Political Quotes

“It was great to hear from one of the true giants of this House, the distinguished whip from South Carolina, Mr. Clyburn. Thank you for joining us tonight. I was talking about this $83,000 income level that the President continues to throw out there, and it's factually inaccurate. It's just completely false. As I was saying, the history of it is New York State, one State in this country, applied for a waiver, attempting to reach the 400 percent of poverty level. That waiver was denied, never took effect. Those families were not covered, but the President uses that as his example of what could happen if we put this legislation forward. Well, the reality is, as under current law, it doesn't change in our bill; it would have to be approved. Any change in income up to that level would have to be approved by the administration. So if the President did not want to see any State move forward, he would say that that is denied, as it was denied when New York State tried to put that forward. So to say that the $83,000 figure is the reason for his veto is just factually inaccurate, at least using it as an example. Importantly, the bill that we passed limits the Federal matching percentage and gives States a strong disincentive for going above 300 percent of poverty which would be about $62,000. So the States have a strong incentive to not even attempt to go above 300 percent of poverty; and as I said, it's inaccurate for the President to say that that's the reason for his veto.”