[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 5]
[House]
[Page 5923]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




   BUSH PRESCRIPTION DRUG TAX--TWENTY DAYS LEFT UNTIL TAX TAKES PLACE

  (Mr. PALLONE asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, the countdown continues. If neither the 
Bush administration nor this Congress act within the next 20 days, 
seniors who have yet to sign up for the new prescription drug plan will 
be penalized with a Bush prescription drug tax that will stay with them 
for the rest of their lives.
  It is bad enough that the new prescription drug plan is so confusing 
and complicated that a vast majority of seniors have yet to sign up, 
but now, if seniors choose a drug plan after May 15, they will be 
penalized with a tax that will only make their prescription drug costs 
higher.
  The Bush administration refuses to extend the deadline, even though 
they have heard recent reports of seniors waiting on the phone as long 
as 30 minutes to get more information on these private drug plans.
  If House Republicans do not join us in extending this unfair 
deadline, seniors will encounter at least a 7 percent Bush prescription 
drug tax that they will be forced to pay every month for the rest of 
their lives.
  As we check off another day on the calendar, House Republicans now 
only have another 20 more days to stand up and support America's 
seniors. It is time Republicans do the right thing.

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