[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 148 (2002), Part 8]
[House]
[Page 11458]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       PRESCRIPTION DRUG BENEFIT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Sullivan) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. SULLIVAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise this evening to talk about an issue 
that is very important to the First Congressional District of Oklahoma 
and all across America: the need for a prescription drug benefit for 
our seniors.
  During the last few weeks, the Republican plan has been criticized by 
my Democrat colleagues with a number of half-truths about our plan. I 
have received several calls from constituents and family members who 
are scared about the Democrats' misstatement about higher prices for 
their prescriptions. They are using this issue for political gain 
during an election year.
  I ask the other side of the aisle to please stop scaring my 
grandmother and millions of seniors who buy prescription drugs. For the 
past few months, I, along with several Members of Congress of this 
body, have been visiting with seniors about their wants and needs and a 
prescription drug benefit. From these conversations, the House 
Republicans have developed a plan in line with helping seniors receive 
coverage immediately. I ask the Democrats to stop scaring my 
grandmother and my constituents for political advantage.
  The House Republican plan is the only plan that lowers drug costs for 
seniors through best-price competition and the promotion of generic 
drugs. Recently, the Health and Human Services Department released a 
study that shows an average senior would save nearly 70 percent of the 
money spent on their current coverage under the GOP plan. The liberal 
Democrats say our plan is a meaningless benefit that protects the 
pharmaceutical industry, but studies done on this issue say just the 
opposite.
  The Republican plan uses a best-price competition model that will 
lower the dollar amount through competition, cutting into the 
pharmaceutical company's bottom line. I ask Members on the other side 
of the aisle to stop scaring the Nation's seniors.
  The House and Senate Democrat plans fail to use any competition 
measures. Instead, the Senate plan calls for a copayment on the 
prescriptions. Seniors would pay $10 for generic drugs, $40 for name-
brand drugs, and the government would pick up the rest of the cost, 
regardless of the price.
  Without price competition, the drugmakers will be able to dictate and 
raise their price whenever they want. And of course the Democrats want 
the American taxpayer to pick up the tab on the price difference. This 
could potentially cost Americans more than a trillion dollars. I call 
on the Democrats to stop scaring my grandmother and millions of seniors 
in our Nation who are looking for a workable plan from Congress. This 
is not a political issue. It is a life issue important to seniors 
throughout our Nation. I urge Members to support the House Republican 
prescription drug plan.

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