[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 7]
[House]
[Pages 9940-9941]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        SENATE HEALTHCARE REPEAL

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
Oregon (Ms. Bonamici) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. BONAMICI. Mr. Speaker, this week we expect that our colleagues in 
the Senate will vote on the latest version of TrumpCare. Recently, I 
voted against a very similar bill because it will be a disaster for 
Oregonians and Americans. Under the Senate bill, millions of people--up 
to 22 million people--will lose coverage.
  Mr. Speaker, many of my constituents are rightly worried. One of 
those is Kalpana. Kalpana is caring for loved ones with cancer. As she 
put it recently, she is sandwiched by cancer. She manages intravenous 
chemo treatments for her 7-year-old son who is fighting leukemia. 
Presently, he is winning that fight. Her father has been through 
countless therapies in his decade-long battle with prostate cancer, 
which has now spread to his lymph nodes.

[[Page 9941]]

  Kalpana is amazing--our own local wonder woman. Fortunately, she can 
devote time and attention to her family's care without having to choose 
between paying for healthcare and paying for rent, food, and other 
basic necessities--for now. But after the House vote on TrumpCare, she 
said this: I feel like someone had punched me in the gut.
  Before the Affordable Care Act, families lived in fear that a cancer 
diagnosis or a heart attack would leave them in economic ruin and make 
them ineligible for insurance in the future.
  Early in my career, I worked at Legal Aid. I did financial counseling 
with clients who were struggling--often because they got sick with no 
insurance or because they had insurance that didn't cover them when 
they needed it.
  We can't go back to the days when medical debt drove too many 
families into bankruptcy and financial ruin. Oregonians and Americans 
need the stability of knowing they will have affordable healthcare 
coverage when they get sick or when they are injured.
  With the Affordable Care Act, families across the country have had 
that peace of mind and security that comes with having affordable 
health coverage. All of that is in jeopardy this week.
  Mr. Speaker, this is the United States of America. Healthcare can and 
should be available for all, not just the healthy and the wealthy. I 
urge my colleagues in the Senate to reject TrumpCare, and let's all get 
back to the table and talk about how we can improve--not take away--
access to affordable healthcare for our constituents.

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