[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 38 (Tuesday, March 16, 2010)]
[House]
[Page H1458]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           HEALTH CARE REFORM

  (Mr. COURTNEY asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. COURTNEY. Madam Speaker, in the State of Connecticut last 
weekend, we had an opportunity to see the health care crisis up close. 
Mission of Mercy, a national organization that holds free dental 
clinics, was in Middletown, Connecticut, and Connecticut--the 
wealthiest per capita income State in America--shattered the Mission of 
Mercy record, serving 2,045 working adults sleeping in their cars, 
lining up two nights before to get access to dental care. We're not 
talking about teeth whitening or teeth cleaning; we're talking about 
people walking in with abcesses that were so pronounced that it 
threatened the stability of their jaws, extractions, major surgery. 
This is the state of health care in America today.
  There is one group, though, that doesn't have to sleep in their car 
to get health care: Members of Congress, who participate in a Federal 
purchasing exchange subsidized by the American taxpayer. Madam Speaker, 
how do they demonize a plan which they benefit from every single day 
courtesy of the American taxpayer? I don't know how they do that.
  This week they have an opportunity to help those people who were 
lined up in their cars over the weekend to get the same access to care 
that those people who work every day pay with their taxes.
  Vote for health care reform.

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