[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 12]
[House]
[Page 15790]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 FINISHING THE JOB FOR AMERICAN SENIORS

  Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, as we approach the 6 month mark for the 108th 
Congress, we can look back on our work with a great sense of 
accomplishment. Just in the last 3 weeks, the House has moved major 
legislation benefiting consumers, children, small businesses and 
working class parents. As important as these accomplishments have been, 
they are only part of a broader three-part agenda.
  The Republican leadership of this Congress set three major objectives 
when we were sworn in.
  We committed ourselves to do our part to support the war on terror, 
and through our work on the budget and the Operation Iraqi Freedom war 
supplemental, we have.
  We committed ourselves to help get the economy started moving again, 
and since the House passed the President's Jobs and Growth Package, 
wealth has been created, losses recovered, consumer confidence has 
risen and jobless claims have fallen.
  Finally, the Republican majority committed itself to work with the 
President to finally create a prescription drug benefit with Medicare.
  American seniors have been waiting for Congress to act for years to 
finally make the Medicare program reflect 21st Century medical 
realities. We cannot wait on the sidelines while they are hurting 
financially and physically.
  We must act, and this week we will. The House has twice before passed 
a prescription drug benefit, only to have it stalled along its way. But 
this time we are going to get it right and get a bill to the 
President's desk.
  When we got here, our Nation faced three big problems: Terrorism, a 
sagging economy, and seniors being bankrupted by their prescription 
drug bills.
  In response, we had three big ideas: Continuing our relentless war on 
terror, creating jobs and growing the economy, and adding a long 
overdue prescription drug benefit to Medicare.
  This Republican Congress will not lose sight of the big picture, Mr. 
Speaker. For everything else we accomplish at the end of the day, we 
will be judged on how we meet these three challenges.
  In the last 6 months, we have met the first two head on. It is time 
to do the same with the third. We have done a great deal so far, but it 
is time to finish the job.

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