Political Quotes

On the recordMarch 3, 2011
Those used to be bipartisan; but instead of working with us to refine and accelerate the provisions, people are trying to put sand in the gears. And as my friends from Michigan and from New York have pointed out, there are going to be some--we hope they are unintended victims--but there are going to be innocent victims, people in the middle class and the near middle class who don't have the control of billionaire hedge funds to control their income. There are things that can happen that will adjust it up or down. There will be a significant penalty. We have worked to fix that cliff. We've approved it. We don't need to reinstate the cliff, the tax on honest mistakes. As has been pointed out, there are provisions to deal with fraud. This is part of the drip, drip, drip to try and undermine health care reform, not accelerate it. It's a part of misrepresentation politically that the American public frankly doesn't deserve. It's a lost opportunity for us to reduce the deficit, improve health care, and lower costs. {time} 1150 This is very personal to people like me. I come from an area of the country that provides high-quality health care at a low cost. My people are penalized. Health care reform is moving to try to help people like that as we overall improve health care around the country and protect the deficit.…
Said by
Earl Blumenauer
Democratic · Oregon

Share & report

More from Earl Blumenauer

May 24, 2023

Somebody listening from the sidelines would think that there is a great deal of disagreement between my honorable friend from Missouri and me. That is not the case. We share many of the same goals, as he knows, with legislation that I am…

govinfo.gov
Oct 2, 2023

We are going to pick up where we left off over the weekend, sort of the high school drama about governing the House of Representatives. We have some people who are playing with fire. We have watched them work to the brink. It happened…

govinfo.gov
Jan 31, 2024

I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, listening on the floor of the House, there are arguments that are legitimate in terms of the shortcomings of this. It is not perfect, but I don't want the perfect to be the enemy of the…

govinfo.gov
Aug 12, 2022

I thank the chairman, and I appreciate his leadership and his courtesy. Madam Speaker, this legislative package is something that refuses to die. It will reduce inflation, lower energy costs, and lower the cost of prescription drugs. But…

govinfo.gov

Other voices in this conversation