The 115th Congress-Washington 2017

[Prolieum]

Senate Gallery

Lee Appleby had, for no particular reason, remained at the Capitol after the conclusion of the day's house session, idly and aimlessly wandering about the increasingly reporter-clogged grounds. Finally, he decided to have a stop at the opposite chamber that they seemed to be concentrating around, and slipped into the gallery to take a seat.

[Tumblrena]

Washington D.C.
United States Senate
1834
Monday
3 July
2017

Buck turns and comes into the chamber smiling like he is unconcerned as he walks up the row. He greets the Senators cheerfully. "Good evening everyone."

Buck has a special place in his heart for dramatic timing but this time he does not draw anything out or waste any moments. He hops up front.

"To break the tie I vote Aye on the nominee and she is confirmed."

He taps the gavel and shakes the hand of the President Pro Tempore.

[Meelducan]

Senate Floor

Darnell shakes his head, gathers some of his items and exits the chamber to place a call.

[Greater Arab State]

Senate Floor

Kramer shook his head but wasn't surprised by the Vice Presidents vote, and exited the chamber for his office.

[Prolieum]

House Floor-Chair

"This House shall again come to order."

"The floor is open to motions."

[Dentali]

House Floor-Chair

"This House shall again come to order."

"The floor is open to motions."

Samara: "Motion to suspend all rules and take up the "Protecting the DREAM Act of 2017"

[Bruke]

House Floor-Chair

"This House shall again come to order."

"The floor is open to motions."

Samara: "Motion to suspend all rules and take up the "Protecting the DREAM Act of 2017"

Finally!

Morton: “Seconded.”

[The Orion Islands]

Senator Wilson: "Mr. President, I move to proceed along the docket."

[Tallahassee News Station]

"Objection Mr. President, I move to suspend all necessary rules and take up the sex change coverage act"-Jared

[Democratic Peoples republic of Kelvinsi]

Senator Wilson: "Mr. President, I move to proceed along the docket."

Brankers: "I second the motion"

[Prolieum]

House Floor

"Seconded," Appleby monotoned upon his return to the chamber.

[Prolieum]

Senate Floor-Chair

"The motion is not in order. The floor is not open to motions."

[Amuaplye]

Torenov hurriedly entered the chamber. "Sorry for the fact that I'm late. What's happened so far?"

[Bruke]

Torenov hurriedly entered the chamber. "Sorry for the fact that I'm late. What's happened so far?"

Morton has a page pass a note to his fellow Congressman, which reads:

“A bill for DACA just came up, followed by a bill for government-funded sex changes. We’ll decide which goes to a vote first.”

[Amuaplye]

Torenov hurriedly entered the chamber. "Sorry for the fact that I'm late. What's happened so far?"

Morton has a page pass a note to his fellow Congressman, which reads:

“A bill for DACA just came up, followed by a bill for government-funded sex changes. We’ll decide which goes to a vote first.”

He nodded at Morton. "I second Mr. Samara's motion."

[The Orion Islands]

Senate Floor-Chair

"The motion is not in order. The floor is not open to motions."

Senator Wilson: "Then what is the floor open to, Mr. President? We aren't paid to sit here all day, we are paid to do the will of the American people."

[The United Artherian Federation]

House Floor-Chair

"This House shall again come to order."

"The floor is open to motions."

Samara: "Motion to suspend all rules and take up the "Protecting the DREAM Act of 2017"

House Floor, White

"Objection, Mister Speaker I motion to suspend the rules and consider The Tobacco Act."

[Prolieum]

House Floor-Chair

"Without objection, the motion to suspend the rules and take up the Sex Change Coverage Act passes. The Chair invites the Representative from Michigan to lay out the bill."

[Prolieum]

House Floor

Appleby idly fiddled with a cuff button on his slightly-wrinkled dress shirt beneath a slightly less-wrinkled suit, as he rose to the stand before the chamber, before laying out his bill.

Official Name: Sex-Change Coverage Act

Overview: Covers the cost of sex-change operations.

Section 1: Sex-Change Operations are defined as procedures, including physical surgeries and hormone treatments, designed to change a person's physical sex.

Section 2: The federal government of the United States shall reimburse any licensed operator who performs or provides a sex-change operation in the United States for the full cost of the operation, without charge to the patient, once the operation or operations are complete.

Section 3: The Secretary of Health and Human Services may cancel reimbursement if the amount charged by the licensed operator is proven to be excessively greater than the market rate without justification.

Section 4: All federal restrictions on a patient receiving a sex-change operation, including diagnosis and referral restrictions, are removed for any patient at or above the age of consent.

"Simple bill. You've got people who've got struggles with their sex. Serious issue, serious problem for them. We've got the tech to help with that. Sex-change surgeries. Life changing for these people, big deal, but expensive. Something that we can cover. Doesn't need to be complicated. Reimburse the doctors. If they try to charge a dumb number, they don't get paid. Not much cost, does a lot of good."

Appleby simply stopped speaking, finished.

[Prolieum]

House Floor-Chair

"The floor is open to questions."

[Meelducan]

House Floor

Donald stood and began to clap,

“I am the best doctor in California and let me tell you my friends, this bill is a great thing! I support it!” Donald then do the sitting.

[Prolieum]

House Floor-Chair

"The Representative from California will be reminded that only statements in the form of a question, and responses to such statements, are in order during the question period."

[Democratic Peoples republic of Kelvinsi]

House Floor

Donald stood and began to clap,

“I am the best doctor in California and let me tell you my friends, this bill is a great thing! I support it!” Donald then do the sitting.

Jamie Johnson also do the standing ovation.

"I am the best mathematician from Rhode Island, and I would like to reiterate my cousin's point. TABACCO IS EVIL, WALMART''S OWNER WANTS YOU TO SMOKE AND DIE! Support this act and say no to the Walton family. Thank you."

Jamie Johnson do the sit .

[Dentali]

House Floor-Chair

"The floor is open to questions."

Emberton: "Two questions"

"Today many Americans are struggling to make payments on medical procedures and prescriptions that they need to take in order to live. Why should the US government pay money to support procedures that are not medically necessary?"

"The single most comprehensive study regarding 'Long-Term Follow-Up of Transsexual Persons Undergoing Sex Reassignment Surgery', took 30 years to study the long term effects of the surgery on transgender individuals. 'The study identified increased mortality and psychiatric hospitalization compared to the matched controls. The mortality was primarily due to completed suicides (19.1-fold greater than in the control group), but death due to neoplasm and cardiovascular disease was increased 2 to 2.5 times as well. We note, mortality from this patient population did not become apparent until after 10 years. The risk for psychiatric hospitalization was 2.8 times greater than in controls even after adjustment for prior psychiatric disease (18 percent). The risk for attempted suicide was greater in male-to-female patients regardless of the gender of the control. Further, we cannot exclude therapeutic interventions as a cause of the observed excess morbidity and mortality. The study, however, was not constructed to assess the impact of gender reassignment surgery per se.'"

"In another case Birmingham University's Aggressive Research Intelligence Facility found that most studies in favor of gender reassignment none of the studies provides conclusive evidence that gender reassignment is beneficial for patients. It found that most research was poorly designed, which skewed the results in favor of physically changing sex. There was no evaluation of whether other treatments, such as long-term counseling, might help transsexuals, or whether their gender confusion might lessen over time.'"

"In 2016, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services under the Winston Administration revisited the question of whether sex reassignment surgery would have to be covered by Medicare plans. It concluded 'Based on a thorough review of the clinical evidence available at this time, there is not enough evidence to determine whether gender reassignment surgery improves health outcomes for Medicare beneficiaries with gender dysphoria.'"

"So here is my second question, if no credible evidence supports that this surgery actually benefits people in any way, and the most comprehensive research we have suggests severe negative consequences why should we fund it with taxpayer dollars?"

[Prolieum]

House Floor

"Covering costs wouldn't be such a big problem if we had single-payer. We don't. When we do, that'll help with that," Appleby replied.

"These are life changing surgeries. Not cold medicine. Not a broken bone. Not heartburn. About as big as it gets. Not a big population for them. But a big deal for those people."

"I heard three studies. One with a control group that didn't sound like it was people who needed a surgery and didn't get it. One that said Alabama doesn't like people who get sex change surgeries or people who study them. And one that said they don't know if it works with Medicare or not. Not very convincing."