Prescription Drug Bill Passes

Johnson says Works Still Needs to be Done

Washington, DC — U.S. Senator Tim Johnson (D-SD) released the following statement upon passage of S.1, the Prescription Drug Benefits bill:

This is a proposal that represents the most sweeping attempt at changing the Medicare program as we have known it since it's inception in 1965. This bill presents both a glass half empty and half full.

We have $400 billion over ten years to spend on this program as authorized under the budget resolution- really only a down payment on a comprehensive drug benefit for seniors across this country. Honestly, I wish it was more than $400 billion. If the President had not pushed Congress for such an enormous tax cut, we just might have the money now to give seniors the drug plan they are expecting.

What seniors are expecting is not what they will get under S. 1. While I do agree with many of my colleagues that something is indeed better than nothing, this drug plan does not look like what seniors now receive under traditional Medicare.

Seniors deserve a comprehensive, reliable and affordable drug benefit. This bill represents a first step towards providing coverage for our seniors, but improvements will be needed along the way.

The House and Senate versions of the bill will now have to go to conference before the bill can be signed into law by the President.