Political Quotes

“with so many issues to wrap up before the end of this year and so many enormous challenges facing our country, my view is the Senate ought to be embracing bipartisanship at every turn. In fact, earlier today the senior Senator from Iowa and I released an 18-month bipartisan inquiry into Solvaldi, which is the blockbuster drug to deal with hepatitis C, and the reason we did is because these specialty drugs are the drugs of the future for cancer, Alzheimer's, diabetes, and defeating hepatitis C if people can afford them. Using the company's own documents, there were real questions about whether access and affordability were just kind of an oversight because all they truly cared about was maximizing revenue. A Republican, a senior Member of this body, a good friend of mine, and I as a Democrat came together because we thought this question of making sure the public can get access to breakthrough cures and that they be affordable was something that would require bipartisan effort. I am very proud that the senior Senator from Iowa and I joined in that effort earlier today. We ought to be embracing bipartisanship. I come tonight to unfortunately talk about this reconciliation legislation because I think it is the antithesis of what Chairman Grassley and I sought to do earlier today, which was to take a bipartisan approach. The reconciliation legislation in my view is a rejection of bipartisanship.…”