Sylvester Turner: “last night on this floor, the big drug manufacturers won a big victory, and our senior citizens suffered a big loss. The…”

“last night on this floor, the big drug manufacturers won a big victory, and our senior citizens suffered a big loss. The big drug companies spent $100 million on a lobbying campaign that paid dividends, but only by a margin of three votes, and only after the rules were manipulated to deny the House Democrats the opportunity to vote on a real plan providing real relief for our seniors who are paying the high cost of prescription drugs. Looking out for the big drug manufacturers instead of our seniors led our Republican leadership to pass a plan that will funnel hundreds of millions of dollars into the hands of big insurance companies rather than help our seniors afford to pay their medicines. Even the big insurance companies say it will not work. In fact, the President of Blue Cross/Blue Shield said, and I quote, ``This idea of a private sector drug benefit provides false hope to America's seniors because it is neither workable nor affordable.'' We can do better. Let us work together to be sure we do better. Our seniors deserve no less.”