Congressional Record—Senate S5837
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June 14, 2006 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S5837 committee had all the facts we needed pass this bill but to serve the interests Mr. LEVIN. Maybe we could ascer- to proceed to making a decision on the of our country. tain that. He is on his way to the floor. President’s request. I am happy to recommend this con- I know he was willing to make the Our staff members are the very best. ference report to the Senate. I yield modification. It is helpful to put the We are very fortunate in the Senate to back the remainder of the time avail- date of his amendment in line with our have the benefit of the services of able under the order. bill, the fiscal year, as I understand it. Keith Kennedy, who is staff director of f Mr. WARNER. I suggest the absence the Appropriations Committee, and his of a quorum. NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZA- counterpart on the other side, Terry The PRESIDING OFFICER. The TION ACT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2007 Sauvain, is equally dutiful and depend- clerk will call the roll. able in his efforts on behalf of our com- The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen- The legislative clerk proceeded to mittee. Chuck Keiffer managed much ator from Virginia. call the roll. of the floor activity and was at the Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, under Ms. STABENOW. Madam President, I markup session that we had that ran the standing order, is not the Senate ask unanimous consent that the order way past midnight the night we were now to return to the annual authoriza- for the quorum call be rescinded. completing action on this conference tion Defense bill? The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. MUR- report. He was very supportive of the The PRESIDING OFFICER. The KOWSKI). Without objection, it is so or- efforts and the needs of our committee. clerk will report the pending business. dered. The legislative clerk read as follows: Senator TED STEVENS, former chair- Ms. STABENOW. Madam President, I man of the full committee, is chairman A bill (S. 2766) to authorize appropriations rise to speak in support of the Lauten- for fiscal year 2007 for military activities of of the Defense Appropriations Sub- the Department of Defense, for military con- berg-Stabenow amendment. I under- committee. He and his counterpart, struction, and for defense activities of the stand Senator LEVIN has offered it and DAN INOUYE, are two of the finest Sen- Department of Energy, to prescribe per- Senator LAUTENBERG will be coming ators who have ever served in the Sen- sonnel strengths for such fiscal year for the shortly to speak on our amendment. ate. Their responsibility was to deal Armed Forces, and for other purposes. This is an incredibly important with the request relating to defense Pending: amendment for the men and women issues. This was mainly a Defense ap- Levin (for Lautenberg) amendment No. who are currently serving us so brave- propriations request the President sub- 4205, to provide a temporary prohibition on ly, courageously around the world. We mitted for the war on terror. But there an increase in copayments required under all know that prescription drug costs were other provisions as well related to the retail pharmacy system of the pharmacy are one of the largest drivers of health that conflict and our effort to defend benefits program of the Department of De- care costs, rising every year at double fense. our security interests. There were Warner amendment No. 4211, to name the or even triple the rate of inflation. State Department accounts involved. CVN–78 aircraft carrier the USS Gerald Ford. This is certainly an area where I have We had the benefit at the hearings of Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, we are been focused for much of my Senate ca- the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary ready to proceed. The work achieved reer—on the high cost of prescription of State, the Chairman of the Joint yesterday resulted in unanimous ac- drugs. We all know that is the case. Chiefs of Staff, all talking about the ceptance of a bipartisan amendment Like every manufacturer, small busi- needs for funding of our activities to sponsored by the Senator from Virginia ness, and State Medicaid Program, the protect our country’s security. and the joint leadership. We then pro- military is facing the same challenges The chairman of the subcommittee ceeded to an amendment under an ar- of controlling prescription drug prices. that has responsibility for those ac- rangement whereby the minority was Instead of supporting policies that counts in the State Department and able to offer an amendment by Senator would lower prescription drug prices, foreign operations is MITCH MCCON- LAUTENBERG. I had the opportunity to such as reimportation of prescription NELL, who is a distinguished Senator speak briefly with him this morning. drugs from other countries like Can- from Kentucky and our assistant lead- There was some indication that he ada, which is very close to Michigan, or er. He turned in yeoman work, along would be willing to accept a proposal I focusing on more generic, lower cost with his counterpart on the other side, had to make a slight modification, in drugs that can be brought to the mar- PAT LEAHY of Vermont. These are ex- which case I would hope we could pro- ket and create competition to bring amples of how the committee came to- ceed to either an acceptance by voice down prices, or allowing Medicare to gether, Republicans and Democrats, vote or schedule a vote at a time so de- negotiate pricing, unfortunately, this and made the decisions that had to be sired by the leadership of the Senate. administration wants to put the costs made, negotiated hard and diligently I assume at some point in time I will on the backs of our men and women in with the House to work out differences be able to obtain information on that uniform and their families. I strongly between our two bills and considered point. Absent that, I see my distin- oppose that policy. every request the administration made guished colleague, the Senator from The President’s budget proposed in- of the Congress for these appropria- Michigan. I was advising the Senate creasing the prescription drug copays tions. that the pending amendment is the for our troops and their families, al- I want to single out two other sub- Lautenberg amendment. On another most doubling copays for both generic committee staff members. All of the committee where we were together in a and brand-name drugs. clerks worked hard because almost markup session, there was some indica- The proposed pharmacy copay in- every subcommittee had a role to play tion that he would be amenable to a creases represent a 70-percent increase in shaping the final outcome. But on modest modification to bring his for military beneficiaries over the next the Defense Subcommittee, Sid amendment in parallel with what the 5 years—far in excess of the 24-percent Ashworth, who is the clerk, Charlie committee had done. That is the pend- increase in military pay, or the 14-per- Houy, who is the Democratic counter- ing business. We then turn to an cent increase in retiree pay over the part on that committee, are so depend- amendment by the Senator from Vir- same period. These increased copays able and so experienced and dedicated ginia which I would like to discuss will affect Active-Duty members of the to their jobs, it reflects great credit on with my senior colleague in a minute Armed Forces and their families, mem- the Senate for people such as those I or two before we turn to that. Unless bers of the Guard and Reserve and have mentioned today who worked so there is a matter to address the Senate their families, and retired members of hard on this conference report. I am de- on, I would suggest we place a quorum the Armed Forces and their families, as lighted to be associated with them and call in for a few minutes. well as surviving spouses who are en- honored to chair the committee. They Mr. LEVIN. If I may ask the Senator rolled in TRICARE and get their pre- make my job so much more easy than from Virginia, did the Senator from scription drugs from retail pharmacies. could possibly be imagined because of New Jersey want to debate his amend- Unfortunately, the Senate Defense their skill and their professionalism ment further? authorization bill only rejects the in- and the hard work they turned in to Mr. WARNER. I was not able, in a creases if people use mail order phar- achieve the result we did, not just to busy markup session, to ascertain that. macies for their prescriptions. While VerDate Mar 15 2010 23:46 Feb 05, 2014 Jkt 081600 PO 00000 Frm 00017 Fmt 4624 Sfmt 0634 E:\2006SENATE\S14JN6.REC S14JN6 mmaher on DSKCGSP4G1 with SOCIALSECURITY S5838 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE June 14, 2006 mail order may work for some, many program is, I think our membership great program, but we are going to military families cannot wait 2 weeks knows, a military health care system have to look at ways to make it more or more to get the medicine they need for Active-Duty people and also for efficient, look at cost savings and, right now. The vast majority of our those who are retired, up to age 65. eventually, we are going to have to go military families purchase their drugs This is a provision for those 65 who can back to the military community and at pharmacies.