On the recordOctober 23, 2015
I am excited to be here today, and I am saddened by some of the shrillness of the conversation. This is the first reconciliation package that I have seen in the 4\1/2\ years that I have been elected to this body. In fact, more than half the Members of this institution have never seen a reconciliation bill come to the floor of this House. Why? Because Congress hasn't functioned in a way where the House and the Senate have been able to come together to do this. That is happening this year for the first time. We ought to be celebrating that. To hear this described as a partisan exercise--and I understand folks have a lot of grievances, and this may just be the day that folks are going to air all of their grievances. But to describe this as a partisan exercise misses the point that the only bipartisanship in this entire conversation is around trying to reject the damaging provisions of the President's healthcare bill. After all, when this was jammed through using the reconciliation process, it was jammed through in a partisan fashion. The bipartisan vote was a vote ``no.'' When we tried to deal with the slush fund that was going for all sorts of programs that America would reject, the bipartisan vote was the vote to abolish it, as this bill does today. The bipartisan vote was to delay the individual mandate, as this bill abolishes today. The bipartisan vote was to delay the employer mandate, as this bill does today.…
