Political Quotes

“I also rise with my colleagues to speak in favor of commonsense solutions. I think the GOP leadership made a wise decision--and I thank them for it--to pull the vote on their healthcare bill this week when the CBO came out and said that 22 million people would lose health insurance, 15 million in the first year, and Medicaid cuts would be significant. Obviously, the public was very concerned, and I am glad the GOP has taken a step back. I think we now have a chance to get this right. I want to tell a personal story about my own involvement in this in the last few months. The story, to me, exemplifies an important principle, and that is a bad process will produce a bad product. This bill was the subject of a very bad process. The bill that was put on the floor was a bill that ignored and shut out all Democrats from participating. More importantly, it shut out the committees from participating. Most importantly, it shut out the public from participating. That led to a bill that was destined to be bad. So we ought to fix it. Our Democratic leader is just exiting the Chamber. He asked me after I came back from the national ticket--as a consolation prize, I guess-- can you be on the HELP Committee? This is the committee I have wanted to be on since I came to the Senate--Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. I have been a mayor, and I have been a Governor. I have been in local and State government for 60 years.…”