Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, we have heard hours of impassioned speeches on the repeal of the Affordable Care Act, most defending all or nothing, and pitting us against them. But the American people aren't interested in the politics. They want us to focus on what we can do moving forward to make good health care more affordable for them without breaking the bank. I believe the ACA is flawed, and I parted ways with the majority of my Democratic colleagues in voting against it in 2010. As I said then, ``The bill does not do enough to lower the skyrocketing costs of health care, cuts more than $400 billion from Medicare, is not fiscally sustainable over the long-term, and breaks with the status quo by allowing Federal funding for abortion and abortion coverage.'' But we all agree there are good provisions. The bill expanded access to care and improved health insurance by doing things such as prohibiting discrimination based on preexisting conditions and extending family coverage to children up to the age of 26. Why, then, are we being asked to blindly throw out the good with the bad, or alternatively, to simply let the law stand with no changes at all? A few months after I voted against the ACA, in a town hall meeting in Hickory Hills, I was asked by an opponent of the law if I would vote to repeal it. I said, ``No. We need a fix, not a repeal that would take us back to the status quo.'' He said, ``Okay. Repeal and replace.…”