Kerry Skipped Prescription Drug Vote Then; Complains Now
By: Steve Sawyer | Source: CNSNews.com
March 10, 2004 10:23AM EST

 By Susan Jones
CNSNews.com Morning Editor
March 10, 2004

(CNSNews.com) - Sen. John Kerry has no right to scare senior citizens with "misinformation" about the Medicare Prescription Drug Law -- especially when he skipped the final vote on that bill, said House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.).

"Instead of standing up for senior citizens, it appears Sen. John Kerry would rather scare our Greatest Generation with misinformation about the voluntary and affordable Medicare-Prescription Drug Law that I helped write," Hastert said in a statement released Tuesday.

"Fact is, while promising his constituents he wouldn't miss any important votes, the Senate's most liberal member from Massachusetts skipped 36 of 38 votes, including final passage on improving Medicare and adding a much-needed prescription drug benefit."

Hastert wondered if lowering the costs of prescription medications "just isn't an important enough issue for John Kerry to find the time to vote."

"And even if he missed those votes, Sen. Kerry should know by now that once President Bush signed the Medicare-Prescription Drug bill into law we took a huge step forward for seniors, their health care and their quality of life."

Medicare-approved Prescription Drug Discount Cards will be available in June, Hastert said, providing immediate assistance, especially to low-income seniors.

Campaigning in Illinois Tuesday, Kerry criticized the prescription drug legislation that President Bush signed into law last fall.

He appeared with - as the Chicago Sun-Times put it - "a teary-eyed senior who may have to sell her suburban house to pay her pharmaceutical bills."

The newspaper quoted Kerry as saying, "The real deficit of this nation ... is the seniors struggling [with the decision] to sell their homes to afford $800 for drugs for one person a month."

Kerry also accused President Bush of "catering to pharmaceutical special interests" by refusing to let states such as Illinois re-import cheaper prescription drugs from Canada.

The Bush administration says the safety and authenticity of re-imported drugs can't be guaranteed.

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