[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 42 (Thursday, April 6, 2000)]
[House]
[Pages H1946-H1947]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 SENIORS SHOULD NOT HAVE TO CHOOSE BETWEEN FOOD AND PRESCRIPTION DRUGS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Vermont (Mr. Sanders) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. SANDERS. Mr. Speaker, I want to say a few words about an issue of 
enormous consequence in my State of Vermont and for people throughout 
this country, and that is the outrageously high prices that we are 
forced to pay for prescription drugs. In Vermont, it is not uncommon 
for many people, including the elderly, to make the impossible choice 
about whether they buy the food that they need, whether they heat their 
homes adequately in the winter or whether they have the money to 
purchase the prescription drugs that their doctors prescribe.
  It is not uncommon in that reality that American citizens are forced 
to cut their dosages in half or take a dose once every other day rather 
than what they are supposed to take because they simply cannot afford 
what they need to ease their pain, and in some cases to keep themselves 
alive, and this is an outrage. This is unacceptable.
  Meanwhile, as the gentleman from Maine (Mr. Allen) has just 
indicated, the pharmaceutical industry remains the most profitable 
industry in the United States of America. In addition, not only are 
they raking in the profits, but it is not widely known but true, the 
pharmaceutical industry receives billions of dollars every year from 
the taxpayers of this country in order to help them with their 
research. The pharmaceutical industry receives billions of dollars in 
tax breaks from the people of this country.
  What do we get in return? What we get in return is, by far, not even 
close, the highest prices for prescription drugs in the entire 
industrialized world.
  Now we have heard a whole lot about Canada, and I will say more about 
it in a moment, but it is not just that the Canadians are paying 
substantially less

[[Page H1947]]

for the same exact prescription drugs manufactured by American 
companies. It is every other country on Earth. For every dollar that a 
senior citizen in this country spends for prescription drugs, the 
people in Germany pay 71 cents; in Sweden, 68 cents; in the UK, 65 
cents; in Canada, 64 cents; in France, 57 cents; and in Italy, for the 
same exact prescription drugs, 51 cents, half the price.

                              {time}  1645

  Mr. Speaker, during the last year, I took my constituents in the 
State of Vermont on two occasions over the border, we border on Canada, 
up to Montreal in order to enable some of them to purchase the 
prescription drugs they desperately need for substantially lower 
prices. At the end of the day, when those folks came back, many 
seniors, many women, they had each saved hundreds of dollar on their 
prescription drug bills.
  One of the more outrageous examples of the disparity in prices deals 
with one particular drug called Tamoxifen. Tamoxifen is a widely 
prescribed drug to deal with the epidemic of breast cancer that tens of 
thousands of women throughout this country are fighting, are struggling 
for their lives.
  In Canada, the cost of Tamoxifen is $34. In the United States, it is 
$241, same product, same dosage. In other words, we are paying roughly 
10 times more for a drug that keeps women alive than are the people of 
Canada. Let us be clear that the pharmaceutical industry is not losing 
money when they sell their product in Canada or in Mexico and any place 
else in the world. They are simply ripping off the American people.
  Now, Mr. Speaker, it is unfortunate but true that, if one looks at 
the record, one will find that the vast majority of Members of Congress 
receive campaign contributions from the pharmaceutical industry. In 
fact, the pharmaceutical industry spends more money on campaign 
contributions and lobbying than any other industry in this world.
  Well, it seems to me that the time has long passed for the Members of 
this Congress to give back their campaign contributions to the 
pharmaceutical industry, to tell the lobbyists, not only here in 
Washington, but back in the State capitol, to all over America, to go 
home, to leave us alone.
  It is high time that Members of Congress did the right thing, started 
looking out for the interests of their constituents, their seniors. 
They are chronically ill, and demand it of the pharmaceutical industry 
that the people of this country no longer be treated as second-class 
citizens, that we deserve the same prices as do the Canadians, the 
Mexicans, and people throughout this world.
  Now, in that light, I have introduced legislation. The gentleman from 
Maine (Mr. Allen) has a very good piece in our legislation, which is 
also introduced by the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Berry) and the 
gentlewoman from Missouri (Mrs. Emerson). This is a very simple piece 
of legislation.
  It says that the prescription drug distributors in this country and 
the pharmacists in this country can purchase the same exact FDA safety-
approved product in Canada, in Mexico, at the same prices that the 
Canadian and Mexican pharmacists pay for their product, and they will 
be able to resell their product in this country for substantially lower 
prices.
  Let us stand up to the pharmaceutical industry. Let us protect the 
American consumer, and let us start passing some real legislation to 
protect our people.

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