Political Quotes

“Senator Stabenow, Democrat from Michigan, Senator Wicker, a Republican from Mississippi, and I bring this amendment to the floor to extend for 1 year modest enhancements to the Health Coverage Tax Credit Program. I am going to throw a slight curve ball and start with the cost of this amendment, which will help place its benefits into context. While we are awaiting a final score, based on some preliminary numbers, this amendment should come in under $50 million. That is less than .006 percent of the cost of this legislation. It is $50 million out of roughly $800 million. Now let's look at who the amendment helps. It helps Americans who took a kidney punch when the companies for which they worked either packed up and moved their operations overseas, or when the companies for which they worked went bankrupt and turned their pension obligations over to the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation. I probably do not have to tell you what it means when an American's pension goes over to PBGC. It means that American's pension is slashed--often dramatically. So these are Americans who either lost their jobs and their health coverage, or lost large chunks of their pensions and their health coverage. As I stated earlier, this amendment would extend modest enhancements to the health coverage tax credit or HCTC. The HCTC was established 8 years ago to help these workers and retirees purchase private health coverage to replace the employer-sponsored coverage they lost.”