[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 66 (Wednesday, May 12, 2004)]
[House]
[Page H2819]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    SEND THE PRESIDENT BACK TO TEXAS

  (Mr. McDERMOTT asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker, with everything going wrong for our war 
President in Iraq, it would be easy to overlook another tragedy 
confronting the United States.
  Almost 44 million people are uninsured in this country; they go 
without health care and hope they do not get sick. The vast majority of 
these people come from families where one person works full-time.
  By our actions, we are forcing Americans to choose between food and 
health care. That is not a choice. That is a cruel reality perpetuated 
by this administration.
  The administration pretends every American has health care because 
there are emergency rooms, and we have a cabinet Secretary who says so, 
knowingly misleading the American people, and we wonder why the world 
questions our moral leadership.
  Almost 44 million Americans do not have health care, and we can 
change that. Bills have been brought before the Congress for years, but 
the administration ignores them. We are going to deal with two useless 
ones today.
  Every other industrialized country offers affordable health care 
except us. We could change it today, but we will not under this 
administration. We are going to have to have an election and send the 
President back to Texas.




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