Chris Dodd: “I will take a few minutes and comment on the upcoming debate on Medicare. Let me begin by expressing my appreciation and…”

“I will take a few minutes and comment on the upcoming debate on Medicare. Let me begin by expressing my appreciation and my respect for those who have worked on this issue for a great deal of time. I have nothing but the highest admiration for my colleagues, Senator Baucus, Senator Grassley, Senator Breaux, Senator Kennedy, and others who have spent a great deal of time over the last number of months trying to put together a proposal to provide Americans with a comprehensive prescription drug benefit while not undermining the core program of Medicare which has served millions of Americans so well for the past 38 years. Whatever other views I may have on this proposal, it does not diminish my respect for the efforts they have made to put this bill together. I begin on that note. Let me state the obvious. I don't know of many other programs that have enjoyed as widespread and as deep and profound a degree of support in our Nation's history as the Medicare Program.”