Political Quotes

“first of all, I rise with a sigh of relief that the decision has been made not to go forward with a vote on a very divisive healthcare bill. More importantly today, I rise to say this is really an opportunity for us to work together to get something done--something very positive--as it relates to healthcare costs and healthcare coverage for the people whom we all represent in our States and the people across the country. I am hopeful we will see action soon, and I am hopeful it will be this week when we can come together around very good work that is being done in the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee with our two great leaders--Senator Alexander and Senator Murray. They have been holding a number of committee meetings and forums, and I am very pleased to have participated in those. We have had great bipartisan participation in focusing on how to stabilize the current insurance marketplace. We know that has to be step one if we are going to bring down rates, bring down costs, and create a path forward so more insurance companies are participating in the current system. I have great confidence that we can come together and get that done. It needs to get done immediately because decisions are being made about rates this week, and I am hopeful we can take action on that this week. Mr. President, we have two other things that are very important--open dates that are looming by the end of the week.…”