Political Quotes

“Mr. President, as the Republican leader mentioned a minute or two ago, the Senate has some important work to do before this Congress can come to a close. One of the pieces of legislation that has to be addressed is the Cures Act, a scaled-back version of the 21st Century Cures legislation the House is scheduled to consider tomorrow. The staffs of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee and the House Energy and Commerce Committee have worked countless hours on this bill. For more than a year, they have missed time with their families and given up vacations in the hope of reaching bipartisan agreement. There are many priorities in this bill to address funding for opioids, which has been an ongoing problem with all of the deaths occurring on a daily basis. We have done nothing to help with that--nothing. Of course, we are concerned about cancer and the advocacy of Vice President Biden and the so-called moonshot, as well as important provisions for the National Institutes of Health. There are other issues outstanding that will need to be resolved in this matter. It is my understanding that the committee work continues in the House, and we can expect a managers' amendment in the House Rules Committee sometime tonight. We are all eager to see what that is going to be. We know it is different from the Senate bill, which we felt very good about.…”