[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 113 (Thursday, September 21, 2000)]
[House]
[Page H7938]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      SENIORS DESERVE EQUAL TREATMENT BY PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANIES

  (Ms. DeLAURO asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, today only the manufacturer of a drug can 
import a drug into the United States. Pharmaceutical companies have 
unfairly used this regulation to control prescription drug distribution 
at the expense of seniors.
  Seniors know that people in other countries pay 20 to 50 percent less 
for their medications. Consider this: Zantac, made by GlaxcoWellcome in 
the United Kingdom is marked up by 58 percent in the United States. Our 
seniors deserve better. They deserve the same medication at the same 
price. No one should have to choose between food and vital medications.
  The Republican leadership should stop supporting the pharmaceutical 
industry's race for profit at the expense of seniors' financial 
security. They should stop their rhetoric and false issues and talk 
about the real issue, which is the cost of prescription drugs. We have 
the opportunity to support the safe reimportation of prescription 
drugs. We should do it, and we should do it immediately while we are 
still in this session of Congress.
  Let me tell my colleagues that the Republican House leadership does 
not want to cover seniors through Medicare, and they do not want to 
bring the cost down through the reimportation of prescription drugs.

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