[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 11]
[House]
[Pages 15498-15499]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                NEW YORK TIMES ARTICLE ON MEDICARE BILL

  (Mr. STRICKLAND asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. STRICKLAND. Mr. Speaker, the world now knows that the Bush 
administration withheld reliable information regarding the true cost of 
the Medicare privatization bill they pushed through this House in the 
middle of the night.
  According to The New York Times today, and I quote, ``New government

[[Page 15499]]

estimates suggest that employers will reduce or eliminate prescription 
drug benefits for 3.8 million retirees when the Medicare bill becomes 
operable in 2006.'' That represents one-third of all the retirees with 
employer-sponsored drug coverage, according to documents from the 
Department of Health and Human Services.
  We know how that bill passed in the middle of the night, 6 o'clock in 
the morning, after the vote was held open for 3 hours, got the 
President out of bed at 4 o'clock in the morning to twist arms, and we 
have done this to Americans, especially America's retirees.
  It reminds me of a verse from there scriptures that says ``Men love 
darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil.''

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