William Tauzin: “Mr. Speaker, let me point out to my friend from California, the Committee on Energy and Commerce had a chance to look at…”

“Mr. Speaker, let me point out to my friend from California, the Committee on Energy and Commerce had a chance to look at the Senate-passed bill. My colleagues on the other side offered it in the markup of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and it was resoundingly rejected by the Committee on Energy and Commerce in markup. I notice my friend did not choose to offer the Senate-passed bill as the final motion on the House floor on the debate just several weeks ago. Instead, they chose to offer their vision instead of the Senate-passed bill. Now you wonder why they claim the Senate-passed bill is such a great bill. Let me also point out the problem I think of this whole Medicare debate and why this bill was so important and why for several Congresses now we have passed Medicare reform and a prescription drug benefits bill over to the other Chamber, never to see them become law. The problem is, why have Medicare prescription drugs not been added to Medicare many, many years ago? Medicine changed many years ago. When Medicare first started, Medicare was all about taking a senior to a hospital and putting them in a hospital bed and caring for them in a hospital. We know that medicine has changed during that period of time. Medicare has not.”