Orrin Hatch: “72 percent of all adults responded that they favor this proposal and only 24 percent were opposed; 67 percent of all men…”

“72 percent of all adults responded that they favor this proposal and only 24 percent were opposed; 67 percent of all men approved of this proposal and 76 percent of all women were in favor. The results were remarkably consistent throughout each geographic region in the United States, across age groups and, indeed, income groups. The point is simple. This is an idea whose time has come. So to those who believe there is a better way to go, I earnestly solicit your views. Indeed, I will make an offer to every Member in this body. I want to work with each of you and with our leadership to address this issue in a responsible way. If changes need to be made, if we need to move toward a middle ground in order to get a proposal enacted, I will be an advocate for these changes. It is for this reason that Senator Kennedy and I initiated our discussions on this issue several months ago. The fact is that Senator Kennedy and I approach issues like these from vastly different ends of the political spectrum. That perhaps is what strengthens the product of our discussions on those issues, the fact that we can find common ground. I believe we desperately need to find that bipartisan common ground on an issue like child health insurance, an issue which matters to so many of all of our constituents.”