“For five years, Republicans in Congress have been talking about offering a serious plan of their own, their alternative. You can go back and look at every year — 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 — every year: “Our alternative plan is right around the corner.” (Laughter.) “We’re just about to put it on the floor.” “We’re going to have a vote.” “We’re still in the drafting process.” Every year. I’m sure it’s coming any day now. (Laughter.)

“The reason they don’t do it, of course, is that we already took the best ideas that are out there about bringing down costs and covering more people. Yes, there have been some disruptions. Yes, we lost that first month out of the gate. And we’ve worked hard to fix problems that have come up without any cooperation from them; in fact, they’ve complained when we fix them. They say, how dare you fix the things we were complaining about? (Laughter.) Have you noticed that? They’ll complain about something, and then we take steps to fix it — “you’re a tyrant,” ‘you’re overreaching.’ (Laughter.) You’re laughing, but it’s true. I’m not making this stuff up.”