During Wednesday night's heated debate over the GOP's proposed replacement to the Affordable Care Act — which moved forward early Thursday morning — Rep. Joe Kennedy III (D-Mass.) quoted Matthew 25 to rebuke Speaker Paul Ryan's description of the measure as "an act of mercy."
"With all due respect to our speaker, he and I must have read different Scripture," Kennedy said. "The one that I read calls on us to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to shelter the homeless, and to comfort the sick. It reminds us that we are judged not by how we treat the powerful, but by how we care for the least among us."
Kennedy went on to blast the GOP plan for how it would affect people suffering from mental illness — it would drop Medicaid coverage of mental health and addiction programs; and for how it would affect low-income working families, as subsidies would be determined by age rather than income.
There is no mercy in a system that makes health care a luxury. There is no mercy in a country that turns their back on those most in need of protection: the elderly, the poor, the sick, and the suffering. There is no mercy in a cold shoulder to the mentally ill. ... There is no mercy for the 2.6 million people who will lose their job if Obamacare is repealed. This is not an act of mercy; it is an act of malice.
Watch the clip here:
There is no mercy in a system that makes health care a luxury. GOP repeal bill is not act of mercy. It is an act of malice. #ProtectOurCare pic.twitter.com/2pZG6uqgtl
— Rep. Joe Kennedy III (@RepJoeKennedy) March 8, 2017
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