Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to the Republican effort to deny 32 million Americans health care, to deny millions of middle class Americans the ability to get health care insurance if they have preexisting conditions and to drive up our national debt by an additional $1.4 trillion over the next 20 years. The Affordable Care Act will stave off the 55 percent of personal bankruptcies caused by health care emergencies. By banning rescissions, banning the preexisting conditions insurance bar, banning annual and lifetime coverage caps and capping annual out-of-pocket expenses, this law ensures that nobody will go broke because they get sick. The bill will save the lives of the approximately 45,000 Americans who now die every year because they lack health insurance. For America's seniors, the Affordable Care Act strengthens the Medicare program. Seniors will no longer pay out of pocket for preventive services; and the cruel doughnut hole, which forces seniors to choose between taking their drugs or going without, will be closed. And owners of small businesses will get billions of dollars in tax credits to help them provide health coverage to their employees-- unless, of course, the Republicans are successful in enacting a tax increase on small businesses by repealing the law. We did all this and more while reducing the deficit by what CBO now estimates will be $230 billion in the first 10 years and $1.2 trillion in the next 10 years.”