[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 14]
[House]
[Page 19555]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      THE TIME FOR ACTION HAS COME

  (Mr. PAYNE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. PAYNE. Mr. Speaker, the American people voted for change last 
November. My New Jersey constituents voted for change. Now we have a 
historic opportunity to bring about change as we deal with one of the 
Nation's most daunting challenges, the need for health care reform for 
over 46 million uninsured men, women and children throughout our 
Nation. In addition, we need to help working people and middle class 
people who in many cases have to pay huge out-of-pocket expenses or 
have been dropped when facing serious medical conditions.
  This debate has been going on for six decades, and the time for 
action has come. Here in the House of Representatives we have already 
held 79 hearings on health insurance reform in just over 2 years. We 
cannot put this problem off indefinitely.
  I urge those who stand in the way of progress to either step aside or 
to join us in coming up with a solution to help mend a broken system.

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