At his front-row Senate desk, Louisiana Democrat Russell Long rose last week to open the debate. "The pending bill," he said, glancing at the 387-page document before him, "will be the largest and most significant piece of social legislation ever to pass the Congress in the history of our country. It will do more immediate good for more people who need the attention of their Government than any bill that the Congress has ever enacted."
This was the Senate version of the Johnson Administration's medicare bill, which wound up with a whopping $7.5 billion-a-year price tag, contained the blueprint for a...
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