[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 9]
[House]
[Pages 11392-11393]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         AARP AND THE DRUG BILL

  (Mr. McDERMOTT asked and was given permission to address the House

[[Page 11393]]

for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker, AARP owes every senior an explanation. 
Its leader trumpeted a Republican prescription drug bill passed in the 
dead of night last year. It would have been dead on arrival if the 
administration had told the truth, but they did not.
  But the seniors, including my 94-year-old mother, are really smart. 
So AARP, when they sent out 26,000 packets of information, only 400 
signed up.
  My mother and her buddies are pretty darn smart. They know the 
difference between a real deal and a raw deal. The administration gave 
seniors a raw deal, and AARP leadership helped.
  Senator Kerry will give seniors a real deal with real benefits for 
prescription drugs.

                              {time}  1100

  Democrats are ready to do what is right, beginning with telling the 
truth.
  It is time AARP repudiated the reckless endorsement of a Republican 
bill that is bad medicine for seniors. It is time for AARP to take the 
medicine every mother teaches her child: tell the truth and take 
responsibility when you do something stupid.

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