[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 6]
[House]
[Pages 8466-8467]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



   PROVIDING AFFORDABLE PRESCRIPTION DRUG COVERAGE FOR ALL AMERICANS

  (Mr. BALLENGER asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. BALLENGER. Mr. Speaker, Republicans believe that no Medicare 
beneficiary should have to choose between putting food on the table or 
purchasing the prescription drugs they need to live. Yet that is just 
what the poorest of American seniors are forced to do.
  According to a 1996 study, there are 9.6 million Medicare recipients 
who do not have prescription drug coverage. Many of these individuals 
have incomes below $15,000 a year. They are

[[Page 8467]]

struggling on fixed incomes and cannot afford pharmacy bills that can 
run several hundred dollars a month.
  Republicans and Democrats need to set aside partisan politics and do 
the moral thing. We must work together to help the millions of Medicare 
recipients who cannot pay for their medication. By providing affordable 
prescription drug coverage for everyone, we want to make sure that no 
senior citizen or disabled American falls through the cracks.

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