John Garamendi: “What we intended to talk about was the Wall Street meltdown and the necessity of the reform of Wall Street. However…”

“What we intended to talk about was the Wall Street meltdown and the necessity of the reform of Wall Street. However, having listened to our colleagues on the Republican side carry on for the last hour, there are some things that need to be said about their discussion. First of all, they started off with this issue of health care, with the government takeover of health care. That is absolutely not true. We have passed major health care reform, and it is not a government takeover. In fact, it builds on the present American system. There is some government--some very, very good government programs. You tell me what senior in America wants to have Medicare done away with. None of whom I know. There is always room for improvement. In every program, there will be problems from time to time, but no senior of whom I am aware anywhere in America wants to do away with that government program. What this bill really does is to help organize the American health care system so that it will be more effective and efficient and so that it will build on the private insurance system, which is much a part of America.”