Pallone on Continuing Resolution: Republicans Have Created a Health Care Crisis

Washington, D.C. - Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) delivered the following remarks on the House floor today in opposition to Republicans' continuing resolution:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I want to thank our Ranking Member Ms. DeLauro.

I'm opposed to this bill. President Trump and Congressional Republicans have created a health care crisis and waged a war on the American health care system.

On the Fourth of July, President Trump celebrated our nation's birthday by signing Republicans' Big Ugly Bill into law - cutting more than a trillion dollars from our health care system. You can't cut a trillion dollars without creating devastating consequences for our constituents. Their new law will cruelly take health care coverage away from 15 million Americans.

And we are already seeing the chaotic impacts of their actions. Just two months after enactment of the Big Ugly Bill, we are hearing from hospitals, clinics, and nursing homes across the country that are being forced to close their doors and cut services.

St. Mary's Sacred Heart Hospital in Lavonia, Georgia, recently announced it will shut down its maternity unit next month, and they pointed to "recent Congressional cuts to Medicaid" as the reason for the closure.

In rural Virginia, August Medical Group is closing an urgent care and two primary care clinics- citing their "ongoing response" to Republican health care cuts. This is only going to get worse.

Congressional Republicans are also taking away tax credits that help millions of Americans afford their health insurance through the Affordable Care Act. Thanks to enhanced tax credits included in the Inflation Reduction Act, a record 24 million Americans have coverage through the ACA Marketplaces. But Republicans refused to extend these tax credits for middle class Americans in their Big Ugly Bill and if we don't act now, millions of Americans are going to be hit with huge premiums for the upcoming year. The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office has estimated that these premium increases will lead to 4.2 million Americans losing their health insurance.

Now, Trump and Congressional Republicans had no problem giving their billionaire friends giant tax breaks in their Big Ugly Bill, but they refused to extend tax credits that make health care more affordable for millions of middle-class families.

This is an outrage. We cannot allow this to happen. Democrats believe we must address this health crisis before millions of people lose their health coverage, see their costs spike, and their hospitals close.

So, I call on my Republican colleagues to join us in ending the chaos. This has to be addressed in the spending bill. Republicans' spending bill does not address the health care crisis and for that reason, I am opposed.