Political Quotes

“Thank you, Mr. Scott. Mr. Speaker, this is the 56th time we have gathered on the floor, talking past each other. The legislation that is offered by our Republican friends--a repeal--does not have any alternative. Frankly, everybody knows that it is not going to pass. If it were to be enacted into law, the President would veto it. The facts don't justify the rhetoric. We have 10 million previously uninsured Americans. We have the lowest health care spending growth rate in 50 years. Health care premium inflation is growing at historic lows, and Medicare premiums are lower than they were before the ACA was passed, and it held steady for 3 years. What should we be doing? Instead of trying to make the ACA worse and rail against it and get nowhere, I would suggest that we deal with things that we can agree upon. I have been working with my colleague Mr. Roe on bipartisan legislation to deal with providers helping with end-of-life care for patients; with Representative Roskam, a Medicare Common Access Card, bipartisan legislation to establish a smart card pilot project to eliminate Medicare fraud; with Representative Black, a value-based design for better care which would establish a pilot project to test reducing or eliminating cost-sharing for seniors with high-value medications. These are things that we could do this month that would make a difference. I hope that we stop this charade and get down to cases.…”