Stephen Miller: “first I want to quickly make a point about a matter that has been raised on the provision in the Graham-Miller-Kennedy…”

“first I want to quickly make a point about a matter that has been raised on the provision in the Graham-Miller-Kennedy bill that says we take a second look at this legislation after a few years. That is not a weakness. It is one of its strengths, and it is nothing new. That is what we did with welfare reform, and that is what we did with the farm bill. I submit to the Chair, if we had that provision in the original Medicare bill, we probably would have had a prescription drug benefit years ago. Back in April, right after the Easter recess, I came to the Senate floor and talked about the urgency of passing a prescription drug bill. I spoke then of my 88-year-old Uncle Hoyle who lives next door to me in the mountains of North Georgia. He has been like a father to me in many ways. Once a very strong mountain man, Uncle Hoyle now suffers from diabetes, prostate cancer, recently had angioplasty, and also suffers from a kidney infection. Although he still makes a great garden--and I had tomatoes and corn out of it this last week--that once strong body is growing frail. I cannot get Uncle Hoyle, or millions like him, off my mind. Many--too many--refuse to see these elderly waiting, waiting for someone, anyone, to knock on that screen door and say, as John Prine sings: 'Hello in there.' The elderly are waiting for something else, too. They are waiting for us to do something about their health needs.”