John Garamendi: “That ought to be enough. In fact, that ought to be about a hundred times too much. Competition. You also brought out the…”

“That ought to be enough. In fact, that ought to be about a hundred times too much. Competition. You also brought out the word ``progressive.'' It was Teddy Roosevelt, in the early part of the last century, that really created the early progressive movement and the trust busters, recognizing that companies like Standard Oil and others had dominated the market and were squeezing, driving down and harming small businesses and individuals, and tried to set about a better balance. And they did. That long tradition of standing up for families, working men and women, is a tradition that we now hold on the Democratic side of this House. It is what we are trying to do in so many different ways here with this bill, ending a 65-year opportunity that the health insurance industry has had to monopolize, to engage in conspiracies to set prices, and to harm the public not just in their economics and in their family income, but in their ability to sustain their life. We have a chance tomorrow to follow a long tradition of righting the balance, of pushing back against those forces that would dominate us economically, socially, and, in this case, in our very health. So tomorrow is a very, very important day. But it is also a day when we can continue the process that we have seen this last year in this Chamber, where the Democratic Party is pushing back against those forces.”