On the recordJuly 10, 2012
I thank my good friend from Michigan for yielding me this time and for his leadership on this issue. Mr. Speaker, just to address the previous speaker's comments, if you're a small business in America with 50 or fewer employees, you don't have to do a god-dang thing under the Affordable Care Act other than receive tax credits for offering health care coverage to your employees. So let's stop this nonsense of trying to scare small businesses throughout America. It's been pointed out on the floor by numerous colleagues that this is the 31st attempt in this session of Congress to repeal all or part of the Affordable Care Act. Even The Washington Post pointed out earlier this week that Baskin Robbins only offers 30 flavors of ice cream. Enough is enough. And when I first heard that the United States Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act, my first feelings were relief and happiness, not for me or anyone else who was involved in advancing the cause of health care reform, which was desperately needed--it is a system that has failed too many Americans for too long--but it was happiness for a 1-year-old little boy who I had a chance of meeting back home in western Wisconsin by the name of Henry. See, Henry's mother informed me that before he was even born he suffered a seizure in her womb and, therefore, the very first breath he took in his life, they were informed that he was uninsurable because he had a pre-existing condition.…
