Political Quotes

“Keep in mind that the Employee Retirement Income Security Act essentially would stop States from going forward, so we asked basically for a waiver of that. The amendment would have provided for a waiver so States would have no legal bar to pursue a single-payer system. That was essentially passed in committee and then stripped out. The point is we can enable it. Congress can facilitate that. The passage of affordable care, plus the Supreme Court saying Congress can move on health care, Congress can take a step, finally puts us in a position where we can elevate health care to the highest level of public concern. Every American who is out there tonight who's worried about whether they would be able to get access to affordable health care suddenly realizes that it is possible. For those poor people across America who are wondering whether they are going to be shut out by one aspect of the Supreme Court decision, now it's up to the States to reaffirm the position of the State in the life of their citizens by saying, if you're a poor person, we're not going to use the Supreme Court decision to block you from having access to the resources of the government with respect to health care. I think that we need to recognize that we've taken a big step here.…”