Then if I might ask, the next section (c)--I am trying to get to the point of let's use an example of the State of Mississippi which has just decided on a cap of $500,000 on noneconomic losses effective January 1 of this year. Now, the…

Let me go on to say that in this case the question I was going to ask the Senator from Kentucky is this: This poor lady was a victim in my home State of Illinois which does not allow punitive damages in medical malpractice cases. My…

I hope the Senator also agrees with me that we ought to allow some exceptions to the cap. I don't want to put words in his mouth. But that is what I think. I think those exceptions should be allowed. I would also say it is important to…

I said to him, instead of bringing this bill to the floor, take it or leave it, with no committee hearings and no effort to try to work out our differences, wouldn't it be better for us to sit down at some point and try to engage all the…

So it is not a balanced playing field completely. We are not leaving it to the States to decide, for example, that wrongdoers of medical malpractice cases would be treated more strictly, more severely? If there is a stricter provision in…

I ask the Senator, if one believes in privatization and competition, why does the private sector need a $6 billion subsidy to compete with Medicare? If they are good, if they are efficient, if they are customer friendly, why do they need…

Do I understand that senior citizens, given the choice between traditional Medicare and Medicare HMOs, have already voted and that 88 or 89 percent of them want traditional Medicare; that they do not want to put their medical fate in the…

I ask the Senator, if he will yield further, is the Senator aware of a recent survey of seniors--over 600 across the United States--where they were told what this plan, S. 1, is all about? They said the fact that the $35 premium is not…

I ask the Senator, if he has had the time to read the 654 pages of S. 1, has the Senator heard from staff or anyone during the course of the days and days of debate about this S. 1, the prescription drug proposal, that it contains anything…

Since we have established there is no effort in this bill to bring down the cost of prescription drugs for Medicare recipients in our country, we hear from the other side of the aisle that any effort to bring down the cost of drugs is…

I, like you, have been in the House and Senate. Can you ever recall a bill involving an industry like the pharmaceutical industry, such a grand bill involving a national program, involving that industry, where that industry has been so…

I am aware of Senator Harkin's background as a Vietnam veteran and a naval aviator. The Senator is undoubtedly aware that the Veterans' Administration, which is trying its best to provide medical care for the millions of veterans in our…

You eliminate Medicare as a competitor to these private insurance companies. The Medicare agency itself cannot offer this prescription drug plan other than through a private agency with which they contract. What I am saying to the Senator…

I have to say, having conceded their valiant effort, this prescription drug plan they have brought to the floor still has major deficiencies and major problems. I think it is going to run into a firestorm of criticism, primarily from…

Some Medicare HMO choice plans are good. Seniors want them, and they should have the option to turn to them. In my State, though--I don't know if it happened in Pennsylvania--some of these insurance plans came in and decided they couldn't…

I congratulate you on your choice of words. Those who oppose an amendment involving Medicare use words such as ``top-down,'' ``command- and-control,'' conjuring images of commissars, Bolshevik 7-year, 10- year plans--this kind of mighty…

The difference is this: The difference is negotiating lower costs for prescription drugs. And in this situation, it is my belief that this underlying bill does not. The reason the Stabenow amendment was defeated the other day, the reason…

I will concede the point because I can remember so well when these Medicare HMO choice plans came rolling into Illinois and so many other States and realized they couldn't make the money off seniors they planned to and pulled the rug out…

I say to my friend, thank you for expressing your point of view. You are the first person to speak on it in opposition. I hope you don't carry the day, but you might. It is interesting that some are fiscal conservatives and deficit hawks…

I guess the difference is, we don't divide it into 10 regions when it comes to Medicare.

I rise in praise of yesterday's Supreme Court decision in the Michigan case--the most important affirmative action case in a generation. I along with 11 of my colleagues--Senators Daschle, Kennedy, Clinton, Corzine, Edwards, Feingold…

one of the most fascinating aspects of this job in the Senate is the myriad of issues that come before us in the course of a day or week. If you followed over the last few moments the two speakers--one from Alabama and one from Iowa--they…

Wasn't that about $1 trillion or more in tax cuts we were proposing for job creation?

I don't think many Americans would argue that our children are overeducated. I know the State of Oregon closed their schools earlier this year, and the idea that we would eliminate part of the school year, afterschool programs, and summer…

So that is somewhere a little less than 9 years to go back to a period of time with the unemployment that high. It doesn't appear that the President's first tax cut has kicked in. If it has, it kicked a lot of people out of work. We ought…