Republicans forced Rep. Marc Veasey (D-TX) to end a phone call with a cancer survivor whom he was speaking to during his opening remarks.
At a Tuesday House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing on changes to Medicaid, Veasey held up his phone to the microphone to allow a woman named Carla to speak.
"She's someone whose life was saved by Medicaid, but I'd rather have Carla share her story," the lawmaker explained.
"My name is Carla, and I am a seven-year lung cancer survivor," the woman could be heard saying before Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-KY), the committee's chair, demanded Veasey end the call.
"You can't play a recording," Guthrie said.
"It's not a recording. It's a live call, Mr. Chairman," Veasey pointed out.
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"We don't allow other people to testify in your opening statement," Guthrie insisted.
"They want to cut you off," Veasey told the woman. "And I don't understand why they want to cut you off. I don't understand why they're afraid to hear from you. And I'm not sure why now all of a sudden they want to ignore voices like Carla."
"I have a lot more stories to tell. There's a lot more that came from, but I'm out of time," he added. "This is sad that we are doing this to the most vulnerable people in our country."
