Political Quotes

“next week we begin one of the most important debates that we will have, I believe, as a Senate, throughout this session and possibly for years to come. That is a debate about whether or not we are going to meet two goals that the American people have been asking us to address. The first is a Medicare prescription drug benefit for our seniors, for those who have disabilities--a comprehensive Medicare prescription drug benefit. Second, we want to lower prices--lower prices for everyone. We know in fact not only do seniors, who use the majority of prescriptions, have high prices, but everyone who has prescription drugs does. If you are paying through insurance, you are paying higher insurance rates. If you are a businessperson, you are seeing your health care premiums rising. Small businesses--many in Michigan come to me and talk about 30-percent, 35-percent, 40-percent increases. The big three automakers are juggling between being able to afford new materials for their automobiles and research and all the other costs that they have, versus health care, most of which is prescription drug increases. So everyone is paying. We have two goals. We as Democrats are working very hard, and we invite our colleague to join with us, to provide real coverage for prescription drugs and lower prices for everyone. It is incredibly important that we do that.”