Seniors
Will
Benefit
From
Democrat
Senate
By
Tucker
Sutherland,
editor
The
departure
of
Sen.
Jim
Jeffords,
-
67-years-young
-
from
the
GOP
will
have
important
repercussions
for
his
fellow
senior
citizens,
when
the
Democrats
take
control
of
the
U.S.
Senate
in
June.
His
decision
is
favorable
on
these
senior
issues.
1.
First,
it
probably
means
the
end
of
the
scheme
by
President
Bush
to
allow
investment
of
Social
Security
funds
in
the
stock
market.
2.
A
Democratic
Senate
will
be
expected
to
take
action
on
a
prescription
drug
plan
that
would
reach
all
elderly
Americans
who
need
it,
rather
than
just
low-income
seniors,
as
Bush
and
others
in
the
GOP
have
proposed.
Drug
stocks
fell
Thursday
indicating
a
concern
that
Democrats
may
adopt
legislation
that
results
in
lower
prices
for
pharmaceuticals.
3.
The
patients'
bill
of
rights
has
new
life.
Democrats
are
expected
to
move
quickly
to
bring
to
the
Senate
floor
a
version
of
legislation
opposed
by
Bush
that
will
protect
patients
in
health
maintenance
organizations.
GOP
leaders
have
long
resisted
the
idea
of
adopting
safeguards
for
Americans
in
HMOs
that
would
apply
to
people
in
all
50
states
or
expand
patients'
ability
to
sue
health
plans.
Sen.
Edward
M.
Kennedy
(D-Mass.),
a
longtime
leader
on
health
issues,
will
become
chairman
of
the
Senate
Health,
Education,
Labor
and
Pensions
Committee.
He
is
one
of
the
sponsors
of
patients'
rights
legislation,
which
Bush
has
vowed
to
veto.
The
bill
is
far
broader
than
a
rival
version,
introduced
in
the
Senate
last
week
with
the
White
House's
support,
that
would
give
more
control
to
insurance
companies
and
offer
patients
a
restricted
right
to
sue
health
plans
in
federal
courts.
4.
The
Senate
will
probably
take
action
to
restrain
California's
high
wholesale
electricity
prices,
which
have
forced
the
state's
largest
utility
into
bankruptcy
court
and
are
draining
the
state
budget.
Senior
citizens
on
fixed
incomes
are
among
the
hardest
hit
by
these
high
prices,
which
are
expected
to
go
higher
this
summer.
Bush's
call
to
open
the
Arctic
National
Wildlife
Refuge
coastal
plain
to
oil
and
gas
drilling
is
dead,
Key
senior
issues
were
cited
by
Michael
Forbes,
former
New
York
Congressman,
who
earlier
left
the
GOP,
in
an
article
in
the
Washington
Post
explaining
problems
with
the
Republican
Party.
"On
the
bedrock
issues
important
to
many
of
us,
the
Republican
leadership
and
too
many
in
the
rank
and
file
practice
far-right
politics
that
urge
privatizing
Medicare
and
Social
Security
or
turning
them
over
to
Wall
Street.
In
the
confines
of
the
GOP
cloakroom,
members
rail
against
such
'bureaucratic
behemoths'
wasting
precious
taxpayer
dollars
--
dollars
that
would
be
better
spent,
they
think,
on
defense
or
tax
cuts
for
the
wealthiest
Americans,"
wrote
Forbes.
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