Political Quotes

“I have stepped away from a Ways and Means Subcommittee on Health to come to the floor. The purpose of that hearing is once again to attack the Affordable Care Act, criticisms of CMS, and to lay the foundation for the Republican goal of repealing the Act entirely. I have frankly lost track of the number of attempts to repeal the bill. Fifty? Sixty? You know, it really doesn't matter. The Affordable Care Act is here to stay and will be throughout the tenure of President Obama. Despite some difficulties in its implementation, the President is justly proud of the health care reform as a signal accomplishment of his administration. Many of the problems that we are facing in the implementation of the act have been as a result of Republican intransigence. Remember, despite the fact that the legislation embodies most of what had been bipartisan principles--indeed, those strongly advocated by Republicans over the last 20 years or more--there was unrelenting opposition. Republicans in the Senate refused to cooperate and refused to legislate, denying the 60-vote threshold necessary to move the bill forward. As a result, the bill was adopted through a process called reconciliation, where you just melded the two bills together. The result was not a bill that anybody would have designed, but it easily could have been made better, should our Republican friends have chosen. Instead, they have continued this unyielding assault.…”