Barbara Boxer: “Less than that. For the benefit of all Senators, we think we are going to have a vote tonight on the Brown amendment. So…”

“Less than that. For the benefit of all Senators, we think we are going to have a vote tonight on the Brown amendment. So everyone stay around. We are hoping to have that in the next half hour or so. That is our plan. We hope it will happen. But I wanted to say in this back and forth we heard between two Senators why I was very strongly for the resolution that was put forward by Senator Blumenthal. Clearly, what we have in our society today are callous, abusive, unsanitary, or illegal health care practices. These horrible, callous practices turn into tragedies. They produce tragedies. As Senator Blumenthal said, it goes across a wide array of various health care settings. We do not come down here every day to call out one horrific problem after another. Certainly what has happened in Pennsylvania--and, again, I would take the admonition of Senator Blumenthal, who was a prosecutor, we have to be careful when a jury is deliberating--but certainly if these allegations are true, the individuals involved should be punished to the full extent of the law--and the toughest kind of punishment--and I believe in other cases too. I know my colleague has talked about a horrible situation in southern Nevada, where 40,000 patients were exposed to hepatitis C. Hepatitis C is a serious and life-threatening condition. Mr. President, 40,000 people were exposed to it. They did nothing. That is deserving of condemnation as well.…”