[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 72 (Wednesday, June 5, 2002)]
[House]
[Pages H3166-H3167]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           PRESCRIPTION DRUGS

  (Mr. RODRIGUEZ asked and was given permission to address the House

[[Page H3167]]

for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. RODRIGUEZ. Madam Speaker, today I rise once again to ask for us 
to look at the prescription drug plan that would provide our seniors 
with immediate relief. As prices continue to soar out of control, our 
seniors struggle on fixed incomes. They struggle to pay for their blood 
pressure prescriptions, they struggle to pay for their anti-
inflammatory medication that costs over $1,800 a year.
  Our seniors deserve better. They deserve to live their lives in 
dignity and without anxiety over whether they can eat or pay for their 
medication, or whether they can turn their heaters on or their air 
conditioners on. It is with great frustration that I continue to ask 
the Republicans to do the right thing, but they continue to push a 
limited plan that will not work. It will leave too many seniors behind.
  Madam Speaker, it is time for us to bring a real prescription drug 
plan to the floor, one that is voluntary, one that is universal, one 
where every senior would have access, no matter where they live or what 
they do. Let us do the right thing and respond to our seniors.

                          ____________________