Political Quotes

“I rise in opposition of the Graham drug Medicare proposal. The first point is, the bills we are considering on the Senate floor have not gone through the committee process. That is important for the American people to understand. It makes it incredibly challenging to receive an amendment yesterday such as this and having the opportunity only to read it for the first time. This legislation is very complicated. In looking at this bill compared to the bill passed by the House of Representatives, the tripartisan proposal or the bi-partisan Hagel-Ensign bill, the major substantive objection I have is that the bill costs more and yet fewer people benefit. We do have huge gaps of coverage. We have huge gaps in terms of being able to look seniors in the eye and say, yes, we understand your problem is affordable access to prescription drugs, and then walk away because they don't fall into the category. There are cliffs and gaps and chasms, and these vacuums exist for that individual who falls into one of these gaps or chasms because we do not cover everybody in the sense of addressing their problem; that is, health care security for prescription drugs. Of all the bills we have considered, this is not really a compromise bill.”