Pascrell Opening Statement at Oversight Subcommittee Hearing on Maximizing Health Coverage Enrollment Amidst Administration Sabotage

(As prepared for delivery)

Our hearing today will focus on access to health coverage and the Trump administration's continued unconscionable sabotage of Americans' care.

Since its passage over a decade ago, Republican leaders have treated the destruction of the Affordable Care Act like Captain Ahab treated the white whale.

Since 2011, Republicans have voted more than 70 times to eliminate the ACA. In 2017, they even held an outdoor party at the White House after passing a plan that would cause millions to lose their health coverage.

That same year, in one of the gravest abuses of power of this era, in the dead of night Republicans came within one vote of ending the ACA and remaking one-sixth of the American economy -- on a bill they'd introduced hours earlier!

Donald Trump recently bragged about his health care. Of course, he has great coverage – coverage paid for by the same taxpayers who stand to lose their protection if the administration succeeds in court.

They have never let up. I just want to remind everyone: the administration is in court right now demanding to destroy the ACA. The administration is fighting to remove health care protections from millions during a pandemic.

They are using virtually every tool to dismantle the health care system. They have greenlit scam junk plans without any protections. They have imposed a gag rule to prevent women from having access to reproductive health care. They have gutted funding for navigators and assisters. While failing to crush the ACA, they are destabilizing the American health care system to a breaking point.

The administration has gone out of its way to prevent Americans from getting and maintaining coverage. Between February and May, 21.9 million workers lost their jobs. Of those workers, 5.4 million became uninsured due to job loss.

In March, I joined my colleague Health Subcommittee Chairman Lloyd Doggett and nearly 100 House members calling for a Special Enrollment Period for people to seek ACA marketplace coverage during the COVID-19 pandemic. Even during a pandemic, HHS refused, likely dooming many Americans to suffer.

There is no other word for what they're doing except Sabotage.

We keep seeing the administration and my friends across the aisle swear up and down they support protections for pre-existing conditions. They assert this with a straight face while spending 10 years attacking the ACA. Let's repeat: Republicans have sought to terminate pre-existing protections over and over and over again.

In welcome contrast, some states are working hard to expand access to coverage. One of them is my great state. We have witnesses today from New Jersey and Colorado who will discuss how they are making the ACA work best for their citizens.

As Senate Republicans race to confirm a new Justice, they are downplaying their challenge to the ACA. If the Republicans have changed their minds on the ACA, why won't they join us in defending the law? When we voted in June to protect the ACA, 177-of-179 Republicans opposed it. If you don't have a calculator handy, that's 99 percent. When given a chance, 99 percent of our colleagues across the aisle voted against protecting pre-existing conditions. We know why.

In just a few short weeks the Supreme Court will hear the ACA case. The future of our health care system hangs in the balance.