[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 12]
[Senate]
[Pages 16958-16959]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                          THE SENATE'S RESOLVE

  Mr. DURBIN. The Senate and House will be returning to business this 
week in Washington, DC. The important question is, What did we learn in 
August?
  As we went home to our States and spoke to families across Illinois 
and other States represented in this body, the question was whether the 
Members of the U.S. Senate will return with the resolve to do 
something.
  You see, for the last several years, the Senate has done virtually 
nothing when it comes to the important issues facing working families 
across America. The families I met in Illinois during the month of 
August were, I guess, almost unanimous in their belief that this 
Congress should waste no time in enacting a meaningful prescription 
drug benefit under Medicare. I no longer have to give the speech about 
Medicare and prescription drugs. The audience gives it to me. They say: 
Senator, did you know if you cross the border and go into Canada, you 
can buy the same drugs at half the price? I say: Yes, I was about to 
tell you that. They say: Did you know people are paying more if they 
are elderly or disabled than virtually any other group in America? I 
say: Yes, I was about to tell you that, too.

[[Page 16959]]

  The audience gives you the speech before you can deliver it. Then 
they ask the most important question: If you know all this, why haven't 
you done anything? Why hasn't this Congress enacted a prescription drug 
benefit under Medicare? The truth is that the pharmaceutical companies 
have come to the Congress with their special interests and powerful 
lobbyists and they have stopped us cold. The Republican leadership in 
the House and the Senate has basically tried to keep the pharmaceutical 
companies happy and the insurance companies happy and have said they 
will trust the insurance companies to provide protection to American 
families. Well, I can't even say that with a straight face in Illinois 
because families there know that when you leave it up to insurance 
companies and it comes to medical care, you don't get the best 
decisions; you get decisions driven by the bottom line for the profit 
margin.
  So those of us on the Democratic side want to give our friends on the 
Republican side one last chance before the election to vote for a 
meaningful prescription drug benefit under Medicare that is universal, 
which will apply to everybody, as Medicare applies to everybody. 
Instead, of course, the Republicans want to talk about an estate tax 
break for the wealthiest Americans--a tax cut of a trillion dollars; 
and, 40 percent of it or more will go to those making over $300,000 a 
year. After you have spent the trillion dollars on a tax cut for the 
wealthy, there is not much left to take care of prescription drug 
benefits under Medicare. There is very little, if any, money left to 
help families pay for college education.
  I was at several universities across Illinois talking about a 
proposal on the Democratic side--one that Vice President Gore 
supports--to give a college tax credit or a deduction for families. 
That is what families talk about.
  ``It is a lovely baby. He looks like his dad. He has been sleeping 
all night. How are we going to pay for his college?'' That is what you 
hear when you go to a nursery and look at a new infant. It is a 
legitimate concern.
  We on the Democratic side of the aisle believe that if we are going 
to have any tax cuts, we should target them to the needs of American 
families--the need to pay for college education and for training. The 
deductibility of $12,000 a year in tuition and fees can have a dramatic 
impact on families.
  The Republican leadership just doesn't buy it. They think if there is 
to be a tax cut, it has to go to the wealthiest people in America. I 
think it should go to the hardest working people in America--those who 
deserve it the most, not the least. Those are the families who get up 
and go to work every day to try to put their kids through school and 
who try to make this a better country.
  That will be the debate you will hear over the next several weeks. If 
it sounds reminiscent of what you are hearing from the Presidential 
campaign trail, it is because there is a clear difference between the 
two major candidates for President. There is a clear difference between 
the parties on the floor.
  We on the Democratic side are going to plead with the Republicans to 
give us four or five votes so we can pass a prescription drug benefit 
under Medicare, and targeted tax cuts to pay for college education 
expenses so people can have a deduction--so when they have long-term 
care for an aging parent, they can take care of that parent or 
grandparent, and an additional tax credit for day care so people going 
to work can leave their kids in a safe environment.
  These are the real family issues. The Republicans have not really 
listened closely.
  I hope that Republicans, as they left the Philadelphia convention in 
August and watched what happened in the national debate at the 
Presidential level, understand that we really face a serious need in 
this country in helping families. It is not enough anymore to argue 
that the wealthy are getting wealthier. Working families want help, 
too, so their parents and grandparents can pay for prescription drugs 
and take care of the necessities of life.
  I yield the remainder of my time.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Virginia is recognized.

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