[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 4]
[House]
[Page 4739]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




             SPEAKING IN SUPPORT OF THE AFFORDABLE CARE ACT

  (Ms. JACKSON LEE asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, I think the American people have seen 
the scrambling and the unraveling today, the seventh anniversary of the 
Affordable Care Act which allowed more than 20 million people to 
achieve opportunities and access to health care that many have never 
had.
  Throughout America, the Affordable Care Act provided hardworking 
Americans access to wellness care, hospitalization, care that they 
could not have before because it eliminated the barrier for those who 
had preexisting disease.
  Now, tomorrow we will be debating this fast-moving, thoughtless, and 
devastating legislation that will see, in 2026, some 52 to 54 million 
Americans without insurance and undermine the opportunity for those in 
nursing homes, disabled, the blind, and many others, children, that are 
in great need of health care eliminated.
  So I don't know what the purpose of this bill is tomorrow, but we 
will be here to debate it and hopefully defeat it, because I believe 
that the quality of life for all Americans truly is based upon their 
access to good, strong health care. That is what the Affordable Care 
Act is, helping rural hospitals, providing hospital resources for 
uncompensated care.
  So, Mr. Speaker, tomorrow we will be debating a bill that, hopefully, 
will be defeated because it will not save lives.

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