Barbara Boxer: “we have seen an array of my Republican colleagues come to the floor, which is their right--and I am glad the government…”

“we have seen an array of my Republican colleagues come to the floor, which is their right--and I am glad the government is open so they can have their staff help them prepare their speeches--but I have to say this is typical of the Republicans when it comes to health care. All they do is criticize. Not one--not one because I monitored the speeches--gave one new idea of how to make sure our citizens are protected with the insurance they have or how to insure the 48 million uninsured Americans--not one. But this is the way the Republican Party has been for years. Let's look at what happened when Medicare came to the Senate floor and to the House floor--Medicare, which is one of the most beloved programs. Sixty percent of Republicans in the Senate and 50 percent of House Republicans voted against Medicare in 1965. Representative Durward Hall, a Republican from Missouri, said: We cannot stand idly by now, as the Nation is urged to embark on an ill-conceived adventure in government medicine, the end of which no one can see, and from which the patient is certain to be the ultimate sufferer. This is typical of Republicans through the generations. Every time we have tried to expand health care they have opposed it and opposed it and tried to derail it. Senator Milward Simpson, a Republican from Wyoming, said: I am disturbed about the effect this legislation would have upon our economy and upon our private insurance system.…”