Asa Hutchinson: “I compliment and commend the Senator from Oklahoma, Mr. Nickles, for the hard work he has done and the months of labor…”

“I compliment and commend the Senator from Oklahoma, Mr. Nickles, for the hard work he has done and the months of labor he has put into this conference. Anybody who has followed the reports of what has come out of this conference cannot honestly say it has been glacial movement. Enormous progress has been made. Concessions have been made on the part of the House conferees as well as the Senate conferees. This is no way to legislate and no way to provide patient protections the way Senator Kennedy and Senator Dorgan have done in parceling out a little piece here and there. Tonight we are going to do scope. That is not the way to legislate. This is truly the triumph of politics over policy. I was writing as various Senators on the Democratic side made speeches. They spoke of a national standard, of universal coverage, and of a national health system. To this Senator's mind, they could be synonymous with a national health care system. We had that debate. We had it in 1993. It was called 'Clinton care.' Senator Gramm piled it up over here, and it was about 2 feet tall. The American people made a judgment on 'Clinton care.' We do not want a national health care system, nor is that in the best interest of Americans.”