Chuck Schumer: “I want to once again clarify for the record the help he has been not only on this issue, not only on adding prescription…”

“I want to once again clarify for the record the help he has been not only on this issue, not only on adding prescription drugs to Medicare, but on generic drugs as well. We all owe the Senator from West Virginia a debt of gratitude for the great work he has done on the generic drug issue. This is an extremely important amendment that I am proud to support. My State, as so many of the States, is in fiscal trouble. We have found great difficulty in doing what we have to do. Our State tends to be a generous State in terms of health care benefits. Programs enacted throughout the years make our Medicaid benefit generous. We have gone beyond Medicaid. We tried to help a little bit on prescription drugs with the Epic Program, as I know 17 other States have done a little bit here and there. During times of prosperity, we do quite well. But, obviously, the attacks of September 11, which cost us dearly in terms of life, and then secondarily in terms of dollars, as well as the downturn in the financial markets, which probably hit our State harder than any other, have caused real problems. If there was ever a time that this amendment was appropriate for New York, it is now.”