Bill Clinton: “Thank you very much. Dr. Copeland; Mrs. Copeland; Secretary Shalala, thank you for your outstanding leadership; Surgeon…”

“Thank you very much. Dr. Copeland; Mrs. Copeland; Secretary Shalala, thank you for your outstanding leadership; Surgeon General Satcher; OPM Director Lachance; to all the advocates here for seniors, for children, for people with disabilities; representatives of the various health care organizations. I am of the opinion that there's really not much left for me to say. [Laughter] You know, since I've been in this office and this wonderful old house, I've tried to use this room as sort of a classroom for America, to bring people here who actually have firsthand experience of the challenges we face, the opportunities we have, and to try to provide them this microphone and these cameras and this bully pulpit to speak to America and to bring more of America here to Washington, DC. We've had a lot of very moving events here, but Dr. Copeland, I don't think anybody has ever done a better job of bringing the reality of what it's like to deal with the health care challenges of ordinary people from all walks of life on a daily basis as you have today. And I thank you very much for that. Secretary Shalala talked quite a bit about the record we have worked hard to establish here on health care issues.…”