John Yarmuth: “I thank my colleague. That is not legitimate budgeting. That is just fantasy. That is really what the budget is about.…”

“I thank my colleague. That is not legitimate budgeting. That is just fantasy. That is really what the budget is about. Unfortunately, though, there is a very cruel side to this budget. As my friend from Massachusetts said, this does real damage to the American people. It does damage to hard-working families who are trying to get ahead. It actually ends up being a tax increase on hard-working American families. It repeals the Affordable Care Act, and I just want to talk a little bit about what the Affordable Care Act has done in my State because, if this were to actually happen, here is what the impact on my citizens would be. In Kentucky, according to the DeLoitte professional services firm that did an audit of Kentucky's experience and a projection over the next 6 years, the Affordable Care Act will contribute $30 billion of additional economic activity in the State, create 44,000 jobs, and have a positive impact on the Kentucky State budget of $850 million. That is in one State. If you repeal the Affordable Care Act, not only do you do great damage to the health of Americans, taking insurance away from 16.5 million--in my State, 550,000 who have gained insurance just in the last year and a half--but you are doing real damage to our education, to our infrastructure, to our investment in research, to our seniors. Under this bill, seniors will suffer a great financial hardship, as well as a loss of benefits.…”