Barbara Boxer: “I won't be long, I say to my colleagues. I wish to thank our Leader Reid for bringing back a sense of history, for…”

“I won't be long, I say to my colleagues. I wish to thank our Leader Reid for bringing back a sense of history, for putting this fight over the new health care law into context. I did some research on what Republicans said about Social Security when it came up before in the Senate and the House: This is the end of the world. It was socialism. It was going to destroy mankind. I have the quotes. They are in the Record. No, Social Security proved to be the most successful antipoverty program in America. People love it. But they keep trying to take it away. Under George W. Bush they tried to privatize it and we Democrats stopped it. Then you go look to the 1960s when Lyndon Johnson talked about Medicare and the fact that our grandmas and grandpas at that time were being supported by their children because there was no health insurance available. This was the end of the world. Even Bob Dole in the 1990s said, I was there fighting against Medicare. Bob Dole, a wonderful man, a Republican: I was fighting against socialism. And now even tea party members put signs up: Don't touch my Medicare. So now we have the next reform, the Affordable Care Act. Republicans have called it ObamaCare. The President embraces it. In California today people are so excited. Millions of Californians who are uninsured will have the chance to get affordable health care.…”