On October 5, 2013 Rep. Ami Bera of California asked for and was granted permission to address the United States House of Representative for one minute regarding the government shutdown and Speaker Boehner’s “This is not some game” comment on Friday.
“Mr. Speaker, day No. 5 of the government shutdown -day No. 5.”
“Yesterday you said something that I couldn’t agree with more, Mr. Speaker. Yesterday you said, “This is not a game.” Last night, my staff gave me a letter from one of my constituents, Sarah from Folsom. Her close friend is battling a rare bone cancer. She has been in chemotherapy and she is fighting for her life. She has a 1-year-old daughter”, he said.
“She was recently accepted into a clinical trial, a last chance to try to save herself and save her life. Now Congress has shut down that trial and put the trials on hold. Here’s what Sarah says: Please don’t let her daughter grow up without a mother”, said Bera.
“Mr. Speaker, I couldn’t agree with you more. This is not a game. This is real life”, said a clearly perturbed Rep. Bera (source: Congressional Record http://thomas.loc.gov).
See related video: Speaker Boehner : “This is not some damn game” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKoYAbesX0g).