[Page H3826]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        EXPAND HEALTHCARE ACCESS

  (Mr. PAYNE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. PAYNE. Madam Speaker, the contrast between Republicans and 
Democrats on the issue of healthcare could not be any clearer.
  Why do Republicans in the Trump administration want to make Americans 
sick again?
  They want to eliminate protections for people with preexisting 
conditions. They want to take us backward.
  Democrats, on the other hand, want to make America healthy.
  We want to expand healthcare access. We want to strengthen the 
Affordable Care Act, and we want to make sure that people with 
preexisting conditions are not denied insurance coverage.
  Madam Speaker, more than 200,000 people in New Jersey who purchased 
their insurance through the Affordable Care Act marketplace have 
preexisting conditions. That is why H.R. 986, the Protecting Americans 
with Preexisting Conditions Act, is so important.
  It would block the Trump administration's efforts to weaken the 
Affordable Care Act's protections for preexisting conditions, because 
there is no going back to healthcare discrimination.

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