[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 42 (Saturday, March 20, 2010)]
[House]
[Page H1749]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                           HEALTH CARE REFORM

  (Mr. HIMES asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. HIMES. Madam Speaker, for a long time I have started discussions 
about health care with the phrase, ``Setting aside the moral dimension, 
let's talk about the costs and the need to bring down costs.''
  I want to come back to that moral dimension. I want to come back to 
the fact that at the core of that moral dimension is the belief that we 
look after our own; that if you were attacked by your enemies, we send 
the best military in the world for hundreds of billions of dollars. If 
your house catches fire, we will send men and equipment to put out that 
fire. If an assailant enters your home, we will send men and equipment 
to look after our own.
  But if you're one of the tens of thousands of people diagnosed with 
breast cancer, coronary disease, leukemia, well, then we're not sure. 
We might look after you if you have a job, if you can keep that job, if 
you don't have preexisting conditions, if you haven't committed the sin 
of getting older.
  Madam Speaker, if we are to be true to what is the value of this 
country, that we look after our own, we will finally join the company 
of civilized nations and say, Every American, we will look after you; 
you will not die needlessly, by passing health care reform.

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