[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 10]
[House]
[Page 14718]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                     PRESCRIPTION DRUGS FOR SENIORS

  (Mr. GREEN of Texas asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I am proud this morning to talk 
about one of those programs that the President announced yesterday that 
we need to do, and we should have done it many years ago.
  Studies have shown across this country in congressional districts 
prescription drugs on the average cost twice as much for senior 
citizens as they do for other most favored customers. It affects people 
like in my district 85-year-old constituent who relies on Social 
Security as her primary source of income and she has medical conditions 
that require her to spend $260 a month on prescription medication. She 
has already sold her car, sold her furniture to pay for these 
prescription drugs; and yet she cannot continue to afford it for $3,000 
a year.
  The President yesterday announced a program that will not help as 
much as maybe I would like to, but it goes further than what we have 
today. With the budget as good as it is, maybe we ought to pay 
something back to those senior citizens who have built this country 
into what it is and not make them spend $3,000 a year of their Social 
Security money for prescription medication.
  In her case, it would actually almost cut her prescription cost in 
half, the President's program would do. And so, that is what we need to 
do.
  Sure, I would like to have tax cuts. But let us take care of those 
folks who have built this country and made it what it is today.

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