Political Quotes

Tom Harkin: “Listening to the Republican leader talk about Republican support for meaningful health care is like listening to the big…”

On the recordSeptember 27, 2004
Listening to the Republican leader talk about Republican support for meaningful health care is like listening to the big tobacco companies talk about the need for cancer research. How do I say that? Because the problems of cancer basically are caused by the big tobacco companies. The problem that we don't have a meaningful health care system in America today--people-based, patient-based, preventive care-based--is because of Republican Party policies. It has been very clear for a long time that the Republican Party has opposed any kind of meaningful people-based health care program. After all, it was our colleague, former Senator Robert Dole, who during his Presidential campaign in 1996 bragged he had voted against Medicare, as most Republicans did in the mid 1960s.
Said by
Tom Harkin
Democratic · Iowa

Editor's note · Context

Responding to comments on health care during a Senate floor debate.

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