these common-ground solutions are gathering dust in the Senate as Harry Reid refuses to come to the table and talk.

The American people don't expect Republicans and Democrats to agree on everything, but they do expect us to talk. It's time for Senate Democrats to put aside their obstructionism and come to the table.

Mr. Speaker, it's time to fund the government.

So far, House Republicans have passed four bills to fully fund the government. Since then, that wasn't enough for the Senate, and they shut the government down.

On a bipartisan basis, we have passed bills to ensure our National Guard and reservists are paid, we're funding Federal benefits, reopening national parks, reopening the National Institutes of Health, and allowing the District of Columbia to expend their own local funds. All of these passed with bipartisan votes.

A clean CR is not the answer. A clean CR funds the gold-plated health care plan for Members of Congress. Members of Congress cannot be treated one way and the American people another way. We need fairness for every American and to stop the chaos of ObamaCare.

It's time for Harry Reid and President Obama to come to the table in good faith to work together with House Republicans for the good of all Americans. Let's pass the bills that we have bipartisan support for today.

Mr. Speaker, I come to the floor today to share what I believe is a lack of cooperation in Washington, D.C.

I come from Indiana as a farmer who served in the Indiana Legislature at times where we had divided government. My belief is that the only way you're going to solve a problem when you have issues is to talk. When you have one party who's at the table and is willing to discuss the problems that we face and you have another party who refuses to come to the table, we're not going to get anything done.

The gentleman from New York asked a little bit ago: Who is in charge in the Republican conference, is the Speaker of the House or the Tea Party faction? I'll tell you who I believe is in charge, and that is our Speaker with the authority from the American people who elected each of us to come to Washington to represent them and to fight for them and to fight against an overaggressive Federal Government, $17 trillion of debt, and to fight a health care law that only intrudes more and more on American lives.

As I think about history, we have been in a government shutdown before. Under those circumstances, we had President Ronald Reagan, who was a Republican, and we had Speaker of the House Tip O'Neill. Speaker of the House Tip O'Neill shut down government seven different times during President Reagan's time in office, but President Reagan didn't just sit at the White House and refuse to talk. He didn't go out traveling around the country pointing the finger back at Congress. He invited Tip O'Neill down to the White House and sat down over a cup of coffee and talked the problems out. That's what leadership does. Leadership brings people to the table and finds a way to get the problems resolved.

Here in the Western Hemisphere, we work--whether it's in business, whether it's in our family budgets, whether it's in our family problems, we try to find a way for both sides to win because that's how we're going to walk away from the table feeling like we were successful and that we didn't break the principles that we believe in, that we're going to find a way to work together and it's going to be a win-win for both parties.

But right now, we're seeing that it's going to be a win-lose situation, where President Obama and Senator Harry Reid are going to say: We're going to win and Republicans are going to lose. Because we have sent over four different compromises, four different proposals to the Senate, and what does the Senate do with them? They table them. They put them on the table and say: We're not going to even negotiate. We're not even going to talk.

Now, is that what Tip O'Neill did? Is that what President Ronald Reagan did? Even after seven times, the government was shut down because what were they fighting over? Speaker Tip O'Neill was actually fighting for the Fairness Doctrine. It wasn't over bigger government spending or more government spending or $17 trillion of debt or a massive, much larger health care program. It was over an ideology. So if we can't even come to the table to talk about the problems that we face today, Washington is going to continue to be broken for a long time.

I hear the frustration from my colleagues about the furloughs, and I sympathize with that because I have constituents in the Third District of Indiana who are furloughed. But at the same time, there have been many Americans who have been furloughed without pay, who don't have work because of the uncertainty that ObamaCare has placed on this economy. And I believe that it's time that we stand up for the American people rather than for the American Federal Government and start looking out for the people in this country and say: We're with you.

Mr. Speaker, it seems that only the American people can drag Harry Reid to the negotiating table. Back home, Hoosiers already know that Washington is fiscally broke; but today, after the Senate pushed this country into a shutdown, they also know that Congress is broken.

The House has sent Harry Reid and Senate Democrats four separate proposals to keep the government open, yet Senate Democrats have rejected each one of them without offering a single counterproposal. It's clear that President Obama and Harry Reid would rather shut the government down than even discuss the real-world consequences of ObamaCare.

The American people don't want the government to shut down and they don't want Washington to saddle them with ObamaCare's tax hikes, job losses, and higher premiums. My colleagues in the House have listened and acted. It's time for the Senate to respond.

I'm hopeful that the American people will continue to make their voices heard in Washington. It's time for Senate Democrats to end their politically motivated obstructionism. It's time for Senator Reid and President Obama to come to the table and talk.

Mr. Speaker, almost 3\1/2\ years ago, many stood in this Chamber claiming to have made history by overhauling our Nation's health care laws and subjecting one-sixth of our economy to Federal control. The American people disagree. They understand that ObamaCare broke with history--and that's exactly the problem here today.

When government mandates that every American buy insurance established by bureaucrats and threatens to severely tax them if they don't, that is an unconstitutional mandate. This country was founded on the principles of limited government, personal responsibility, and consent of the governed. But ObamaCare is based on limitless government, bureaucratic arrogance, and a disregard of the will of the people.

That is why 3\1/2\ years ago, Washington broke with history. Washington ignored our country's founding principles. Back home, Hoosiers still know what this town forgot. They know that their freedom diminishes when government raises taxes, empowers bureaucrats, and issues oppressive mandates. That's exactly why ObamaCare was unpopular 3 years ago, and it is unpopular 3 days ahead of its implementation.

The People's House refuses to ignore the will of the American people.

Today, Senate Democrats who refuse to acknowledge ObamaCare's mounting failures have left Washington, D.C. for the weekend but families back home don't have the luxury of ignoring this train wreck.

With just three days until millions of Americans are forced onto ObamaCare's exchanges, my colleagues and I will vote to stop ObamaCare. We will vote to protect religious freedom with strong conscience protections. We will vote to restore individual choice and freedom. We will vote to return to this nation's founding principles.

Mr. Speaker, today we have an opportunity to win a victory for common sense. For decades, business as usual has fostered an unholy alliance between food stamps and farm policy. Year after year, Washington spent money that it never had. This summer, when the House considered a trillion-dollar welfare bill that was a farm bill in name only, taxpayers had seen enough.

The American people were able to defeat business as usual by insisting that both food stamps and farm policy be considered individually and on their own merits. It's just common sense. Finally, we passed a farm-only farm bill that ended direct payments. Today, we can continue that work by passing a food stamp bill that doubles the savings that the House originally considered.

Mr. Speaker, this bill eliminates loopholes, ensures work requirements, and puts us on a fiscally responsible path. In the real world, we measure success by results. It's time for Washington to measure success by how many families are lifted out of poverty and helped back on their feet, not by how much Washington bureaucrats spend year after year.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to urge my colleagues to support H.R. 3102, the Nutrition Reform and Work Opportunity Act. This is an opportunity to enact commonsense reforms.

I would like to thank Leader Cantor and especially Chairman Lucas for their leadership and long hours of hard work.

Mr. Speaker, food stamps and farm policy should be considered individually and on their own merits. It's just common sense, and it's exactly why we are here.

In July, we passed a farm-only farm bill that ended direct payments and made other reforms. Today, we have an opportunity to continue that work by passing a food stamp bill that doubles the savings that the House originally considered. We can save taxpayers $40 billion by eliminating loopholes, ensuring work requirements, and putting food assistance on a fiscally responsible path.

In the real world, we measure success by results. It's time for Washington to measure success by how many families are lifted out of poverty and are helped back on their feet, not by how much Washington bureaucrats spend year after year.

I urge all of my colleagues to support this commonsense step in the right direction.

Mr. Speaker, hardworking Americans have called on Congress to stop ObamaCare. While they expect that Washington elites will deride their message and disparage their cause, they are here because they understand the consequences of ObamaCare's oppressive mandates.

Back home, over the month of August, I heard from parents who pay higher premiums only to have health coverage dropped for their spouse. I have talked with Hoosiers who make ends meet with two part-time jobs after their hours were cut. I have seen the discouragement of neighbors who hope this is finally the week they will find work.

Americans know that this isn't what a recovery looks like, but they wonder if Washington even cares. President Obama told them to trust the bureaucrats, the same bureaucrats who gave carve-outs to Big Business and kickbacks to Big Government. Republicans told them we had a different plan. We promised to stop ObamaCare and put patients ahead of politics. As ObamaCare's October 1 deadline approaches, those families wonder if we really mean it.

Mr. Speaker, now is the time to keep that promise. Now, when it really matters, we must stop ObamaCare.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague and friend from Georgia for yielding and for his hard work on this very important issue.

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Harry Reid might have said that ObamaCare is wonderful for America, but Hoosiers back home aren't buying the spin. ObamaCare was sold as a benefit to hardworking Americans, but it is increasingly clear on both sides of the aisle that ObamaCare is hurting the very people it was intended to help. There is nothing wonderful about the situation hardworking Americans face--fewer hours, more taxes, soaring premiums, and smaller paychecks.

``Just trust the bureaucrats'' is what the Democrats said when they forced this mess on the American people. Three years later, they're asking for more time. By unilaterally delaying the employer mandate for a year, the White House admitted what Hoosiers already know: if they're willing to exempt businesses, shouldn't every hardworking family get an exemption as well? Let's delay both ObamaCare mandates and continue to work towards fully repealing a failed law that is hurting Hoosiers and Americans across the country and holding back our economy.