Sheila Jackson Lee: “I thank the manager, the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Van Hollen), for his leadership. I also thank my good friends on…”

“I thank the manager, the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Van Hollen), for his leadership. I also thank my good friends on the other side of the aisle. Mr. Speaker, I now understand what the issue is. We are talking apples and oranges. My friends on the other side of the aisle don't care about the fact that, in 2013, 18 percent of Americans were uninsured; in the State of Texas, 28 percent; California, 23 percent; and Georgia, 22 percent. Now we have found that we are at a point where we have lowered that amount and we have lowered the uninsured rate in this country to 11.9 percent. Those are vulnerable Americans and women and families. We also don't seem to understand that, when our constituents come to us and talk about premiums, all we need to do is do the constituency service and kind of assure them and show them the direction into the marketplace because, in shopping around, you can lower your premium. But the real issue is whether or not we care about making sure that those with preexisting conditions can actually get health insurance, that those in Medicare can actually protect the Medicare system and make it insolvent in 2030 instead of 2017. The other question is: Does this bill even have a plan? Is there an alternative healthcare plan that the Republicans have put in the budget reconciliation? No, they have not. Then they want to take away Planned Parenthood. This is not about disliking Planned Parenthood.…”