Tom Coburn: “it really strikes me strange, when we are talking about protecting money from States that already have full treatment…”

“it really strikes me strange, when we are talking about protecting money from States that already have full treatment programs, and people are dying across this country because there is inequity in the funding for those States. If that is the basis for an objection, that is an obscene objection. We are talking about people dying who have no access to medicines, who have no access to treatment, while we have--let me get to the specifics--while we have in New York alone, last year--the city of New York spent $9 million on hotel rooms averaging $329 a night to house people. They spent money, $2.2 million, on people who were dead, paying for rented rooms they weren't even in. And we are talking about objecting to fair treatment and access to care for people who have none now because we don't want to see the fluff associated with other programs decline. The President has asked us to pass this bill. On October 1, lots of changes take place. They are going to impact lots of people in lots of States. I find it unconscionable that somebody would have somebody object for them rather than to come down and defend their objection. If you object to making sure African-American women across this country have access to lifesaving drugs, you ought to come to the floor and say you object to that because that is what an objection means for this bill starting October 1.”