Debbie Dingell: “We have got a remarkable thing here before us, a closed rule. We have got a bill on which there were never any hearings…”

“We have got a remarkable thing here before us, a closed rule. We have got a bill on which there were never any hearings, a bill that just drips defects, a bill that is opposed by almost everybody that knows anything about pharmaceuticals and about the needs of the senior citizens and a bill that is opposed by every single responsible major organization of senior citizens. We cannot offer amendments to it. They cannot be cut-and-bite amendments. There is no possibility of us offering a substitute to it. This is what my colleagues call democracy on that side of the aisle? This is the way we treat the concerns and the rights and the interests of our senior citizens? I wonder how many of them like what they are seeing tonight on television as they watch this body engage in debate which is at best fraudulent and which is at worst just plain outrageous. The hard fact of the matter is we cannot offer amendments on this side at all, but we can bring to attention the fact that this is going to significantly damage, if not in fact destroy, most of the plans that on behalf of industry and labor offer to retirees the right to have prescription pharmaceuticals as a part of the medical care program of the company which offers that particular benefit. That is an outrage.”