Political Quotes

“Well, it seems to me that while we do not know what the quid pro quo was for any given deal, we know a couple of things: We know the insurance companies went in first and foremost and said, We want an individual mandate. We want the government to compel every American to buy federally approved, Federal Government approved health insurance, and we want the IRS to enforce that mandate. You must buy Federal Government approved health insurance. That is what the insurance companies wanted going into the deal. Funny, that is what they got. They got an agreement that there would be an individual mandate. So if this becomes law, every single American will be required to buy a government-approved health insurance plan. And if they don't, the IRS will tax them. Huh. We also know, although the gentleman points out, there is no individual mandate in the Senate bill--there are some things that are pretty close to it--the insurance companies didn't want competition. They certainly didn't want across-the-State-line competition, they didn't want the State tax code to say you and I could buy it tax-free so they would have to compete with each other like the auto insurance companies. It sounds to me like we can kind of decipher some of the outlines of the deal that occurred.”