Chuck Grassley: “I am so glad we are in a position where we are able to discuss these very important prescription drug issues, including…”

“I am so glad we are in a position where we are able to discuss these very important prescription drug issues, including a prescription drug program for senior citizens as part of Medicare. I am also glad that we are in a position on the floor of the Senate where we are divided in a traditional way, and in that traditional way, I do not mean just Republican and Democrat because too often that is overplayed. We are divided between a group of Senators. First of all, I think we may not have 100 Senators who favor a prescription drug program for senior citizens, but I surely believe that we have 85 Senators who believe that we should have a prescription drug program for senior citizens as part of the modernization of Medicare. Within that 85, I suggest we have some traditional division--division between those who have only confidence in the Government running the program and those, including myself, who have some confidence in the Government but not enough to believe that drug prices are going to be kept minimal through Government control so that we have confidence in the competition of the marketplace to reduce the price of drugs.”