Senate Passes Medicare Legislation 54-44; President Bush Expected to Sign

CAL/AAEM News Service pottsbri@yahoo.com
Sun, 30 Nov 2003 08:21:17 -0800 (PST)


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-----Original Message-----

From: California Healthline [mailto:CALIFORNIAHEALTHLINE@ADVISORY.COM] 

Sent: Tuesday, November 25, 2003 10:34 AM

 

Senate Passes Medicare Legislation 54-44; President Bush Expected to Sign 

11/25/2003 

The Senate on Tuesday morning voted 54-44 to approve a bill (HR 1 <http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c108:h.r.1:> ) that would add a prescription drug benefit to Medicare as "part of the biggest revision in the program since it was created in 1965," the <http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/25/politics/25CND-MEDI.html?hp> New York Times reports. The bill now goes to President Bush, who has said he will sign it into law (Pear/Hulse, New York Times, 11/25). The vote came after the Senate on Monday in two separate votes ended a filibuster and then defeated a measure to delay the bill over budget concerns (Kuhnhenn, <http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/nation/7342811.htm> Philadelphia Inquirer, 11/25). The Senate on Monday voted 70-29 to end a filibuster led by Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and supported by some Democrats and a "handful" of Republicans, the <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A12583-2003Nov25.html> Washington Post reports (Dewar/Goldstein, Washingto!
 n Post,
 11/25). In the roll call, 22 Democrats, 47 Republicans and Independent Sen. James Jeffords (Vt.) voted to end the filibuster and invoke cloture on the bill, CongressDaily reports. Three Republicans -- Sens. Lincoln Chafee (R.I.), Chuck Hagel (Neb.) and John McCain (Ariz.) -- voted to continue the filibuster; Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) was the only absentee (CongressDaily, 11/25). Democrats then called for a vote to stop the bill over allegations that it violates congressional budget rules because it allows for more spending in fiscal year 2004 than was allocated in the 2004 budget and that it violates committee jurisdiction rules, the <http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20031124-112318-1208r.htm> Washington Times reports (Fagan, Washington Times, 11/25). The 61-39 vote to exempt the bill from the budget rules, which needed 60 votes to pass, came only after Sens. Trent Lott (R-Miss.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) changed their votes, according to the!
  Post
 (Washington Post, 11/25). In all, 49 Republicans, 11 Democrats and Jeffords voted to waive the Budget Act rules (CongressDaily, 11/25). The House, after a three-hour roll call vote, early Saturday morning approved the legislation in a 220-215 vote largely along party lines ( http://www.californiahealthline.org/members/basecontent.asp?contentid=50347&collectionid=3&program=1 California Healthline, 11/24). President Bush on Monday said, "It's time to modernize Medicare and make the system better. It will enable us to help millions of seniors." 

 

Proponents Hail Legislation 

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) said, "For the first time under Medicare, 40 million seniors and individuals with disabilities will finally have the prescription drug coverage they need and the Medicare choices they deserve" (New York Times, 11/25). HHS <http://www.hhs.gov/> Secretary Tommy Thompson, who was present in both the House and Senate during votes to lobby legislators to support the bill, said, "We are right there for a touchdown for our seniors all across America" (Hirschfeld Davis, Baltimore http://www.sunspot.net/news/nationworld/bal-te.medicare25nov25,0,4500463.story?coll=bal-home-headlines Sun, 11/25). Sen. John Breaux (D-La.), who along with Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) was one of the two Democrats involved in the conference committee, said, "I think we have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity today to complete our work on this bipartisan Medicare bill." Bill Novelli, executive director of AARP <http://www.aarp.org/> , which supports the bill, said that!
  "this
 bill is going to go a long way to help" the United States prepare for an increasing number of residents ages 65 and older (Lipman, http://www.ajc.com/tuesday/content/epaper/editions/tuesday/news_f33c201e565b62db0006.html Palm Beach Post/Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 11/25). 





 

Opponents Vow To Continue Objections 

Democrats who had opposed the bill said they would continue to fight the bill through alternate measures, the http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-medicare25nov25,1,2788481.story?coll=la-home-headlines Los Angeles Times reports (Kemper, Los Angeles Times, 11/25). Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) said, "This is the beginning of the end; it is not the end. We will see many, many more votes. I predict that we will be back within the next 12 months. Seniors will demand that we respond to the many deficiencies of this bill, and they will not rest until we address them" (New York Times, 11/25). Kennedy said the bill "starts the unraveling of the Medicare system" (Heldt Powell, <http://news.bostonherald.com/national/national.bg?articleid=43> Boston Herald, 11/25). Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) said that although supporters have called the bill a first step, "it's a first step off a cliff" (Barfield Berry, Long Island Newsday, 11/25). Some Republicans in !
 the
 Senate opposed the bill, which they said includes "huge, perpetual annual expenditures," the http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0311250257nov25,1,7688374.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed Chicago Tribune reports (Zuckman, Chicago Tribune, 11/25). McCain said, "It's like the ancient medieval practice of leeching. Every special interest is attaching itself to this bill and bleeding Medicare dry" (Long Island Newsday, 11/25). Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) said he plans to introduce legislation that would allow Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices with pharmaceutical manufacturers (Los Angeles Times, 11/25). The current legislation prohibits the federal government from using bulk purchasing techniques to bargain with drug makers "in order to promote competition" (California Healthline, 11/24). 





 

Future 

Although the legislation will likely be signed into law, the "lack of consensus" over some issues -- in particular a 2010 pilot program in which private insurers would directly compete with Medicare in six metropolitan areas -- will "make it harder to reach the compromises that will be needed to put the bill into action in coming years," the Wall Street Journal reports. Thomas Mann, a congressional scholar at the Brookings Institution <http://www.brook.edu/> , said, "[W]hen this passes, it will be the beginning of a massive political struggle to define the meaning of this bill. Rather than resolve something, it will keep it very much in play. The outcome of subsequent elections will have a tremendous impact." Some Republican lawmakers have said they want to re-examine cost-containment measures in the bill, while Democrats "already vow they will reopen the legislation soon," according to the Journal. Daschle said, "There will be efforts to go back over and over again" to make!
  the
 prescription drug benefit more generous. Kennedy said opponents will "fight [the legislation] in the congressional elections and in presidential elections as well." While Democrats "have been longtime supporters of a Medicare drug benefit," the current legislation is "viewed as a Republican product -- and Republicans plan to take full credit in the next year's campaign," the Journal reports. CMS <http://www.cms.gov/> Administrator Tom Scully said, "This thing is always a work in progress. Unfortunately, it's a politicized issue. ... The fact is, a lot of this is politics, not substance. You've got conservative Republicans who don't like it, you've got liberal Democrats who don't like it" (McGinley et al., Wall Street Journal, 11/25). 



Brian Potts 
Managing Editor, CAL/AAEM News Service 
MS-IV, UC-Irvine

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<DIV><FONT size=2>
<P>-----Original Message-----</P>
<P>From: California Healthline [</FONT><A href="mailto:CALIFORNIAHEALTHLINE@ADVISORY.COM"><U><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>mailto:CALIFORNIAHEALTHLINE@ADVISORY.COM</U></FONT></A><FONT size=2>] </P>
<P>Sent: Tuesday, November 25, 2003 10:34 AM</P>
<P>&nbsp;</P>
<P>Senate Passes Medicare Legislation 54-44; President Bush Expected to Sign </P>
<P>11/25/2003 </P>
<P>The Senate on Tuesday morning voted 54-44 to approve a bill (HR 1 &lt;</FONT><A href="http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c108:h.r.1:"><U><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c108:h.r.1:</U></FONT></A><FONT size=2>&gt; ) that would add a prescription drug benefit to Medicare as "part of the biggest revision in the program since it was created in 1965," the &lt;</FONT><A href="http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/25/politics/25CND-MEDI.html?hp"><U><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/25/politics/25CND-MEDI.html?hp</U></FONT></A><FONT size=2>&gt; New York Times reports. The bill now goes to President Bush, who has said he will sign it into law (Pear/Hulse, New York Times, 11/25). The vote came after the Senate on Monday in two separate votes ended a filibuster and then defeated a measure to delay the bill over budget concerns (Kuhnhenn, &lt;</FONT><A href="http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/nation/7342811.htm"><U><FONT color!
 =#0000ff
 size=2>http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/nation/7342811.htm</U></FONT></A><FONT size=2>&gt; Philadelphia Inquirer, 11/25). The Senate on Monday voted 70-29 to end a filibuster led by Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and supported by some Democrats and a "handful" of Republicans, the &lt;</FONT><A href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A12583-2003Nov25.html"><U><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A12583-2003Nov25.html</U></FONT></A><FONT size=2>&gt; Washington Post reports (Dewar/Goldstein, Washington Post, 11/25). In the roll call, 22 Democrats, 47 Republicans and Independent Sen. James Jeffords (Vt.) voted to end the filibuster and invoke cloture on the bill, CongressDaily reports. Three Republicans -- Sens. Lincoln Chafee (R.I.), Chuck Hagel (Neb.) and John McCain (Ariz.) -- voted to continue the filibuster; Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) was the only absentee (CongressDaily, 11/25). Democrats then called for a vote to st!
 op the
 bill over allegations that it violates congressional budget rules because it allows for more spending in fiscal year 2004 than was allocated in the 2004 budget and that it violates committee jurisdiction rules, the &lt;</FONT><A href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20031124-112318-1208r.htm"><U><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20031124-112318-1208r.htm</U></FONT></A><FONT size=2>&gt; Washington Times reports (Fagan, Washington Times, 11/25). The 61-39 vote to exempt the bill from the budget rules, which needed 60 votes to pass, came only after Sens. Trent Lott (R-Miss.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) changed their votes, according to the Post (Washington Post, 11/25). In all, 49 Republicans, 11 Democrats and Jeffords voted to waive the Budget Act rules (CongressDaily, 11/25). The House, after a three-hour roll call vote, early Saturday morning approved the legislation in a 220-215 vote largely along party lines ( <!
 /FONT><A
 href="http://www.californiahealthline.org/members/basecontent.asp?contentid=5"><U><FONT color=#0000ff size=2><A href="http://www.californiahealthline.org/members/basecontent.asp?contentid=50347&amp;collectionid=3&amp;program=1">http://www.californiahealthline.org/members/basecontent.asp?contentid=5</U></FONT></A><FONT size=2>0347&amp;collectionid=3&amp;program=1</A> California Healthline, 11/24). President Bush on Monday said, "It's time to modernize Medicare and make the system better. It will enable us to help millions of seniors." </P>
<P>&nbsp;</P>
<P>Proponents Hail Legislation </P>
<P>Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) said, "For the first time under Medicare, 40 million seniors and individuals with disabilities will finally have the prescription drug coverage they need and the Medicare choices they deserve" (New York Times, 11/25). HHS &lt;</FONT><A href="http://www.hhs.gov/"><U><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>http://www.hhs.gov/</U></FONT></A><FONT size=2>&gt; Secretary Tommy Thompson, who was present in both the House and Senate during votes to lobby legislators to support the bill, said, "We are right there for a touchdown for our seniors all across America" (Hirschfeld Davis, Baltimore </FONT><A href="http://www.sunspot.net/news/nationworld/bal-te.medicare25nov25,0,450046"><U><FONT color=#0000ff size=2><A href="http://www.sunspot.net/news/nationworld/bal-te.medicare25nov25,0,4500463.story?coll=bal-home-headlines">http://www.sunspot.net/news/nationworld/bal-te.medicare25nov25,0,450046</U></FONT></A><FONT size=2>3.story?coll=bal-home-headlines</!
 A> Sun,
 11/25). Sen. John Breaux (D-La.), who along with Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) was one of the two Democrats involved in the conference committee, said, "I think we have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity today to complete our work on this bipartisan Medicare bill." Bill Novelli, executive director of AARP &lt;</FONT><A href="http://www.aarp.org/"><U><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>http://www.aarp.org/</U></FONT></A><FONT size=2>&gt; , which supports the bill, said that "this bill is going to go a long way to help" the United States prepare for an increasing number of residents ages 65 and older (Lipman, </FONT><A href="http://www.ajc.com/tuesday/content/epaper/editions/tuesday/news_f33c201"><U><FONT color=#0000ff size=2><A href="http://www.ajc.com/tuesday/content/epaper/editions/tuesday/news_f33c201e565b62db0006.html">http://www.ajc.com/tuesday/content/epaper/editions/tuesday/news_f33c201</U></FONT></A><FONT size=2>e565b62db0006.html</A> Palm Beach Post/Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 1!
 1/25).
 </P>
<P></P>
<P></P>
<P>&nbsp;</P>
<P>Opponents Vow To Continue Objections </P>
<P>Democrats who had opposed the bill said they would continue to fight the bill through alternate measures, the </FONT><A href="http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-medicare25nov25,1"><U><FONT color=#0000ff size=2><A href="http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-medicare25nov25,1,2788481.story?coll=la-home-headlines">http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-medicare25nov25,1</U></FONT></A><FONT size=2>,2788481.story?coll=la-home-headlines</A> Los Angeles Times reports (Kemper, Los Angeles Times, 11/25). Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) said, "This is the beginning of the end; it is not the end. We will see many, many more votes. I predict that we will be back within the next 12 months. Seniors will demand that we respond to the many deficiencies of this bill, and they will not rest until we address them" (New York Times, 11/25). Kennedy said the bill "starts the unraveling of the Medicare system" (Heldt Powell, &lt;</FONT>!
 <A
 href="http://news.bostonherald.com/national/national.bg?articleid=43"><U><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>http://news.bostonherald.com/national/national.bg?articleid=43</U></FONT></A><FONT size=2>&gt; Boston Herald, 11/25). Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) said that although supporters have called the bill a first step, "it's a first step off a cliff" (Barfield Berry, Long Island Newsday, 11/25). Some Republicans in the Senate opposed the bill, which they said includes "huge, perpetual annual expenditures," the </FONT><A href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0311250257nov25,1,76"><U><FONT color=#0000ff size=2><A href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0311250257nov25,1,7688374.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed">http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0311250257nov25,1,76</U></FONT></A><FONT size=2>88374.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed</A> Chicago Tribune reports (Zuckman, Chicago Tribune, 11/25). McCain said, "It's like the ancient!
  medieval
 practice of leeching. Every special interest is attaching itself to this bill and bleeding Medicare dry" (Long Island Newsday, 11/25). Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) said he plans to introduce legislation that would allow Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices with pharmaceutical manufacturers (Los Angeles Times, 11/25). The current legislation prohibits the federal government from using bulk purchasing techniques to bargain with drug makers "in order to promote competition" (California Healthline, 11/24). </P>
<P></P>
<P></P>
<P>&nbsp;</P>
<P>Future </P>
<P>Although the legislation will likely be signed into law, the "lack of consensus" over some issues -- in particular a 2010 pilot program in which private insurers would directly compete with Medicare in six metropolitan areas -- will "make it harder to reach the compromises that will be needed to put the bill into action in coming years," the Wall Street Journal reports. Thomas Mann, a congressional scholar at the Brookings Institution &lt;</FONT><A href="http://www.brook.edu/"><U><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>http://www.brook.edu/</U></FONT></A><FONT size=2>&gt; , said, "[W]hen this passes, it will be the beginning of a massive political struggle to define the meaning of this bill. Rather than resolve something, it will keep it very much in play. The outcome of subsequent elections will have a tremendous impact." Some Republican lawmakers have said they want to re-examine cost-containment measures in the bill, while Democrats "already vow they will reopen the legislation soo!
 n,"
 according to the Journal. Daschle said, "There will be efforts to go back over and over again" to make the prescription drug benefit more generous. Kennedy said opponents will "fight [the legislation] in the congressional elections and in presidential elections as well." While Democrats "have been longtime supporters of a Medicare drug benefit," the current legislation is "viewed as a Republican product -- and Republicans plan to take full credit in the next year's campaign," the Journal reports. CMS &lt;</FONT><A href="http://www.cms.gov/"><U><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>http://www.cms.gov/</U></FONT></A><FONT size=2>&gt; Administrator Tom Scully said, "This thing is always a work in progress. Unfortunately, it's a politicized issue. ... The fact is, a lot of this is politics, not substance. You've got conservative Republicans who don't like it, you've got liberal Democrats who don't like it" (McGinley et al., Wall Street Journal, 11/25). </P></FONT></DIV><BR><BR><STRONG>Bri!
 an Potts
 <BR>Managing Editor, CAL/AAEM News Service</STRONG> <BR>MS-IV, UC-Irvine<p><hr SIZE=1>
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