Political Quotes

“I am grateful to the Presiding Officer for recognizing me. I want to say I am excited to be standing up tonight and talking, along with Senator Wyden, Senator Hassan, and we just heard from Senator Casey who is marking this 13th anniversary celebration with extraordinary determination not to see these great programs cut. I was not in Congress when the ACA was passed into law. But in an affirmation of that old adage about politics being local, I saw in my local community of Newark, NJ, the powerful difference that the ACA made, the difference that health reform had on my community. Folks would come up to me immediately in the months and years afterwards and talk about how they were finally able to get the healthcare that they needed, not only for themselves, but for their loved ones--how they moved from anxiety and fear to security and strength. You had folks with preexisting conditions who were discriminated against in the United States of America before the law's passage, but now they had a pathway for quality, affordable healthcare. Folks had to choose often between putting food on the table, paying rent, or just visiting a doctor; a choice between buying school supplies and getting their prescription drugs. Choices that, in this Nation--the richest Nation on the planet Earth--are outrageous, unacceptable, and fiscally irresponsible.…”