WASHINGTON- Today, House Rules Committee Ranking Member Rep. Louise Slaughter (NY-25), managed the consideration of the rule for HR 1549, the so-called "Helping Sick Americans Now Act."  Below is the text of speech, as prepared for delivery. During the Rules Committee hearing on this legislation, the Majority did not make in order a number of Democratic amendments. To view a list of those amendments, click here.

Floor Opening- Rep. Louise M. Slaughter

Consideration of the Rule: HR 1549

April 24, 2013

I thank the gentleman for yielding me the customary 30 minutes and I yield myself such time as I may consume.

M./ Speaker,

We begin this week the way we’ve begun every week since January- spinning our wheels.

As we speak, sequestration is hitting communities across our country. Flight delays have started, Head Start programs are turning away children, and unemployment benefits are being curtailed. Despite calls from me and my Democratic colleagues to stop sequestration, the Majority is refusing to act. In fact, the Ranking Member of the Budget Committee, Representative Van Hollen, has repeatedly come to the Rules Committee with an amendment that would repeal sequestration but the Majority has rejected his amendment every time.

The Majority has also left the job of passing a budget unfinished. With budgets passed by both the Senate and the House, it is now time to finish the job, but the Majority is refusing to appoint conferees.

Instead of taking meaningful action on these two important issues, the Majority is proposing a bill that is nothing more than a political gimmick. As everyone knows, there is almost no chance the Senate will consider today’s bill. Even if it did, the President’s senior advisors have already stated that they would recommend the President veto the bill.

In the short history of the 113^th Congress, I’ve been repeatedly dismayed that the leadership of this chamber has refused to bring forth meaningful legislation that has any chance of becoming law.

Today is a telling example of the Majority’s failure to lead. In news reports earlier this morning, we were told that today’s bill, dubbed by reporters as “CantorCare,” may even be pulled before it receives a vote.

One member of the Majority was reported to say that today’s bill does nothing but shift money from a program he doesn’t support to another program he doesn’t support. Given the multiple reports of dissent within the Majority, I have to ask: If no one supports this bill, then what is it doing on the House Floor?

Even if we continue to move forward on the bill, it is already clear that this legislation is solely designed for political gain. For while the Majority claims that they want to strengthen the Affordable Care Act, their intent is clear: to repeal the law.

Last week, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius testified before the Senate Finance Committee, where she was criticized by GOP Senators for using her legal authority to fund the implementation of the Affordable Care Act.

As Secretary Sebelius replied in her testimony, Congress’ failure to pass a budget has forced her to take independent action in order to fund the implementation of the Affordable Care Act. In the face of an unproductive Congress, Secretary Sebelius has done everything she can to provide life saving healthcare to the American people.

While reporting on Secretary Sebelius’ testimony, Washington Post columnist Ezra Klein explained the Majority’s approach towards the Affordable Care Act. In part, Mr. Klein wrote:

“Insofar as the Republican Party has a strategy on Obamacare, it goes like this: The law needs to be implemented. The GOP can try and keep the implementation from being done effectively, in part by refusing to authorize the needed funds. Then they can capitalize on the problems they create to weaken the law, or at least weaken Democrats up for reelection in 2014. In other words, step one: Create problems for Obamacare. Step two: Blame Obamacare for the problems. Step 3: Political profit!”

The legislation before us is little more than a continuation of these partisan games. 

If the Majority were making a serious attempt to expand health care coverage, they wouldn’t be funding their proposal with money from another program in the Affordable Care Act.

Specifically, the Majority wouldn’t be removing $4 billion from the Prevention and Public Health Fund. This is a fund that is already helping states research ways to reduce instances of cancer, obesity and heart disease.

Preventive health measures are vital to reducing the cost of healthcare in the United States because it is always cheaper to prevent disease than to treat it. 

In an age when more than 33 percent of our population is overweight or obese, when heart disease is the number one cause of death, and when the number of diabetes cases continues to grow, gutting our nation’s only federal preventive health program is not a responsible budget decision- it is simply an underhanded attack to dismantle the Affordable Care Act one program at a time.  

Finally, the Majority’s new-found concern for people who are uninsured because of pre-existing conditions would be more believable if they had allowed one of numerous commonsense amendments presented to the Rules Committee to come to the floor.

Among the amendments were responsible proposals to cover Americans with pre-existing conditions by ending tax breaks for Big Oil, ending subsidies for owners of corporate jets, and increasing taxes on cigarettes- a preventive health measure in its own right. Proposals like these would expand healthcare to those who need it while protecting the preventive health measures included in the Affordable Care Act.

It is unfortunate that in yet another restrictive process executed by the Majority, these commonsense amendments were denied a vote on the House Floor.

The Majority and the press have made clear that today’s bill is not a serious effort, but a political gimmick that has no chance of becoming law.

I urge my colleagues to vote ‘no’ on today’s Rule and the underlying legislation, and I RESERVE the balance of my time.