[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 18]
[House]
[Pages 24964-24965]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     OBSTRUCTING HEALTH CARE REFORM

  (Ms. DeLAURO asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. DeLAURO. Madam Speaker, let me tell an old story relevant to our 
current health care debate.
  One day, a frog was hopping by a river when he came upon a scorpion. 
The scorpion asked if the frog would carry him across. The frog said, 
No, you will sting me. The scorpion replied, No, if I stung you, we 
would both drown. What is the point of that?
  So the frog put the scorpion on his back and waded into the river. 
Halfway across, he felt a sudden sting and his body went numb. 
Scorpion, why did you do that? Now we will both die. Said the scorpion, 
It is my nature.

[[Page 24965]]

  Today, the health insurance industry refuses to cover basic maternity 
care for four out of five women, while charging them higher premiums. 
It kicks women out of hospitals within hours of a mastectomy. No 
industry in history that profits from a broken system has ever moved to 
reform that system.
  After faking support for health care reform for months, why did the 
health insurance industry on Monday suddenly try to sting us with a 
flawed and incomplete cost analysis of a health care plan? The same 
reason they fight to prevent competition through a strong public 
option, and the same reason many of my Republican colleagues have done 
nothing but obstruct reform.
  It is their nature.

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