On the recordJanuary 19, 2011
I thank the gentleman. Madam Speaker, about a year ago, I got a call from Donna, a mother who lives in Plainfield, Vermont, and this was her story: She has a son who had his first job. It paid like 9 bucks an hour and it came with no health care, but they were excited that her son was getting out in the workforce, learning discipline, learning self-responsibility. But he lost the health care because he was no longer on her policy. He got into an accident. He's fine, but he has $20,000 in medical bills that were uncovered. That is a burden on him and it's a burden on the family. When she learned that we passed health care that included coverage for her 21-year-old son, she was ecstatic. It relieved an enormous burden on this family because they knew that their son would have coverage. This repeal bill is taking away that coverage for Donna's son. Why? The question that we have is different from the campaign where we made our arguments. We now are in Congress and we have a mutual responsibility to decide whether we are going to spend our time here continuing to make partisan political points or making practical progress for the American people.
