Charles Rangel: “what a great opportunity for us in this august body, whether we are Republican or Democrat, to think in terms of the…”

“what a great opportunity for us in this august body, whether we are Republican or Democrat, to think in terms of the comfort that we are giving parents and grandparents by having assurances that, if anything happened to these very special people, that they would have health insurance. There is hardly a weekend that goes by that I don't thank God for my three grandchildren, and not have to worry that if anything, God forbid, should happen to them, that at least we would know they have access to health care. It reminded me when I was a young father and how precious my son and daughter would be. And then you think, of course, of the so many millions of people that go to work every day not being able to concentrate on their jobs and being productive and competitive, but thinking what would happen if their child became ill. And it is not just the compassionate and right thing to do, to know that all of us would be able to go to sleep at night and to know that we made our contribution to provide health care to 11 million kids, but even from a national security or fiscal point of view, as doctors and researchers indicate, the great burden of fiscal costs for diseases and ailments that could have been detected if the children had access to health care.”