[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 148 (2002), Part 8]
[House]
[Page 11033]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




    LET US NOT FORGET OUR SENIORS AND THEIR PRESCRIPTION DRUG NEEDS

  (Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, as we leave this weekend to go 
home to our districts, we are still burdened by the inertia of this 
Congress in dealing with a very serious issue, and that is, of course, 
the needs of the greatest generation, our grandparents and our parents.
  We have, for the last 4 years, promised these hardworking Americans a 
Medicare prescription drug benefit. I wish we could do this in a 
bipartisan way, Mr. Speaker. I wish we could put forward a bill that 
really did respond to the needs of our senior citizens so they would 
not have to make the choices of paying rent and buying food or 
eliminating their prescription drugs.
  The Democrats have a proposal that is clear: a $25 premium; the 
ability to assist those who cannot afford to pay for their prescription 
drugs; and a prescription drug policy that applies to all of their 
medical providers, so that two individuals who are a couple, who have 
worked and contributed to this Nation, will not suffer anymore.
  It seems to me a crisis and a shame that we have a Republican bill 
that does nothing but play to the pharmaceutical industry. Let us work 
together for the Greatest Generation, to help our parents to live a 
good quality of life.

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