Carolyn Maloney: “I thank the gentlelady for yielding and for her leadership. Madam Speaker, today Congress must, once again, spend time…”

“I thank the gentlelady for yielding and for her leadership. Madam Speaker, today Congress must, once again, spend time in an empty gesture even as this country waits for real solutions to serious problems. Instead of dealing with ways to speed up and expand the creation of jobs, once again, our colleagues on the other side of the aisle insist that we pretend like we are going to repeal the Affordable Care Act-- even though that could drop over 6.6 million young adults under the age of 26 off their parents' health care policies; even though that could throw 17 million children with preexisting conditions to the mercy of the marketplace; even though that would drop 5.3 million seniors down the doughnut hole of Medicare; even though it would just create new uncertainties for small businesses. Even though all of this is true and more, you make Congress, once again, engage in this crude Kabuki, which is totally without meaning because, if by some dark miracle you are able to pass the bill in the House and the Senate, do you believe for one second that the President would sign it? So what are we doing today? We are taking a vote on repealing the Affordable Care Act for the 31st time. It was a waste of time the first time, the second time, the third time, and so on and so on, and it's a waste of time today. So I would say let's just hurry up. Vote ``no'' on the rule and on the underlying bill, and let's get back to the business of working to create jobs for the American people.…”