W. Todd Akin: “Gentleman, this is my 22nd year--I hate to admit it--in an elected office, and I have seen 22 years' worth of bills, 12…”

“Gentleman, this is my 22nd year--I hate to admit it--in an elected office, and I have seen 22 years' worth of bills, 12 in the Missouri legislature, and this is my 10th year here. I have never seen a bill like this that is going to affect so many different Americans so profoundly. This is larger than anything we've dealt with before. And I know there are a number of us that believe that if this bill were to pass the way it stands now, not only would it destroy health care in America, it would destroy our budget and would be tremendously detrimental to the lives of Americans from coast to coast. This is a very big deal and it is right for the American people to be very exercised about it.”