Pete Stark: “yesterday, a woman told President Bush that she was having a hard time understanding his prescription drug program and…”

“yesterday, a woman told President Bush that she was having a hard time understanding his prescription drug program and needed more time so that she could make an informed choice for her mother. Bush told her too bad. Specifically, he said, ``Rolling back good deadlines is not going to help your mom make a good decision.'' He's wrong. The implementation of this drug program has been a disaster. That's not a partisan statement, it's a factual one. Delaying the May 15th deadline until the end of 2006 should be a no-brainer. Senior citizens and people with disabilities shouldn't be forced to pay financial penalties for the rest of their lives because the law was poorly implemented. Nor should we allow the confusion of the last few months to turn beneficiaries off from ever entering the program. Yet, if the deadline goes into effect, that's exactly what will happen. According to the Congressional Budget Office 10 million seniors will pay higher premiums for their prescription drugs for the rest of their lives if this deadline is not delayed. And more than 1 million seniors will choose not to enroll this year. Mr. Bush has long claimed to be a compassionate conservative. There is nothing compassionate about telling America's seniors too bad and forcing them to pay higher premiums for the rest of their lives. My Republican colleagues keep complaining that Democrats are demagoguing the drug bill. We are not. We are here today trying to help them make it work better.…”