congressional_record: CREC-2000-12-15-pt1-PgE2194-4

Congressional Record — full text of everything said on the floor of Congress. Speeches, debates, procedural actions from 1994 to present. House, Senate, Extensions of Remarks, and Daily Digest.

Data license: Public Domain (U.S. Government data) · Data source: Federal Register API & Regulations.gov API

This data as json

granule_id date congress session volume issue title chamber granule_class sub_granule_class page_start page_end speakers bills citation full_text
CREC-2000-12-15-pt1-PgE2194-4 2000-12-15 106 2     REPUBLICANS GIVE $200 MILLION GIFT TO DRUG INDUSTRY HOUSE EXTENSIONS ALLOTHER E2194 E2194 [{"name": "Fortney Pete Stark", "role": "speaking"}]   146 Cong. Rec. E2194 Congressional Record, Volume 146 Issue 155 (Friday, December 15, 2000) [Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 155 (Friday, December 15, 2000)] [Extensions of Remarks] [Page E2194] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov] REPUBLICANS GIVE $200 MILLION GIFT TO DRUG INDUSTRY ______ HON. FORTNEY PETE STARK of california in the house of representatives Friday, December 15, 2000 Mr. STARK. Mr. Speaker, the Medicare bill before us gives a $200 million gift to the nation's drug manufacturers--undoubtedly a pay-off for the industry's massive, $80 million contribution to the Republicans and Governor Bush. In section 429, as passed by the House, and in the versions of the bill circulating as late as December 12, Medicare was prohibited from either increasing or decreasing the rates of reimbursement for drugs. This section blocked an effort by the Justice Department, the HHS Office of the Inspector General and Medicare to save the taxpayer hundreds of millions of dollars a year in overpayments. CBO scored the blockage as costing about $200 million. To offset the cost, the original bill, as passed by the House, also blocked drug companies from increasing their charges to Medicare. Sometime between December 12th and last evening, someone in the Speaker's office or the Senate Majority Leader's office dropped the word ``increase''--thus allowing the drug companies and doctors who profiteer from huge mark-ups on drugs to continue to rip-off patients and taxpayers. The bill before us now only blocks the cuts in reimbursement that had been recommended by the Department of Justice. What a travesty. Senator McCain is right: it is way way past time for campaign finance reform. ____________________

Links from other tables