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CNN Live At Daybreak

Medicare Changes Gives Rx for Seniors

Aired June 27, 2003 - 06:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Here is some good news for older Americans who cringe at the high costs of prescription drugs. For the first time, the House and Senate have approved sweeping Medicare changes to give seniors a prescription drug benefit. Now, differences in the two plans have to be worked out before it becomes law.
CNN congressional correspondent Jonathan Karl joins us now on the phone from Washington with more.

Jonathan -- I hope this was a welcome ring. It sounds much better than your alarm clock, doesn't it?

JONATHAN KARL, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, absolutely. It's great to be with you this morning.

There was some real drama here on Capitol Hill last night with this vote. It passed overwhelmingly in the Senate, but in the House it got to 2:30 in the morning. They went to the final vote. It's 15 minutes set aside for the vote, and Republicans still did not have enough votes to pass this bill. They were still shy of votes.

After time expired, they convinced two Republicans to change from no votes to yes votes. They were still short. They kept the vote open. And finally, a little after 2:30 in the morning after time had officially expired on the vote, Republicans were able to pass really what has become the president's top domestic priority this year by a vote of 216-215, a lot of drama, pulled it off. There are still some significant differences, though, between the House and the Senate bill.

The bottom line, though, Fredricka, what both of these bills would do if they become law, they would give seniors a prescription drug coverage, prescription drug insurance for a $35 monthly premium, a deductible of between $250 and $275. It would cover between 50 and 80 percent of their drug costs, and it would include catastrophic coverage for seniors who see extremely high drug bills.

Many Democrats said it was simply not enough. Many Republicans, conservative Republicans, 19 who voted no last night in the House, said that it simply spends too much, it's too big of a new federal program that will cost taxpayers even more in the $400 billion estimated now.

WHITFIELD: And, Jonathan, what's the timeline real quick on the compromise? KARL: Well, they go on a Fourth of July recess for the next week. They come back on July 8. They will immediately sit down, the House and the Senate, to try to resolve some very significant differences. That may take some time. It may not be until the end of the summer, even possibly September, until those differences are worked out and sent down to the president.

WHITFIELD: Now, the votes took -- or before they got to the vote, they took a halt, you know, for a moment of silence to honor a long-time senator, Strom Thurmond, who passed away last night. What was that like?

KARL: Well, really quite a moment, because they were in the middle of some rather heated debate over on the Senate side, tempers had begun to flare. The senators had been there for a long time. This happened at about 9:45-10:00 last night when Thurmond actually died.

They suddenly, you know, broke from that and had this moment of silence. You had the Republican leader, Bill Frist, the Democratic leader, Tom Daschle, both come to the floor and describe Strom Thurmond as a legend, somebody who had served in the Senate longer than any person in U.S. history.

I mean, think about this guy. He is in the record books in so many categories. He is in the record books for the longest speech ever given on the Senate floor. It was a filibuster against the 1957 Civil Rights Act. It went longer than 24 hours. He is the longest serving member of the Senate. He is the oldest person ever to serve in the Senate. He is the only person ever elected to the U.S. Senate as a write-in candidate. He was elected as a write-in candidate the first time in 1954.

This is somebody who was part of the U.S. invading forces on D- Day in World War II, and even back then he was 41 years old. He was one of the oldest to actually be part of the invading forces on D-Day.

Obviously somebody controversial as well, because early in his career he was a staunch segregationist, somebody who vigorously opposed the Brown v. Board of Education integration of landmark civil rights -- I mean, a Supreme Court case, somebody who ran as a segregationist candidate in 1948.

WHITFIELD: Right.

KARL: But he's somebody who evolved in his views and came to win the respect of both Democrats and Republicans.

WHITFIELD: Jonathan, what an incredible life he had indeed. All right, thanks very much for waking up with us this morning, or letting us wake you up. Appreciate it.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.






Aired June 27, 2003 - 06:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Here is some good news for older Americans who cringe at the high costs of prescription drugs. For the first time, the House and Senate have approved sweeping Medicare changes to give seniors a prescription drug benefit. Now, differences in the two plans have to be worked out before it becomes law.
CNN congressional correspondent Jonathan Karl joins us now on the phone from Washington with more.

Jonathan -- I hope this was a welcome ring. It sounds much better than your alarm clock, doesn't it?

JONATHAN KARL, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, absolutely. It's great to be with you this morning.

There was some real drama here on Capitol Hill last night with this vote. It passed overwhelmingly in the Senate, but in the House it got to 2:30 in the morning. They went to the final vote. It's 15 minutes set aside for the vote, and Republicans still did not have enough votes to pass this bill. They were still shy of votes.

After time expired, they convinced two Republicans to change from no votes to yes votes. They were still short. They kept the vote open. And finally, a little after 2:30 in the morning after time had officially expired on the vote, Republicans were able to pass really what has become the president's top domestic priority this year by a vote of 216-215, a lot of drama, pulled it off. There are still some significant differences, though, between the House and the Senate bill.

The bottom line, though, Fredricka, what both of these bills would do if they become law, they would give seniors a prescription drug coverage, prescription drug insurance for a $35 monthly premium, a deductible of between $250 and $275. It would cover between 50 and 80 percent of their drug costs, and it would include catastrophic coverage for seniors who see extremely high drug bills.

Many Democrats said it was simply not enough. Many Republicans, conservative Republicans, 19 who voted no last night in the House, said that it simply spends too much, it's too big of a new federal program that will cost taxpayers even more in the $400 billion estimated now.

WHITFIELD: And, Jonathan, what's the timeline real quick on the compromise? KARL: Well, they go on a Fourth of July recess for the next week. They come back on July 8. They will immediately sit down, the House and the Senate, to try to resolve some very significant differences. That may take some time. It may not be until the end of the summer, even possibly September, until those differences are worked out and sent down to the president.

WHITFIELD: Now, the votes took -- or before they got to the vote, they took a halt, you know, for a moment of silence to honor a long-time senator, Strom Thurmond, who passed away last night. What was that like?

KARL: Well, really quite a moment, because they were in the middle of some rather heated debate over on the Senate side, tempers had begun to flare. The senators had been there for a long time. This happened at about 9:45-10:00 last night when Thurmond actually died.

They suddenly, you know, broke from that and had this moment of silence. You had the Republican leader, Bill Frist, the Democratic leader, Tom Daschle, both come to the floor and describe Strom Thurmond as a legend, somebody who had served in the Senate longer than any person in U.S. history.

I mean, think about this guy. He is in the record books in so many categories. He is in the record books for the longest speech ever given on the Senate floor. It was a filibuster against the 1957 Civil Rights Act. It went longer than 24 hours. He is the longest serving member of the Senate. He is the oldest person ever to serve in the Senate. He is the only person ever elected to the U.S. Senate as a write-in candidate. He was elected as a write-in candidate the first time in 1954.

This is somebody who was part of the U.S. invading forces on D- Day in World War II, and even back then he was 41 years old. He was one of the oldest to actually be part of the invading forces on D-Day.

Obviously somebody controversial as well, because early in his career he was a staunch segregationist, somebody who vigorously opposed the Brown v. Board of Education integration of landmark civil rights -- I mean, a Supreme Court case, somebody who ran as a segregationist candidate in 1948.

WHITFIELD: Right.

KARL: But he's somebody who evolved in his views and came to win the respect of both Democrats and Republicans.

WHITFIELD: Jonathan, what an incredible life he had indeed. All right, thanks very much for waking up with us this morning, or letting us wake you up. Appreciate it.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.