Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D., Texas) on Thursday castigated the American Health Care Act, the Republican plan to repeal and replace Obamacare, as the "mother of all bombs" dropped on the American people.
"I want you to look and keep your eyes on who will feel the Trumpcare's 'mother of all bombs' of healthcare dropped on the American people," Jackson Lee said on the House floor. "God have mercy on your soul."
Jackson Lee was drawing an analogy to the so-called "Mother of All Bombs," the largest non-nuclear bomb in the U.S. arsenal, which was dropped on an Islamic State stronghold last month.
Jackson Lee further called the AHCA a "reverse Robin Hood of stealing from the poor or the seniors, laying in their bed, where you're doing an age tax that is five times more than any other young person has to pay, is disgraceful."
She attacked the reduced funding for covering patients with pre-existing conditions at the state level.
"Or the pittance that you've given for pre-existing conditions. $8 billion! They say you need $25 billion!" she exclaimed.
The $25 billion figure was echoed by Larry Levitt, a vice president at the non-partisan health care policy group the Kaiser Family Foundation.
Even under pretty conservative estimates, a minimally adequate high-risk pool could cost $25 billion per year nationwide.
— Larry Levitt (@larry_levitt) May 3, 2017
"And then you're saying to Trump, the king," said Jackson Lee, mixing her metaphors, "that we have the votes to drop that mother of all bombs of health care."
Jackson Lee was then forced to give up the floor due to time constraint. She was replaced by Georgia Republican Rep. Doug Collins.
"If I had to defend Obamacare, I'd go into hysterics, too," Collins quipped in response to his colleague's speech.
The House later passed the AHCA in a narrow 217-213 vote on Thursday.