Sheila Jackson Lee: “This is a somber day today, and it is a very important day in the history of the United States of America. I have joined…”

“This is a somber day today, and it is a very important day in the history of the United States of America. I have joined with Senator Franken, who indicated that, today, Senators of the United States Senate will make one of the most significant votes, if not the most significant vote of their career, and it will be a vote that they will long remember because, rather than the serious and difficult decisions of war and peace that, over the historical times of this body, many Members have had to make that decision and be in the midst of the throngs of patriotism, the vote that will be taken today will be a vote that those Senators will have brought on themselves; and it is a vote that does not have to be taken, nor a movement that has to be moved; and that is, to cause the American people to face a crumbling healthcare system, to dismantle and diminish the rights and obligations and opportunities for Americans, some 32 million, to have health insurance. For me, it is both baffling and tragic that Senators would make this a campaign competition game, and that it only represents a notch in their belt. This does not have anything to do with providing healthcare for Americans. It doesn't have anything to do with what doctors say, what hospitals say, what rural hospitals need, what individuals with chronic illnesses need, or those who have been diagnosed with devastating cancer. It has nothing to do with children who are in desperate need of healthcare.…”