Political Quotes

“Speaking to my chairman, Chairman Walden, I accept your commitment and your leadership on insuring children, but I am speaking to you because I reject the argument that, in order to fund a health insurance program that all of us support, we have to compromise health programs that benefit many other people, including in Vermont. Let me just give an example. The prevention program in Vermont is really helping people stay well. We had $922,000 that was spent on immunization programs for our kids. We had $377,000 for lead poisoning prevention. Lead poisoning is brutal. We had $372,000 for heart disease prevention and control, and we had over $209,000 for diabetes and prevention control. So I acknowledge your commitment. I acknowledge the urgency with which your side and our side supports CHIP. But why is it that, if we support it, we don't pay for it? And instead of paying for it directly, coming up with ways to eliminate waste in the healthcare system, we take away our ability to immunize, to prevent lead poisoning, to reduce heart disease? That is my question. The answer for me would be that we go where the waste is. The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentleman has expired.”