Merkley: Tied to a promise

(Hat tip: KimR) WASHINGTON — Four years ago, newly elected Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., was assigned to the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee and quickly established himself as a vehement advocate for health care reform. ✧ “Twenty years from now we’ll look back at this seminal opportunity and ask ourselves whether we rose to the challenge,” Merkley wrote in The Huffington Post in July 2009. “We’ll ask whether we stuck with the status quo: a health care system that drains wealth from our country and leaves millions of Americans behind. Or, did we answer the overwhelming call of the American people to reform our health care system by improving care, lowering costs and making health care work for all Americans?” ✧ Four years later, Merkley is preparing to defend his Senate seat for the first time, while President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act looms as a potentially large campaign issue in the 2014 election.

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