Political Quotes

“Madam President, we are now on a bill to extend tax cuts, to extend certain payments for unemployment insurance, COBRA subsidies, and so forth. This is a jobs bill. This is a safety net extenders bill. This is not a health care bill. Four Senators just spoke--I think there were four; six of them altogether--basically being very critical of the health care reform bill we passed in the Senate, very critical of the President's effort to pass health care reform. I think some of the misstatements made deserve a response. The Senator from Mississippi called the Senate health care bill a massive tax increase. The Senator is simply mistaken. That is not correct. The health care reform legislation is, in fact, a major tax cut. It is not a tax increase but a major tax cut. The Senate passed a health care bill that provided more than $400 billion in tax cuts for Americans to buy health insurance--$400 billion in tax cuts. Those were tax credits given to Americans to buy health insurance. That sounds like a tax cut to me. This is the largest tax cut for individuals since the record tax cuts of 2001. The junior Senator from Wyoming said: We need to stop and start all over again. Anyone who has paid any attention to the debate on health care reform for any amount of time knows the opportunity to pass health care reform comes around about once in a generation. It doesn't happen all the time. In fact, I think it was Teddy Roosevelt who first attempted to pass health care reform.…”