William Tauzin: “Mr. Speaker, it is the season of Thanksgiving, and this House is about to say thank you to a generation of Americans who…”

“Mr. Speaker, it is the season of Thanksgiving, and this House is about to say thank you to a generation of Americans who we ought to say thank you to, and we are about to say it in the most important way we can. We are about to pass a $400 billion-insured drug account for these citizens who have no drug insurance today. We are about to pass a voluntary plan that gives them the right to join or not join, their choice, not mandated by government. It includes catastrophic coverage so they never have to lose everything they have worked for and saved for all of their lives. And we give to all Americans on this Thanksgiving holiday a chance to open up health savings accounts, tax-free in, tax-free out, tax-free interest earned to build their own long-term health care plans for the future. This, indeed, is a time of Thanksgiving, and it is indeed a time for this generation to be true to our obligations of the previous generation. This bill does that. It gives the new generation choice in drug coverage for the first time. It is amazing to me tonight, this debate. I have taken my parents to the hospital many times during my dad's life and my mom's. I do not ever once remember a doctor asking me as I checked in to the room there whether my mom was a Democrat or a Republican. This is not a partisan issue. I have gone and filled my mom's prescriptions every now and then for her. They never asked me at the pharmacy what party she belongs to.”