{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://hern.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=422", "Hern votes against tax increases, rampant spending in reconciliation markup", "2021-09-15", "2021", "2021-09", "Republican", "House", "OK", "Kevin Hern", "H001082", "hern.house.gov", "hern", "https://hern.house.gov/news/documentquery.aspx", "scraper", "Representative Kevin Hern (OK-01) released the following statement after voting against the $3.5 trillion reconciliation package in a Ways and Means Committee markup today. The committee spent four days over the last week debating amendments on pieces of the legislation under Ways and Means jurisdiction.\n\n\u201cSpeaker Pelosi\u2019s priorities are not in line with the American peoples\u2019 priorities,\u201d said Rep. Hern. \u201cWe spent four days marking up the largest expansion of the federal government in history when we knew from the start that many of these provisions will not become law. Not only are the policies we debated over the last four days unpopular among the American people, they are also unpopular among many Democrats, including multiple Senators and several House Democrats. Just earlier today, we saw the Pelosi\u2019s drug pricing proposal rejected in the House Energy and Commerce Committee, with several Democrats voting against it. I believe we will see more of this as the reconciliation package continues to make its way through House committees.\u201d\n\nRep. Hern offered five amendments over the course of the 4-day markup; each was rejected by the Democrat majority.\n\nAmendment #1 \u2013 on Universal Paid Family and Medical Leave (Subtitle A). Offered on Thursday, September 9.\n\nRep. Hern\u2019s amendment would protect Americans\u2019 existing paid family and medical leave plans and prevent unfairly forcing the middle class to subsidize corporations\u2019 paid leave plans.\n\nYou can watch Rep. Hern\u2019s statement on this amendment here.\n\nAmendment #2 \u2013 on Medicare Dental, Hearing, and Vision Coverage (Subtitle E). Offered on Friday, September 10.\n\nRep. Hern\u2019s amendment would ensure access to hearing, vision, and dental benefits in private Medicare plans in rural and underserved communities of color. Rep. Hern added a letter to the record with 14 Republican Members of the Ways and Means Committee in support of Medicare Advantage, urging protections as Medicare approaches insolvency.\n\nYou can watch Rep. Hern\u2019s statement on this amendment here.\n\nAmendment #3 \u2013 on Democrat Tax Increases (Subtitle I). Offered on Tuesday, September 14.\n\nRep. Hern\u2019s amendment would delay the effective date of Subtitles F-J until the inflation rate has been at or below 2.5% for 12 consecutive months.\n\nYou can watch Rep. Hern\u2019s statement on this amendment here.\n\nAmendment #4 \u2013 on Government Price Setting (Subtitle J). Offered on Tuesday, September 14.\n\nRep. Hern\u2019s amendment would exempt any drug used to treat or cure rare diseases from price setting.\n\nYou can watch Rep. Hern\u2019s statement on this amendment here.\n\nAmendment #5 \u2013 on Democrat Tax Increases (Subtitle I). Offered on Wednesday, September 15.\n\nRep. Hern\u2019s amendment would strike the changes to Foreign Derived Intangible Income (FDII) deductions which prevent American companies from moving their intellectual property overseas.\n\nYou can watch Rep. Hern\u2019s statement on this amendment here.\n\nAdditional Information\n\nRep. Hern\u2019s opening statement from Thursday can be found here.\n\nRep. Hern also spoke in support of amendments from Rep. Adrian Smith (NE-03) on September 14 and Rep. Jodey Arrington (TX-19) on September 15.\n\nRep. Smith\u2019s amendment would make permanent the SALT deduction cap for millionaires and increase funding for cancer research. Watch Rep. Hern\u2019s statement here.\n\nRep. Arrington\u2019s amendment would require the Secretary of the Treasury to certify that changes to the treatment of foreign oil and gas extraction income will not reduce U.S. energy independence or increase oil and gas production in Russia, China, Venezuela, or Iran. Watch Rep. Hern\u2019s statement here.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T20:17:01Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://hern.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=422"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.9601900819689035, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}