Doug Grow: Senators swallow hard over Dayton's medicine

Sen. Mark Dayton has many of his colleagues smiling on the outside but fuming on the inside.

The Minnesota Democrat successfully has put the limelight on the two faces of his peers with an ingenious amendment to the Medicare prescription drug bill the U.S. Senate so proudly passed a few weeks ago.

The Senate bill -- and a similar plan passed by the House of Representatives -- is filled with loopholes, exceptions and co-pays for seniors. The bill is a far cry from the serious help that politicians of both parties have been promising to senior citizens for years.

Holding his nose, Dayton voted for the imperfect prescription medicine bill.

But he also came up with a creative approach to show his contempt. He dropped an amendment he calls "a taste of our own medicine" on the Senate floor. The amendment requires senators to receive prescription drug benefits no greater than those being proposed for senior citizens. It so happens the benefits proposed for seniors are drastically inferior to those currently enjoyed by our illustrious senators.

"I've never had so many dirty looks in my life," Dayton said of his colleagues' reaction to his amendment. "I didn't sense great enthusiasm for anything but to strangle me or have me removed from the building."
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  thanks to Cursor