Political Quotes

“Mr. President, we have had a long discussion today on the amendment to the surface transportation bill offered by my colleague and friend from Missouri, Senator Blunt. I think the discussion has shown pretty clearly that the amendment by the Senator from Missouri is both way beyond the scope of what most people envisioned and is extreme. It is way beyond the scope because it would cause the deprival of certain types of health care to perhaps millions of Americans in areas that go way beyond contraception. All an employer would have to do is say they have a moral objection to providing vaccinations and they would not have to provide health care. Maybe the employees could sue or go to court for 10 years and figure this out, but that is not what we want. So it would be a giant step backward in terms of health care. It is also a giant step backward in terms of depriving millions of American women of contraception. In a sense, this is a ban on contraception, at least for the millions of American women whose employers would say they do not want to provide contraception. Some might be motivated by religious beliefs, some might be motivated by simply saving money, and we would never know except after long and costly litigation. Again, that would deprive the employee of contraception for a very long time.…”