John Hope Bryant: “let me echo what the gentleman from Pennsylvania is saying. I was a late baby. My mother is actually 93 years old and…”

“let me echo what the gentleman from Pennsylvania is saying. I was a late baby. My mother is actually 93 years old and will be 94 her next birthday. The medical technology is great. A couple of years ago, she had a pacemaker put in, I think, about age 91 or 92, and she is rolling strong again. She has to take medication as a result of that, and, fortunately, for her, it is not too expensive, and she can pay for that. But I think about all those other folks out there who are not as fortunate as we are as a family that have these kinds of prescription drug benefits that they really need or even higher costs that they have to incur and literally in some cases have to pick between paying other bills and having their medication filled. As the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Greenwood) pointed out, this is the first Congress that has passed this type of bill. Here we are literally within reach of getting a bill that can help so many people and yet, unfortunately, it seems like the politics are out there involved in it. It is going to happen at some point, but it needs to happen now, this year, and not be politicked to death.”