Pete Stark: “I will start with an apology to all my Republican colleagues. For, oh, at least the 30 years or so I have been here, I…”

“I will start with an apology to all my Republican colleagues. For, oh, at least the 30 years or so I have been here, I have been accusing the Republicans of not being inclusive, just dealing with the rich and forgetting about the minorities and the working people in this country. With this bill they have become broadly inclusive. Later on tonight, they are going to take the first step in destroying health care for seniors, and then, because they are being so inclusive with this bill, they are going to screw everybody. They are going to destroy health care for the employees who get their health insurance from employers. As the distinguished ranking member of our committee pointed out, $100 billion was added to this in the middle of the night, and the bill will be funded by borrowing, by increasing the national debt and worsening deficits. And all it really does, if you cut through all the Mickey Mouse that they have talked about, high-deductible insurance, is that it creates some new tax-exempt savings accounts. Tax shelters for the wealthy and the healthy. And it advances the objective of undercutting employer-provided health coverage.”