Someone needs to explain to Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) the difference between calcium and protein.
The feisty congresswoman seems to have confused the two nutrients during her floor speech on the House farm bill Thursday, arguing that a lack of protein in one’s diet will result in decaying teeth and brittle bones.
“No one has told you that the lack of protein in a diet leads to disease and decay of teeth and bones,” she exclaimed.
While calcium and protein are often found in the same foods, the former is the nutrient primarily responsible for bone density. In fact, studies have shown that too much protein can cause bone density loss.
Naturally Jackson Lee didn’t stop there, also claiming that cutting food subsidies – which Republicans plan to do in its version of the bill – is detrimental to America’s children.
“The only thing that this House will do when it votes today is defeat starving children,” Jackson Lee exclaimed.
“There’s no one on this floor today, no child at that microphone – standing over here – telling you that their belly is protruding because they have not eaten,” she later added.
The chairman even had to reprimand her at the end of her speech, as she refused to stop fighting for America’s children even as her time expired.
“Vote no! Vote no! Vote no! It is ridiculous what you’re doing to our children!” Jackson Lee kept yelling.
Back in May Jackson Lee gave a similarly impassioned defense of Attorney General Eric Holder after the Internal Revenue Service and Associated Press scandals came to light.
Watch Jackson Lee’s speech below.
