Janice Schakowsky: “You know, you had talked about, and I think you were absolutely eloquent, that we've never seen a perfect bill. But, you…”

“You know, you had talked about, and I think you were absolutely eloquent, that we've never seen a perfect bill. But, you know, Social Security and Medicare, which are not only the most popular but the most effective programs that we have in our country, to guarantee a dignified retirement, to make sure that people, that older Americans, people with disabilities don't do without, orphans don't do without if they lose a parent, those bills didn't start out as good as they are now. You know, we add people, we make some changes, we fine-tune the legislation. But what we're doing now will rank right up there with the first passage of Medicare, with the first passage of Medicaid and Social Security. And then, we will--and I, you know, we were together, Congresswoman Woolsey, at the White House talking to the President, who himself recognized this isn't the be all and end all, but it's, as you said, the perfect beginning. It lays the foundation that we can work from. And I think the level of peace of mind and security that people will have-- But I wanted to make another point. You talked about how we compete in the world. And the cost of health care makes our businesses uncompetitive.”