Representative from Texas urges rejection of COVID-era coverage extension, cites CBO on GOP bill
Loading...
Summary
A representative from Texas urged colleagues to reject proposals to extend a COVID-era health program, calling it rife with fraud and saying a Republican provision would lower premiums by 11 percent, according to the Congressional Budget Office. He urged members to stand firm against the proposal.
A representative from Texas used a three-minute floor speech to urge colleagues to reject proposals to extend a COVID-era health program, arguing it has produced widespread fraud and would not make health care affordable.
The representative said the House GOP’s approach includes a bipartisan provision that "would lower premiums by 11% per the Congressional Budget Office, the nonpartisan Budget Office," and framed that estimate as evidence the Republican plan would reduce costs. He said the current market created by the Affordable Care Act, commonly called "Obamacare," ‘‘doesn't work today’’ and described the law’s results as "double premiums, double deductibles, 1 out of 5 claims rejected, limited choice."
He accused a COVID-era program that some lawmakers have proposed continuing of being "loaded with fraud and waste," alleging examples including "social security numbers from tens of thousands of dead people siphoning money out of the taxpayer pocket," and saying there are "millions of ineligible people" and "billions of fraud." The remarks were presented as allegations by the representative and were not verified during the floor remarks.
The representative also said Republican measures passed by the House were the only ones that had ‘‘actually lowered cost of health care, reduced premiums,’’ and added that no Democrats had joined that effort: "We didn't get a single Democrat to join us." He framed his position in ideological terms, quoting former President Ronald Reagan: "Government isn't the solution. Government's the problem," and argued for "less mandates, less taxes, less regulations, competition."
While saying "there's some things we could work together on," he repeatedly urged colleagues to oppose the extension or proposal under discussion, saying it would be "intellectually dishonest" to call the COVID-era program a solution to affordability and closing by asking members to "roundly, soundly stand firm and reject it."
The speech did not include a named response from other members, nor did it include a formal motion or recorded vote during the remarks. The representative cited the Congressional Budget Office for the 11 percent figure; the allegations of fraud and specific examples were presented by the speaker and were not corroborated in the remarks.
