Political Quotes

“We have a situation in this country as was just outlined where we have 47 million Americans with no health insurance at all. We have tens of millions more that live in fear of losing their coverage. Employers often are unable to offer insurance to their employees. This is an epidemic in this country, and I heard about it back in the district this past weekend, I hear about it everywhere I go, because health insurance is an issue that affects everybody. It doesn't matter if you are rich or poor, live in an urban setting, rural area. No matter where you are from, health care affects you directly. And, unfortunately, for the past 6 years this issue has been ignored. And truth be told, it has been ignored for longer than that. And we need to look at this issue because this is affecting our economy. At General Motors, $1,500 of the price of producing a car is because of their health benefits. We can't compete with the rest of the world when other countries have health insurance provided. So we are starting $1,500 in the hole. So I do commend President Bush for including health care as one of his top priorities in the State of the Union address. It is something that is long overdue, and I am happy that he has finally decided to look seriously at this issue. Unfortunately, the plan that he has proposed is not going to be more than a drop in the bucket to solving that problem.”