[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 135 (Thursday, October 3, 2013)]
[House]
[Page H6181]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   CONSTITUTIONAL BUT UNCONSCIONABLE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Texas (Mr. Al Green) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. AL GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, what we are doing here in 
Congress may not be unconstitutional, but it is unconscionable. It is 
unconscionable for us to have a wholesale shutdown of the government 
and a piecemeal start up. It is unconscionable to pit needy Americans 
against needy Americans. It is unconscionable.
  It may be lawful to single out some and say, you are among the 
fortunate that we will bless today, but it's unconscionable. It's 
wrong. It may be lawful, but it's not right.
  It is wrong to decide that persons who happen to be poor, who need 
WIC, who need the very sustenance that people acquire to exist, food, 
clothing and shelter, it's wrong to say you are not blessed today. Your 
time will come, but not today. It may be constitutional, but it's 
unconscionable.
  It is unconscionable for us, in the richest country in the world, to 
conclude that a mother who has a child, making $15,080 a year, working 
full-time and living below the poverty line, it's unconscionable for us 
to push a system that will cause her to work full-time and not have 
insurance. ObamaCare, the Affordable Care Act, by any name you call it, 
will allow that mother to get insurance for herself and her child. It 
may not be unconstitutional to adhere to a principle that would cause a 
repeal of the Affordable Care Act. It is unconscionable, however, to do 
so in such a way as to prevent this mother from having insurance for 
her child.
  I came to Congress to represent everybody, and this includes those 
who make $7.25 an hour. I came to Congress to represent those who wait 
tables and make $2.13 an hour plus tips. It's unconscionable to have 
people working at $2.13 an hour in the richest country in the world who 
cannot get health insurance. That's what the Affordable Care Act does. 
It allows them to get health insurance.
  And I must remind us all today, my dear friends, whom I love--I love 
every person who sits on that side of the aisle; I love every one of 
them--but I want to tell you this: mark my words, Dr. King was right. 
Life is an inescapable network of mutuality. It's tied to a single 
garment of destiny. What impacts one directly impacts all indirectly. 
And while you can sit at home in comfort, assuming that it does not 
impact you, I assure you, the way the arc of the moral universe has 
been developed, it will impact you sooner or later.
  You are not worried about Wall Street right now. But when Wall Street 
takes a hit, it's going to eventually trickle down to every one of us. 
Worry about Home Street. I do. Worry about Main Street. That's okay. 
But I am not going to put Wall Street above Home Street, where people 
live.
  And it's time for us to quit pushing a piecemeal startup for a 
wholesale shutdown. This is the richest country in the world. We 
shouldn't carry on like this. It's time for us to move forward and end 
the shutdown.
  Let's have free and fair and open negotiations. Let's not do it with 
the threat of the demise of the government at stake. Let's do it with 
everybody's intent in mind. Let's not pick and choose. Let's not say 
one is blessed today and another will be blessed tomorrow. Let's share 
the blessings of this Nation with all of the people that we represent.
  And finally, Dr. King reminded us that injustice anywhere is a threat 
to justice everywhere. I say to my veteran friends, whom I support, you 
should not feel good knowing that somebody has decided to bless you at 
the expense of somebody else.

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