[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 4]
[Senate]
[Page 4287]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




     REPUBLICAN REFUSAL TO EXTEND PRESCRIPTION DRUG SIGN-UP PERIOD

  (Mrs. JONES of Ohio asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Mrs. JONES of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, it is time the House Republicans 
stand up to the Bush White House and say they are not going to allow 
America's seniors to be penalized for a complicated and confusing drug 
proposal they helped create.
  It was bad enough that the Republicans allowed the big drug companies 
to write their own prescription drug plan for them, but now that a 
deadline looms 47 days away that would inflict a tax on seniors who 
have not yet chosen a plan, Republicans seem willing to, once again, 
blindly follow the President.
  Earlier someone made the comment that Democrats are not doing enough 
to have seniors sign up for the plan. I beg to differ. I work very hard 
to have my seniors sign up and save money, but they will never save as 
much, the billions of dollars that went to the drug companies, as the 
drug companies will receive in that process.
  House Republicans seem willing to once again rubber-stamp a plan that 
would inflict a Bush prescription drug tax on seniors for the rest of 
their lives. They have yet to show any support for Democratic efforts 
to extend the sign-up deadline to the end of the year.
  While America's seniors continue to pay outrageously high prices for 
their prescription drugs, House Republicans can no longer just rubber-
stamp.

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