Political Quotes

“My colleague has described how the Senate works best when she says: Look, bipartisanship is not about taking each other's lousy ideas. Bipartisanship is about both sides getting together, having hearings, listening to all alternatives and ideas, and often coming up with something no one has thought of. My colleague knows a lot about bipartisanship in healthcare because my colleague was part of our effort in 2008 when we put together the first bipartisan universal coverage bill in the history of the Senate-- seven Democrats, seven Republicans. By the way, a number of those Republicans are still serving in the Senate today. We know that is a better path. To wrap up this portion of the debate, I wish to say to my colleagues that the best way to proceed is with a kind of two-part effort. The first is to say that we all agree the Affordable Care Act is not perfect. We are going to take steps immediately to stabilize the private insurance market. We have a number of our colleagues--Senator Shaheen, with her effort to make sure people can get some help when they have deductibles and copayments; our colleague from Virginia, Senator Kaine, with reinsurance; Senator McCaskill with a fine idea to help areas that are bare in terms of no coverage. We have to move to stabilize the private market quickly because at the end of August, the plans are essentially signing contracts for premiums for 2018. My colleague is absolutely right.…”