David Thomas: “I just find it totally ironic. All you have to do is just come with me 3 short years ago. I was not the chairman of the…”

“I just find it totally ironic. All you have to do is just come with me 3 short years ago. I was not the chairman of the Subcommittee on Health and Environment then. I was the ranking member. The gentleman from California [Mr. Stark] was the chairman. What the Democrats did when they had a majority in the House and the Senate and had a member of their own party in White House is put absolutely nothing on the floor of this House; absolutely nothing on portability; absolutely nothing increasing penalties on waste, fraud, and abuse. The Democrats talk woulda, coulda, shoulda, about a product. I want to address myself to my Republican colleagues here. I do not want us to vote against the conference report because minority leader Daschle joined us in a press conference praising the work product working positively between the House and the Senate. And I do not want my Republican colleagues to vote against this conference report because the senior Senator from Massachusetts [Mr. Kennedy] signed the conference report and said some very nice words about all of us working very hard to produce a good product.”