Rich Neal: “Mr. Speaker, this argument is about universal access. For years, the Republican leadership in this institution has…”

“Mr. Speaker, this argument is about universal access. For years, the Republican leadership in this institution has attempted to avert this very moment. For us this is not to be about spiking the football. This is not to be about an end-zone dance. This is about to declare a major victory for the American people. Despite what I have heard, they have used every maneuver and procedure to prevent the very debate that we are going to have for the next hour. All these years later, they never even had a plan or an alternative. We can finally choose families, and they can join us today in extending the ACA tax credits and save healthcare for millions of members of the American family. How easily and quickly they did a massive tax cut for the wealthiest amongst us while subsequently arguing that they could deny average men and women an opportunity for health insurance. So here we are all these years later, as one who helped to write the Affordable Care Act, the ACA is still standing. We will continue to improve it every single year. When I consider now the uninsured enrollment in America is down to 6 percent, it is thanks to the ACA. If Congress did not do what we are about to do in the next hour, a family of four making $130,000 would see their marketplace premium go from $921 to $1,992. That would be an 18.4 percent increase.”