Ben Cardin: “this conference report underscores the importance of working together, Democrats and Republicans, to get things done. I…”

“this conference report underscores the importance of working together, Democrats and Republicans, to get things done. I listened to the distinguished Speaker. There are some good things in this bill where we worked together. The problem is that the Republican leadership has used the fatally flawed partisan process in order to bring this bill to the floor. When you only work with half the Members, half the Nation is left out on the bill that is before us. The problem is, there is too much that is not in this bill or is wrong in this bill. It is inadequate on school construction. We could do a lot better on that. You spend too much money on health insurance breaks for those who already have health insurance and not enough on those who do not have health insurance. We can do better than that. You have left out the vaccine research credit which is so important to the health of our Nation. And you have left out the Lou Gehrig's disease, modernizing it so people who suffer from that disease can qualify for Medicare benefits. If you would have brought the Democrats into the process, we could have a bill we all could be proud of and support. Unfortunately, we should follow the President's advice. He is going to veto it. I urge my colleagues to vote against the conference report.”