[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 3]
[House]
[Page 4387]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           WE CAN'T GO THERE

  (Mr. MEEKS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. MEEKS. Mr. Speaker, the camera of history is rolling, and here on 
the House floor it is recorded. So I want to make sure that we are 
clear.
  When I think about going back into the nineties, it was Bill and 
Hillary Clinton that put forward a healthcare plan. My colleagues on 
the other side had the goal of stopping it. And they did. We had 
nothing.
  For 6 of the 8 years that I was here--from 2000 until 2006--they 
controlled both the House, the Senate and the Presidency, and they did 
nothing in reference to health care. It took 2008 and Barack Obama to 
come up with the Affordable Care Act, which gave 20 million Americans 
health care that didn't have it. It made sure that those that had a 
preexisting condition could continue to make sure that there was no 
discrimination against women and girls, so as to make sure they had 
equal health care. It also made sure that you removed the caps so that 
Americans would not be caught, as they were beforehand, going bankrupt, 
disturbing families and separating families who did not know how to 
make it until tomorrow. It was the Affordable Care Act.
  Yet, here, history will record that our colleagues are prepared to 
vote on Thursday to take those 20 million Americans that did not have 
access to health care away from health care and back to the bad, old 
days. We can't go there.

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