Mike Thompson: “Mr. Speaker, during tonight's debate we have heard a number of times the Democrats do not have a feasible Medicare…”

“Mr. Speaker, during tonight's debate we have heard a number of times the Democrats do not have a feasible Medicare prescription drug proposal. This is just not true. The Blue Dogs have a motion to recommit that offers a real and an affordable prescription drug alternative, and it does so without calling for an end of Medicare. And we have included strong safeguard language that specifically instructs the Secretary to keep the costs of this measure within the $400 billion budget window. The Blue Dog motion to recommit provides Medicare fallback, unlike the Republican bill, protects traditional fee for service Medicare, unlike the Republican bill, and provides billions of dollars of relief for rural providers. Unfortunately, for America's seniors, our proposal will only get 5 minutes of discussion tonight, 5 minutes to protect Medicare from privatization, 5 minutes to ensure rural seniors have a benefit if the PPOs do not come to their areas.”