Rich Neal: “I think there is one acknowledgment that we all ought to come to very quickly, and it goes like this: The wealthy, the…”

“I think there is one acknowledgment that we all ought to come to very quickly, and it goes like this: The wealthy, the healthy and the strong have had a great run of it for the last 6 years. Think of that terror that overcomes that family with that child who needs health care. Think of that child who died because he had not gotten to a dentist in America in the year 2007. Think of what we are doing today, advancing an opportunity for health care for all members of the American family. My friend, Mr. McCrery, said if we had had an opportunity to vet this issue. Let me remind the audience, the Republicans required us to read the bill. The Ways and Means Committee spent 6 hours reading the bill. To argue that somehow there was not an opportunity to vet the issue when we read the bill is akin to setting the fire and calling the fire department. That is the argument we are being asked to embrace. This is a good piece of legislation. It ought to have bipartisan support. Use the model of the National Governors Association. That is a bipartisan organization.”