Political Quotes

“last year, around this time, millions of Americans were mobilizing, marching, calling, and writing with a simple, straightforward demand. They demanded the U.S. Senate stand up to Donald Trump and protect the nearly 30 million Americans who were at risk because the Republican Party was hell-bent on destroying the Affordable Care Act, the ACA. With a vote on repealing the Affordable Care Act looming late in the evening, I came to the Senate floor that night intending to stand with the thousands of Hawaii residents who wrote or called my office with a sense of urgency to save their healthcare. I wasn't scheduled to speak that evening. I had already spoken many times previously about the importance of healthcare. As the debate wore on, much of it focused on healthcare in the abstract. I felt compelled to talk about the immediacy of healthcare because of what I was experiencing. Two months earlier, I had been diagnosed with kidney cancer during a routine examination. It is a moment everyone dreads, but it is also a moment nearly every family in this country has experienced at some point. Even as I reckoned with what came next--two surgeries and now ongoing immunotherapy--I knew I was fortunate. I had health insurance that allowed me to focus on my treatment rather than worrying about whether I could afford the care that would save my life.…”