Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I rise today in opposition to the Patients' Rights Repeal Bill, and I find it absolutely regrettable that my Republican colleagues have made this their first priority of the new Congress. Rhode Islanders sent me here with a clear purpose to create jobs, strengthen our economy, and reduce the Federal deficit. Those are the issues we need to address, and doing so should be our first order of business and our top priority. Instead, we are considering a bill that will increase already skyrocketing health care premiums for Rhode Island families and businesses, give insurers back the power to deny or drop coverage when people get sick, and raise the deficit by an additional $230 billion over the next 10 years and over $1 trillion the decade after that. Pressing the reset button on health reform will not only bring our progress toward affordable and accessible health care to a screeching halt, it will force us to repeal the rights of patients and rescind tax breaks to the very small businesses that fuel our economy. I urge my colleagues to oppose this bill and join me in getting to work on the people's priorities--job creation, economic innovation, and deficit reduction. We have come such a long way. We have already seen the benefits of health care reform in covering children with preexisting conditions, allowing adult children to stay on their parents' health care coverage, and eliminating the yearly and lifetime caps.…”