December 23,2002

Grassley on Sen. Frist as Majority Leader, Finance Committee Member

M E M O R A N D U M

To: Reporters and Editors
Re: Sen. Frist becomes majority leader
Da: Monday, Dec. 23, 2002

Sen. Chuck Grassley, incoming chairman of the Finance Committee, today issued the following statement after Sen. Bill Frist was named Senate majority leader.

“Sen. Frist will do a very good job as majority leader of the U.S. Senate. The U.S. Senate must have a leader who can work well with both Republicans and Democrats. I think Bill Frist is such a person. Even though the Republicans will have the majority, bipartisanship is preferable to partisanship and often critical to legislative success. As incoming chairman of the Senate Finance
Committee, I look forward to working with Sen. Frist, both as majority leader and when he joins the
Finance Committee, as expected, as we move legislation through the committee and on to the full
Senate for consideration.

“Most immediately, I’m looking forward to having Sen. Frist’s knowledge and experience contribute to the task of strengthening and improving Medicare, including adding a prescription drug benefit. As chairman, I intend committee action on those issues very early on. I know Sen. Frist is keenly interested in those priorities. For example, he’s described the importance of improving the information and management systems to measure outcomes and exchange information between
doctors and patients. That kind of insight will be valuable as we move forward to improve Medicare
for millions of older Americans.”