I think everyone here would agree that the goals of the ABLE Act are worthy. The bill's title stands for achieving better life experience, and it would allow for the creation of tax-free savings accounts to benefit individuals with disabilities. These accounts would provide a way for families raising children with disabilities to set aside savings for their child's care. What I am concerned about is the offsets. The bill before us today uses Medicare cuts to pay for a tax break. Medicare is a program that seniors and people with disabilities depend upon for their health care, and we should not be cutting Medicare to pay for this bill. Meanwhile, we all know that our efforts to permanently repeal and replace the SGR in the lameduck are, unfortunately, falling flat. And while I hope we can still pass SGR this month, if it does not get done, we are going to have a Medicare bill that will cost tens of billions of dollars in March, and Republicans will force us to pay for every last dime, and here we are, using $1.2 billion in health offsets for non- health bills. In addition to the Medicare offsets, there are other offsets included in this bill that are troublesome. The provision on certified professional employer organizations could have a negative effect on worker rights, including collective bargaining and organizing and worker protections. I say again, the goals of the ABLE Act are laudable.…
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I urge all of my colleagues to support this bill. Obviously, we have to prevent more tragedies like what occurred. I ask unanimous support for this legislation. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
In closing, I urge all my colleagues to support this bipartisan bill. It is important that we get at junk fees, and this is one of those bills that comes out of our committee that will accomplish that goal. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the…
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Again, what we are trying to do here, as the chair of the committee has said, is get rid of bad actors. I think this is an effective way to do it, so I would hope everyone would join me on both sides of the aisle in voting ``yes'' on this…





