Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I am glad we are here today. I was a healthcare provider before I was in the Congress for 15 years, and I find when you have legislation like this that comes up, it is surprising that we have to, literally, as they say, have an act of Congress to protect patients, but today is one of those days. In the healthcare space, it always disappoints me when you see, whether it is providers or whether it is organizations that provide tissue, like this, where it seems like their moral character is compromised by the quest for profit. To me, it couldn't be worse. One of the goals that I have had since I have been here--and this will probably be my last time on the House floor managing a bill since I am retiring--is to put patients first. Any legislation that we propose, bipartisan legislation that we do, that is the number one goal. The number one goal should not be talking about the finances or other things related to legislation. We do have to talk about some of those things, but at the end of the day, the goal here is to make sure that the American people get quality, affordable healthcare that is safe and that they don't get transplants like this that have contaminated tissue that, in this case, has resulted in her death and the death of one other person, plus who knows how many other people of the 36 have struggled with their medical care based on this.…”