Political Quotes

“the hour is late. We have had a lot of rhetoric. We have had a lot of flailing of arms and pointing fingers across the aisle. It is time for us to come to a reasoned decision. It is time for us to look at all the debate that we have had, to look at the facts. I guess I could be suckered into a debate about fiscal responsibility over the past years, votes we have had and votes we did not have. But the fact is we have a very important bill on the floor of this House tonight, a bill that probably will reach into every American household and give people decisions and benefits on how they are going to take care of their mothers and their fathers and the elderly people that they hold dear. I want to salute those folks who worked hard on both sides of the aisle to carry on this debate. I thank the gentleman from California (Mr. Thomas) and the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Tauzin). I am grateful for their hard work. I have worked on health care issues in this Congress for more than a decade. When you compare me to the great gentleman from Michigan, that is probably not very much time. But Bob Michel put me on Mrs. Clinton's health care task force back in 1993 and Newt Gingrich asked me to deal with the issue of health insurance portability in 1995 and we did that. In every Congress that I have presided as Speaker, this House has passed a prescription drug benefit as part of an effort to modernize Medicare.”