Affordable Health Care For America Act

Floor Speech

Mr. Speaker, tonight the question before Congress is neither new nor complicated: Will we do what it takes to make health care affordable and available to all Americans?

Our predecessors in Congress faced similar choices when they extended voting rights to all Americans, established Social Security and Medicare for all seniors. Mr. Speaker, Congress faced those challenges and we are the better for it. We did so not without conflict and controversy but with some bipartisan support.

Tonight is different, unique. Our Republican friends have assured us that not a single member of their caucus will vote for health care reform. Every single person will vote ``no.''

The Republicans' alternative says to Americans with a preexisting condition, you are on your own. To the 47 million Americans without insurance, you're on your own. To the millions of Americans who can't afford the coverage that they have, you're on your own.

Our health care bill has a different philosophy, the one that prevailed when Democrats, and some Republicans, passed Social Security, voting rights, and Medicare: We are in it together.

Source