Political Quotes

“I am going to come back later today and comment on the fact that today is the anniversary of Medicare. I know we want to move on to the pending bill. It was a historic day in 1965. On this day, President Johnson took the historic and bold action of signing Medicare into law. Since that time, Medicare has helped millions of seniors cover their health care needs, but Medicare, in 1965, was designed to treat episodic illness and did not include the most powerful tool in medicine today--prescription drugs. I mention this only because we have an opportunity before us, this body already having spoken its will in passing a comprehensive Medicare reform bill that strengthens and improves Medicare and includes prescription drugs. The House has done likewise. We are currently in conference. By working in conference, we will greatly strengthen and improve Medicare. Over the course of the day, I know there will be other statements, but there will also be a service and a statement about Medicare at the White House later today. We have a great opportunity before us. I wish to share with my colleagues that the conference is going well and sometime after we come back from the recess, we will have a bill to bring back to this body.”