Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I believe in markets and I believe in transparency, and that is what I wish to speak about today. I think markets generally are the best allocators of goods and services, but in order for markets to work, people who purchase--consumers--need information. I wish to address one small piece of a very important market today. I serve on the Budget Committee of this body and as such I have had an opportunity to look at not only the current budget but projections of future budgets. I think it is important to emphasize that virtually all the growth--all the growth--in future Federal budgets is attributable to health care--all the growth. It is not Pell grants, it is not national parks, it is not national defense, it is not the National Security Agency; it is all in health care. There are several ways we can control those costs. One way which has been suggested is to simply shift those costs off to other people--to the States, to the elderly, to other citizens--and say it is not the Federal Government's problem; it is someone else's problem. I would suggest that is not the answer. We need to be focused on the issue of health care costs generally, for everyone--for the Federal Government as a consumer, as it is in Medicare and Medicaid, but also for all of us as health care consumers across the country. The standard response around here to growing health care costs is to cut programs, cut recipients, reduce payments to States, or reduce payments to providers.…”