House Votes to End Failed Obamacare Experiment and Restore Health Care Freedom
– Bill Now Goes to Senate for Consideration –
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I promised the people of the 36th District of Texas that I would repeal Obamacare and replace it with conservative solutions – and President Trump was elected on this same platform. With this vote, we are one step closer to fulfilling that promise and restoring health care freedom in America. While this bill is not perfect, I was proud to vote for it and provide the American people with relief from Obamacare’s higher premiums, soaring deductibles, cancelled plans, fewer choices and lowered quality of care. As Obamacare continues its death spiral, Americans could soon be without insurance. We have a duty and obligation to act. The American Health Care Act will lower premiums, expand options and allow Americans to choose an affordable plan that fits their needs. It will also repeal Obamacare’s burdensome taxes, expand health savings accounts and includes one of the largest entitlement reforms ever. Despite the misinformation from liberal Democrats, it will not kick millions of Americans off their health plans and it will continue to protect those with pre-existing conditions. The American people have voted with their wallets and their feet. They don’t want Washington’s health care prescription. They want health care freedom and choices – and that’s what the AHCA gives them.
To anyone who still believes the fantasy that Obamacare is working, consider the following:
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✔ Obamacare premiums have skyrocketed by double digits each and every year it has been in place – leading millions of Americans to lose coverage because they either could not afford the premiums or could not afford to actually access the coverage they had paid for.
✔ Americans are losing choices among plans as health insurance markets are collapsing. One-third of counties across the U.S. have only one insurance provider.
✔ More Americans have dropped coverage, than have actually signed up for Obamacare. |
President Trump Issues Executive Order Protecting Religious Liberty
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President Trump took an important step forward to protect the rights of those who have deeply held religious convictions. As you may know, those with deeply held religious convictions were under intense pressure by the previous Administration to set their religious convictions aside - to leave them inside the walls of the church as it were. That is wrong! I wrote to the President earlier this year along with other like-minded Members of Congress urging him to take action to protect religious freedom.
Nuns from Little Sisters of the Poor—a Catholic Charity that cares for the sick, the elderly and the forgotten—were at the White House this week for the signing ceremony of the religious liberty Executive Order (EO). You may recall that this is the groups that had to restore to suing President Obama in order to stop the Administration from demanding that they spend their own money to provide abortifacient drugs. That was an unprecedented overreach by a government and this EO protects them and others from such coercion against conscience in the future.
Follow is the top line summary of the Religious Liberty Executive Order from the Administration:
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✔ This Executive Order will ensure that the Federal government no longer unfairly discriminates against or punishes Americans merely for their religious beliefs.
✔ It is unfair for the government to make religious organizations such as schools, churches, hospitals, doctors, and charities choose between either violating their religious beliefs or closing their doors.
✔ America is stronger when people of faith and their organizations can exercise their religion freely - they are some of government's most committed and cost-effective partners in caring for the sick and elderly, assisting the poor, educating the young, and showing love and compassion to all.
✔ In a tolerant society, we do not exclude religious organizations and diversity is a strength, not a weakness.
✔ The freedom to believe what we choose and to act on those beliefs is what separates us from totalitarian regimes.
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| Babin Votes Against $1 Trillion Spending Bill |
I voted against this $1 trillion government funding bill because it fails to include so many of the goals and priorities that President Trump – and the Republican Congress – were elected to carry out. The reality is, when we hamstring the Republican majority by catering legislation to meet the Senate’s 60 vote supermajority threshold, we are essentially giving Senate Democrat leaders a veto over our legislative and spending priorities. While this bill includes several positive provisions, such as a boost in defense spending, it fails to provide new funding for the border wall or end taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood and sanctuary cities. We must deliver on our promises to the American people and put an end to the abuse of the Senate filibuster that is obstructing President Trump’s conservative agenda.
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| Meeting With Texas 36 Constituents |
Great to welcome the Woods Family from Livingston, TX and the Griffith Family from Huffman, TX to the U.S. Capitol.
Enjoyed meeting Cheyenne Vogeler, of Baytown, TX, to discuss ways to more effectively treat and ultimately cure childhood cancer.
Met with a group of community bankers from across the district to discuss their critical role in serving their respective communities.
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