[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 15]
[House]
[Page 20068]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   MEDICARE PRESCRIPTION DRUG BENEFIT

  (Mr. DeFAZIO asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. DeFAZIO. Mr. Speaker, Medicare part D, confusing, complicated, 
very costly. In fact, the Bush administration lied about the cost. They 
had estimates that said it would cost $750 billion to $1 trillion, but 
they suppressed that to get votes from conservatives on their side. 
They said not a penny more than 400 million, and it is very costly to 
seniors.
  We now have 3 million seniors who have fallen into something called 
the donut hole. They get to spend $2,600 out of pocket before they get 
any more Medicare prescription drug benefit, and they have to pay a 
higher price for the drugs during that time period than they could get 
at the local drugstore, let alone getting it from Canada or if it was 
centrally purchased by the government.
  We have it in our power to fix it today, save the taxpayer $750 
billion, get the seniors out of the donut hole, but they are going to 
say it is the custom and practice of the House not to consider such 
things.
  The custom and the practice of the House is to fix problems 
confronting the people of the United States of America. It is cleared 
on my side of the aisle. If he objects, it is only the Republicans who 
object.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to take up the bill, H.R. 752.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the settled guidelines previously 
cited, that request cannot be entertained.
  Mr. DeFAZIO. The Republicans have objected.

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