Political Quotes

“the debate on these two amendments is critical to the issue of whether all Americans--all families in this country--will have access to the protections provided for in this Bipartisan Patient Protection Act. That is the reason this vote tomorrow morning is critical to the vitality of this bill. We have worked very closely with Senators on both sides of the aisle to ensure that two things are accomplished with respect to coverage: No. 1, that every American is covered by this legislation and, No. 2, we give deference to States that, through their own work, have established good systems for patient protection. We honor those State legislatures and that State legislation. So that is the purpose of this amendment, the Breaux amendment. It strikes the right balance between making sure every American is covered--every family is covered--on the one hand, and, secondly, giving deference to the States that have already done good work in this area. We need to ensure that we do not take away the protections we are providing for all Americans by exempting a huge chunk of Americans, which, unfortunately, the Collins amendment would do. The Breaux amendment, though, is one in a series of consensus agreements that have been reached on this legislation.”