Harry Reid: “The assertion regarding socialized medicine is, for lack of a better description, kind of foolish. Regarding States…”

“The assertion regarding socialized medicine is, for lack of a better description, kind of foolish. Regarding States rights, they learned very quickly that wasn't much of a winner. Then the fact that they were surprised about the lawsuits, of course, that was a surprise that they were surprised. I also was here, as the Senator from North Carolina was, when they spent a great deal of time talking about this novel concept they came up with, that you should be able to deduct 100 percent of the cost of an employer's health insurance. What they failed to tell us is that is something we have been pushing for a long time. In fact, it was put in the tax bill of the former chairman of the committee who is now present. That was put in the tax bill. Of course, it was taken out in conference. My colleague remembers that. As a result of the games being played, that amendment was defeated. Today, starting the second week of this debate, I now see a new ploy; that is, they suddenly are saying that now you can file lawsuits--and we are OK with that--but what you are doing is, all the employers in America are going to be sued as a result of having health insurance for their employees, and they are going to drop all their insurance. With this as a background, I want the Senator from North Carolina to comment about the latest direction; that is, that employers will be sued to death.…”