Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I would say, we are fortunate to have a real doctor, a physician, Dr. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, as one of our colleagues in the Senate to talk about the real impact of legislation like this as he sees it when he treats his patients. I think his words deserve a lot of attention. I just want to briefly address this morning a couple of the claims my Democratic colleagues are making about this new legislation, claims that are simply false. The first one: There is a big tax cut. One of my colleagues said this is the biggest tax cut we have ever had. There is no tax cut for taxpayers in this bill. What they are touting as a tax cut is, rather, a direct payment to insurance companies. I find it very odd that is called a tax cut. When I think of a tax cut, I think of money remaining in the pockets of taxpayers so they do not have to pay taxes they have been paying in the past. That is not what is in this bill. What the bill does is to provide a subsidy to insurance companies to dispense government-mandated insurance. It is not a tax cut for taxpayers. Instead, most of the so-called tax relief goes directly to the insurance companies. It never touches--you never touch the money-- it never touches an American family's pocket. These premium subsidies are delivered straight from the U.S. Treasury to help insurance companies, as I said, to purchase this government- mandated, government-approved insurance.…”