Political Quotes

“back in 2007 and 2008, a group of us who had never run for Congress or for the Senate jumped into campaigns against incumbent Members of this body, hoping to fight for a vision of government of, by, and for the people. Al Franken was one of those individuals taking on an incumbent, Republican Norm Coleman, and as I heard Senator Franken on the campaign trail, I heard what we heard today in his speech: a willingness to fight for that vision so embodied in our Constitution of government that would provide a foundation for families to thrive, that would lift everyone up; not a government of, by, and for the privileged; not a government of, by, and for the powerful. It takes a lot of guts to throw yourself into the political world, but because he did and because he won that campaign, we were able to advance a number of policies. I shared with Al the experience not only of running against an incumbent Republican but not having results on election night. However, I only had to wait 2 days; I didn't have to wait the many months that he did to come and be part of this body. Because he came, we were able to pass the Affordable Care Act. My home State of Oregon went from 15 percent uninsured to 5 percent uninsured. Hundreds of thousands of people gained access to healthcare through the expansion of Medicaid and through the healthcare exchange made affordable by the tax credits provided by that bill.…”