FixHealthCarePolicy

Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.)

“The truth is that nothing is better than that (a public option) because I think we ought to follow, if I may, the doctors’ oath here in Congress as we deal with health care reform: Do no harm.” – (Nov. 1, 2009 on CBS: Face the Nation, per The Washington Post)

Tags: do no harm, public option

Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.)

“I think that a lot of people may think that the public option is free. It’s not. It’s going to cost the taxpayers and people that have insurance now, and if it doesn’t, it’s going to add terribly to our national debt.” — (October 28, 2009, Wall Street Journal)

Tags: national debt, public option, taxpayers

House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio)

“Whether you call it a public option, a trigger, or a co-op, the fact is all of these proposals put us on the path to government-run health care.” — (October 26, 2009, FoxNews.com)

Tags: Co-Op, opt-out, public plan, Trigger

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.)

“The fact is, this proposal will never come before the Senate. But what we do know is that the bill written behind closed doors here in the Capitol will be another 1,000-page, trillion-dollar Washington takeover. We know it will slash a half-trillion dollars from seniors’ Medicare, add new taxes and raise premiums. That’s not reform.” — response after the Senate Finance Committee’s vote to approve health reform legislation (October 13, 2009, press release)

Tags: health reform, Senate Finance Committee, Washington takeover

Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.)

“I think the states, as laboratories of democracy, probably can find ways to deal with this, and if they do make a mistake it’s a smaller mistake to correct than at the federal level,” — regarding health reform (October 13, 2009, The Washington Post)

Tags: health reform, States

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas)

“Some have claimed that cutting the ‘extra payments’ to Medicare Advantage plans reduces insurance company profits. The fact is 75 percent of those ‘extra payments’ go directly to better benefits for seniors under current law.

Unfortunately, the Finance Committee bill will take away those benefits from seniors enrolled in Medicare Advantage. The Finance Committee proposal cuts nearly $130 billion from the Medicare Advantage program. Common sense says you cannot do that without affecting seniors’ benefits.” — (October 8, 2009 delivered remarks on the Senate floor)

See Cornyn’s full remarks in this video clip.

Tags: Medicare Advantage, Senate Finance Committee, Seniors

CBO Director Douglas Elmendorf

“A formal cost estimate would require — we have said this to people on the House and Senate side — would really require two weeks of work by us, once a package is settled. And that may seem like a long time, but it — there are a lot of complications in doing this right, as you need it to be done and it is the interaction effects among the provisions, it is the reading and the legislative language,” — (September 22, 2009 at Senate Finance Committee hearing)

Tags: formal cost estimate, Senate Finance Committee

Sen. Max Baucus (D-Montana)

“We’re doing this all on the fly, so it’s a little bit, makes me a little bit nervous.” — (September 23, 2009 at Senate Finance Committee hearing)

Tags: baucus, health care reform, Senate Finance Committee

Rep. Allen Boyd (D-Fla.) on House Health Bill

“I cannot support this bill in the version it is in now. We can do better. We can make it better.” — to a crowd in Cross City, Florida, holding a copy of the House bill passed by the Energy and Commerce Committee (August 17, 2009, CNN News)

Tags: Allen Boyd, health care reform, House Bill

Townhall Sentiment from Congress

“I won’t be doing sucker-punch town-hall meetings.” — Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) per USA Today (August 14, 2009)

“I’m not going to give people a stage to perform.” — U.S. Rep. Silvestre Reyes (D-Texas) per USA Today (August, 14, 2009)

“I have seen this kind of hate before. I have seen this discussion before. I have seen snarling dogs going after people who were trying to peacefully assemble. I have seen the eyes of people who were being spat upon… This is all about activity trying to deny the establishment of a civil right. And I do believe that health care for all is — a civil right…This is an attempt on the part of some to deny the establishment of a civil right.” — House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) per The Huffington Post (August 13, 2009)

Town hall protesters are “evil-mongers.” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) per The Hill’s blog Briefing Room (August 13, 2009)

Tags: civil right, evil-mongers, townhall meetings