Hoyer: A Society that Fails to Provide for the Health of its People is a Society that Will Ultimately Fail

WASHINGTON, DC - Today, Congressman Steny H. Hoyer (MD-05) joined fellow Members of Congress to deliver remarks at the Interfaith Rally and Faith Vigil for Health Justice hosted by the Washington Interfaith Staff Community partners. Below is a full transcript of his remarks:

"' This is the day that the Lord has made .' Be thankful that we have this opportunity still in a free country to have this kind of gathering and let us all commit ourselves to assuring that that country that exists will exist tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow. I had a dear friend; his name was John. His last name was Lewis. There was an organization called, and still is, Faith - and we are at the site of faith - and Politics. A couple of blocks away, we're on a site of politics, and that organization is called Faith and Politics. Now, I am a strong believer in the separation of church and state, but I tell people that I am not a supporter of the separation of my faith and the policies that I pursue.

"I know you've heard from Leader Jeffries and Speaker Pelosi and others, and you're going to hear from my dear friend, Reverend Cleaver. When I was the Whip and we had a weekly meeting, and I asked Emanuel Cleaver, the former mayor and the Member of Congress, but a member of the clergy as well, to give us, every week, five minutes of thoughtful, reverent, not religion, but faith in how we should conduct ourselves and our politics. Speaker Johnson once said when asked what his philosophy was, he said, 'Go pick up a Bible off your shelf and read it. That,' he said, 'is my worldview.' My Bible tells me to heal the sick. my Bible tells me that Jesus said, ' Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters, you did for me .' My Bible tells me to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter. The Quran says, ' Be kind to parents, relatives, orphans and poor, near and distant neighbors, close friends, and needy travelers .' And as the Talmud teaches, ' One who sustains the life of a single human being is considered as though he has sustained the entire world .' In my church, people would have said 'Amen.' We may say that in [different words]. We may go to different churches and synagogues and mosques, or some other place of faith. We may worship and sing different hymns, but we all believe that when someone is in need it's wrong to turn your back on them.

"I don't want to be too political, but I think there's a party in this country who I call the 'YOYO' Party, which stands for 'You're On Your Own.' None of those verses from any of those three sources teaches the lesson of 'You're On Your Own.' Well, the past two weeks, House Republicans are nowhere to be found. They've dusted off their hands - one could say they've washed their hands - packed up, and went home, reducing the chances of making a bipartisan solution. Meanwhile, millions of Americans, hundreds of thousands in my state, millions in our country are living in fear that they will either lose their health insurance or won't be able to afford their coverage when the Affordable Care Act tax credits expire. ( looks to the side of the stage to the prior speaker ) You are so right. 'Affordable' is a key word in the Affordable Care Act. In Maryland, 190,000 people will see their monthly health care premiums skyrocket by an average of 68%. Another 110,000 of them will see an average increase of 17%. Some 181,000 Marylanders are at risk of losing coverage altogether. That's what this fight is about, reaching out and lifting up. A society that fails to provide for the health [of] its people is a society that will ultimately fail. That's what this is about. Unlike House Republicans, the American people cannot afford to turn a blind eye to this looming catastrophe. Americans are expecting us to govern, to work together to create consensus. We can't do that if the side that's in power refuses to come to the table.

"The choice before Republicans is the same as the one before the Good Samaritan on that road: someone beaten, battered, bruised, hurting; and the priest decided, looking at that victim, 'You're on Your Own.' And then the Levite came along, crossed to the other side of the road and said, ''You're on Your Own.' And then the Samaritan came along. He may not have read [these] verses that I've intoned from all these sources, but he had it in his mind, 'That is my brother, and I will not leave him alone. I will not leave him on his own. I will lift him up. I will try to heal him. I will make sure he's fit. I'll give the money to the innkeeper because I have to go, but I want to make sure that the job is not undone.' What we are trying to decide in these next few days: are we going to leave the Americans on their own? May God help us."