[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 1]
[House]
[Page 449]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




      WHAT PRESIDENT BUSH DID NOT TELL US ABOUT THE MEDICARE BILL

  (Mr. BROWN of Ohio asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute.)
  Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, last week President Bush stood in 
this well and told us that he signed a Medicare bill last month. What 
he did not tell us was that this bill does not take effect until 2006. 
What he did not tell us is that this bill gives the insurance companies 
a $14 billion taxpayer subsidy. What he did not tell us is that this 
bill provides $139 billion more to the drug companies in profits, and 
what he did not tell us was how little coverage this Medicare 
prescription drug bill will give to most of America's seniors.
  This bill falls short because the Medicare bill was written by the 
drug industry and by the insurance industry, for the drug industry and 
for the insurance industry in the Oval Office.

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