[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 114 (Tuesday, September 21, 2004)]
[House]
[Pages H7305-H7306]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            MEDICARE PART B PREMIUMS TO INCREASE 17 PERCENT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Kaptur) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I rise this evening to talk about the Bush 
administration's increase on our senior citizens of Part B of Medicare, 
which is the doctors' coverage, of an additional $139.20 per year. That 
means that seniors will begin paying an additional $11.60 a month, the 
total premium being $78.20 per month. So over the course of a year, the 
increase over the previous amount is 17 percent. This is on top of a 14 
percent increase from last year.
  This is going to eat up a substantial chunk of the cost of living 
allowance that seniors truly depend upon, and with heating prices in 
the winter increasing, gasoline prices increasing, food prices 
increasing, this is a huge, unprecedented increase in the Medicare Part 
B premium.
  Mr. Speaker, normally this premium increase would be announced in 
October when the Social Security COLA increases lock in so that seniors 
could calculate their budget for the coming year. But the Bush 
administration actually announced this increase during a holiday 
weekend just about a month ago, hoping that no one would really take 
notice.
  The question I have is how much of this increase is actually due to 
the fact that the Bush administration refuses to let the government of 
the United States negotiate the best prices for pharmaceuticals and 
prescription drugs with these big companies that contribute so much to 
campaigns here in Washington, and, because of that, our seniors are 
going to have to bear the cost of an additional 17 percent increase.
  This is the largest increase in the history of the program. Under 
this administration, Medicare premiums have increased twice as much as 
during the Clinton presidency, which lasted 8 years. So in a short 3\1/
2\ years, they have increased the amount twice compared to the prior 8 
years. And the premium increase comes on the heels of a decision by the 
Secretary of Health and Human Services, Tommy Thompson, not to permit 
the government to negotiate the best price and not to permit our 
seniors to buy prescription drugs that come in here that are safe and 
approved by FDA from Canada and other places.
  Mr. Speaker, I believe we should never compromise on safety, nor 
should we restrict the competition that could be instrumental in 
holding down rising prices for our Medicare beneficiaries. So I offered 
an amendment that was passed in this House on the agriculture bill that 
would permit the FDA to allow the reimportation of drugs from Canada 
and overseas at lower prices.

                              {time}  2030

  When our bill was sent over to the Senate, the other body, they 
struck that provision out.
  So I would hope that Senator Kerry would go back over to the Senate 
and hold a press conference and merely tell the Republicans over there 
to put my amendment back in, because it would do what the Republican 
prescription drug bill forbids doing, and that is allowing the same 
drugs that are sold here that exist in Canada and other places to be 
brought into this country so our seniors do not have to pay these 
exorbitant prices. And with these rising medicare premiums, it is 
really something to think about.
  The Republicans not only do not permit the reimportation of drugs, 
they lock the hands of the Federal Government to negotiate the best 
price. And who ends up paying the burden of the increase? Our senior 
citizens, and they have just gotten the bill, and, as I said, over the 
next year, they are going to be paying an additional $139.20 on the 
doctor's portion, the Medicare Part B premium. That is simply wrong, 
when the wealthiest people in this country, those earning over $1 
million, have gotten over $100,000 a year in additional tax cuts from 
the Bush administration and so many people in our country have 
absolutely no health insurance at all. And our seniors are having to 
choose in the wintertime between food and medicine and heating the 
places in which they live.
  So I wanted to say a word about that this evening and also to place 
in the Record an article from the New York Times today about the 
tragic, tragic beheading of Eugene Armstrong from Hillsdale, Michigan. 
I want to draw to the attention of the American people the fact that 
there is an additional hostage being held, Mr. Jack Hensley of 
Marietta, Georgia. These men were contractors. They were not under the 
employ of our U.S. military, and I think that the jagged line between 
civilian and military inside of Iraq is something this administration 
has done.
  There are over 25,000 contractors in Iraq right now, and when they 
get in trouble, nobody helps them. In fact, Mr. Hensley's brother said 
that over the last few days, few weeks, those that were guarding these 
gentlemen disappeared; they left. They were fearful of their own 
welfare, yet these Americans remain there.
  In the case of Mr. Hensley, he was in touch with his wife, saying 
that he wanted financially to remain there because he is laid off. He 
was a worker from our country, laid off, and she had been urging him to 
come back home because the family had become increasingly concerned 
that their guards were leaving.
  Now, what kind of a military operation is it where we have 25,000 
contractors whose lives are at risk, yet they may be earning more money 
than our regular military? But the lines are blurred, and one really 
cannot tell who has responsibility. Here we have another situation of a 
patriotic American who has lost his life so tragically over in Iraq 
simply because this administration cannot get it right, and they cannot 
conduct a military operation where people's lives are protected in 
theater to the greatest extent possible.
  We had the armored Humvees with no armor. We have Guard and Reserve 
forces strung out, without the kind of backup they need, tired, in the 
field. We are short two divisions in the U.S. military, and now we have 
civilians really performing functions that the regular military should 
do. These gentlemen were doing construction which is normally done by 
the Army Corps of Engineers, who have backup. In this case, we have 
Americans whose body guards end up leaving, and they are

[[Page H7306]]

cold in the field. They have nobody to help them. What kind of a 
system, what kind of a military operation is this administration 
conducting in the nation of Iraq?
  I want to place these additional articles from the New York Times in 
the Record, along with a chart showing the increasing number of 
hostages being taken in Iraq over the last several months, and it is on 
the increase.

          Grief and an Evening Vigil in a Michigan Small Town

                            (By Danny Hakim)

       Hillsdale, MI, Sept. 20.--Scores of townspeople gathered at 
     an impromptu candlelight vigil in the early evening here 
     after hearing that a Westerner identified as Eugene Armstrong 
     had been executed in Iraq.
       Mr. Armstrong grew up in this town of about 8,000 people in 
     southern Michigan, and though he left more than a dozen years 
     ago to travel the world, his brothers and cousins remain 
     here.
       ``We're just devastated.'' said Cyndi Armstrong, a cousin 
     by marriage who attended the vigil on behalf of the family. 
     ``I don't know what else to say about how we feel.''
       Mr. Armstrong, a 53-year-old construction worker known as 
     Jack, lived with his wife in Thailand. Cyndi Armstrong said 
     F.B.I. officials first notified members of the Armstrong 
     family last week that he and two other Western workers had 
     been kidnapped in Iraq. Among those notified, she said, was 
     Mr. Armstrong's mother, who lives in Germany.
       Few in the crowd here knew Mr. Armstrong well because he 
     left Hillsdale long ago. His brothers chose not to attend the 
     vigil.
       ``His brothers are broken up about it,'' said a cousin of 
     Jack Armstrong, Pat Armstrong, who served as a marine in the 
     Middle East during the first Persian Gulf war and who said he 
     was not happy about how the latest Iraq war had deteriorated.
       ``I think we should steamroll them, either that or leave'' 
     Pat Armstrong said. ``Eliminate the problem or leave instead 
     of not trying to upset too many people.''
       The vigil took place in the early evening while it was 
     still light in front of the Hillsdale County Courthouse on a 
     town square framed by light poles bearing hanging planters 
     with purple flowers. The Pledge of Allegiance was recited, 
     candles were wedged into plastic coffee cup lids and passed 
     through the crowd, and a local pastor, Randy Branson, was 
     asked to say a few words.
       ``We know the price of freedom is being paid all across the 
     globe,'' Mr. Branson said. ``Today we pray for freedom and 
     the two men who are still being held.''
       Cyndi Armstrong said Jack Armstrong loved to travel and had 
     spent time in Germany before moving to Thailand.
       ``He was a great guy and he loved his country,'' she said, 
     twisting an American flag in her hands. ``He liked to travel; 
     he liked to read books. I didn't know him personally very 
     well, but he was a great guy, and he will be missed very 
     much.''
       Richard Buehrle, 46, a cook who knows one of Mr. 
     Armstrong's brothers, said: ``I heard about it at 2:30 this 
     afternoon. I was kind of shocked, but it didn't really 
     surprise me. Once they're captured over there, it's touch and 
     go.''
       Mrs. Armstrong said that only two weeks ago her own 
     daughter enlisted in the Army. She did not want to talk about 
     her personal feelings on the war, Ms. Armstrong said, though 
     she supported her daughter's decision. Still, she said, it 
     was hard to comprehend what had happened to Mr. Armstrong.
       ``I don't understand,'' she said, ``Jack was there to help 
     them, not to hurt them.''
       Jack Hensley of Marietta, Ga., is the remaining American 
     hostage from the three construction workers who were taken 
     from their house in Baghdad. The third is a Briton.
       Earlier Monday, Mr. Hensley's relatives spoke to reporters 
     about his kidnapping.
       His brother, Ty Hensley, told NBC News that he and his 
     brother had been regular e-mail correspondents before the 
     kidnapping. Ty Hensley said his brother had become 
     increasingly concerned in the week and a half before he and 
     his colleagues were abducted. Their guards were leaving one 
     by one because of death threats, Jack Hensley had written, 
     and he believed the three Westerners were being watched.
       Ty Hensley said that his brother had gone to Iraq when he 
     could not find construction work at home and that leaving 
     early would have been a financial blow.
       But he said Jack's wife, Patty, had tried to persuade him 
     to come home anyway.
       ``I'm sure that he had signed a year contract,'' Ty Hensley 
     said of his brother. ``It was important that he make it a 
     year for him financially, but she began talking to him in 
     very strong capacity to come back over the last week and a 
     half. And she told him it does not matter financially, to 
     come home.
       ``I talked to Jack every other day through e-mail,'' Mr. 
     Hensley continued. ``And the type of work that he is doing, 
     again, is to work with the Iraqi people in helping develop a 
     water system for the Iraqi people. He's helped work on a 
     school, rebuild a museum and also housing for the Iraqi 
     people.''


                            hostages in iraq

       In addition to two Americans, Nicholas Berg and Eugene 
     Armstrong, at least 27 people from 9 different countries are 
     believed to have been killed in captivity this year, 
     according to information from reporters for The New York 
     Times and news agencies. At least 22 others are still being 
     held hostage, but at least 81 have been released or rescued.

                          ____________________