Sherrod Brown: “it is easy to understand why President Bush and the Republicans have had such a hard time selling the Medicare law to…”

“it is easy to understand why President Bush and the Republicans have had such a hard time selling the Medicare law to the American people. Their Medicare law has more than its fair share of dirty laundry, as we can see from this chart. Cost estimates hidden from Congress, the administration violated ethics laws, Members of Congress strong-armed to change their vote. We know this Medicare bill was passed in the middle of the night. The roll call was kept open an unprecedented 3 hours. One Member was literally bribed on the House floor, he claimed, the next day, or they attempted to bribe him on the House floor, a Republican leader attempting to bribe a Republican Member. Seventy-eight different drug cards with no guarantee. Breaking the deal on drug reimportation which the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Emanuel) will talk about in a moment. And the crowning point was that Medicare Part B premiums increased a record, 39-year history of Medicare record of 17.4 percent. This bill had big problems from the start, from its passage, as I just pointed out, using threats and bullying to suppress an internal estimate, the middle-of-the-night vote, the bribery on the House floor. The administration then turned around, spending tens of millions of dollars on infomercial-style ads making Medicare almost look like an item for sale on the Home Shopping Network.”