Tom Harkin: “as chair of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee in the Senate--the committee that drafted large…”

“as chair of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee in the Senate--the committee that drafted large portions of the Affordable Care Act--in looking back at all of the hearings we had, the long markup sessions, working across the aisle with Republicans, working with the administration, finally getting it passed and signed into law, this is a great day. There has been a cloud hanging over this because of those who didn't want to reform the health care system. They wanted to keep insurance companies in charge. Well, we said, no, we are going to change this; we are going to reform the system and make it work for people, not just for insurance companies. There are those out there who didn't want to change, who didn't want to reform the system, and so they brought cases to court. And as we know, this issue has wound its way through the courts--some deciding yes and some deciding no--and then went to the Supreme Court. I remember being in the Court this spring for the arguments on this law, and we have been waiting since for the Supreme Court to make its decision. Well, this morning, the Supreme Court gave a resounding confirmation that the Affordable Care Act is indeed constitutional. Some have been saying President Obama wins this or the Democrats win or the Republicans lose--that kind of thing. I don't see it that way. What I see is that this is a great victory for the American people, for the businesses of America, and for our economy.…”