Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, health care continues to be an important topic in this country. A lot of people ask me, What keeps you awake at night? I'll tell you. Right now, the Supreme Court is going to hear this law. They could find the individual mandate is unconstitutional, and I hope they do. But what if they leave the rest of the law intact? Then we will have a real problem, and this House needs to be prepared to deal with that problem and lead on this issue. In recent filings by the administration, it's apparent that they even acknowledge the difficulties inherent in throwing out the individual mandate but keeping things like guarantee issue and community rating; and, in fact, they asked that these two codependent policies be severed under the law. States' attempts in the past to constitute guarantee issue and community rating have resulted in insurance costs becoming inexorably higher, the number of people who purchase insurance irrevocably lower, and, as a consequence, the entire system is at risk of completely imploding. Mr. Speaker, we need to be prepared for this. The Supreme Court is going to hear the case next month. They'll rule by the end of June, and this House needs to be ready to lead. ____________________”