Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I am delighted to follow Senator Alexander and was very pleased to hear the news from the CBO that this Alexander-Murray proposal not only doesn't bail out insurance companies, as we all agree we should not do--we want to make sure savings go to consumers--but it also will save taxpayers $3.8 billion. This is a bipartisan agreement. I applaud the work of Senator Alexander and Senator Patty Murray to craft this bipartisan agreement to address the challenges we have in the short term with healthcare. Senators Alexander and Murray have given us a template for bipartisan negotiations not just on healthcare but on other critical matters that are going to come before this Senate--tax reform, reauthorizing community health centers and the Children's Health Insurance Program, reaching an agreement on the 2018 budget. These are all major issues facing this country and issues we should be working on in a bipartisan way. The Senate is at its best when we observe regular order and we follow the committee process, when we work across the aisle and make principled compromises to get things done for the American people. I believe that is exactly what this health insurance bill does. In a Senate that is nearly equally divided between Republicans and Democrats, this is the only productive way forward for us to address the challenges that face this country.…”