Political Quotes

“the gentlewoman from Missouri (Mrs. Emerson) is absolutely right. I think what is also compelling about the Democratic initiative is the ability, and I think people understand this readily, to be able to leverage the great buying power that the Federal Government would have in terms of initiating a program under Medicare. Currently, whether you are a large corporation, whether you are the Federal Government itself, or whether you are a large labor union, you have the opportunity to go directly to pharmaceutical companies and leverage deep discounts in order to make prescription drugs more affordable. Medicare is a Federal program. Medicare would provide us with an opportunity to have large numbers that will allow us to leverage and bring down the cost, just like every other western industrialized country in the world is able to do. This makes common sense. I commend our colleagues on the other side of the aisle who understand at the heart of this issue is price and getting the cost down here and being able to have a program that is affordable, that is accessible, and will be ready available and, most importantly, workable for our seniors. Again, that is why I commend the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pallone) for his efforts.”