[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 11]
[Senate]
[Pages 14872-14873]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 PRESCRIPTION DRUGS AS PART OF MEDICARE

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I will make a very brief opening 
statement and then our friend and colleague from Nebraska, Senator 
Hagel, who has been extremely active and has a very innovative proposal 
to deliver prescription drugs to our seniors, is going to take over for 
this side for the remainder of the afternoon.
  This is indeed a historic debate. ``Historic debate'' is a term 
perhaps over used in the Senate but that is not the case today. Today, 
after almost 40 years from Medicare's creation, we begin debate on 
legislation to help our most frail citizens acquire the miraculous but 
expensive prescription drugs they need.
  For decades, we have witnessed the ever-expanding power of innovative 
pharmaceutical drugs both to cure and to treat. For decades, we have 
talked about providing our seniors, the poor and fragile of our 
society, the financial aid and means to acquire those wonder drugs. For 
years, colleagues on both sides of the aisle have talked of the need. 
Today, the talk ends and the action begins.
  What begins today will be completed this year. There are many reasons 
but none greater than the leadership of one man, George W. Bush. He is 
the reason we are at this point in the Senate today. It is President 
Bush who has made the commitment, shown the leadership, and challenged 
the Congress to act that has made this day possible. Yet President 
Bush's Medicare effort, like that of past Presidents, might have been 
for naught except for the leadership of Dr. Bill Frist. As a doctor and 
reformer in the 1997 Medicare Commission and now as Senate majority 
leader, he is uniquely qualified to make a difference, and a difference 
he has made in that his decisive leadership has resulted in this bill, 
S. 1, which we have before us today and will have before us for the 
next 2 weeks, if that is what it takes to get final action.
  Other prescription drug bills have been before the Senate, but this 
is the first time the Senate considers a bill actually reported out of 
the Finance Committee with an overwhelming bipartisan vote. That is 
truly unprecedented and a further tribute to Dr. Frist.
  Success has many fathers and anyone would be hard-pressed to limit 
just one Democrat as critical to the success we have today. Senators 
Breaux, Baucus, and Kennedy have all been as unwavering as they have 
been untiring in their efforts to provide prescription drugs to our 
senior citizens. On our side of the aisle, Chairman Grassley skillfully 
navigated this bill through the Finance Committee to a strong 
bipartisan vote. Senator Nickles, the Budget chairman, is to be 
commended for ensuring full funding of the President's Medicare 
proposal in the budget and his tireless work to ensure the bill keeps 
faith with the President's original proposal and the future generations 
his proposal sought to protect. I look forward to continuing working 
with him to produce the best bill possible.
  I want to say again the efforts of our colleagues, Senator Chuck 
Hagel and Senator John Ensign, with their innovative proposal, which I 
hope will be thoroughly vetted in the course of this debate, are to be 
commended for their outstanding leadership on this issue. Combined, 
these efforts have produced a bill that will strengthen and improve 
Medicare and guarantee a prescription drug benefit. It will improve the 
quality of Medicare to guarantee its benefits for our parents and our 
children. It preserves traditional Medicare while allowing seniors to 
choose a benefit package that best fits their needs and gives them the 
same type of choices enjoyed by those of us in Congress and other 
Federal employees. It protects low-income seniors by giving them 
additional help in paying for prescription drugs. It protects all 
seniors from catastrophic drug costs. It addresses many of the problems 
associated with rural health care for our seniors on Medicare.
  Debate on this bill will be difficult. Some will say it does too 
little. Others

[[Page 14873]]

insist it does too much. Some will say the reforms go too far. Others 
will say the reforms do not go far enough. Where I stand is about where 
the President stands. He applauds the product but believes we need to 
do more reform, and I agree with that entirely. He believes in a fair 
competition between Government and the private sector to provide goods 
and services at the lowest costs, the private sector will win. I 
certainly agree with that, provided we craft this in a way that gets 
the private sector a chance.
  He believes any reform of Medicare must begin with the infusion of 
private sector responsiveness and cost control. Again, I certainly 
agree.
  The questions we share are: Will we achieve more reform? Will we 
ensure fair competition between the Government and the private sector? 
Will the reform we inject exceed the costs of the new benefit? That is 
what this debate is about. Today we begin to shoot with real bullets. 
This is no longer a ploy for the next election; this is about the next 
generation. This is not just about Medicare prescriptions; it is about 
Medicare preservation. This is not just about our parents and our 
grandparents; it is about our children and our grandchildren. If we 
keep this in mind, I believe we can produce a product that preserves 
the social contract of Medicare with our parents, as well as our 
children.
  I yield the floor.

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