Constitutional But Unconscionable

Floor Speech

Mr. AL GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, what we are doing here in Congress may not be unconstitutional, but it is unconscionable. It is unconscionable for us to have a wholesale shutdown of the government and a piecemeal start up. It is unconscionable to pit needy Americans against needy Americans. It is unconscionable.

It may be lawful to single out some and say, you are among the fortunate that we will bless today, but it's unconscionable. It's wrong. It may be lawful, but it's not right.

It is wrong to decide that persons who happen to be poor, who need WIC, who need the very sustenance that people acquire to exist, food, clothing and shelter, it's wrong to say you are not blessed today. Your time will come, but not today. It may be constitutional, but it's unconscionable.

It is unconscionable for us, in the richest country in the world, to conclude that a mother who has a child, making $15,080 a year, working full-time and living below the poverty line, it's unconscionable for us to push a system that will cause her to work full-time and not have insurance. ObamaCare, the Affordable Care Act, by any name you call it, will allow that mother to get insurance for herself and her child. It may not be unconstitutional to adhere to a principle that would cause a repeal of the Affordable Care Act. It is unconscionable, however, to do so in such a way as to prevent this mother from having insurance for her child.

I came to Congress to represent everybody, and this includes those who make $7.25 an hour. I came to Congress to represent those who wait tables and make $2.13 an hour plus tips. It's unconscionable to have people working at $2.13 an hour in the richest country in the world who cannot get health insurance. That's what the Affordable Care Act does. It allows them to get health insurance.

And I must remind us all today, my dear friends, whom I love--I love every person who sits on that side of the aisle; I love every one of them--but I want to tell you this: mark my words, Dr. King was right. Life is an inescapable network of mutuality. It's tied to a single garment of destiny. What impacts one directly impacts all indirectly. And while you can sit at home in comfort, assuming that it does not impact you, I assure you, the way the arc of the moral universe has been developed, it will impact you sooner or later.

You are not worried about Wall Street right now. But when Wall Street takes a hit, it's going to eventually trickle down to every one of us. Worry about Home Street. I do. Worry about Main Street. That's okay. But I am not going to put Wall Street above Home Street, where people live.

And it's time for us to quit pushing a piecemeal startup for a wholesale shutdown. This is the richest country in the world. We shouldn't carry on like this. It's time for us to move forward and end the shutdown.

Let's have free and fair and open negotiations. Let's not do it with the threat of the demise of the government at stake. Let's do it with everybody's intent in mind. Let's not pick and choose. Let's not say one is blessed today and another will be blessed tomorrow. Let's share the blessings of this Nation with all of the people that we represent.

And finally, Dr. King reminded us that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. I say to my veteran friends, whom I support, you should not feel good knowing that somebody has decided to bless you at the expense of somebody else.

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