Max Baucus: “I congratulate those who voted for this amendment, because we have now established that we want a $300 billion…”

“I congratulate those who voted for this amendment, because we have now established that we want a $300 billion prescription drug benefit plan over 10 years. Several hours ago, we were at $153 billion. According to the budget resolution, we are now at $300 billion. So there is agreement. The amendment now pending basically says, OK. Since we have agreement in theory on what the amount should be, let's now lock it in and make sure that the money is, in fact, there. The amendment offered by Senator Graham and I does that. It locks in the money by telling the Finance Committee to come up with a prescription drug bill, by taking just a small sliver $158 billion out of the $1.6 trillion tax bill for prescription drugs. That, with the $153 billion already in the budget resolution, provides $311 billion to give seniors what they need--a meaningful prescription drug benefit. Now that we have established $300 billion, let's make sure that we put our money where our mouth is. Let's lock the money away instead of providing a hope and prayer that the dollars are going to be there for the prescription drug benefit.”