David Obey: “I would simply respond by relating this story. I announced the opening of a dental clinic in a four-county area in my…”

“I would simply respond by relating this story. I announced the opening of a dental clinic in a four-county area in my district last year. When I was at that clinic, one woman told me that she had a son who was very, very sick. Her husband was also very, very ill and could not work, so she was on Medicaid. She desperately needed a dentist to take the braces off that child's teeth. She could not find one, even though she had called over 30 dentists. As a result, she held the kid down, while the father took the braces off with a pair of pliers. In my view, that should not happen to any American. I am for anything anywhere that can increase dental care providers and services, and I will do anything that is possibly within our reach to try to deal with the problem. Unfortunately, as the gentleman says, most of what needs to be done is within the Medicaid area, over which this committee does not have jurisdiction.”