John Shadegg

So the reason you wouldn't want to stand on the floor and vote for that Senate bill is not just because of the policy in it, it is because that bill will contain the Cornhusker Kickback, right?

An elaborate charade. Trickery. If the American people think we are engaged in trickery, why not engage in trickery.

I kind of think the American people are fairly bright. I think they see through this. If you are deeming a bill passed in a rule, aren't you actually passing that bill and aren't you voting for that bill? And isn't this just a trick or a…

Because of one word difference? One word difference. The Senate has already passed the Senate bill, the House has to pass that exact bill word for word. It can't have one word missing?

It seems to me morally indefensible, morally indefensible to say to the American people, If you work for a big, big, big employer--like you and I do, the Federal Government--or like we'll say, General Motors or Intel or Motorola or AT&T or…

That's the IRS. The IRS is going to force you and me to buy health insurance from an approved health insurance company, federally approved health insurance. Maybe you can answer the question that is posited on this graphic: Why does the…

So this would be the first Federal mandate saying you must buy a product because the Federal Government tells you you must buy a product?

No, we don't force people to do that. I guess we do say that if you want to drive in some places, you have to buy auto insurance to insure against damage to somebody else. Right?

Wait, the gentleman's telling me that never before in Federal law have we ordered people to buy a particular product, that we don't do that in Federal law as a routine matter?

Ah, so it's Republicans who oppose this bill that are the pals of the health insurance industry? I don't think so. And you're telling me that in the one State where we've already tried this, a mandate that you must buy health insurance…

Oh, the cost went up. Wait, the cost went up? They have forced everybody in Massachusetts, like this bill would do, to buy a health insurance plan on the premise that the cost would go down. But in Massachusetts where they did it, the cost…

In the system today, your employer picks the plan, and the plan picks the doctor. You don't get to pick the plan, and you don't get to pick the doctor. If the plan or the doctor abuses you, you can't fire them.

A health care decision ought to be made by the patient, the family, and the physician.

You just used the number of 12 million. Two professors at the University of Minnesota, which is not exactly a conservative university, said, if you just enacted cross-State-line purchases, then that would enable 12 million additional…

But wait. But wait. Without a 2,700-page bill, you couldn't hide the Cornhusker Kickback. You couldn't hide the Gator Aid. You couldn't hide the Louisiana Purchase. I haven't even gotten to all of them yet, but go ahead.

I think the health insurance industry in America has cut a fat hog. I think, quite frankly, they have failed the American people.

That's what we call defensive medicine, which means a doctor defending himself in advance or practicing defensive medicine because he is afraid he's going to get sued and has to be able to respond to that suit.

I presume that makes those Senators who got these deals into the bill that aren't going to be stripped very happy.

Wait, wait. So you are suggesting that they find the bill a bad idea, so they had to find a special deal, or a sweetener, to get their vote? Shocking.

As the Governor of a State that is bleeding red ink, I am imploring our congressional delegation to vote against your proposal to expand government health care and to help vote it down. The reason for my position is simple: we cannot…

There is a frustration in America right now. And I think that frustration stems from the fact that the president is pursuing policies quite different from what he campaigned on.

The Republican alternative is to give every single American family, every single one, the ability to buy a health care plan of their choice, not just the rich, not just the poor, but even those who don't respond to a government request…

I think we are under tremendous, quite frankly, from the White House and from the American people, because Secretary Paulson created a fear -- kind of an atmosphere of fear in America.

I think we are under tremendous pressure quite frankly from the White House and from the American people because Secretary Paulson created a fear or kind of an atmosphere of fear in America.