[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 134 (Wednesday, October 2, 2013)]
[House]
[Page H6157]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       OBAMACARE IS A CIVIL RIGHT

  (Ms. JACKSON LEE asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, yesterday, I heard the story of a 
mother who had lost her son, who had a preexisting condition and was 
not able to get insurance--only when a benevolent hospital took him in 
and determined, at the time, that he had Stage 3 cancer, because he had 
no insurance, because he had needed a colonoscopy.
  If he had had ObamaCare, he would have had the ability, at least, to 
get insurance without worrying about the preexisting condition.
  Emotions are high, but for the right reason. There is no reason that 
eliminating ObamaCare, as is being discussed on this floor, should be 
tied to opening the government back up. All the Republicans have to do 
is to pass, with the Democrats, a clean CR so that people might live.
  Their story is like taking away the civil rights laws that President 
Johnson helped pass because they did not like it. They would hold up 
the government and close the government.
  For me, this is civil rights for all Americans--to have the right to 
live, to have the right to have health insurance. It is not a budget 
issue. It is an issue to be done down the road. Vote for a clean CR.
  Mr. Speaker, there are a lot of emotions because this is about life 
and death.

                          ____________________