Tom Harkin: “I guess I am compelled to say: Here we go again. We have been down this road a few times before since we passed the…”

“I guess I am compelled to say: Here we go again. We have been down this road a few times before since we passed the Affordable Care Act. Let me see, my notes tell me it is 33-- this makes the 34th time that someone on the Republican side has tried to do away with the Affordable Care Act. This is the 34th time, and they failed every time. But they are free to offer amendments, I understand that. I respect the Senator's right to do that, but we have already made our decisions on this and we are moving ahead. I have said many times as the chair of the HELP Committee, if someone has suggestions on how to improve the Affordable Care Act, to make it work better, be more efficient, I am open to that. That should be allowed, and we should have a constant exchange on maybe how we can improve it. But this idea that we are going to repeal it? I would also say I wonder if my friend, the Senator from Texas, saw the last election. The Senator from Texas got elected, that is for sure, and I congratulate him on that. But the Presidential candidate of the Republican Party who said he wanted to repeal the Affordable Care Act lost. President Obama, who was the President who initiated this and signed it into law won, I think quite convincingly. So the American people basically have said it is time to move on with the Affordable Care Act. Yet here this amendment basically would repeal it.…”