Lloyd Bentsen: “I have nothing but the highest respect for the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Norwood). The problem is, the gentleman from…”

“I have nothing but the highest respect for the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Norwood). The problem is, the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Norwood) went as far as could go, and he ran into the White House. It is ironic, after being here for 7 years, coming from a State where my former Governor used to say, let Texans run Texas, and where my Texas colleagues up here on the other side of the aisle said, let the States do it, because the States can do it better, what always happens, whenever it gets in the way of the powerful special interests, this idea of devolving power to the States becomes wholly inconvenient. The bill before us today would upend the law in Texas that passed under George Bush's watch, the law he talked about during the campaign that he was so proud about. But the fact is, that it upends the interests of very powerful insurance companies who do not like the Texas law, they do not like the California law, they do not like the New Jersey law. Defeat the Norwood amendment, and let us pass a real patients' bill of rights.”