[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 81 (Friday, June 23, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5721-S5722]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          NO APOLOGY NECESSARY

  Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, earlier this morning a Member of the 
Senate described the circumstances on the floor of the Senate yesterday 
with respect to a vote on the issue of a prescription drug benefit for 
Medicare. Yes, there was a vote on that issue. I want to describe why 
that motion was offered and the importance of it.
  I also want to say that, while I certainly have the greatest respect 
for my colleague, this was not a circumstance where the minority leader 
or anyone else intended to surprise anybody. When the minority leader 
or any other

[[Page S5722]]

Senator is pursuing an agenda he believes is important for our country, 
he does not go desk to desk in the Chamber asking permission from 
anyone else to offer an amendment. That is not the way the Senate 
works, of course.
  The minority leader believes very strongly, as does almost every 
single member of this caucus, and perhaps some others in the Senate, 
that we need to add a prescription drug benefit to the Medicare 
program. Life-saving miracle drugs can only perform miracles for those 
who can afford them. Senior citizens all too often are choosing between 
groceries and the prescription drugs they need. If we were to create 
the Medicare program today, unquestionably we would have a prescription 
drug benefit in that plan.
  We have been very relentless in saying we believe we must add a 
prescription drug benefit to the Medicare program and we should do it 
in this Congress. We cannot and will not apologize for being relentless 
in that pursuit. We have had very few opportunities on the floor of 
this Senate to pursue our agenda. Yesterday was one of them.
  If, at the end of the day, we get a bipartisan agreement to add a 
prescription drug benefit to the Medicare program, then we will be 
rewarded for our success by the senior citizens in this country who 
will be able to have access to the prescription drugs they need. If, at 
the end of the day, we do that, I guarantee that it will only be 
because, for the last couple of years, we have been relentless on the 
floor of the Senate and in the House, saying this Congress must do 
this.
  We have had others who say, yes, we agree about the need for a 
prescription drug benefit, but we want to have the private insurance 
companies write a plan, and so on and so forth. The fact is that the 
private insurance companies have said publicly, and they have come to 
my office and said repeatedly, ``We will not write a plan; we cannot 
write a plan.'' It is not within the range of financial possibilities 
for us to do what the majority party is proposing. In fact, one company 
official said, ``We will write a plan that has $1,000 in benefits, and 
we would have to charge $1,200 in premiums for the plan to cover the 
administrative and other costs of the benefit.'' That is the same as 
having no plan, the same as doing nothing in terms of adding 
prescription drug coverage to Medicare.
  Our goal is to find a way to solve this problem in this Congress. 
This Congress, with all due respect, on some of the big issues, has 
been a Congress of underachievers. We can do a lot better than this. We 
can add a prescription drug benefit to Medicare. We can pass a campaign 
finance reform bill. We can pass a Patients' Bill of Rights. We can 
pass an education bill that reduces class size and helps rebuild and 
renovate some of our nation's dilapidated schools. We can do these 
things if we put our minds to it. But somehow there is this notion by 
at least those who control the agenda that what we need to do is tuck 
in our wings and get out of town and do as little as possible.

  I don't want to belong to a Congress of underachievers. I want our 
Congress to do the things we ought to be doing together. Yes, a 
prescription drugs benefit in Medicare is one of those items. We cannot 
apologize for what we did yesterday. We must, at every opportunity, 
continue to push and coax and pull those in the Chamber who don't 
really want to do this to join us and fix what is wrong with respect to 
this Medicare program.
  What is wrong, in part, is that it doesn't have coverage for 
prescription drugs, and there are a lot of senior citizens who are 
prescribed medications that will allow them to live longer and 
healthier lives, and they discover they can't afford them.
  A woman in Dickinson, ND, who had breast cancer was told by her 
doctor that in order to reduce the chances of a recurrence of her 
breast cancer, she must take this prescription medicine. This woman, 
who was on Medicare and had a small fixed income, said, ``Doctor, there 
isn't any way I can afford that medicine. There is no way. I am just 
going to have to take my chances.'' This situation faces too many 
senior citizens who need prescription medicine and find that they 
cannot afford it. That is why we must put a prescription drug benefit 
in the Medicare program.
  Let's do something at the same time that puts some downward pressure 
on drug prices. Prices have risen too fast and too far on prescription 
drugs.
  I just want to say that no one crossed any lines by not going to 
every desk in the Chamber about that motion yesterday. We are going to 
keep trying until we get enough votes in the Senate to add a 
prescription drug benefit in the Medicare plan. It is for a good 
reason. This country needs that sort of policy in place right now.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Alaska is recognized.
  Mr. MURKOWSKI. I ask unanimous consent that I may speak as in morning 
business for a time not to exceed 20 minutes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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