Dave Camp: “With the unemployment rate stuck at nearly 10 percent, far too many Americans and small businesses are struggling to get…”

“With the unemployment rate stuck at nearly 10 percent, far too many Americans and small businesses are struggling to get by. While the bill before us contains some very limited benefits, it does little to help small businesses create the jobs so many Americans desperately need. The motion to recommit the underlying bill keeps the underlying bill intact and provides real help to Americans by repealing one of the most onerous provisions of the new health care law, the individual mandate that, while exempting illegal immigrants, forces Americans to buy government-approved health insurance or pay a tax if they don't. The Federal Government has never required its citizens to purchase a particular product before, and doing so with health insurance violates the basic principles of freedom and individual choice. No American should be forced to buy or purchase health insurance they don't want or can't afford. This provision is so controversial that 20 States and the Nation's leading small business organization, the National Federation of Independent Business, have filed a lawsuit questioning its constitutionality. While legal experts will soon start arguing that case, we already know that the individual mandate tax penalty will fall hardest on middle- and low-income Americans. According to the Congressional Budget Office, in 2016, nearly 75 percent of the Americans who pay this tax will have household incomes below 500 percent of the Federal poverty level.”