Rep. Himes: House Moves to Repeal Affordable Care Act

WASHINGTON, Jan. 13 -- Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn. (4th CD), issued the following statement on the passage of the fiscal 2017 Budget Resolution by the House of Representatives:

"Today, the House of Representatives took its first step toward leaving 20 million Americans, including hundreds of thousands of Connecticut residents, without health insurance. At the same time, the House Majority also voted to strip funding from Planned Parenthood, a move that makes the health and well-being of women subordinate to baseless ideology.

"Repealing the Affordable Care Act with no replacement creates chaos and frightening uncertainty in the lives of those who rely on it and leaves our nurses, doctors, hospitals and insurance industry facing an unknown future. It will explode the national debt, adding $9 trillion over 10 years, throwing any semblance of fiscal responsibility out the window. As the poor, the sick and the vulnerable are left to fend for themselves, we are failing to live up to the ideals upon which our country was founded.

"Those who voted to gut these programs today see only large government and, in their eyes, government is always the enemy. It is to be crippled, defeated and discredited. This is a dangerous worldview. In truth, the Affordable Care Act and health service providers like Planned Parenthood are about people. Your neighbors. Your family.

"I've received an outpouring of support from across my district from people whose lives have been changed for the better by the Affordable Care Act. I heard from people who were able to find insurance for the first time in their lives because they had a pre-existing medical condition; keep their child on their insurance until they were 26; get life-saving surgery they couldn't have afforded without the ACA; and live out a dream to start a new business because they weren't tied to their old company's insurance.

"Over the coming months, I'll fight as hard as I can to stop the dismantling of the ACA. This is about protecting our fellow Americans from sickness, bankruptcy and death. I will always make that my priority."

30FurigayJof-5746950 30FurigayJof