Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, I want to tell you that the last speaker said this was rushed through Congress. It took 2 years to write this legislation. Even by congressional standards, this was not rushed through Congress. We have waited 7 years to hear the alternative, and the gentlewoman from Tennessee has all of these plans over there, and she says: we have got plans right here. How about one plan that we might have a chance to focus on? They have had the luxury of saying: we are going to do a better job without telling us what the better job entails. The Governor of Massachusetts recently wrote to our delegation and to the leadership in the House and said: During the ACA repeal-replace deliberations, it is important that coverage gains, patient protections and market stability be maintained. Let me give you some numbers from Massachusetts. 97.2 percent of the residents of Massachusetts have health care. 100 percent of the children in Massachusetts now have health care. This is an effort at rhetoric. We want to hear what the plan is. We want to understand what the alternative is. We want to know precisely what is going to be included and, just as importantly, what will be excluded from the benefits that this Affordable Care Act has given to the American people. Twenty-two million Americans now have healthcare insurance who didn't have it. Nine percent of the American people are without adequate health care. We should be fixing that. The CHAIR. The time of the gentleman has expired.”