I wanted to address another point that I hear from folks in central New Jersey about a lot. They get letters from their insurance companies saying Medicare is going to be cut. Again, it's misrepresentation, and we want to clear that up…

Right. We're so good and so eager to move services into the private sector--in other words, to privatize Medicare. The then- congressional majority said, Fine. Well, it didn't take more than a couple of years before the insurance companies…

So yes, those insurance companies, under this health care legislation, are not going to get paid for doing no more than the Federal Government does at a dollar on the dollar. We're not doing away with Medicare Advantage. We're just saying…

Ask your seniors. About 20 percent of the Americans on Medicare are a part of this Medicare Advantage program. Ask them how many letters they have gotten from their insurance company saying that the sky is falling and that if Congress goes…

Because Medicare has low administrative overhead. It is an efficiently run program.

And Medicare's costs grow at a slower rate--at least they have over the past 5 years--than the private health insurance for the same benefits. So it's just another indication of the efficiency of Medicare. Every year the government makes…

Well, I hear from so many seniors in my district. And of course, it is as we age that we become more aware of our ailments and our need for health care coverage, and so I understand their concern. I understand that they don't want anything…

Let's be very clear. They are saying in this health care bill, You want to cut Medicare. No. That's the point. We've been saying over and over again, we're strengthening Medicare. What they want to do is do away with Medicare, replace it…

This legislation would improve their benefits. It would provide free preventive and wellness care. It would improve the primary care and better coordination of care, not just so there is more efficiency and less waste, although there would…

I thank Representative Schakowsky, my good friend. This is something that has been one of the great accomplishments, not just of the Democratic Party, but of the United States. Medicare has been a success. It has been medically a success…

Process, process, process. What legislative parliamentary process are we using? It is a distraction. That is what someone talks about when they can't debate the content or they run out of lies or misdirections about the substance of an…

I opposed the war in Iraq because I felt it distracted us from finishing the job we had started in Afghanistan--finding and bringing to justice those who attacked us on 9/11. I think we have to acknowledge that the current Administration…