Neera Tanden

“Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker has used his state's budget deficit as an excuse to attack collective-bargaining rights.”

“Trump's thin skin is hardly breaking news.”

“I had advised Hillary on policy when she was first lady, a Senate candidate and a senator, so it seemed natural that I'd be part of her presidential run. Natural to everyone but me, that is.”

“Access to needed mental health care shouldn't force anyone to refinance their home.”

“The foundational principles of modern liberalism - civil rights and greater economic equality - took further strides during Johnson's presidency than any since the New Deal. But ironically enough, as he assumed power and ran on his own for the presidency, his presidency was feared by liberals.”

“Of course, Trump will feed his base alternate facts as long as he can, because he knows it sustains their support for him. He knows how important his image of winning is to his most engaged supporters. And if he loses control of that image, the whole thing could crumble.”

“What can defeat health care reform? Polls - or more specifically, Democratic politicians misreading them.”

“We can't reach Trump voters on nativism, but we can reach them on bolder answers to economic challenges.”

“The American Reinvestment and Recovery Act dramatically expanded child care provisions and Head Start.”

“When George W. Bush became president, Republicans authorized a series of massive tax cuts that ballooned the federal deficit and worsened income equality, and passed a prescription drug bill despite the fact that it carried a $400 billion price tag for which no one paid.”

“There was no single architect of the Affordable Care Act.”

“We used lunch vouchers at school and food stamps at the supermarket. And after we moved out of our house, a federal subsidy allowed us to get an apartment and stay in a town with good public schools. It wasn't easy. But we eventually got back on our feet because of the investments Democrats had made to support struggling families.”

“Insurers make it difficult to access mental health coverage in-network.”

“Trump can dismiss polls, but he can't ignore people.”

“Barack Obama came into office in the midst of an economic crisis and yet, shortly into his first term, Republicans suddenly rediscovered the urgent need for deficit reduction.”

“The true architects of the ACA are the members of the Senate Finance and Senate Health committees who wrote the bill, with input from dozens of congressional hearings and bipartisan round tables. Before that, presidential candidates, including President Obama, laid out a framework of reforms that became the basis of the Affordable Care Act.”

“Americans for Job Security is a corporate front group. It has spent millions on behalf of campaigns to repeal the estate tax and take down the Employee Free Choice Act.”

“Elections are based on competing arguments. Of course, issues are integral to those arguments - the very building blocks of them. But very few individual issues make or break a nationalized election.”

“Republicans fear Nancy Pelosi because she has Teflon skin and a spine of steel - and because she is a progressive woman who wields power with supreme potency and without a moment of apology or uncertainty.”

“The truth is that Republicans are not actually worried about accountability or giving Americans more health care options. They are not even worried about cutting costs: Medicare has a much lower cost per beneficiary than private health care now, so it makes no sense to privatize it in order to lower costs.”