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Mr. MILLER. Madam President, let me read a few recent comments from the media, always a jaded and cynical bunch, but in this case let's hope their pessimism is wrong. Our senior citizens certainly pray that it is.
From the National Journal, May 25:
It is becoming increasingly unlikely that Congress this year will approve compromise legislation providing prescription drug benefits for Medicare recipients.
The Wall Street Journal, June 3:
President Bush and Congress are unlikely to agree this year on a promised Medicare benefit for prescription drugs.
World Market's Research Centre, May 20:
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Neither party wants the other to be seen by the electorate to have found the solution. Blocking the other's proposals will continue to take precedence in the run-up to November.
Cox News Service, June 3:
Slim chances for agreement on prescription drugs.
And the L.A. Times:
Few on Capitol Hill think ..... they'll produce a bill this year.
Columbus [Ohio] Dispatch:
Time is running out. .....
The legislative year effectively ends when lawmakers leave for the August recess.
Madam President, I could go on and on. There are dozens of articles like this, but I think you get the idea. Hardly anyone thinks we are going to do anything serious about prescription drug costs and prescription drug coverage. Let us pray they are wrong--that they are not right. But if the
past is prologue, that is exactly the partisan blame game that smells up this place sometimes.
I am interested in doing something now. I want results, not a campaign issue. Time is running out, and I hate to tell you but some people want it to run out. That is their game. They want to shuffle and slouch and go through the motions while the clock does run out. That is why I think I am going to bring a calendar in here, and just like we count the shopping days left until Christmas, I am going to count the days left until the August recess.
It would look just like this: 39 days left. I don't think we are going to do anything today--another day shot.
Madam President, I know some may call that undignified. I hope they do. I would like to get the meaning of dignity into this debate, into this discussion. I will tell you what is undignified--an old woman with trembling hands, trying to cut a pill in half so her medicine will last a little longer. I will tell you about losing dignity--an old man proud and self-sufficient all his life, admitting in whispered tones to his pharmacist: I didn't know it was going to cost that much and I sure don't want my check to bounce. I'll come back later.
I will tell you what undignified is--a couple who have lived together for 55 years, using coffee grounds from the day before to stretch it further because mama has to have her medicine.
So I don't want anybody talking to me about the loss of dignity, not in this debate.
By the way, there is a difference between what is undignified and what is obscene. What is obscene is making an 18.5-percent profit margin--more than four times that of all other industries--and raking in that kind of profit on the backs of our seniors.
I will tell you what is obscene--the giant pharmaceutical companies spending three times more on advertising than they do on research. Their ads are everywhere. How many times do we have to watch that woman who has--got to go, got to go, got to go?
What is obscene is having 650 lobbyists to make sure we keep shuffling and slouching--650 lobbyists. That is more than one for every Member of Congress.
There are towns in Georgia that do not have that big a population. I live in one.
I will tell you what is obscene--these lobbyists each make an average of over $12,000 a month. That is three times more than what an average schoolteacher or a registered nurse makes. We talk about predatory lending, predatory lenders--what about predatory businesses that protect their bottom lines at the expense of millions of people who cannot afford drugs they have to have?
I know we have been told we are going to take this up sometime--sometime this summer, sometime after hate crimes, sometime after this bill, sometime after another bill, sometime later. There is an old country saying. Probably nobody in this body has ever heard it, except maybe the senior Senator from West Virginia and the two Senators from South Carolina, somebody like us who has been around chickens in the yard and knows about setting hens. There is an old saying that goes like this: I hear you clucking but I can't find your nest.
It means I hear you talking, but I don't see any action.
I will tell you this, I don't want to be associated with any political party that cannot comprehend the urgency of this stark need of our seniors; that is unwilling to take some risks
and that is unwilling to compromise to get some results. If we fail to get some results on this issue, we should be so ashamed that all incumbents going into November--Democrats and Republicans alike--should have to go around with a paper sack over their heads like sports fans sometimes do when they are embarrassed by their team's performance.
We have to do something and we have to do something soon, Madam President, and I know you share those desires.
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