Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I listened to the remarks of my colleague, the distinguished Senator from Wyoming, and he said there were 70 hearings on taxes. I think it is important that the American people know that there was not one single hearing--not one--on this bill. There were no discussions of the specific provisions in this legislation. There was no hearing on the personal responsibility requirement in the Affordable Care Act, which is so essential to that law and to what we ought to be looking at strengthening in the years ahead with respect to cost containment. So I just want to set the record straight right at the outset of the debate. Since I have heard once again that there were 70 hearings, I think it is important that the American people know that there was not one on this bill. Contrast this to 1986, when Democrats and Republicans got together and there were more than 20 hearings--more than 20 discussions on specifics about how to work together and find common ground on this enormously important issue. The Senate is 20 hours of debate away from a broken promise of truly historic proportions. This was supposed to be the year that the working people of America regained a powerful voice in Washington. Instead of a strong voice, what they got was a big con job.…”