It was heartless. It was devastating. But most of all? It was infuriating.
Health care is personal. For all of us. It’s about being able to protect those we love in the moments that bring us to our knees — a diagnosis we do not expect. A phone call we cannot imagine. A fear that we might lose what matters most to us in the world.
What’s keeping my chin up is one stubborn silver lining. I saw it in the loud and proud voices gathered outside the Capitol early this month demanding better from their government. I saw it in the families that streamed into my office to share their most personal stories. I saw it in the hundreds of thousands of emails and calls and tweets saying ‘we’ve got your back.’
I saw a coalition start to form.
A group of people coming together, across geography and gender and background and belief and even — yes — across the aisle to say: “Not in my country. Not on my watch.” A growing movement of Americans fighting back against an Administration that takes every chance it gets to scapegoat the suffering and a President determined to divide us along lines of fate and fortune.
Make no mistake, our coalition showed its strength. Since I’ve been in Congress the GOP has voted over 60 times to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Yet the House could barely sneak the AHCA bill through. They won by a couple votes. The bill was panned by doctors, nurses, patients, hospitals and everyone in between. It is almost certainly in for a reckoning when it reaches the Senate.
So they can cheer. They can toast. But while they pat each other on the back we will be organizing, building, planning and preparing.
Keep your faith. Keep your fight. It is a long road from here to the President’s desk.
And we will be there every single step of the way.
Thank you for everything you’ve laid on the line so far – for your voice in this fight every step of the way.
We can’t take our eyes off the ball for a second. Follow me on Facebook to join our fight for health care!