Political Quotes

“before the distinguished Senator from Washington moves on to her other duties, I want to commend her and Senator Alexander for the outstanding job they have done and for the long hours she and her colleagues on the HELP Committee have put in to making the Cures Act the reality that it will be in a few days. I know the distinguished Senator is on her way to other meetings. I have a few things to say about it, but I want to express that before she leaves the Chamber. Truly, as Senator Murray said, the 21st Century Cures Act is a world- changing piece of legislation. It seems rather quiet and unremarkable today, but I actually believe we are taking a major step toward disease cure and health care research that rivals the legislation which actually founded the National Institutes of Health some decades ago. So we are about important business here at Christmastime as we near the end of this lameduck session. Senator Blunt and I and perhaps other Senators were over in the Chamber of the other body last Wednesday afternoon when the House of Representatives passed the 21st Century Cures Act by an overwhelming bipartisan vote, 392 to 26. I appreciated the work House leaders did from top to bottom and on both sides of the aisle on this important legislation. Of course, I am always pleased to visit my colleagues over there. A number of our House colleagues were over here last night when the Senate invoked cloture on the Cures Act by an overwhelming vote of 85 to 13.…”