On the recordNovember 21, 2003
as the owner of a small town family pharmacy and a wife who is a pharmacist, I see seniors who cannot afford their medicine. So I came here to help our seniors with the high cost of prescription drugs. This bill does not do that. This morning we must decide whether to decide with the big drug manufacturers or side with America's seniors. In 2001, the gentlewoman from Missouri (Mrs. Emerson) and I sponsored a bipartisan bill that would truly modernize Medicare to include medicine for our seniors, and the Republican leadership refused to give us a hearing or a vote on that issue, and now 2 years later the Republicans offer us a bill that does what? That says the Federal Government shall be prohibited from negotiating with the big drug manufacturers to bring down the high cost of medicine and provide seniors $1,080 worth of help on a $5,100 drug bill. Have my colleagues ever heard of Medicare fraud? This is Medicare fraud.
Source
govinfo.gov
