Bill Archer: “Mr. Speaker, this is truly a great day and a great week. As significant as all our actions may be for this historic new…”

“Mr. Speaker, this is truly a great day and a great week. As significant as all our actions may be for this historic new Congress, the action we take today is even greater for someone else. That someone else may be the victim of breast cancer, locked in a job that she cannot change because she fears losing her health insurance. It may be a victim of diabetes. It may be someone who has had a heart attack, a stroke, or anyone who has ever been seriously ill. It also, Mr. Speaker, may be my new little baby grandchild, who, born prematurely this year, came into the world weighing just 2 pounds. To me, this little boy is a beautiful child who, thanks to the wonder of modern medicine, can now have a full life. But to others, my grandchild is still a preexisting condition. When he gets older, he too may not be able to change jobs or even get insurance in the first place. But I am happy to say that this bill changes all that. This bill lets people change jobs without losing their health insurance, even if they have a preexisting condition. What a major breakthrough for my grandson, Archer Samuel Hadley, and for millions of Americans who now know this Congress has heard their pleas and answered their prayers. This is the bill that does that, and much, much more. It powerfully fights fraud and abuse by creating new criminal penalties and by increasing funding for prosecution and investigation.”