Political Quotes

“Section 305 does, as the gentleman from Georgia points out, eliminate the excise tax on high-class plans. It is interesting to note that 5 years ago it was the House Members who pushed hard against that proposal with the administration, and we delayed that tax for 5 years. H.R. 2050, which I am the lead sponsor of, I am proud to say we have 166 bipartisan cosponsors. It is verbatim the language that was incorporated into the reconciliation bill. So I point that out because I do think that it, in fact, will basically sharply increase people's out-of-pocket deductibles because that is what actuaries tell us is the only way you can respond to that kind of tax. It is true that 83 organizations, including organized labor, business groups, and small-business groups have said this is not a workable plan. I mention that here because there is an opportunity here to do what Congressman Guthrie did, which is to take an individual component, an idea, and not load it up with a lot of other baggage which is going to capsize the insurance market, which we know is going to happen if other provisions of the reconciliation bill are passed, that we can actually get it done. You are giving the White House a perfect excuse to veto this bill and robbing us of the ability to actually address this real problem, which section 305 does recognize, and H.R. 2050 is out there and is on standby for us to move forward on.…”