{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://morgangriffith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=360926", "Congressman Griffith's Weekly E-Newsletter 11.11.13", "2013-11-11", "2013", "2013-11", "Republican", "House", "VA", "Morgan Griffith", "G000568", "morgangriffith.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Keep Your Health Plan Act Americans who have a health care plan that they like ought to be able to keep that plan.\u00a0 To that end, I joined Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI) and a number of other Members of Congress in introducing H.R. 3350, the Keep Your Health Plan Act.\u00a0 This bill would allow health insurance plans currently available on the individual market to be offered next year, and also would give Americans the choice to continue enrolling in those plans without being penalized under Obamacare\u2019s individual mandate. Both before and after the Obamacare health care plan was signed law into more than three years ago, President Obama and other supporters of the law repeatedly reassured Americans that \u201cIf you like your health care plan, you'll be able to keep your health care plan, period.\u00a0 No one will take it away.\u00a0 No matter what.\u201d\u00a0 This promise \u2013 made without caveats or exceptions \u2013 was reportedly spoken by the President at least 34 times, according to the Tampa Bay Times\u2019 independent Politifact. However, this blanket promise simply isn\u2019t true for everyone.\u00a0 Because of new Obamacare standards, \u201cthousands of people in Virginia and elsewhere are getting notices that their existing plans will no longer be offered after Jan. 1 or the next time they are up for renewal,\u201d read a recent report in the Richmond Times-Dispatch. Clarence Page, a member of the editorial board at the Chicago Tribune \u2013 President Obama\u2019s hometown paper \u2013 says he \u201csupport[s] most of [President Obama\u2019s] policies and programs,\u201d but \u201cin this instance, he would have to be delusional to think he was telling the truth.\u201d\u00a0 In a recent interview with NBC News, the President admitted that \u201cwe weren't as clear as we needed to be,\u201d and said \u201cI am sorry that [people] -- you know, are finding themselves in this situation, based on assurances they got from me.\u201d \u00a0 My colleagues and I in the House of Representatives are ready, willing, and able to help President Obama keep this broken promise.\u00a0 This is a mess that he and his Democrat allies in Congress created, passing Obamacare without Republican input or support.\u00a0 If the President and his allies want to help us fix this mess \u2013 and are not intent on just bashing Republicans \u2013 they too will support the Keep Your Health Plan Act. \u00a0 If you wish to make your voice heard on the \u201cif-you-like-it-you-can-keep-it\u201d promise, you can contact my office or become a Citizen Cosponsor of our bill at https://www.cosponsor.gov/details/hr3350-113.\u00a0 You can also contact my office or visit www.gop.gov/yourstory/ to share your experience with Obamacare. Upcoming Traveling Staff Office Hours My team and I view constituent services a top priority, and we work hard to serve you.\u00a0 In an effort to conveniently assist you and others throughout Southwest Virginia, Southside Virginia, and the Alleghany Highlands, we travel regularly throughout the Ninth District to participate in meetings, attend events, and hold traveling staff office hours.\u00a0 I unfortunately cannot attend every meeting that I am invited to because of work in Washington and the geographic size of the district.\u00a0 I often tell people that, if you draw a line roughly from Covington to Salem and then another from roughly Salem to Martinsville (and take out Franklin County), everything else in Virginia is in the Ninth District.\u00a0 That is why we have traveling staff office hours at least once a month in every area of the district. During traveling staff office hours, members of my team will be on hand in various communities for you to voice your opinion on legislative matters or to help you with federal agencies or programs like the Department of Veterans Affairs, Social Security, or Medicare.\u00a0 The traveling staff office hours schedule for the remainder of this year can be found on my website, www.morgangriffith.house.gov. As always, if you have questions, concerns, or comments, feel free to call my Abingdon office at 276-525-1405 or my Christiansburg office at 540-381-5671.\u00a0 To reach my office by email, please visit my website at www.morgangriffith.house.gov.\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "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": ["http://morgangriffith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=360926"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.649864949285984, "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"}