Chris Dodd: “I have tried vainly over here in the last couple of days with some amendments--I don't know what the implications are; I…”

“I have tried vainly over here in the last couple of days with some amendments--I don't know what the implications are; I appreciate his candor, in terms of not knowing the cost of this amendment--that would fill in the hole, to go from 160 to 250, for people in that category. The reason I offered it is it occurred to me if you are paying that much in prescription drugs, somewhere around $5,000 a year for prescription drugs, and you are making $30,000 as a couple or $22,000 as an individual, you probably have a pretty serious illness if you are paying about $5,000 in prescription drug costs. It occurs to me that during that hole, we might try to do a little more. We have done that, as the chairman says, very graciously for the desperately poor in this country. For those reasons, I urge the adoption of the amendment.”