Welch on Healthcare Repeal

[Chris Santee]

BURLINGTON, VT – On his way to Washington to begin his third term in Congress, Rep. Peter Welch announced a new strategy Tuesday to fight efforts to repeal the new health care reform law.
 
During a press roundtable at Burlington International Airport, Welch told reporters he was returning to Washington early to round up support for amendments he will propose that would allow all members of the House to vote up-or-down on signature provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
 
“It’s time to get beyond the rhetoric of the election and recognize that repealing this law would hammer middle class families and bust the budget,” Welch said. “Repeal would once again allow insurance companies to discriminate against those with preexisting conditions, impose lifetime limits on coverage, take away free preventive care for seniors and remove those under the age of 26 from their parents’ health plans. Every member of the House should have to vote on each of these important provisions.”
 
Welch, who will be sworn in to the 112th Congress on Wednesday, told reporters he will seek to find bipartisan solutions to creating jobs and reducing the deficit. But he said he plans to vigorously oppose any efforts to roll back the signature accomplishments of the 111th Congress, including health care reform, Wall Street reform, credit card consumer protections and increased student financial aid.
 
With Republicans poised to hold a vote on repealing health care reform next week, Welch will introduce four amendments to the repeal bill, which would protect the following provisions of the law:
 
The elimination of lifetime limits on care
Coverage of individuals up to age 26 on their parents’ health care plans
A ban on discrimination against those with preexisting conditions
Free preventive care for seniors
 
Later Tuesday, Welch plans to speak at the year’s first meeting of the Democratic Caucus to urge his colleagues to support his proposed amendments. As of Tuesday at noon, 30 House members had signed on to the effort.

[Chris Santee]

An FYI from Congressman Welch's office to the Fairfax News:

Less than 24 hours after Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) proposed amending health care reform repeal legislation to provide for an up-or-down vote on key provisions of the new law, 40 House Democrats have signed on to the Welch amendments.

Welch and his colleagues are calling for votes on the elimination of lifetime limits on care, coverage of individuals up to age 26 on their parents’ health care plans, banning discrimination against those with preexisting conditions and free preventive care for seniors. [Welch’s letter to his colleagues is copied below]

After incoming Republican Majority Leader Eric Cantor and other Republican leaders indicated Tuesday that they are recanting on campaign promises to open up the amendment process, Welch said the following:

“It looks like Republican leaders have gone down the rabbit hole. Just last year they were calling for less spending, more debate and an open amendment process. Now, their first move out of the gate is to increase the deficit by $140 billion, shut down debate and prohibit amendments. Before it even begins, the 112th Congress is starting to feel a little like Alice in Wonderland.”

Joining Rep. Welch in sponsoring the amendments are: Reps. Anna Eshoo, Lois Capps, Jan Schakowsky, Bruce Braley, Jesse Jackson Jr., Edward Markey, Gwen Moore, Sam Farr, Donna Edwards, Rosa DeLauro, Keith Ellison, Elliot Engel, Jim McDermott, Bennie Thompson, John Conyers, Jackie Speier, Alcee Hastings, Lucille Roybal-Allard, Michael Honda, Doris Matsui, Maurice Hinchey, Donna Christensen, Rick Larsen, James Langevin, Joe Courtney, Niki Tsongas, Sheila Jackson Lee, Chris Van Hollen, Paul Tonko, Hank Johnson, Raul Grijalva, Dennis Kucinich, Joseph Crowley, Mazie Hirono, Jerrold Nadler, Silvestre Reyes, Corrine Brown, Carolyn Maloney, José Serrano and John Olver.

[Chris Santee]

Welch and 63 House members file amendments to preserve key provisions of health care reform
Members seek up-or-down votes on middle class priorities
WASHINGTON, DC – Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) and 63 other House Democrats on Wednesday filed four amendments to legislation intended to repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

In an effort to highlight provisions of the health care law designed to support middle class Americans, the House members called for an up-or-down vote on several elements of the bill. Their amendments would preserve:

· The elimination of lifetime limits on care

· Coverage of individuals up to 26 on their parents’ health care plans

· A ban on discrimination against those with preexisting conditions

· Free preventive care for seniors.

“It’s time to get beyond the rhetoric of the election and recognize that repealing this law would hammer middle class families and bust the budget,” Welch said.

“The American people deserve to see their representatives in the U.S. House vote up-or-down on critical protections for middle class families. I’m hopeful that the new leadership of the House honors their campaign promises and allow for a vote on each of these amendments.”

Welch and his colleagues plan to petition the House Rules Committee on Thursday to accept their amendments.

Joining Rep. Welch in sponsoring the amendments are: Reps. Chris Van Hollen, Rosa DeLauro, Anna Eshoo, Jim McDermott, Lois Capps, Jan Schakowsky, Bruce Braley, Jesse Jackson Jr., Edward Markey, Gwen Moore, Sam Farr, Donna Edwards, Keith Ellison, Eliot Engel, Bennie Thompson, John Conyers, Jackie Speier, Alcee Hastings, Lucille Roybal-Allard, Michael Honda, Doris Matsui, Maurice Hinchey, Donna Christensen, Rick Larsen, James Langevin, Joe Courtney, Niki Tsongas, Sheila Jackson Lee , Paul Tonko, Hank Johnson, Raul Grijalva, Dennis Kucinich, Joseph Crowley, Mazie Hirono, Jerrold Nadler, Silvestre Reyes, Corrine Brown, Carolyn Maloney, José Serrano, John Olver, Chris Murphy, Betty Sutton, Rush Holt, Tim Walz, John Yarmuth, David Loebsack, Jim Moran, Kathy Castor, Bill Owens, Dennis Cardoza, Karen Bass, Pedro Pierluisi, Mike Doyle, Diana DeGette, Michael Capuano, David Price, Tammy Baldwin, Yvette Clark, Chellie Pingree, Ben Ray Lujan, Gary Ackerman, Luis V. Guitierrez, Loretta Sanchez, Danny Davis and Earl Blumenauer.

[Chris Santee]

Congressman Welch is keeping me posted,
so I'm passing it on to you:

At Rules Committee, Welch assails GOP’s budget-busting health care repeal
Sharing Vermont stories, Welch cites irresponsibility of ending free preventive care
WASHINGTON, DC – Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) took to the House Rules Committee Thursday to assail Republican efforts to add $230 billion to the deficit while taking away preventive care from vulnerable seniors.

Welch called on Republican leadership to honor its campaign promises and allow for up-or-down votes on amendments that would preserve key components of the Affordable Care Act. Yesterday Welch submitted four amendments to the health care reform repeal legislation alongside 63 of his colleagues.

“Today, Congress’ impartial referee found that your health care proposal – repeal and erase – will add $230 billion to the deficit. From where I sit, the promises you made during the campaign – the rhetoric you relied upon – impel you to come up with an offset for that $230 billion,” Welch told the committee.

“Is the first bill passed by the Republican Congress on health care going to take away some specific, hard-fought achievements for the middle class of America? This is not about political rhetoric, it’s about policy that affects real people, real families and real businesses.”

Focusing his remarks on stories he heard from Vermonters about the impact of ending free preventive care, Welch cited a conversation he had Thursday morning with Rutland Regional Medical Center President Tom Huebner.

“What [Tom Huebner] said, and I’m going to quote, is, ‘If we are serious about bending the cost curve, we need to prevent disease and we need to manage disease and we have to have free preventive care in order to do that..’”

Welch also recounted the case of a 64 year-old Vermonter who just this week visited a doctor at Fletcher Allen Health Care in Burlington and was diagnosed with metastatic colon cancer. Because the patient was waiting to qualify for Medicare before seeking preventive screenings, his cancer was caught too late.

“This is real,” Welch said. “The decision that you are making is real. This is not campaign rhetoric. You know, you won the campaign and you were effective in your arguments – but you are making a real decision. You are part of the United States Congress, and the policies we make are not about campaign rhetoric. It’s not about the next election. It’ s about what’s going to happen to the Rutland Regional Medical Center. It’s about what’s going to happen to this Vermonter who now has metastatic colon cancer that could have been detected. There are simple things in this bill that are important to the people you represent and the people I represent, and it is absolutely unnecessary to take those securities away from the middle class of this country.”

[Chris Santee]

Citing impact on middle class Vermonters, Welch votes against health care repeal rule
On House floor, Welch says repeal has real world consequences for millions of American families
WASHINGTON, DC – Citing the real-world impact of repealing the new health care law, Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) on Friday voted against the procedural motion setting rules of debate for the law’s proposed repeal.

Welch, the author of four amendments designed to allow for up-or-down votes on key provisions of the law, called on supporters of repeal to own up to the impact of withdrawing from millions of Americans new health coverage and new rights. His amendments would have preserved the ban on lifetime limits on care, coverage of individuals up to age 26 on their parents’ health care plans, the ban on discrimination against those with preexisting conditions and free preventive care.

Just before the House, by a vote of 236-181, approved rules shutting out amendments to the bill, Welch spoke on the House floor Friday morning, decrying attempts to strip health care access from millions.

“I say, Madam Speaker, to my Republican colleagues: you campaigned effectively. You beat us good. You ran on the agenda of defeating health care and repealing it. Now you’re doing it. Own it. Admit what it is you are doing. This is not a campaign. We’re playing with fire. We’re taking away health care benefits that make a real difference to our family,” Welch said. “You are taking [health care] away. Admit it. Own it. State it proudly. It’s what you campaigned on. It’s what you’re doing. But don’t try to sugarcoat what this is about.”

[Chris Santee]

News from Congressman Welch
Early this week, as newly elected House leaders made clear their intent to roll back health care reform as their first order of business, Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) returned to Washington to fight the effort every step of the way.

Within days of crafting four amendments designed to preserve key elements of the new health care law, Welch secured 63 cosponsors. Welch's amendments highlighted important middle class benefits included in the new law – protections that would be scrapped if the bill was repealed:

The elimination of lifetime limits on care
Coverage of individuals up to age 26 on their parents’ health care plans
A ban on discriminating against those with preexisting conditions
Free preventive care for seniors
On Thursday, Welch testified before the House Rules Committee to fight for each amendment. Repealing health care reform would add $230 billion to the national debt, he told the committee, while handing the keys to health care back to the insurance industry. Citing the experience of a Burlington man diagnosed with colon cancer because he could not afford preventive care, Welch called on his colleagues to consider the real-world implications of turning the clock back.

The House is expected to vote on repeal next Wednesday.