Phil Gingrey: “What I wanted to say, just kind of in following up on some of her remarks, this is a bipartisan bill. This new Medicare…”

“What I wanted to say, just kind of in following up on some of her remarks, this is a bipartisan bill. This new Medicare Modernization and Prescription Drug Act that preserves, protects, strengthens and simplifies Medicare as we know it, that is what we are talking about, and I am proud that it was a bipartisan vote. There were some Members on both sides of the aisle who were concerned about the bill, for different reasons, and voted against it. I think 28 of my Republican colleagues actually voted against passage of this bill, and remember what they said when they came down and spoke against the bill and in a vote of conscience voted against it? They thought that the bill was costing too much; we could not afford it. We could not afford to deliver on this promise. Their concerns with the deficit, of course, are understandable.”