Political Quotes

“I rise to discuss the Democratic continuing resolution proposal that was on the floor earlier. Neither proposal gained sufficient votes, and that means we have work to do to find a compromise that will enable the government to stay open, and I want to make clear why I believe the Democratic proposal has some real strong merit for Virginians and for Members of this body, both Democratic and Republican, and why I think this is such a strong proposal. My advocacy for the Democratic position is basically focused on two issues: healthcare and the underlying basic notion that we all get-- that a deal should be a deal. During August, I think, as most of us did, I traveled around my home State of Virginia a lot and talked to many people. The Senate had passed the reconciliation bill--that partisan bill--in July, and during the August recess, I heard a boatload from Virginians about their concerns. Because of that reconciliation bill, six hospitals in Virginia are at risk of closure. These hospitals are all in the rural parts of the Commonwealth. There are 302,000-plus Virginians who will likely completely lose their health insurance, 136,000 will lose the health insurance that they are currently able to access through the Affordable Care Act, and another 166,000 will likely lose health insurance because of cuts to the Medicaid Program. Virginia has a population of about 8½ million; 302,000 people losing their health insurance is pretty significant.…”