[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 3]
[House]
[Pages 3518-3519]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                               HOW LONG?

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
Florida (Mrs. Demings) for 5 minutes.
  Mrs. DEMINGS. Mr. Speaker, my father, James LeRoy Butler, worked as a 
janitor. He had a fifth grade education, and now his youngest child is 
a Member of the 115th Congress. My father worked hard, and his word was 
his bond.
  On January 15, 2017, President Trump promised insurance for everyone. 
He also promised Americans would have much lower deductibles. On 
January 22, 2017, President Trump's administration promised no one 
would lose healthcare

[[Page 3519]]

coverage. But after only a glimpse of his plan, we now know these 
promises are not true, like so many other things that the White House 
has said.
  The people who need coverage the most, the people depending on the 
President the most, the middle class, working families, and the working 
poor will be left behind under this plan. In my district alone in 
Florida, over 66,400 people stand to lose healthcare coverage.
  To my Republican colleagues, I ask: How long will we endure empty 
promises and made-up stories coming out of the White House? How long? I 
call on the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, delivered in 1965, when he 
marched from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, and he asked this question: 
``How long? Not long, because no lie can live forever.''
  How long? Mexico will pay for the wall. I will release my tax 
returns. Discriminatory travel bans. Hidden ties with our enemy Russia. 
How long? Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to please hold President 
Trump accountable and do what you know in your hearts is right. Demand 
answers and allow the facts to lead you to justice. How long?

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