and 13 other House Democrats today went to the private office in the Capitol where House-Senate negotiations on the Medicare bill are taking place and demanded to be included.  The Democrats noted to the House-Senate Medicare Conference Chairman Bill Thomas (R-CA) and to Bush Administration Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson that no House Democrats had been invited to these conference meetings – not even the three House Democrats duly appointed to the conference by the Speaker of the House.

The Democrats led by two of the conferees – Rep. Berry and Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY) – explained that they wanted to see legislation this year to expand Medicare to include a prescription drug benefit and offered their assistance.  So far, media reports indicate that differences between House and Senate Republicans have prevented them from coming up with an agreement in these backroom meetings. Chairman Thomas stopped the meeting as soon as the Democratic members of the Conference Committee entered the room and did not restart while the Democratic members were present.

“I tried to attend today’s meeting in the hopes of furthering the President’s request for bipartisanship in order to produce a Medicare bill that would serve America’s seniors,” Berry said. “It had been our hope in attending today’s meeting that we might be able to move the process forward through a spirit of bipartisanship necessary to create a bill that will encompass Democratic and Republican goals, pass both chambers and become law. It is clear, however, the chairman of the conference committee has no interest in providing a bill for the American people.

“It would be a shame for the Republican chairman to ignore Democrats offering their bipartisan aid to create a meaningful bill. To intentionally create a process where we are not allowed to share our views with the conference committee is not only counter-productive, it is un-American. I can only imagine our involvement might jeopardize the leadership’s ability to reward their friends in the pharmaceutical and insurance industries to the detriment of America’s seniors.”