[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 68 (Thursday, May 23, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Page S4824]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           PRESCRIPTION DRUGS

  Mr. MILLER. Mr. President, I know the hour is late and the day has 
been long and the staff and the pages and the Presiding Officer are 
tired. And so is this Senator. But I would like to take about 7 or 8 
minutes to talk about a subject that is very dear to my heart.
  Mr. President, ``Honor thy father and thy mother'' is the fifth of 
God's holy commandments.
  For many of us--especially at my age--we can no longer do that 
(except in memory). We had our chance, and now they are gone. I never 
knew my father, and my mother died in 1986 when she was 93.
  For those of us who have lost parents, we will be forever burdened by 
the haunting question: Did we adequately fulfill that commandment or 
could we have done more?
  And, if one has a heart instead of a stone, we look around and see 
other living mothers and fathers whom it is not too late to still 
honor. I know I do.
  And that is why I rise again--as I will do ad nauseum until something 
is done--to plead for action on prescription drugs before the August 
recess.
  We must attack this problem by addressing both sides of the 
equation--prescription drug coverage and prescription drug cost.
  We cannot truly help our senors unless we increase the coverage and 
lower the cost. Coverage and cost.
  I am a cosponsor of three bills that would do both those things.
  First, Senator Bob Graham of Florida and I have introduced a bill 
that would increase coverage by adding an affordable prescription drug 
benefit to Medicare.
  For our neediest seniors, those who earn less than $11,900 a year, 
our bill would cover 100 percent of their prescription drug costs. They 
would pay no premiums, and Medicare would pick up the entire cost of 
their prescriptions.
  About a third of our Medicare beneficiaries fall into this category. 
That's roughly 12 million seniors.
  those who earn more than $11,900 would pay premiums of $25 a month or 
less, depending on their income. And they would pay an affordable share 
of the cost of each prescription.
  No senior would have to spend more than $4,000 a year out of their 
own pocket. Right now, about 3 million seniors are spending more than 
$4,000 a year out of their own pocket on prescriptions.
  The two other bills of which I am a co-sponsor deal directly with the 
cost of prescription drugs. We must bring the cost of these drugs down. 
A miracle drug can't work miracles if no one can afford it.
  As many of you know--and as most of the seniors in this country 
know--you can buy the same drug in the same bottle for a much cheaper 
price in Canada and other countries than you can in the U.S.
  In Canada, you can buy Tamoxifen, the drug for breast cancer, for 
one-tenth what it costs in the U.S. Celebrex, which is used for 
arthritis, costs 79 cents a tablet in Canada, but $2.20 a tablet in the 
U.S. Those are two of many examples.
  A bipartisan group of senators has introduced a bill to let drug 
stores and medical distributors buy U.S.-made drugs in Canada--where 
they are sold much more cheaply--and then resell them here in the U.S.
  If our seniors could buy their drugs at the lower Canadian prices, 
they could save an estimated $38 billion a year.
  Our seniors should be able to get their medications at the best price 
possible, and they shouldn't have to ride a bus to Canada to do it.
  The other bill I am co-sponsoring that would help bring down the cost 
of prescription drugs is the Fair Advertising and Increased Research 
Act of 2002.
  We have all seen the endless stream of ads on TV about the latest 
wonder drugs for high cholesterol of arthritis or cancer.
  I have visions of that purple pill that keeps spinning into my living 
room and bedroom whenever the TV is on. You can't escape it.
  You can't escape these ads. They are everywhere. We are drowning in 
them. And the millions of dollars the drug companies are spending on 
them is sending the price of prescriptions through the roof.
  Our bill doesn't ban this TV advertising, but it does say to the drug 
companies: Spend as much on research as you do on advertising.
  Our bill would limit the tax deduction a drug company can take for 
advertising expenses to no more than the amount they deduct for 
research and development costs.
  Americans today are being forced to subsidize prescription drug 
advertising both when they pay their taxes and again when they go to 
the pharmacy to buy their prescriptions. That's not right, and our FAIR 
Act would help stop it.
  We must do something soon. If I were to stay in the Senate as long as 
Senator Thurmond, I don't believe I would ever figure out how this 
wonderful place works.
  I have come to accept that, just as I came to accept that the 
intricacies of cricket and even hockey escape me.
  But I have known the infield fly rule since I was 12. And I also know 
what the men and women my age and a little older in middle America are 
saying and thinking.
  What's that Latin phrase--the vox populi? Well, the vox populi of 
this nation's elderly are discouraged and displeased.
  But they are not disorganized, and they are definitely not 
disenfranchised.
  And if we don't show them some results instead of rhetoric pretty 
soon, they are going to come after us with their pitchforks and their 
pill cutters * * * and something we in here fear even more: Their 
ballots. And who could blame them?
  In 2000, both parties said prescription drugs was at the top of the 
list, at the front of the line. Our seniors have been waiting in line 
for a long time. Waiting as we debated many other worthwhile 
issues. Waiting, as we keep smiling at them, telling them: Now, be 
patient; you are next.

  Do you know what makes people madder than anything? Making them wait 
in line for a long time and then, when they think they are just about 
to go to the front of that line, someone cuts in front of them. That is 
what we have been doing to our senior citizens. Every time we take up a 
new issue, no matter how good it is, every time we take up a new issue 
other than prescription drugs, we are bumping our seniors from the 
front of the line that they have been waiting in for years.
  We cannot throw this issue into another election cycle. They will not 
stand for it. We cannot keep our seniors waiting in line through 
another election.
  Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Graham). The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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