[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 1]
[House]
[Page 1083]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          IN SUPPORT OF H.R. 4

  (Mr. SARBANES asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. SARBANES. Madam Speaker, it matters what government does. Every 
day the policies we enact can make life easier or harder for ordinary 
citizens. It starts at 5 or 6 or 7 o'clock in the morning, when 
millions of senior citizens in this country begin their day by taking 
prescription drug medicine. That should be an experience that makes 
them feel like someone is looking out for them. Instead, the current 
part D program has left our seniors feeling anxious and confused. What 
they cannot understand, Madam Speaker, what no one can understand, 
because there is no rational explanation for it, is why the Medicare 
program has been prohibited from negotiating for lower drug prices. Of 
course there is an explanation: a deal was struck to benefit the 
insurance and pharmaceutical industries at the expense of our seniors.
  Madam Speaker, the legislation before us today will repeal this 
prohibition and empower the Secretary to negotiate for lower 
prescription drug prices on behalf of Medicare beneficiaries.
  H.R. 4 makes common sense, and it does right by our seniors. I look 
forward to bipartisan passage of this important legislation.

                          ____________________