Frank Pallone: “The Republican position is clear. Either affordable health care for millions of Americans goes or we will keep the…”

“The Republican position is clear. Either affordable health care for millions of Americans goes or we will keep the government shutdown. In an effort to avert the public's attention from this extreme and destructive hostage-taking, they have been putting forward a series of piecemeal, two month, sequestration level, funding bills. However, today's piecemeal bill reaches a new level of hypocrisy. The irony here would only be lost on a Republican Party as intransigent and dominated by the Tea Party as the one we have here in the House. The Affordable Care Act, which the Republicans are demanding be eliminated in exchange for allowing the government to reopen, includes the permanent reauthorization of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act. As the author of the reauthorization of Indian Health Care Improvement Act, I know the challenges that the reauthorization faced and just how long it took for us to finally get it into law--a decade, in case you are wondering. If we yield to Republican hostage-taking and throw out the Affordable Care Act, we throw out the reauthorization of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act. This will be devastating to Indian Country. Furthermore, this bill provides funding for a relatively small number of programs that support tribes. While not taking away from the importance of these programs, there are many more programs that go unfunded.…”