Political Quotes

“Mr. President, today I wish to join in a colloquy with the majority leader to address concerns that I have with the tax reform legislation that we are considering and to thank him for the many discussions that we have had over the past months about this bill. I have made clear that I don't think that the repeal of the individual mandate should have been included in the tax bill. Rather, I would prefer to see the mandate issue and the other flaws in the ACA addressed through a series of discrete bills that can be thoughtfully targeted to correct specific problems. That said, I have long-supported the repeal of the so-called individual mandate because I do not believe that the Federal Government should force any American to buy healthcare coverage he or she either does not want or cannot afford. Eighty percent of the people who pay the penalty imposed by the mandate make less than $50,000 a year. Nevertheless, it appears very likely that the individual mandate repeal will be part of this legislation. Unless we take action, that repeal will almost certainly lead to further increases in the cost of health insurance premiums--premiums that are already too expensive under the ACA. Therefore, I believe that it is imperative that Congress take action to mitigate this likely premium increase. There are two steps we can take to help remedy this situation.…”