Political Quotes

“I rise in opposition to the budget resolution that the Senate will vote on this week. We are nearly half way through the fiscal year, and the Republicans have offered this budget resolution not to set a path forward for spending for the year but to give them the ability to repeal the Affordable Care Act through the budget process, requiring less support than is needed under regular order. This budget is nothing more than a sham, being used to take away health insurance from more than 20 million Americans. What is worse is that my Republican colleagues intend to do so without any plan in place to mitigate the impact and protect the people who will be harmed. The uninsured rate is at its lowest point in recent history. Since the implementation of the ACA in my State of Rhode Island, the uninsured rate has fallen from 12 percent to under 4.5 percent. In real terms, that means that over 100,000 people in Rhode Island have gained coverage because of the ACA. That is about 10 percent of my State's population. Over 30,000 middle-income Rhode Islanders get tax credits averaging $250 a month to help them afford coverage on the State's health insurance marketplace. We cannot go back to a system that allows private insurers to deny coverage for preexisting conditions or charge more to those who need insurance the most.…”