Mark Dayton: “The Durbin amendment is the essential test for this body. It is going to be the measure of our commitment to seniors and…”

“The Durbin amendment is the essential test for this body. It is going to be the measure of our commitment to seniors and to other Medicare beneficiaries all over America. It is going to be a test of our sincerity of what we said we intend to do for those people who are either disabled, through no choice of their own and are required to be on Medicare at an early age, or senior citizens who have worked throughout this country who have served this country so well and now are in their retirement years, the largest users by age of prescription drug medicines. So they are the ones most dependent on the quality of coverage we provide for them. I heard again today from colleagues on the other side of the aisle, as I have heard others say throughout this Chamber, and as I have said many times in Minnesota, that our senior citizens deserve prescription drug coverage that is as good as Members of Congress receive; that is as good as the Federal employees receive through the plan of which we are all part.”