[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 4]
[House]
[Pages 4527-4528]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




            THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION'S PRESCRIPTION DRUG BILL

  (Mr. BROWN of Ohio asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, if the President's Medicare 
prescription drug bill is so good, why does the Bush administration 
have to sell it so hard?
  The Bush administration has already used 13 million tax dollars to 
spend on selling this prescription drug bill, this prescription drug 
law, to the American people, spending tax dollars for a benefit that 
does not even take effect for 2 more years. They have already spent $13 
million. They are planning to spend $80 million more to advertise to 
the American people, slick television ads to sell this law that simply 
is not going to work very well. That $80 million could fill 900,000 
arthritis medicine prescriptions. That $80 million could by 1.5 million 
prescriptions of glaucoma medicine. That $80 million could buy 2.5 
million prescriptions of blood pressure medicine. Instead, the Bush 
administration is going to spend that $80 million on an ad blitz of 
slick campaign-style ads in homage to late night infomercials.

[[Page 4528]]



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