Rep. Michael Capuano(D-MA) writes:

Repealing the Affordable Care Act, for the 63^rd Time 

The House took up the President’s veto message on H.R. 3762, Restoring America’s Health Care Freedom Reconciliation Act of 2015. This is one more in a very long line of votes to repeal all or part of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) – 63 times, in fact.

In early January the House passed H.R. 3762 after it had already passed in the Senate. It is a reconciliation bill, which means it only required a majority vote for passage in the Senate instead of the 60 votes often needed to advance legislation. As expected, the President vetoed the legislation and this week the House took up a vote to override that veto.

H.R. 3762 repeals numerous provisions of the ACA, which the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates will result in the loss of health care coverage for more than 20 million Americans after 2017. H.R. 3762 also defunds Planned Parenthood for one year, which will leave many patients without access to cancer screenings, family planning and preventive care.

It is worth noting that despite this continued obsessive focus on eliminating the ACA, the Republican-led House has still failed to propose any alternative legislation. Overriding a Presidential veto requires a 2/3 majority. While a majority of House members voted to override the Presidential veto, the 2/3 threshold was not met so the measure failed. I voted NO.

Securities and Exchange Committee (SEC)

On Wednesday the House considered H.R. 1675, the Encouraging Employee Ownership Act of 2015. H.R. 1675 combines five bills governing capital markets that create unnecessary burdens for the SEC and do not do enough to protect investors. The legislation directs the SEC to review and revise all of its rules dating back to 1934 but does not provide any additional money for staff to accomplish this sweeping analysis. It also changes rules relating to when companies are required to disclose the value of their stocks and other financial information when issuing that stock to their employees. I voted NO. H.R. 1675 passed… (on a substantially party-line vote)

Financial Institutions

On Thursday the House considered H.R. 766, the Financial Institution Customer Protection Act of 2015. Rather than protecting consumers, this legislation really hinders the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) ability to investigate financial crimes. H.R. 766 also reduces the window that the DOJ can prosecute criminal activity from ten years to five years. I voted NO. H.R. 766 passed... (on a substantially party-line vote)

Our Representative, Tom Reed, is unlikely to explain his votes on these bills. I believe this sort of partisan political posturing is what leaves many Americans, even Republicans, dissatisfied with Republican Congressional mis-leaders.