[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 51 (Tuesday, April 30, 2002)]
[House]
[Page H1690]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 PROVIDING A PRESCRIPTION DRUG BENEFIT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Boozman). Pursuant to the order of the 
House of January 23, 2002, the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Brown) is 
recognized during morning hour debates for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I came to the floor today to talk 
about prescription drugs, how little this Congress is doing to provide 
a prescription drug benefit and how this body is doing even less to 
control the cost of prescription drugs, but I feel compelled to comment 
on the previous speaker's comments.
  It is always nice to put a nice-looking family's picture in front of 
TV viewers and in front of this Congress and this Chamber and in front 
of the gallery to show how we care about people in this country, but 
the picture that he should have put in front of the voters, in front of 
the viewer, in front of this body is a picture of Ken Lay of Enron 
which got literally hundreds of millions of dollars in tax breaks as a 
result of the Bush administration's fervor for cutting taxes 
overwhelmingly for the rich and his fervor for protecting every 
corporate interest in the country and his fervor for giving tax 
giveaways, tax breaks to all of the biggest corporations in the 
country.
  Six months ago this Congress gave $5 billion to the airlines in tax 
breaks, and in this case, in airlines, simply subsidies and in terms of 
just dollars from the Federal Treasury, but did nothing for laid-off 
workers. Similarly, the Bush tax program that my friend from Illinois 
just mentioned as he put the picture of a nice working-class family, 
that tax benefit goes overwhelmingly to the richest people in this 
country.
  Last year 100 million people, he said, in America benefited from the 
tax cut. That may be true. People got a check for $300, but 43 percent 
of all the tax benefits from the Bush tax cut goes to the 1 percent 
richest people in this country. Eighty percent of the benefits go to 
the 10 percent wealthiest people in this country.
  What does that say? It says that Congress last year and last week, as 
it did it again, made a choice. They made a choice. Do we give tax cuts 
to Ken Lay and Enron and United Airlines and the biggest corporations 
and the richest individuals in this country, or do we provide a 
prescription drug benefit to 15 million senior citizens who have no 
drug coverage? We made a choice. The Republicans in this body last week 
and last year made a choice. Do we cut taxes on the richest people in 
the country, on the largest corporations in the country and a few 
dollars from the rest of us, or do we pass legislation that provides 
money for education?
  On issue after issue after issue, this Congress made the choice. It 
sides with corporate interests, on the chemical company on arsenic 
legislation. It sides with the insurance companies on privatizing 
Medicare. It sides with Wall Street in privatizing Social Security. It 
sides with the oil industry in writing environmental policy. It sides 
with Enron when writing energy policy. That is a choice. The choice is 
do we do what is right for the great majority of Americans or do we 
take the side of the wealthiest or the biggest corporations and the 
wealthiest individuals?
  That picture, notwithstanding that my friend from Illinois put up, 
the fact is that that family may have gotten a little bit of money back 
in tax cuts, but that family will not be eligible for a prescription 
drug benefit because Congress, as they get older, because Congress will 
not do anything about prescription drugs because the money is not 
there. I repeat, Congress made the choice last week and made the choice 
last year, do my colleagues want a prescription drug benefit for the 
elderly or do they want to give tax cuts to the richest people in the 
country and the largest corporations in the country? Do they want to 
fully fund the education programs in this country that Congress says it 
wants to fund or do they want to give those tax breaks again to the 
wealthiest people? Do they fund our Medicare system which cuts payments 
for home healthcare, which cuts doctors' fees too much, which cuts 
hospitals, especially city hospitals in intercity and rural hospitals, 
or do they want to fund them properly or do they want to give away tax 
breaks to the richest citizens?
  That is the choice we make here every day. That is the difference 
between Republicans and Democrats. Do we move forward and provide 
prescription drug benefits, provide for education, provide for Head 
Start, provide for food safety inspections, provide for strong 
environmental laws, or do we do the bidding of corporate America on 
issue after issue after issue? Give them the big tax breaks, weaken 
environmental laws, weaken food safety laws, weaken laws that protect 
the American public?
  That is the choice we make. That is the choice that Congress made 
that was wrong in the last year and that the President and the 
administration has made. That is wrong. That is why we need to correct 
it.

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