Political Quotes

“the Senator has summed it up very well. I pick up on his comments with respect to health care. As my friend knows, this has always been my first love, going back to my days with the Gray Panthers. I have been especially proud that Oregon has been a leader in this area, first essentially in home health care, using dollars that could have gone for institutional care for home care, or the Oregon health plan, which began the debate about tough choices. I particularly want to note with Senator Smith on the floor this morning that Oregon again is in a position of leading on health care, and that is because my friend and colleague, through an extraordinary effort, has been able to send a message across this country that those on Medicaid, the most vulnerable people in our society, people who always walk an economic tightrope, balancing their food costs against their fuel costs and their fuel costs against their medical bills-- because of Senator Smith's efforts during the budget, there is an opportunity now to renew the protections those vulnerable people have. He and I agree completely that there are opportunities to promote reforms in Medicaid and we are committed to that, but because of Senator Smith's effort we are not going to put budget cuts ahead of reforms.…”