[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 7 (Friday, January 12, 2007)]
[House]
[Page H439]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 SPECIAL INTEREST OVER PUBLIC INTERESTS

  (Mr. WELCH of Vermont asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. WELCH of Vermont. Mr. Speaker, a special interest over the public 
interest, there is no more vivid example of special interests trumping 
the public interest than the Medicare Part D legislation that we must 
reform today.
  Extending a drug benefit to our seniors on Medicare is the right 
thing to do. Even in its current form, it has helped thousands of 
Vermonters and hundreds of thousands of Americans.
  But when this Medicare drug benefit was first passed, a worthy 
extension of this good program went terribly wrong because of the 
wrong-headed prohibition on the Federal Government's ability to do the 
obvious: negotiate fair prices for the taxpayer. This program fails on 
its most fundamental level, cost. Failing on cost, it impedes access.
  The lobbyists who had such an influence in writing this bill 
bewildered our seniors and ripped off our taxpayers.
  The public interest, the interest of our seniors and taxpayers are 
who we represent today and who we can help today with the passage of 
this bill.

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