Political Quotes

“in a short time, we will vote on the motion to proceed to debate the House Republican healthcare bill. Several months into this new process, with Republicans in the majority in both Chambers, the American people have not been treated to a high- minded debate or to much debate at all. The very first action of this Congress was for the majority to pass reconciliation instructions on healthcare--a process which has locked out Democrats from the very beginning. The very first thing this Republican Congress said to the American people is that healthcare is going to be a partisan project, undertaken by Republicans and Republicans alone. Right out of the gate, Democrats were locked out. The majority leader elected to forge a bill in secret and bypass the committee process entirely--no public hearings, no open debate, no opportunity for the minority to amend the bill or even to read it before it emerged from the leader's office. Their plan all along was to keep their bill hidden for as long as possible, evade scrutiny, hide the truth from the American people, and then jam the bill through in the dead of night on a party line. Now, here we are, after so much cloak-and-dagger legislating, about to vote on proceeding to a debate on one of the most important issues of our time--one-sixth of the economy and tens of millions' health and even lives affected without knowing exactly what we will be debating on.…”