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1. We need for America to get back to basics and focus on the middle class’s quality of life. Healthcare reform is vital to restoring that standard of living.
2. The armored vehicle manufacturing base is not a light switch that can be turned on and off at will. If we mothball production of systems like the Abrams tank, it will take time and money to get this capability back.
3. Dave Camp has been very much influenced by, and often guided by, the radicalization of the Republican Party… and too often failed to speak out.
4. That’s what healthcare reform is about: the middle class’s economic security.
5. Through good times and bad, American workers and their families have been able to rely on Social Security to provide guaranteed protection against the loss of earnings due to retirement, disability, or death.
6. We have to create jobs but also make sure that those who are looking for work aren’t just left without any assistance whatsoever.
7. My brother and late sister and I were raised in Detroit; it was where the middle class across racial lines, the middle class was able to develop, build a home, have for the first time retirement benefits, have a job, and yes, their kids began to go to college.
8. Power, that’s one thing, but love of family and of siblings is more important, is more powerful than any other power — at least earthly power, at least earthly power.
9. Michigan has a lot at stake in the defense industry, and the defense industry has a lot at stake in Michigan.
10. The Ways and Means Committee for me has this opportunity to work with programs where I can take my parents’ sense of community and make it work.
11. Extending federal unemployment insurance is vital for millions of Americans laid off through no fault of their own, and it serves as an important economic stimulus.
12. I had panels — roundtables in the district — and the stories that were told are really difficult to accept. People who have diabetes who can’t get insurance because of a preexisting condition; others who were laid off and the have no place to turn.
13. What motivates me is everything that I have been a small part of.
14. You have to separate what needs to be done to avoid the fiscal cliff and what needs to be done longer range. It’s a mistake to essentially collapse those two — they’re not the same. I don’t think you can achieve everything at once.
15. When people think about Michigan, they usually think about cars.
16. I was essentially trained by World War II vets who combined a progressive view of life with a deep distrust of anything authoritarian.
17. In terms of Medicare, I’m in favor of sitting down and having a serious discussion about the likely impact of the Affordable Care Act, health-care reform, on the cost issue and changing the fee-for-service structure.
18. Women, on average, earn less than men in almost every occupation, including traditional female orientated jobs like nursing and teaching.
19. Retirement security is often compared to a three-legged stool supported by Social Security, employer-provided pension funds, and private savings.
20. Opponents of health care reform would take away consumer protections — siding with the insurance industry instead of the middle class. We can’t afford that.