Political Quotes

“I am getting a real kick out of this debate. I really am. You know, we hear one after another of my Republican colleagues coming up here and self-righteously talking about ending the demagoguery and we should end the TV ads. And I just want to remind you that through the 2010 elections, the Republicans went on television and, yes, how about demagogued, the issue of Medicare, saying that Democrats wanted to cut $500 billion from Medicare. Well, let's talk about the truth. We were challenged, just a little while ago: What is your plan? Well, here was our plan to save Medicare and that was to say in The Affordable Care Act, yes, we are going to cut subsidies to the insurance companies that meant that we were bilking the government and the taxpayers, and we were having to overpay them, and, yes, we are going to cut waste and fraud from the Medicare program. And that's how we are going to save $500 billion. But not only would we not cut a single penny from benefits, but we were actually able to increase benefits while trimming Medicare. We, you know--so you scared the heck out of seniors but never mentioned, of course, at the same time we reduced the cost of Medicare. We improved Medicare by adding to its solvency; we closed the doughnut hole, making prescription drugs more affordable; and we provided a wellness exam every year at no cost; and we provided preventive services with no cost sharing.…”