Washington, D.C. – Congressman Michael C. Burgess, M.D. (R-TX), a member of the House Rules Committee and Republican Leader of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health, released the following statement after he voted against H.R. 1425, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Enhancement Act.

“Since being signed into law, the Affordable Care Act has proven to be unaffordable,” said Burgess. “H.R. 1425, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Enhancement Act is a partisan bill that serves no purpose other than a tenth anniversary present to the Affordable Care Act.”

“Since the passage of this law, my constituents have continually told me how burdensome the costs are. This bill injects an enormous amount of funding into the Affordable Care Act as a futile attempt to salvage it.

“What is most concerning about this bill, is that it would actively harm our nation’s coronavirus response by requiring the government to set drug prices. The Congressional Budget Office found that such policies would lead to substantially fewer new drugs coming to market. What if one of those drugs had been remdesivir? A vote for this bill is a vote against a vaccine or a cure for coronavirus.

“It will be through American innovation that we come to the other side of this pandemic. Congress should be putting forward policies that will encourage innovation not deter it.

“There are policies we could pass today that would help Americans. We could reauthorize community health centers and newborn screening, we could reauthorize the Money Follows the Person program, which allows Medicaid beneficiaries to move out of nursing homes and back into their own homes. Once again Democrats failing the people by squandering time on a partisan agenda.”

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