Political Quotes

“I want to take just a couple of minutes before we get into the closing to respond to a couple of points that have been made on the other side. Some who are proponents of this bill and who are opponents of this amendment have offered two arguments. First, they say if we--meaning Republicans--somehow wanted employee-supported deductibility for the self-employed, it would have been included in the final tax package that was passed a month ago. Second, they contend that this issue is unrelated to patients' rights and that we are trying to kill the patients' protection bill. Let me deal with those two points. First, regarding the tax bill, it is regrettable and, in my view, very regrettable that the conference committee did not include this provision in the final package. This provision reflected an amendment that I offered and an amendment that the Senator from Illinois, Mr. Durbin, offered. We both offered amendments. As I mentioned in my earlier statements on this measure, I had provided over the last 6 or 7 years a continuing string of amendments to achieve 100-percent deductibility.”