STATEMENT OF ADMINISTRATION POLICY
H.R. 954 - CO-OP Consumer Protection Act of 2016
(Rep. Smith, R-NE, and seven cosponsors)
The
Administration strongly opposes House passage of H.R. 954. The
Administration remains committed to providing Americans with accessible,
quality, and affordable health coverage, including by addressing issues
that arise when their health insurers stop offering coverage during the
year. In such circumstances, the Administration has offered special
enrollment periods, provided consumer outreach, and worked with state
departments of insurance to ensure consumers have smooth transitions to
other health plans. Individuals for whom coverage is unaffordable or
who experience a hardship also may quality for an exemption from the
individual-responsibility provision of the law. These options are
available to all consumers in these circumstances, not just those
enrolled in coverage through CO-OPs.
H.R.
954 would exempt anyone whose CO-OP ends coverage during the year from
the individual-responsibility provision. This is unnecessary given
consumer protections already available. Moreover, it would create a bad
precedent for using exemptions from the individual-responsibility
provision to address unrelated concerns about the Affordable Care Act.
The individual-responsibility provision is a necessary part of a system
that prohibits discrimination against individuals with pre-existing
conditions and requires guaranteed issuance. The provision helps
prevent people from waiting until they get sick to buy health insurance
or dropping health insurance when they believe they do not need it.
Weakening the individual responsibility provision would increase health
insurance premiums and decrease the number of Americans with coverage.
The
Administration always is willing to work with the Congress on fiscally
responsible ways to further improve health care affordability and the
Affordable Care Act. The President's Budget offers a number of
proposals to do so. However, H.R. 954 would be a step in the wrong
direction, because it would create a precedent that undermines a key
part of the law and would do nothing to help middle-class families
obtain affordable health care.
If the President were presented with H.R. 954, he would veto the bill.
H.R. 5303 - Water Resources Development Act of 2016
(Rep. Shuster, R-PA, and 3 cosponsors)
While
H.R. 5303 would advance some of the Administration's policies and
principles including building a foundation for long-term economic
growth, addressing significant risks to public safety, strengthening the
Nation's resilience to the impacts of climate change, and protecting
and restoring our environment, it should be improved with additional
reforms and elimination of problematic provisions. Additionally, the
Administration believes that the Congress should quickly pass targeted
funding to support Flint, Michigan, whether in the Water Resources
Development Act or another vehicle.
H.R.
5303 would authorize the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) to
construct several new projects that the Administration has recommended
for authorization. New project and study authorizations should be
limited to those most likely to provide high economic or environmental
returns to the Nation or address a significant risk to public safety
within the Corps' three main mission areas: flood and storm damage
reduction; commercial navigation; and aquatic ecosystem restoration.
The Administration supports provisions in the bill to de-authorize
projects that no longer meet the Nation's needs.
Creating
and maintaining the Nation's water resources infrastructure is a shared
responsibility between Federal and non-Federal beneficiaries and
requires that the management, use, protection, and restoration of our
water resources continue to evolve to meet the Nation's future needs.
The Administration welcomes the efforts in the bill to expand options
for non-federal project partners who want to cover more of, or all of,
the costs to study or construct a Corps project.
This
legislation impedes Administration efforts to both enhance resilience
and increase public-private collaboration and private investment in
environmental restoration by establishing a confusing and duplicative
mitigation bank program overseen by the RESTORE Council, which includes
Governors from only the five states along the Gulf Coast.
The
Administration urges the Congress to enact an important reform of the
laws governing the Inland Waterways Trust Fund, which a proposal in the
President's FY 2017
Budget would accomplish. The proposal would raise $1.3 billion in
additional revenue over 10 years from the commercial users of these
waterways, which would help finance future capital investment and
maintenance work on these waterways that will benefit these users and
support economic growth.
The
Administration remains committed to working with the Congress on
bipartisan legislation to address the Nation's water resources
challenges.
Source: Executive Office of the President, Office of Management and Budget
