Donna Shalala: “Let me thank the gentleman from Oklahoma for his kind words at the beginning of his comments. Madam Speaker, I yield 2…”

“Let me thank the gentleman from Oklahoma for his kind words at the beginning of his comments. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern), who is the distinguished chairman of the Committee on Rules. Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Shalala) for yielding me the time. It is an honor to serve with her on the House Rules Committee. As the longest serving HHS Secretary in U.S. history, she spent much of her life leading on the issue of healthcare. Madam Speaker, the American people have been living in fear for years, worried that Washington Republicans would make good on their promise to repeal the Affordable Care Act and that the President and his allies in Congress would take away their ability to see a doctor or afford care, including for preexisting conditions from asthma to domestic abuse. Who can blame them? When the minority controlled this institution, they voted 69 times to undermine the Affordable Care Act. Sixty-nine times they tried to take away healthcare from more than 23 million Americans. Thankfully, the Senate thwarted these efforts, and Republicans weren't successful. Now the Trump administration is using the legal system to try to do what the Republican Congress could not: strike down the Affordable Care Act. Its Justice Department has asked in a legal filing for the courts to invalidate this law and, in doing so, erase protections for preexisting conditions.…”