On the recordApril 3, 2014
I thank the gentlewoman from Kansas for sponsoring this extremely important time we are taking today. It is so important because this is a law, the signature piece of the President's legislative agenda, the ObamaCare act that we are dealing with today has impacted people's lives in such a profound way. I am reminded of the President of the United States who, five days before he assumed office, said he was planning to fundamentally transform the United States of America. We didn't know if that was rhetorical flourish or exactly what it would mean. It has taken many forms since that time, but one thing I didn't think I would ever see in my district on the faces of beautiful, innocent people is a fundamental transformation. But I can tell you very clearly, Madam Speaker, that I have seen a fundamental transformation in the face of a lot of women, women's faces in my district, and it is this: I am seeing them, for the first time, not be able to look me in the eye. There is a loss of dignity. There is a sense of shame, and there is an embarrassment because there are women, Madam Speaker, who had full- time jobs who could support their families, and now, they don't have them. They have been lost because their employer no longer can keep the full-time jobs. I have seen women who have lost their jobs altogether. I have seen women whose hours have been backed off to the extent that they can hardly afford to pay the gas to go in the car to get to work.…
