Rich Neal: “62 times we have now voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Let me contrast what we are about to do in the next few…”

“62 times we have now voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Let me contrast what we are about to do in the next few minutes with the manner in which Democrats handled the Medicare part D prescription drug benefit. We voted against it. We opposed it. We became the majority, and we improved it. That is the reality of legislating. We closed the doughnut hole. We took a very difficult piece of legislation--largely resisted on their side as well--and became the majority and asked: How can we singularly improve this legislation so that it has broad appeal for the American people? Today, people take it for granted. They just accept the idea that the prescription drug bill works for all members of the American family. Instead, this is the 62nd time of repealing this for the purpose of political messaging, with no alternative ever provided--not once. I hope the media members will use the contrast that I have just outlined about the prescription drug legislation in Medicare part D with what the Republicans are doing, once again today, with no hope other than that of trying to win political points in messaging.”