Political Quotes

“No one has worked harder on this measure that is not a member of the Judiciary Committee than Peter DeFazio of Oregon. And I yield to him 3 minutes. Mr. DeFAZIO. I thank the distinguished chairman for bringing this issue before us. We have heard on the Republican side this is just about the little guys. They only want to help the little guys. Except that the loopholes that they would create with the Lungren provisions could be used by the big guys. So if you like the status quo, if you like the fact that some of the largest insurance companies in America saw their profits go up by 56 percent last year, if you like the fact that in many States we are seeing huge, double-digit increases, over 50 percent in Michigan, 40 percent in California, 20 percent in my State, if you think the system's working today, then you should support Mr. Lungren's idea, preserve the status quo. That is what they are saying. Keep the loopholes. Allow them to continue to collude and price fix. Now, there are a few other people who disagree with them. In fact, we had a bipartisan commission created by the Republican Congress when they controlled the House and the Senate and signed into law by President George Bush. The members were appointed by George Bush, the Republican heads of the House and the Senate. And their conclusions considered Mr. Lungren's arguments and they rejected them.…”