Political Quotes

“I thank my very good friend from Vermont for yielding to me, and I thank my colleagues for participating in this discussion. There are so many things that are hard to understand with regard to what occurred today. One is that the new Republican majority tells us that jobs is their first priority. This will generate about 4 million jobs around the country we're told--and we can identify where they occur. And so we won't create those jobs, particularly in the health care professions. We are told that another high priority of course is to reduce the budget deficit. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office tells us that this will save more than $1 trillion through an emphasis on preventive care, by getting people out of the most expensive emergency care and into doctors' offices, and much more efficient delivery of care. But nevertheless, we won't save that money, and we won't create those jobs. One of the fascinating things is that I'm told by many of my friends on the Republican side that they actually agree to eliminating the insurance companies' ability to deny people due to preexisting conditions, it's just that they're opposed to the individual mandate because it's unconstitutional. The fact is you can't have one without the other. Imagine how our car insurance system would work. You have to have car insurance, but there's no mandate. So just wait until you get into a crash, then go to the hospital, go to your insurance company, they're going to have to pay it up.…”