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This week I voted in favor of legislation that would dismantle Obamacare. The House voted to concur with the Senate’s amendment to H.R. 3762, the Restoring Americans' Healthcare Freedom Reconciliation Act, and the bill now goes to President Obama’s desk.
The legislation would effectively repeal the mandate for individuals to have medical coverage as well as the mandate for employers to offer medical coverage to workers or face penalties. It would eliminate the 2.3 percent tax on medical devices as well as the 40 percent excise tax, known as the “Cadillac” tax, on high-cost employer plans. Additionally the bill would abolish the slush fund that gives the Secretary of Health and Human Services billions of dollars to spend each year with little accountability. It would repeal the law’s expansion of Medicaid and the annual fee on health insurers.
The so-called Affordable Care Act has proved to be anything but affordable for North Carolinians, who have faced some of the largest premium increases in the country. The simple truth is that the president’s government takeover of our health care system has increased barriers to care, limited patients’ choices and wasted taxpayer dollars. The American people were sold a bill of goods that has proven to be a list of empty promises, and it’s time to undo this harmful law.
Cutting Federal Funding to Planned Parenthood
H.R. 3762 also would bar Planned Parenthood from receiving mandatory federal funds for one year and redirect those funds to Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) and Rural Health Center (RHCs), which outnumber Planned Parenthood clinics 20 to 1.
We all know money is fungible, and the federal funds that Planned Parenthood receives, mostly from Medicaid, ultimately subsidize their abortion services. No organization that performs divisive practices like abortion, particularly in such a gruesome, profitable manner, should receive taxpayer dollars. Fortunately, there are many more options for women's health care. With more than 13,000 publicly supported locations, Federally Qualified and Rural Health Centers are a better investment for the American people.
Protecting Second Amendment Rights
As citizens of the United States, we are afforded basic rights and privileges under the Constitution. One of these fundamental rights is the Second Amendment, and its guarantee to keep and bear arms is clear. In yet another attempt to erode our basic liberties, President Obama announced plans this week to undermine the will of Congress and challenge the Second Amendment rights of all Americans.
Just like his unilateral actions on immigration, this proposal is an overreach of the president’s Constitutionally-granted executive authority. It is also an attempt to distract from his failed policies to combat terrorism and improve the economy – issues I’m hearing about from my constituents every day. Congressional refusal to pass bad policy does not transfer legislative authority to the president, and I will fight against this attempt to diminish our constitutional rights.
Guns are one of many tools that people use to commit horrific crimes, but the problem of evil cannot be legislated away. It is important that any legislative response – whether it’s at the federal, state or local level - ensures that the constitutional rights of all citizens are protected.
Strengthening Regulatory Reform
On Thursday the House passed legislation that includes my language to ensure unfunded mandates are incorporated into regulatory reform. The issue of unfunded mandates is frequently overlooked in the debates about reforming our regulatory system and carrying out federal policies. It is all too easy for Washington bureaucrats to write off concerns expressed by a handful of local governments or a small subset of private businesses. But these decisions have real costs and real effects on the individuals, families and communities we each represent.
H.R. 1155, the Searching for and Cutting Regulations that are Unnecessarily Burdensome (SCRUB) Act of 2015, would establish a Retrospective Regulatory Review Commission to identify and recommend to Congress existing federal regulations that should be repealed to reduce unnecessary regulatory costs to the U.S. economy. My amendment, which passed by voice vote, adds consideration of unfunded mandates to the commission’s review of existing rules.
H.R. 712, the Sunshine for Regulatory Decrees and Settlements Act, would increase accountability and transparency in the federal regulatory process by providing increased scrutiny of sue-and settle rulemakings cases, mandating increased reporting requirements for planned rulemaking and providing for simplified summaries of proposed rules. My amendment, which passed by voice vote, adds unfunded mandates to the reporting requirements for planned rulemaking by federal agencies.
What’s Coming Up
Next week the House will consider legislation disapproving the EPA’s harmful “Waters of the United States” regulation under expedited Congressional Review Act procedures and the STREAM Act, which addresses the Stream Buffer regulation that is negatively impacting coal mining operations. In addition, we will consider the Iran Terror Finance Transparency Act to enhance congressional oversight over the administration of sanctions against Iranian terrorism financiers.
Sincerely,
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