| January 12, 2007 |
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| Madam/Mr. Speaker, I am proud to rise in support of H.R. 4, the Medicare Prescription Drug Price Negotiation Act. In 2003, my primary concern about the Medicare bill passed by Congress was that it failed to include meaningful measures to lower the escalating cost of prescription drugs. Today, we will take an important step in fixing that problem, by voting to require the Secretary of Health & Human Services to utilize the bulk purchasing power of Medicare beneficiaries to negotiate for lower prices for senior citizens. Government negotiation on behalf of large groups of consumers is a tried and true tactic: it works for individual states, it works for the VA and it will work for Medicare beneficiaries. America’s seniors have made it clear that they need this assistance in obtaining their prescription drugs at a fair price. I urge all my colleagues to support H.R. 4. |
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Speech/Op-Ed List | |