Medicare Prescription Drug Costs

MEDICARE PRESCRIPTION DRUG COSTS

Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, it has been a long day in the Senate, especially for our capable and dedicated staff. I wish to take a couple of minutes to say thank you to the Senators who, a bit ago, supported the Snowe-Wyden legislation to hold down the cost of prescription medicine.

Tonight a majority of the Senate voted to make the Federal Government a smart shopper when it comes to prescription drugs. For the first time, the Senate voted to remove an error of commission: the authorization of a provision in the prescription drug law that bars the Federal Government from negotiating to hold down the cost of prescription drugs.

For the life of me, at a time when the Federal budget is hemorrhaging, when the Government must pay for the costs of Katrina, I do not see how you can argue against the Snowe-Wyden amendment that was offered tonight. It prohibits price controls--that is certainly critical--so we can encourage innovation and research in the pharmaceutical area, but what the Snowe-Wyden amendment does is ensure that the Federal Government is going to do what everybody does in the marketplace--and that is use its bargaining power to hold down the costs. That is what the Federal Emergency Management Agency does when it buys cots, what every Federal agency does to make sure taxpayers and our citizens have their concerns addressed responsibly.

Now, tonight, Senator Snowe and I had to get a supermajority to prevail. I want it understood that no matter how many procedural hurdles are put in front of us, no matter how many roadblocks are put up, we are going to keep coming back on this issue again and again and again until the needs of seniors and our taxpayers are met.

The older people of this country are insisting that an offensive piece of special interest legislation, one that defies common sense, get changed. The AARP made the case when they backed our bipartisan bill. They pointed out that drugs seniors use, such as Lipitor, are going up more than twice the rate of inflation. Seniors want that changed. They will not abide it. Taxpayers will not abide it. And Senator Snowe and I are going to stay at it until Medicare is liberated and can act as a smart shopper.

Fifty-one Senators--a majority of this body--said tonight it is time to get serious about holding down the cost of medicine in the United States. Fifty-one votes is not the supermajority we needed, but Senator Snowe and I are going to stay at it until we get justice done for our older people.

Finally, I want to say a special thanks to our bipartisan group of sponsors and particularly thank Senator Stabenow, Senator McCain, and Senator Feinstein. They are all Senators who got this from the get-go. They understood this was a question of making sure that, at a time when the Federal Government begins the biggest expansion of entitlement health care in years, we take steps to protect the interests of taxpayers and the interests of older people who, right now, are beginning to sign up for the program and will, in fact, start participating formally next year.

We believed it was important tonight to offer this amendment. We wish we had more time to discuss it this evening. I went into it at some length yesterday, but I am pleased we made real progress. For the first time, a majority of the Senate says that this provision that keeps the Federal Government from being a smart shopper simply does not add up. It does not make sense. It defies logic. It is contrary to what everybody else does in the marketplace across the country. I wish we could have gotten the 60 votes needed to prevail tonight, but for the first time we got a majority, and we are going to come back again and again and again. We are going to do it because the older people of this country deserve a fair shake. They are going to insist we keep coming back.

I close my comments tonight by thanking the Presiding Officer, as well, for his support in this effort.

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