[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 4]
[House]
[Page 4572]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




  CONSEQUENCES FOR TELLING TRUTH ABOUT MEDICARE BILL EXTREMELY SEVERE

  (Mr. EMANUEL asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. EMANUEL. Mr. Speaker, the consequences for insubordination are 
extremely severe. That was the warning that the Medicare actuary 
Richard Foster received from his superiors for trying to tell the truth 
about the real costs of the Medicare bill. The penalties for misleading 
the American people are extremely severe as well.
  Today, we learned that some in the Republican leadership knew all 
along the real cost of the prescription drug bill and yet continued to 
hide that information from their colleagues on both sides of the aisle. 
Let me again quote from the Wall Street Journal's lead editorial 
yesterday: ``What's a mere $140 billion among friends?''
  This is a case not only of politics trumpeting policy but of politics 
trumpeting principle. Some think that there are consequences for 
insubordination, but all of us know that the consequences of deception 
are extremely severe as well.

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