Political Quotes

“I very briefly will summarize again my support for the Grassley amendment and my opposition to the amendment offered by the Senator from Montana. Very quickly: What does the Domenici substitute have in it? It is very important because this reflects the commitment of President Bush and the Senate budget proposal that is before us. No. 1, in year 1, fiscal year 2002, for Medicare, we will be spending $229 billion. In year 10, when we march out 10 years, that will be increased to $459 billion. That is an increase of 111 percent, an average annual increase of over 7½ percent. That means over the next 5 years in Medicare, in hopefully a modernized, strengthened, improved program, we will be spending $1.3 trillion and, over the next 10 years, $3.3 trillion. What the Grassley amendment does is basically this. It says in this process of modernization--it is carefully linked to modernization--we can have up to another $150 billion over that period of time after the policy is formulated by the President of the United States or by the Senate Finance Committee. That is acting responsibly. It recognizes that policy has not been discussed to the degree it needs to for us to in any way project what coverage for prescription drugs will be. I support the Grassley amendment because it allows a total of $300 billion if we modernize, and it says it right in the amendment.”