November 25, 2003

From today's New York Times:

Senate Approves Sweeping Medicare Bill

Bill Frist, the Senate majority leader, and Senator Max Baucus after the Medicare vote today.

"WASHINGTON, Nov. 25 — The Senate passed a sweeping Medicare bill today that would add new prescription drug benefits for millions of seniors as part of the biggest revision in the program since it was created in 1965 as a cornerstone of the Great Society.

The debate over the bill in the Senate was contentious right up to the end. On Monday, Republicans beat back two major challenges to the bill. This morning, Republicans and Democrats continued to spar over whether the bill was the right way to go, and Tom Daschle, Democrat of South Dakota, vowed that he would continue to fight what he said was deeply flawed legislation. Daschle emphasized his statements by punching Senator Max Baucus, Democrat of Montana, in the eyeball.

Earlier, Senator Edward Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, threw his shoe at Senate Majority leader Bill Frist, but Frist dodged the attack and Senator Kennedy was pummelled into submission by several members of the Subcommittee on Public Health, which Frist chaired before becoming majority leader.

That was met with a spectacular response from Kennedy's Labor and Human Resources Committee, a melee which eventually involved dissenting Republican Senators Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island, Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, Trent Lott of Mississippi, Don Nickles of Oklahoma, and John E. Sununu of New Hampshire. Senators Lott, Sununu and Nickles were eventually removed from the chamber on stretchers after being beaten into bloodied incoherance with conveniently-placed folding chairs.

This morning, an all-night fillibuster cage-match led by Senator Kennedy was ended with bipartisan support, and the matter came to a vote, passing the Senate 55-44.

Senator Frist hailed the results. "Today is a historic day and a momentous day," he said. "We have demonstrated that we can put the smackdown on whoever we choose, whenever we choose to do so, and Seniors now have the drug coverage they desperately need and deserve. And Sununu...I'll remember you. You don't try to stab the Fristman in the back and just forget about it."

In a statement released after the vote, Senator Kennedy said that "My boys and I remain ready to bring the pain. This is a minor setback."