John Larson: “it is also the gentlewoman from Florida's (Ms. Wasserman Schultz) voice that stood out almost singularly when again the…”

“it is also the gentlewoman from Florida's (Ms. Wasserman Schultz) voice that stood out almost singularly when again the heavy-handed control of this Republican- dominated majority tried to foist the Terry Schiavo incident upon us. I thank the gentlewoman for your strong voice at that time. It was resounding all across this Nation. It was picked up by the Hartford Current editorial board, to name just a few of the people it has impacted. The gentlewoman is right. It is not only specifically we can cite but it is the anecdotes that we can understand. I waited in the Rules Committee until 4 o'clock in the morning to try to get a bill that would provide for the Secretary of Health and Human Services to be able to do the same thing that every other nation does for its seniors, and that is to negotiate directly with the pharmaceutical companies. There is no way on that Medicare bill that that is not a germane piece of legislation, but it was denied access to the floor because of the power of its ideas. When the gentleman from California (Mr. Dreier) suggests that we do not have ideas, we have many ideas. The ideas are squashed by the heavy-handed Republican majority here.…”