Pete Sessions: “For the purpose of debate only, I yield the customary 30 minutes to the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern), my…”

“For the purpose of debate only, I yield the customary 30 minutes to the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern), my dear friend, pending which I yield myself such time as I may consume. During consideration of this resolution, all time yielded is for the purpose of debate only. Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the Rules Committee met for some 13 hours, maybe a little bit more, where we were tasked with the opportunity to bring forth from the Republican Conference the new bill that is to replace the Affordable Care Act. That discussion involved us taking testimony from the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, Kevin Brady; the chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, Greg Walden; and the chairman of the Budget Committee, Mrs. Black. It also involved three other ranking members for those committees. They assembled up in the Rules Committee. We had a very vigorous and open debate about the bill, about the effects of the bill, about the things which were occurring within the Republican majority dealing with the United States Senate and dealing with the President of the United States. All three are necessary to agree upon a bill if we are to sign it into law. There was a vigorous demand from Democrats to know more information, and I believe I forthrightly attempted to answer those questions. We did not have all the pieces of the puzzle together. We recognized that by the evening hour. So by 11 p.m.…”