[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 4]
[House]
[Page 4525]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




          EMBRACE THE GOAL OF HEALTH CARE FOR ALL OUR CITIZENS

  (Mr. WELCH asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. WELCH. Mr. Speaker, this country, since Harry Truman, has had an 
illusive but desirable goal, and that is health care for all of our 
citizens. We made two strides: one in 1964, with the passage of 
Medicare; another in 2010, with the passage of ObamaCare.
  We should be moving towards Medicare for all our citizens. Instead, 
this bill does not move forward. It goes back.
  Number one, 24 million Americans will lose their health care.
  Number two, Americans who have been living a life of toil and effort 
all of their lives from the ages of 50 to 64--at a time when they need 
health care the most--are in danger of losing it with the excessive tax 
that is being imposed on them by this bill.
  Number three, our community hospitals, from the prairies of Nebraska 
to the hills of Vermont, those are critical institutions providing 
care. They have gone from red ink to black ink as a result of the 
Affordable Care Act. Every single one of those is in jeopardy, and that 
is going to deprive our citizens in those communities of access to 
affordable health care.
  This bill must be defeated. Let's embrace the goal of health care for 
all our citizens.

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