politician, lawyer, professor
1944
If we do nothing, as the Republicans suggest, we're going to see health care costs reach a point where small businesses can't afford it and families can't afford it. We're going to see people turned down from pre-existing conditions. We're going to find the Medicare doughnut hole - a gap in coverage that's going to hurt a lot of seniors.
We have to talk about the way we finance campaigns.
When I hear my friend John Boehner say that we have the best health care in the world, I don't dispute it for a moment. If I were sick, this is the country I want to be in, with these doctors, these hospitals, and these medical professionals.
As a public official, when I take a position, I stand up to explain and defend it. I file annual financial disclosures, campaign finance reports, and have to face the scrutiny of public opinion.
There is no room for legal hair-splitting when it comes to the humane treatment of detainees - not in a nation founded on the rule of law and respect for human rights.
The purpose of this closed session in the Senate chamber is to finally give the truth to at least the members of the Senate—to finally call to task the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee.
For a year and a half, we've been waiting for phase two. You know there comes a point where we'll be in next year, it'll be too close to an election and this will once again just slip through our hands. I think we owe the American people some straight answers. We certainly owe the troops who are risking their lives every day straight answers.
It is within the power of the majority to close down the closed session. They can do it by majority vote to return to the legislative calendar. We're serving notice on them at this moment: Be prepared for this motion every day until you face the reality. The Senate Intelligence Committee has a responsibility.
The banks—hard to believe in a time when we're facing a banking crisis—that many of the banks created—are still the most powerful lobby on Capitol Hill. And they frankly own the place.
If you want to get to the heart of this, it's the way we finance our campaigns for the United States Senate and the House of Representatives.
Before I was elected to Congress, I worked in a courtroom. For years, I defended doctors and hospitals, and for years, I sued them on behalf of people who were victims of medical malpractice.