[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 10]
[House]
[Pages 15061-15062]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  HISTORY AND THE AFFORDABLE CARE ACT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Ohio 
(Mr. Wenstrup) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. WENSTRUP. Mr. Speaker, we have heard much debate over the last 
week, arguments and accusations being made from both sides. I have 
heard references to being terrorists, to jihad, and to having bombs 
strapped to our chests.
  Mr. Speaker, I spent 1 year, 2005-2006, perhaps the bloodiest time of 
the war, as an Army combat surgeon in Iraq. In this Chamber I have seen 
no terrorists, no jihad, nor any bombs strapped to chests. And if you 
have been to war, you would not use such rhetoric here.
  Mr. Speaker, colleagues, we have engaged in so much debate concerning 
the Affordable Care Act. We have addressed it from every angle, the 
affordability, the methods of implementation, those that may benefit 
and those that will not. I have contended that as a Nation we should 
have focused on who is uncared for in our Nation and how we provide 
care. Addressing the uninsured would certainly fall under this 
framework. And I have contended that a form, a mere piece of paper that 
says you have insurance or a plan, does not mean that you have access 
to care, nor does it mean that you have coverage for treatment.
  Many from one side of the aisle have said, ``You lost the election, 
get over it.'' Indeed, the Republicans lost the Presidential election. 
And I am over it. However, all of us in this body won elections. Each 
of us was elected to serve the American people as well. And while the 
President has a seat at the head of the table, he does not have the 
only seat at the table. And we all need to take our seats at the table.
  I look forward, not backward, except to learn from history. I am over 
the Presidential election. What I am not over is what we are becoming. 
What we are becoming is of great concern to me, as much concern to me 
as the Affordable Care Act itself. I have a concern about who we are, 
and what we consider to be right, and what we think is wrong. And I 
hope that everyone has taken the opportunity to look at our past. Our 
glorious history is all around us.
  As you look around and you review our great history, you see the 
legacies left from previous generations. What is our legacy? What will 
this generation, this Congress leave behind? Will it be that we have a 
disregard for the law, a disregard for laws that we voted on and 
signed? Waivers, exemptions, special subsidies, all of which show a 
disregard for applying laws equally, as well as a disregard for the 
rule of law.
  Applying laws equally, the rule of law, the very ideals that 
Americans have proudly touted for over two centuries. Are we deciding 
to abandon

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these core values? Is this the way we want to carve out our chapter in 
American history? The history of a great Nation? A Nation that was 
formed to be of the people, by the people, and for the people. This 
concept and the freedom that comes with it requires a level of 
responsibility in order to sustain it.
  Pope John Paul II, when visiting America in 1995, spoke of the 
freedom that we enjoy and the responsibility that comes with it. And he 
summed it up by saying, ``Freedom consists not in doing what we like, 
but in having the right to do what we ought.'' I pray that the rule of 
law, and equality for all Americans, our fundamental principles that 
are etched in all of our hearts, with the foundation of these 
principles and the civility that accompanies such, we are obligated to 
come together to find common ground and to talk to one another. And, 
Lord willing, we will.

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