Political Quotes

“I come to the floor to discuss what I call the Washington exemption from ObamaCare. One of the few real victories the American people had in the ObamaCare debate was we actually got an amendment included in the Senate consideration of the bill that said much of Washington--all Members and all of our congressional staff-- have to go to the ObamaCare exchanges for our health care, just like millions of other Americans. We had to get it there. Unfortunately, I guess this was an example of what Nancy Pelosi said when she said we need to pass the bill in order to understand what is in it. After the ObamaCare statute passed with that very clear and very specific provision in it, a lot of folks around here read it and said: Oh, you know what. How are we going to deal with this? A furious behind-the-scenes lobbying effort then began. It went on for months. It was to essentially get around that provision and the pain it would cause--the pain being subjecting Members of Congress and all of our staff to the same circumstance and experience as other Americans. That ended with President Obama getting personally involved and the Obama administration issuing a special rule, and that rule is just an end run around the specific statutory provision. I think it is completely illegal for that reason, because it is in conflict with that statutory provision.…”