Steve Israel: “I rise against this substitute. I am one of those Members who has been working on a bipartisan basis to strengthen…”

“I rise against this substitute. I am one of those Members who has been working on a bipartisan basis to strengthen Medicare and provide affordable prescription drugs to seniors. I know that this fall as sure as the leaves turn, I will turn on my television and there is going to be some phony ad, backed by soft money, by some innocent-sounding group masking a special interest, drowning out the real voices of real people and real seniors. It is enough. I have heard the debate on both sides of the aisle on who Shays-Meehan really helps and who it hurts. There are some Democrats who say that Shays-Meehan will really help the Republicans, and there are some Republicans who say that Shays-Meehan will really help the Democrats. Mr. Chairman, how about helping the American people? How about putting them ahead of politics for once in this House? That is what we should be doing. The only way to truly do that is to pass Shays-Meehan and not substitutes designed to defeat it.”