Richard Gephardt: “Let's go a little further because I think this gets to the heart of the matter. We are here tonight to talk about goals…”

“Let's go a little further because I think this gets to the heart of the matter. We are here tonight to talk about goals and elements of the plan that we think are very important. I know you want us to defend every word on every page of the bill. And that is fine, that is a great debate technique. But let us get down to what this is about. We care, and I know you care, about getting every American family to have guaranteed private insurance that cannot go away. We care about it, and I think you care about it. Two of your colleagues have had the courage to come forward with a plan that has unpopular features in it in order to get that done. And we have got what I am sure can be unpopular features, in order to get that done in our plan. The truth is, if we are going to get this done, leaders like you in your party I think have to come out for plans like that so that we can begin this discussion to get down to brass tacks. Are you willing to do that?”