President Bush and Sen. John Kerry Campaign in the West

JIM LEHRER:

Now another pair of snapshots from the presidential race. John Kerry was in Nevada today. President Bush campaigned in New Mexico. Kwame Holman has our report.

KWAME HOLMAN:

John Kerry met with senior citizens in Henderson, one of Nevada's fastest-growing cities. At the top of his agenda and theirs were affordability of prescription drugs and Social Security.

SEN. JOHN KERRY:

We can do a better job of keeping faith with our seniors in this country. We can do a better job of guaranteeing that Social Security is whole for our seniors.

And no one's going to monkey with it and talk about privatizing it. I proudly, and I think rightly, voted against this prescription drug bill that the president has put in place that hurts seniors in this country. (Applause)

And I'll tell you why I voted against it: Because I am for a real prescription drug benefit that covers people without a great big hole in it so you're paying a premium but you can't get anything for the premium without a pricing scheme that actually that has you pay more money than you ought to be for these drugs and without a structure that forces 3.8 million Americans out of Medicare and forces them into HMO's.

I don't think we should be doing that. I think you ought to give people their choice. And people ought to have the right to choose where they want to be and where they get their prescription drugs. (Applause) I call on the president to do what he should have done in the first place. I call on the president to get out of the way of Americans being able to import drugs from Canada at a lower price.

We ought to be able to do that in this country. (Applause) What's incredible to me, ladies and gentlemen is we passed it in the Senate, but George Bush stood in the way of that.

George Bush stood right there and said, nope, we're not going to help people to have lower- cost drugs in America. We're going to help the big drug companies get a great big windfall.

And I think that's the wrong priority for America. ( Applause )

KWAME HOLMAN:

When asked about Bush administration plans to store nuclear waste at Nevada's Yucca Mountain, Kerry promised the site would not become America's nuclear dumping ground.

SEN. JOHN KERRY:

I am not going to put nuclear waste somewhere on science that's weak to moderate, number one. Number two, in addition to that, you've had over 600 seismic events of 2.5 or more within 50 miles of the mountain area.

In addition to that, you have aquifer underneath it and no one has suggested that the canisters are in fact leak proof over a long period of time. Now, what's happened is George Bush came here before and he promised this state… he promised.

He wrote a letter to your governor and he said, "we're not going to do it if it's not scientifically safe." And it is not scientifically safe for proving yet, so here's my message. My message to Nevada is very simple. Yucca Mountain? Not on my watch — will not happen. No, not going to let that happen. (Applause)

KWAME HOLMAN:

Opinion polls show Nevada could be a tossup this fall between Sen. Kerry and President Bush. The president plans to campaign there tomorrow.

Today, he stopped in Albuquerque, New Mexico, with Arizona Sen. John McCain at his side. President, too, touched on rising health care costs.

PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH:

Tell you what we can do on health care costs. We can take care of our seniors with good Medicare law which we've done.

We can have more community health centers in urban New Mexico and rural New Mexico and the tribal areas of New Mexico, to help poor citizens get primary care and take the pressure off of our emergency rooms.

We can have associated health plans which will allow small businesses to pool risk against jurisdictional boundaries so they can have the same purchasing power as large companies do and therefore better afford insurance for their employees.

We can continue to promote health savings accounts which allow individuals and small businesses to put money aside for workers and/or yourself on a tax-free basis which will help control costs. We can spread new technologies, electronic records for patients to help ring out the inefficiencies which now exist in the medical system.

And you know what else we need to do in order to make sure health care is affordable and available – medical liability reform; these lawsuits are making — the frivolous lawsuits are running up the costs off health care and they are driving doctors out of business and they're hurting our hospitals.

KWAME HOLMAN:

The president talked up his plan for Social Security.

PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH:

Thirties and twenties; there's a question of whether or not Social Security is going to be around and therefore we need to explore with Congress the idea of personal savings accounts for younger workers – their option — so Social Security exists.

KWAME HOLMAN:

President Bush defended his decision to block federal funding of new embryonic stem cell research.

PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH:

There has been no research on stem cells prior to my arrival. I said stem cell lines prior to a certain date ought to be allowed to receive federal money for research and from that point forward that we ought to make sure we deal with science and ethics in a very balanced way, and so we're just beginning to understand embryonic stem cell research.

We are also, by the way, spending research dollars on adult stem cell research and we are also spending it on fetal tissue.

And so what I'm saying to you is, is that I think my administration has struck a proper balance between science and ethics. I think we have done a very good job about exploring that which is possible without stepping over a line that we may come to regret later on.

So I assembled a panel of experts and ethicists to help me better understand this very vital issue.

KWAME HOLMAN:

The president and Sen. McCain attend a rally with veterans later today in Phoenix. John Kerry travels to California tonight.

JIM LEHRER:

Now another pair of snapshots from the presidential race. John Kerry was in Nevada today. President Bush campaigned in New Mexico. Kwame Holman has our report.

KWAME HOLMAN:

John Kerry met with senior citizens in Henderson, one of Nevada's fastest-growing cities. At the top of his agenda and theirs were affordability of prescription drugs and Social Security.

SEN. JOHN KERRY:

We can do a better job of keeping faith with our seniors in this country. We can do a better job of guaranteeing that Social Security is whole for our seniors.

And no one's going to monkey with it and talk about privatizing it. I proudly, and I think rightly, voted against this prescription drug bill that the president has put in place that hurts seniors in this country. (Applause)

And I'll tell you why I voted against it: Because I am for a real prescription drug benefit that covers people without a great big hole in it so you're paying a premium but you can't get anything for the premium without a pricing scheme that actually that has you pay more money than you ought to be for these drugs and without a structure that forces 3.8 million Americans out of Medicare and forces them into HMO's.

I don't think we should be doing that. I think you ought to give people their choice. And people ought to have the right to choose where they want to be and where they get their prescription drugs. (Applause) I call on the president to do what he should have done in the first place. I call on the president to get out of the way of Americans being able to import drugs from Canada at a lower price. We ought to be able to do that in this country. (Applause)

What's incredible to me, ladies and gentlemen is we passed it in the Senate, but George Bush stood in the way of that. George Bush stood right there and said, nope, we're not going to help people to have lower- cost drugs in America.

We're going to help the big drug companies get a great big windfall. And I think that's the wrong priority for America. ( Applause )

KWAME HOLMAN:

When asked about Bush administration plans to store nuclear waste at Nevada's Yucca Mountain, Kerry promised the site would not become America's nuclear dumping ground.

SEN. JOHN KERRY:

I am not going to put nuclear waste somewhere on science that's weak to moderate, number one.

Number two, in addition to that, you've had over 600 seismic events of 2.5 or more within 50 miles of the mountain area. In addition to that, you have aquifer underneath it and no one has suggested that the canisters are in fact leak proof over a long period of time.

Now, what's happened is George Bush came here before and he promised this state… he promised. He wrote a letter to your governor and he said, "we're not going to do it if it's not scientifically safe." And it is not scientifically safe for proving yet, so here's my message. My message to Nevada is very simple.

Yucca Mountain? Not on my watch — will not happen. No, not going to let that happen. (Applause)

KWAME HOLMAN:

Opinion polls show Nevada could be a tossup this fall between Sen. Kerry and President Bush. The president plans to campaign there tomorrow. Today, he stopped in Albuquerque, New Mexico, with Arizona Sen. John McCain at his side. President, too, touched on rising health care costs.

PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH:

Tell you what we can do on health care costs. We can take care of our seniors with good Medicare law which we've done.

We can have more community health centers in urban New Mexico and rural New Mexico and the tribal areas of New Mexico, to help poor citizens get primary care and take the pressure off of our emergency rooms.

We can have associated health plans which will allow small businesses to pool risk against jurisdictional boundaries so they can have the same purchasing power as large companies do and therefore better afford insurance for their employees.

We can continue to promote health savings accounts which allow individuals and small businesses to put money aside for workers and/or yourself on a tax-free basis which will help control costs. We can spread new technologies, electronic records for patients to help ring out the inefficiencies which now exist in the medical system.

And you know what else we need to do in order to make sure health care is affordable and available – medical liability reform; these lawsuits are making — the frivolous lawsuits are running up the costs off health care and they are driving doctors out of business and they're hurting our hospitals.

KWAME HOLMAN:

The president talked up his plan for Social Security.

PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH:

Thirties and twenties; there's a question of whether or not Social Security is going to be around and therefore we need to explore with Congress the idea of personal savings accounts for younger workers – their option — so Social Security exists.

KWAME HOLMAN:

President Bush defended his decision to block federal funding of new embryonic stem cell research.

PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH:

There has been no research on stem cells prior to my arrival. I said stem cell lines prior to a certain date ought to be allowed to receive federal money for research and from that point forward that we ought to make sure we deal with science and ethics in a very balanced way, and so we're just beginning to understand embryonic stem cell research. We are also, by the way, spending research dollars on adult stem cell research and we are also spending it on fetal tissue.

And so what I'm saying to you is, is that I think my administration has struck a proper balance between science and ethics.

I think we have done a very good job about exploring that which is possible without stepping over a line that we may come to regret later on. So I assembled a panel of experts and ethicists to help me better understand this very vital issue.

KWAME HOLMAN:

The president and Sen. McCain attend a rally with veterans later today in Phoenix. John Kerry travels to California tonight.