PROTECTING HEALTHCARE FOR MILLIONS OF AMERICANS

On 2026-01-08, Representative Yassamin Ansari (D-AZ-3) delivered a floor speech titled "PROTECTING HEALTHCARE FOR MILLIONS OF AMERICANS" in the House. The speech addressed immigration and also covered healthcare, taxes.

PROTECTING HEALTHCARE FOR MILLIONS OF AMERICANS

Congressional Record, Volume 172 Issue 5 (Thursday, January 8, 2026) [Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 5 (Thursday, January 8, 2026)] [House] [Pages H238-H244] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [ www.gpo.gov ] PROTECTING HEALTHCARE FOR MILLIONS OF AMERICANS (Under the Speaker's announced policy of January 3, 2025, Ms. Rivas of California was recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.) General Leave Ms. RIVAS. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material into the Record on the subject of my Special Order hour. The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the gentlewoman from California? There was no objection. Ms. RIVAS. Mr. Speaker, as a Member from California, I yield to my colleague from the great State of Utah, Congressman Blake Moore, so they can continue honoring Congressman Doug LaMalfa. Mr. MOORE of Utah. Mr. Speaker, sincere appreciation to the Congresswoman. I thank her very much. That is a great way to honor Doug. Ms. RIVAS. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Austin Scott). Mr. AUSTIN SCOTT of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I just want to say Doug was a kind and gentle giant. He was firm and fair. He was wise, and he was funny. I remember one day in the Agriculture Committee when he spoke for 5 minutes. He spoke so long that he finally remembered that he forgot to leave people any time to answer his questions. It was a pretty funny moment for the committee. He laughed about it, and he didn't make that mistake again. Mr. Speaker, I will say this about him. He was 100 percent American. When the local sheriff's department asked for help with people who knew how to operate diesel equipment, Doug showed up. Doug is the one. He is the Member of Congress that we saw on camera, getting on a bulldozer, saying: I love the smell of diesel power in the afternoon. It smells like victory. Mr. Speaker, Doug LaMalfa and only Doug LaMalfa. Ms. RIVAS. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from North Dakota (Mrs. Fedorchak.) Mrs. FEDORCHAK. Mr. Speaker, I am happy to be here today as a freshman Member. I didn't know Doug long, but I met him on one of our first days in the orientation sessions and the planning sessions for Congress. He was warm. He was friendly. He was helpful to a new freshman who didn't know much. From there, I learned how fun he was. He loved to play with my last name, ``Fedorchak.'' He used to say: ``How much wood could a Fedorchak chuck if a Fedorchak could chuck wood?'' It always made me laugh. I also learned quickly that not only was he fun but he was thoughtful, he was pragmatic, and he was a really, really good thinker. I turned to him on issues that I found to be difficult. I wanted to get his thoughts on them. He was a strong conservative. He was warm, kind, and principled. In my mind, he was exactly the kind of leader that Americans want. He is going to be dearly missed. I feel robbed that I didn't get to work with him more, and I will keep him and his family in my prayers. Ms. RIVAS. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Utah (Mr. Kennedy). Mr. KENNEDY of Utah. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding time. Mr. Speaker, there is a lot of symbolism that is happening at this point. I appreciate the bipartisanship. I thank the gentlewoman for yielding time. It is a reflection of what really should happen around this place. We should love and help each other and try to find common ground. It is a great representation of how Doug LaMalfa served. He was a man of the people. He served his people well. He was a man of the land. He loved his land. He loved his rice. He would talk about it with me and everybody else here regularly. He also loved people sufficiently to give them nicknames. My nickname had something to do with the villain in ``Ocean's Twelve.'' I was the ``Night Fox.'' I don't know if I agree with that characterization. He was the guy that did a break dance across a laser dance floor to steal things. Maybe some around here would think that is the kind of person that I am. I knew it was all in good taste and good fun. Doug game nicknames to everybody. Mr. Speaker, I will point out the last thing about Doug is that he loved his country. He knew that on the top the Capitol rotunda was a statue called the Statue of Freedom. Doug served not only his people but he served his God. He certainly loved both. In serving his country, he understood he was serving freedom. Mr. Speaker, I hope that I, as well as all of us, can live up to Doug's standard of service, his love for people, and his love for God. Ms. RIVAS. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Utah (Mr. Moore). Mr. MOORE of Utah. Mr. Speaker, to close, I again thank the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Rivas) for yielding a few more minutes to finish out these thoughts in Doug's memory. Mr. Speaker, I will wanted to give a quick closing message to his wife, Jill, and his four children: Kyle, Allison, Sophia, and Natalie. I get an hour every week to do these floor messages. I am lucky to get five Members to come. I try to fill up 20 minutes, 15 of which your dad would actually take. He would go on and on. I would try to get him to wrap up so I could go to dinner. He was always there for me. Tonight, we ran over time with the amount of people who wanted to come and take time out of their very busy schedules to come and share a brief message. They sat for an hour to spend 60 seconds to reflect on your dad and your husband. I hope you can take from that some sense of appreciation and connection that we all have with your dad and what an amazing man he is. [[Page H239]] {time} 1900 Ms. RIVAS. Mr. Speaker, my condolences to the family of former Congressman Doug LaMalfa. Mr. Speaker, I am glad to be here on the floor today to lead this important discussion with my Congressional Progressive Caucus colleagues about protecting healthcare for millions of Americans. Earlier today, the House voted to pass Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries' bill to extend the Affordable Care Act's enhanced premium tax credits for 3 more years. I thank Leader Jeffries for his relentless leadership to make today's vote a reality. House Democrats have been fighting for months to save these critical tax credits and for years to protect the Affordable Care Act from Republicans' constant attacks. The ACA tax credits are the reason that record numbers of Americans have health insurance today. The ACA tax credits lower monthly premiums and make coverage realistic for working families, small business owners, seniors not yet eligible for Medicare, and people who fall through the cracks of employer-based insurance. Because of these tax credits, people can go to the doctor before a problem becomes an emergency. They can manage chronic conditions. They can live with dignity instead of fear of bankruptcy. Democrats did not give up on the American people, unlike many Republicans, who chose to let these tax credits expire 1 week ago. That is right. When the ball dropped in Times Square on New Year's Eve, millions of Americans saw their healthcare premiums rise. That is a direct result of the healthcare crisis that Republicans created through their inaction on Americans' most pressing concerns. Over the past year, instead of working on meaningful solutions to lower the cost of groceries, lower the cost of housing, or protect healthcare, Republicans chose to rename the Gulf of Mexico, redefine what a showerhead is, rename The Kennedy Center, look into annexing Greenland, and regulate fridges and gas stoves. Yet, in all seriousness, there are real problems that our country is facing. ICE is terrorizing communities across the country, and yesterday, masked agents murdered Renee Nicole Good in broad daylight in Minnesota. Trump is entertaining entering another war with Venezuela. Vaccines are being rolled back, which will make students and communities sicker. Americans are struggling to afford basic goods. Speaking of affordability, we are in the middle of an affordability crisis that Republicans refused to address. Republicans chose to shut down the government instead of extending the ACA tax credits to help Americans afford healthcare. During the longest shutdown in government history, my colleagues and I heard from our constituents about how Republicans' inaction to extend the ACA tax credits would impact them. I hand-delivered several of these stories from my freshman colleagues to Speaker Johnson so that he could see how his shutdown was creating hardship for Americans from California to New Hampshire, Washington, and everywhere in between. In my district, the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles, nearly 31,000 people would have seen their healthcare costs rise if the ACA tax credits expired, and nearly 11,000 people would have lost access to healthcare entirely. Additionally, a 60-year-old couple in my district earning nearly $83,000 per year would have seen their annual premiums rise by nearly $14,000, and a family of four earning nearly $130,000 a year would have seen their annual premiums rise by over $6,000. This is just in my district. Republicans were willing to let this happen to Americans across the country, regardless of political affiliation. I am proud to have voted with my colleagues to pass Leader Jeffries' bill to extend the ACA tax credits and protect healthcare, but our work is not done. The Senate needs to take up this bill immediately so that Americans don't have to worry about their premiums skyrocketing. In the richest country on Earth, no one should have to worry about choosing between paying for groceries, making rent, or having healthcare. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Washington (Ms. Randall), my cohost for tonight's Special Order hour and my friend and fellow freshman classmate from the beautiful State of Washington. Ms.