Political Quotes

“I commend our two colleagues. It has been a long ordeal, dealing with this very important piece of legislation. They deserve our universal acclaim for their efforts. It was a very good process in our committee. As the chairman of the committee, Senator Kassebaum, pointed out, this particular proposal was unanimously voted out of committee. To the credit of all of our members on the committee, Republicans and Democrats alike, we all have ideas that we would have liked to have incorporated in this legislation. But the agreement was that we would try and limit the bill to those areas where there was consensus, so that we could deal with the problems that 25 million Americans face today. With the passage of this legislation, and a Presidential signature, we would solve the problems immediately for 25 million Americans. It would immediately solve the problems they face with portability and preexisting conditions--not to mention some of the proposals in the leadership amendment, which the Senator from Kansas pointed out we all agree with and go back many years supporting. We have a wonderful opportunity here. It has been almost since last August that this bill came out of committee. We are almost in May now, and the weeks are rolling by. Here is a chance to do something for 25 million Americans, without getting into a real disagreement and argument over a controversial proposal--the medical savings accounts.”