Date: 2011-04-07
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Well. since. like PETER. I spent 6 or 7 hours on the floor of the House some years ago. PETER. I guess the 1990s. when we were fighting against the inevitable doughnut hole. we held the vote openI shouldnt say "we." The Republicans held the vote open for at least 6 or 7 hours. I think we voted at 5 a.m. when the last arm was twisted. I think someone had a broken arm in order to ensure the doughnut hole was in. We. of course. have come back. Democrats. and created the Affordable Care Act. And I tell you. every senior center I have gone through since the famous passage of the Affordable Care Act. seniors have said. "Thank you. Thank you." If anyone has an 84yearold motherI just lost my mother. but our conversations centered around the enormous cost of prescription drugs and how relieved she was to. at that time. to have had some relief from the doughnut hole. Now. as we watched our friends just a few. maybe about an hour or so ago. I hope there was some camera view of the glee that was shown when there was a suggestion that we would shut the government down and. in essence. implode. if I can use that on the floor of the House. any budgeting conversation that makes sense. such as the fact that what we are doing now with the CR is dated and old. it is passe. it is cutting into funding for a present year. What its doing tomorrow. which is what the groundwork is being laid. is literally destroying the systems as we know it. Sixtysix percent of the seniors dont like this plan. But I want to throw something out. Let me let them understand what the plan is. The plan is block grants. block grants given to disparate State governments. of which we have no control over. to be able to manipulate and play with Medicare. What sense does that make? Block grants that will in fact be able to be used for whatever we want to use. The State of Texas. for example. received $3.2 billion in education funds through the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act. Where is it my good friend? It is in the rainy day fund. never used for schools. Can you imagine block grants for Medicare? Can you imagine the nursing homes that will be closed through Medicaid. and then. of course. seniors getting Medicare? And then they shout for joy not only for shutting down the government over the next 2 days. but they shout for joy for the kind of budget that they believe they will be able tothey whet their appetite that they will be able to do for 2012. They will implode this country as we know it. We want budget cuts. We dont want to see the government shut down. But there is a morality and a character and an integrity. and there is called a heart. And I like what you are saying there. The Republican budget would destroy Medicare. And I just want to say this. We have been around this block before. I heard one Republican leadership say some years ago. "Over my cold dead body." The opposition to my President. who was a great hero of Texas. Lyndon Baines Johnson. even when he tried Medicare. there were those who said how it would destroy America. how it was going to undermine America. And look where we are today. How many lives have we saved because seniors had Medicare? I see that there is this effort to bury this program that has kept the grandmothers and granddads of Americas children alive for them to be able to see their grandchildren grow up because they have had good health care. Where is the morality?