[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 3]
[House]
[Page 3533]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           HEALTH CARE REFORM

  (Ms. JACKSON LEE of Texas asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute.)
  Ms. JACKSON LEE of Texas. Madam Speaker, Medicare will be expanded. 
Medicaid will be expanded to allow more people to be insured. Our 
children will have more health insurance. It will be a major change for 
America--a positive change. It is interesting that every time America 
makes a historic and catastrophic change for the better, there are 
large voices of opposition--confused voices; voices without the facts. 
I'm reminded of the history of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 
Voting Rights Act. They did not pass with large margins. The Dixiecrats 
raised their voices in opposition. Africans Americans, Negroes, should 
be second-class citizens forever.
  It is time now for the courageous to recognize that Americans cannot 
be second class and third class in the climate of needing health 
insurance. That they must be able to go to hospitals and not be kicked 
out; that they must be able to get insurance without saying you have a 
preexisting disease; that women cannot be discriminated against.
  Where's the courage to stand up as we did in the time when African 
Americans needed their freedom? It is now time to free others who do 
not have health insurance. Do you have the courage to make these hard 
decisions when others are chatting away, saying the wrong thing? It is 
time to pass health care reform. I want to stand with the courageous on 
behalf of the American people.

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