Political Quotes

“I have been listening to the reaction here in Washington to the very forthright and helpful report on health care reform from the Congressional Budget Office. And it is hard to believe--or to excuse--what I am hearing. Because so many of the people I hear doing the talking about the CBO report do not seem to have done much listening to Dr. Reischauer's testimony. If they had, then they would know that the Congressional Budget Office has found that the Health Security Act, in its current form, would save our economy $337 billion dollars in health care spending over the next decade, while providing guaranteed coverage for every American. And CBO found that if we do nothing, our Nation will have to spend $150 billion a year more 10 years from now and millions of people will still be without health insurance. The CBO did find that the Health Security Act would, in short term, add to the Federal deficit. And we should work together--as the Senator from Missouri proposed--to change that in the months ahead. And we can do that. The differences are not very large. The gap is not too large to close. But at the same time, Dr. Reischauer made it clear that the savings in private health spending--the savings for business and individuals and families and the savings for State and local government would begin immediately and would grow to reaching $650 billion a year within a decade.”