Asa Hutchinson: “I think it is unfortunate if we allow the debate--legitimate debate on legitimate issues--on this bill to degenerate…”

“I think it is unfortunate if we allow the debate--legitimate debate on legitimate issues--on this bill to degenerate into finger pointing and partisan accusations that one party or another does not favor patients' rights, does not care about people, that there is some insidious plot to bury a Patients' Bill of Rights. The reality is, over the last 2 years there have been over 20 votes in this Senate Chamber on versions of the Patients' Bill of Rights. There has been plenty of debate and scores of votes. So to say that somehow this Patients' Bill of Rights legislation has been hidden, buried in a committee and not been allowed to have free and open debate on it and to be amended and debated in this Senate Chamber is simply to mislead the American people and to mislead the Senate. We have debated this. I have spent a year myself on the conference committee trying diligently to reach a consensus, at least a compromise, so we could have a Patients' Bill of Rights that would serve the American people.”