Rule Providing for Consideration of H.R. 3522, the Employee Health Care Protection Act
September 10, 2014
I thank the gentleman from Colorado for yielding.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of defeating the motion on ordering the previous question.
The GOP has put forward H.R. 3522, which would undermine the Affordable Care Act by putting insurance companies back in charge of health care for everyday Americans. That is right. I mean, it is not a surprise, putting corporate special interests ahead of the interests of the American people. Instead, they are now taking the 53rd vote to undermine the Affordable Care Act.
We could be enacting a commonsense constitutional amendment, as my colleagues have said, that would better serve the people’s interests. The Democracy for All constitutional amendment seeks to address the failure of our current political system, where the megaphones of moneyed interests are now drowning out the voices of ordinary Americans.
Since the Supreme Court’s decision in 2010 of Citizens United, which struck down the limits on independent campaign spending by corporations, we have actually seen those with deep pockets threaten our democracy, spending unlimited, hidden amounts on our elections, and it gets worse with each passing election.
Two years ago, outside groups, including more than 1,200 so-called Super PACs, spent $970 million on our elections. That is nearly $1 billion in secret, dark money. It is not fair, and the American people know it. $123 million of anonymous cash was also spent. Overall, spending totaled nearly $7 billion.
Earlier this year, another Supreme Court decision struck down decades-old caps on the total amount that any one individual can contribute to Federal candidates in a 2-year cycle. Now those individuals – and there are only a handful of them across the United States – can contribute unlimited amounts from their own pockets into elections. The result has only increased the role that money plays in American politics.
Recent reports show that undisclosed political spending, better known as “dark money,” will, once again, reach record levels in this November’s election.
Recently, the Center for Responsive Politics announced that dark money has already exceeded $50 million – seven times the amount that was accrued at this time in the last midterm election.
Justice Breyer wrote in this last Supreme Court decision: “Where enough money calls the tune, the general public will not be heard.”
We are not being heard, and that is exactly the position that we find ourselves in today because, as the Republican House votes to repeal or undermine the Affordable Care Act for the 53rd time since its enactment, they have given us a choice. The Republicans want us to choose corporate insurance special interests, or we can choose the interests of the American people by passing a constitutional amendment that would restore democracy, government, and our elections back to the people of the United States.
It is time that we pass this constitutional amendment, Mr. Speaker. I urge my colleagues to defeat the previous question and to let us begin to address the interests of the American people.
