Mike Pence: “I strongly endorse the motion by the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Flake) which simply structurally affirms the idea of…”

“I strongly endorse the motion by the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Flake) which simply structurally affirms the idea of using income thresholds or means testing as a way of controlling costs in the Medicare prescription drug legislation that is currently being considered by a conference committee in the House and Senate. This is not a radical and new idea, Mr. Speaker. In fact, according to our information, not only was means testing included in the catastrophic elements of the bill that passed the House, but also when the U.S. Senate signaled its support for means testing in June, there was an amendment that was drafted and sponsored by Senators Nickles and Feinstein. It prevailed on a test vote. Some 59 Senators indicated preliminary support for means testing as a way of controlling the extraordinary cost that we will place on working Americans in the future.”