[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 48 (Thursday, March 25, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E573]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                THE VACCINATE AMERICA'S CHILDREN NOW ACT

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                             HON. RON LEWIS

                              of kentucky

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 25, 1999

  Mr. LEWIS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, I rise today with my colleague 
Representative Philip English to introduce the Vaccinate America's 
Children Now Act.
  This legislation seeks to lower the excise tax on vaccines from $.75 
per a dose to $.25 per a dose.
  Congress imposed the vaccine excise tax in 1986 after forming the 
Vaccine Injury Compensation Program to provide compensation to children 
who develop complications due to vaccination.
  In the beginning, various tax levels were set up for each vaccine and 
the amount of tax was based on best guess estimates.
  Due to a building surplus in the fund, in 1993, the House Ways and 
Means Committee, directed the Administration to study the fund and 
report back to Congress with recommendations regarding the surplus.
  The report, which included the approval from all areas of the public 
health community, called for a new flat tax of $.51 per vaccine.
  With the surplus now over $1.25 billion (twice what it was in 1993) 
the time has come to lower the tax to $.25 per dose.
  As part of the 1997 Balance Budget Act, Congress created a flat tax 
of $.75 per dose for each vaccine it covered thus ending the varying 
tax levels for different vaccines. We did not, however, deal with the 
larger problem of over funding the trust fund.
  In 1997, the trust fund was estimated to receive $180 million in tax 
revenue. The interest alone, was $59 million and is more than enough to 
pay all claims that are filed.
  At the $.25 per dose rate, tax revenues would be over $50 million a 
year with equally as much, if not more, coming from interest. This 
still brings in over $100 million in revenue each year to the trust 
fund.
  Since the states are a major purchaser of vaccines, they stand to 
save a substantial amount of money that can be used in other areas. In 
fact, the Commonwealth of Kentucky could have saved over $830,000 in 
1997 and Representative English's state of Pennsylvania would have 
saved over $1.16 million.
  This legislation was unanimously endorsed by the guardian of the 
trust fund, the Advisory Commission on Childhood Vaccines and was 
supported by the Association of State and Territorial Health Officers 
when it was introduced in the 105th Congress.
  I encourage my colleagues to join Representative English and myself 
in cosponsoring this important legislation.

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