[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 167 (Tuesday, November 18, 2003)]
[House]
[Pages H11367-H11368]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            REPUBLICANS' MEDICARE PRESCRIPTION DRUG ``HOAX''

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the order of the House of 
January 7, 2003, the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Pelosi) is 
recognized during morning hour debates.
  Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, this should be a historic week in the life 
of our Nation. Instead, it is a tragic week. We should be celebrating 
Congress' keeping its promise to seniors and disabled Americans to 
provide a real guaranteed defined prescription drug benefit under 
Medicare. Instead, we are witnessing another Republican empty promise. 
Nothing short of a historic hoax on 40 million seniors and disabled 
Americans.
  Mr. Speaker, America's seniors and disabled citizens have looked to 
Congress for help. Instead, Republicans have perpetrated, as I said, 
this cruel hoax on seniors, proposing an Alice in Wonderland bill in 
which logic is turned on its head and everything means the opposite.
  A real, guaranteed, defined prescription drug benefit under Medicare 
could have been the product of bipartisan debate and discussion. 
Instead, this Republican hoax is a partisan scheme rammed through the 
Congress and negotiated in back rooms.
  Republicans locked House Democrats out of negotiations, or better yet 
their ``deal-making,'' and in so doing they locked out the 130 million 
Americans we represent. Seniors, veterans, disabled Americans, rural 
Americans, African Americans, Hispanic Americans, America's seniors 
deserve better.
  A real guaranteed prescription drug benefit under Medicare would put 
seniors and the disabled first. Instead, this Republican hoax subverts 
the public interest for the special interests, putting seniors at the 
mercy of the HMOs, creating a giant slush fund for HMOs, and creating 
windfall profits for the big pharmaceutical companies.
  Mr. Speaker, America's seniors deserve better. A real guaranteed 
defined prescription drug benefit under Medicare would reduce costs to 
seniors and taxpayers. Instead, this Republican hoax increases drug 
costs, actually prohibiting the government from negotiating lower 
costs. Imagine that, this bill prohibits the government from 
negotiating for lower costs.
  Republicans have instituted means testing for the first time, forcing 
millions of seniors to pay more for benefits they already have. Make no 
mistake, under this scheme, millions of Medicare beneficiaries will pay 
more, not less.
  America's seniors deserve better.
  Mr. Speaker, a real guaranteed benefit under Medicare would include 
all seniors and disabled Americans. Instead, this Republican hoax 
leaves most seniors and disabled worse off than before. According to 
the Congressional Budget Office, millions of retirees who get their 
benefits from their employers will lose their coverage. Let me repeat 
that. According to the Congressional Budget Office, millions of 
retirees who get their benefits from their employers will lose their 
benefits.
  Nearly half of all Medicare beneficiaries, almost 20 million seniors 
and disabled Americans, will fall into the coverage gap, meaning they 
will pay premiums every month but receive no benefits in the final 
months of every year, a monthly premium without monthly benefits.
  America's seniors deserve better.
  Finally, a real guaranteed prescription drug benefit under Medicare 
would be just that under Medicare, which seniors have known and trusted 
for 40 years. Instead, this Republican hoax tries to dismantle and 
unravel Medicare with a voucher program that

[[Page H11368]]

pushes seniors into HMOs. This is no longer a debate just about 
including a prescription drug benefit in Medicare. Republicans are 
trying to dismantle the Medicare program that seniors have known and 
trusted, again, for 40 years. Mr. Speaker, this is completely 
unacceptable.
  Republicans have been clear. They want to kill Medicare and privatize 
it. During the debate on the Republican bill this summer, the 
Republican chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means, the gentleman 
from California (Mr. Thomas), said, and I quote: ``To those who say 
that it would end Medicare as we know it, our answer is we certainly 
hope so.'' And as my colleagues know, the leadership of this body, the 
Republican leadership, has been on record as saying Republicans want to 
see Medicare ``wither on the vine,'' to use their words.
  Mr. Speaker, Democrats have been equally clear. We want to save 
Medicare and protect it. America's seniors see through the Republican 
rhetoric. This is not the beginning of a real prescription drug benefit 
under Medicare. This is the beginning of the end of Medicare as we know 
it.
  America's seniors deserve better.
  Mr. Speaker, our seniors are smart. They see through this Republican 
hoax for what it is and for what it is not. It does not put seniors and 
disabled Americans first. It does not reduce costs. It does not include 
all seniors and disabled Americans. And it is not under Medicare.

  In short, this Republican hoax is not the real guaranteed defined 
prescription drug benefit under Medicare that our seniors want, that 
they need, and that they deserve.
  Mr. Speaker, our seniors deserve better. They are the Greatest 
Generation. They have fought our wars. They came home and raised our 
families. They built a new America. The prosperity and quality of life 
that we enjoy today is owed to their lives of hard work and sacrifice. 
But today, seniors and disabled Americans are asking why, why is this, 
the wealthiest Nation in human history, not keeping its faith with its 
seniors, the citizens who built this country?
  Mr. Speaker, the answer is simple: priorities. Republicans have 
different priorities, a few Republicans behind closed doors making 
deals that would rather give massive tax breaks to the wealthiest 1 
percent of Americans than give a real prescription drug benefit to 
seniors who desperately need it. If I can paraphrase Winston Churchill: 
never in history have so few worked so hard to take away so much from 
so many. That is the Republican back-door deal-making.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote against the Republican 
hoax, and I urge them to demand that Congress keep working to keep its 
promise to seniors by providing a real guaranteed defined prescription 
drug benefit under Medicare that our seniors want, need, and deserve. I 
hope it is not too late for that. Democrats have been knocking on the 
door constantly saying, Let us in. Let the Democrats in. Let us work 
together in a bipartisan way to build a real defined guaranteed benefit 
under Medicare for our seniors that has bipartisan support and that 
will be sustainable over time. Instead, the Republicans did not allow 
House Democrats in the room.
  Why is that important? That is important because we represent over 
130 million Americans. That is important because within our caucus we 
have the benefit of the thinking of a large African American Black 
Caucus, our Hispanic Caucus, our Asian Pacific American Caucus, a large 
number of women in our caucus. We work hard on the issues here in the 
Congress. The thinking of this diverse group of people is very dynamic 
and quite different from the back-room deal makers that the Republicans 
wrote this bill with.
  By excluding Democrats from the room, the Republicans excluded the 
strength of America, the benefit of the thinking of a very 
distinguished group of representatives of the American people. No 
wonder we ended up with a product that, do not take my word for it, 
read the Wall Street Journal today and see who wins in this bill. It is 
the pharmaceutical companies; it is the HMOs. The consumer comes in 
last.
  This bill is not a defined real guaranteed benefit under Medicare. It 
does not meet that standard. It will not have my support, and I hope it 
does not have the support of a majority of the Members of this body.

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