Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I listened carefully to the speech given on health care reform, and I would like to put in perspective what the challenge is that faces America. Absent health care reform, absent a change in the growing increase in the cost of medical care, not only families but businesses and governments will find it impossible to adequately fund the health care Americans need. If we do not come together, as we tried with our health care reform bill, and dedicate ourselves to reducing the increase in the growth of the cost of medical care and do it with an assurance of quality being protected, then the net result of all this, I am afraid, is going to end up with America with medical bills it cannot pay. We find as we look at government programs--Medicare, Medicaid, veterans programs, for example--that if we do not change the projected rate of growth of cost in these programs, in just a short period of time, the Federal budget of America will be consumed by health care costs and interest on the national debt to the exclusion of everything else. I just heard my friend, the Senator from Texas, speak against individual mandates. The word ``mandate,'' I am sure, rubs many people the wrong way. But let's take a look at what that individual mandate is. From my point of view, it is a question of individual responsibility, whether individuals in this country have a responsibility to have health insurance. Some argue of course not; they do not.…”