Bob Kerrey: “It seems nobody was in the room to say: Hey, that doesn't seem to be fair. If you look at the average…”

“It seems nobody was in the room to say: Hey, that doesn't seem to be fair. If you look at the average household--Nebraska and Iowa are pretty close to being the same --the average household in Nebraska pays more payroll taxes than they pay income taxes. Income credits very often don't affect them at all. One of the great paradoxes of allowing people to deduct health insurance is the higher your income, the more subsidy you get. We have an awful lot of people in Nebraska who don't have health insurance as a consequence of where they work. And when they go out and try to buy this health insurance, they don't get as much subsidy as somebody who has a higher income. As a consequence, they are not buying it. As a consequence, we now know it is fact that you are going to be less healthy if you don't have health insurance. My friend from Iowa is exactly right again. It doesn't pass the fairness test.”