Political Quotes

“The last hour just ended, and you heard the admonition at the end of the hour that it is extremely important for people to pay attention. And during this hour, I am going to echo that thought. It is important for people to pay attention, Mr. Speaker, and, yes, I will direct my remarks to the Chair. But, Mr. Speaker, if I could talk to the American people, what I would tell them is now is the time, it is late at night, but now is the time for you to be keeping this House under intense scrutiny and watch what happens here over the next 72 hours as we drag this carcass of a health care bill across the finish line. Now, how did we get here? It's probably useful to think about things for just a moment. We had a big election in 2008. People said they voted for change. Right before that election in 2008, in the other body, the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee held a big meeting over in the Library of Congress and had all the big players and the stakeholders in health care in the room, and came up with what was called a white paper on health care reform. For all the world, it looked like a bill. For all the world, it looked like it would be the bill that was brought forth in the Senate should the Democrats take control of the White House, the House and the Senate. Indeed, the election was held, and they did. I will tell you, Mr. Speaker, I was somewhat surprised that there was not a health care bill, no health care bill came forth in those early days after the election.…”