Frank Pallone: “What I think is happening and what we were hearing last week, they had a press conference last week and they outlined…”

“What I think is happening and what we were hearing last week, they had a press conference last week and they outlined these broad principles which I pointed out earlier are all essentially a sham. They talked about that this will be a Medicare benefit, but it is not guaranteed to all Medicare beneficiaries, so how is it a Medicare benefit? But what we are hearing is they were supposed to bring it directly to markup in the two committees, the Committee on Energy and Commerce and the Committee on Ways and Means next week, and then to the floor before the Memorial Day recess. And what you are pointing out, and this is absolutely right, this is probably the most important piece of legislation to deal with in this Congress. The normal process is to have one day of hearings, usually like months of hearing, and then have a markup and allow amendments and then go to the floor. I think what you are saying is they may not do any of that, they may bring it directly to the floor. I think just a couple of days ago, I think Monday in the Congress Daily, they pointed out that the headline said 'GOP Drug Plan Faces Intra-Party Critics.' The problem is that a lot of Republicans who are more reasonable and are really concerned about what this is going to mean have been suggesting to them that, A, that this prescription drug plan is not going to help that many seniors or that, B, the Medicare reform is really cutting back on payments for hospitals or others that have a great need.”