[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 7 (Wednesday, January 19, 2011)]
[House]
[Pages H324-H325]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       THE TRUTH WILL SET US FREE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Al Green) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. AL GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, it has been written many 
centuries ago that if we know the truth, the truth will set us free. 
The truth is, Mr. Speaker, that repeal of the current health care law 
means that we will reinstate conditions that existed prior to the 
repeal. The truth is that prior to the law that we currently have, we 
were spending $2.5 trillion a year on health care. That's $79,000 a 
second. That's 17.6 percent of GDP.
  The truth is that if we had continued at that pace, we would spend by 
2018 $4.4 trillion per year, more than 20 percent of GDP, $139,000 per 
second. The truth is that health care was going to bankrupt this 
country. CBO has estimated that this bill that currently passed that is 
in place now and is law, the health care bill that's law, saves

[[Page H325]]

about $1 trillion over a 20-year period, more than $1 trillion, to be 
more appropriate.
  This bill, if it becomes law, will reinstate the past that we have 
tried to overcome. This bill will bring back, reinstate, preexisting 
conditions. And as has been said, and for edification purposes, 
pregnancy is a preexisting condition. This bill will reinstate the 
doughnut hole that we have been trying to close to help seniors with 
their pharmaceuticals. This bill will reinstate kicking children off of 
the policies that they're on now with their parents until they are 26 
years of age. This bill will reinstate a condition wherein 
approximately 45,000 persons per year were dying from a lack of 
insurance. That's one person every 12 minutes. This bill will take us 
back in my State to 6 million persons being uninsured without the 
possibility of having insurance, will take us back to 1.1 million 
persons in Harris County, Texas, being uninsured, 20 percent of the 
children in the State of Texas are uninsured. This bill will take us 
back to a time and the place that we tried to escape.
  And I thank God that this so-called repeal will not become law 
because I believe that this bill, if it becomes law, will hurt too many 
people. And there are some I have actually heard say, it would be good 
for it to become law because then people could understand the pain that 
this bill will invoke. I don't agree. I do not agree because I don't 
want people to suffer unnecessarily. I believe we do have a duty to be 
our brother's keeper. And by the way, it's easy to be your brother's 
keeper when you don't have to keep your brother. It is difficult to do 
the right thing to make sure that every American has health care. In a 
country wherein we will take the bank robber who is harmed in the 
process of robbing a bank and give him aid and comfort, in a country 
wherein we will give our enemies in mortal combat aid and comfort if 
they should become wounded, in a country wherein we will give the 
person on death row who is to meet his Maker next week aid and comfort 
if he gets sick this week and then send him to meet his Maker next 
week, in this country, the richest country in the world, if we can give 
aid and comfort to the bank robber, if we can give aid and comfort to 
the mortal enemy of this country, if we can give aid and comfort to 
those who are on death row, we can give aid and comfort to those who 
are among the least, the last, and the lost.
  I believe that we've made a mistake today. This is why I voted 
against repeal.

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