Paul Tonko: “I thank the gentleman from California for yielding. Certainly I understand the anger, Representative Garamendi, and I…”

“I thank the gentleman from California for yielding. Certainly I understand the anger, Representative Garamendi, and I know I am not alone. I know all of my colleagues are hearing the outbursts in our given districts about the foolishness and the hard- heartedness of taking away a very valuable asset. Healthcare coverage is so important now to the American public, but in a particular way, it is near and dear to those who most recently realized that coverage. I will tell you, being on this floor when the Affordable Care Act was passed, that was a monumental effort. It was difficult to launch that program. It took a lot of hard work, years of messaging, going to hearings, working those amendments that were suggested into the discussion, and making certain that the package met the mission that we embarked upon. So it is important now to make certain that we only go forward and upward from this moment. Like many programs before the Affordable Care Act--Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid--they were difficult to launch; but unlike those programs, Congress and the Presidents in those given eras came forward and said: Okay. What did we learn from that launch? How can we improve upon the package? How can we strengthen some of the dynamics of concern? Here we have people, as you indicated, that are not only unwilling to make those reforms possible, but disguising what they call healthcare reform in the name of a tax package for the wealthy.…”