Political Quotes

“I wish a happy baseball opening day to everyone. Actually, it started last night, not today, but it sounds better to do it during the daytime. Although it is opening day for Major League Baseball, it also happens to be the last day for Americans to sign up for ObamaCare, the Affordable Care Act. To date there are over 10 million newly-insured Americans benefiting from the health care law now in effect, and there are millions more who have changed their insurance because of this legislation. So it is clear Americans are signing up for this quality health care in record numbers--and that is an understatement. I also am very happy we have been able to come to an agreement on the Medicare physician payment system. It is a 12-month fix. We need to take action on this to ensure that Medicare patients will be able to see their doctors. But the fact remains this legislation is not perfect. It is not ideal. I wish we could have followed the chairman of the Finance Committee, Senator Wyden, who came in kind of late. Most of the work was done by Ambassador Baucus before he came in. But he worked really hard, and he wants to pay for it in a way I think is appropriate--to use the unspent money we have from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, called OCO, the Overseas Contingency Operations fund. But at this stage it doesn't appear it is now going to happen. This legislation wasn't some last-minute deal.…”