[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 111 (Thursday, July 24, 2003)]
[House]
[Pages H7540-H7541]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 2427, PHARMACEUTICAL MARKET ACCESS
ACT OF 2003
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. LaHood). The time remaining on the rule,
the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Sessions) has 4\1/2\ minutes remaining,
and the gentlewoman from New York (Ms. Slaughter) has 1\1/2\ minutes
remaining.
Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, before I start I would like to clarify
with the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Sessions), we had a conversation,
and he has one more speaker for the remainder of the time; is that
correct?
Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. Speaker, to answer the gentlewoman, I have 4\1/2\
minutes remaining. I will use 4 minutes for a speaker to close, and
then I will end the debate.
Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 20 seconds.
Mr. Speaker, I simply wanted to remind the House that this is
probably one of the most important votes that they are going to take
because their constituents are waiting to see where we fall. Are we
with the pharmaceutical companies, or are we with them? The safety
issue absolutely will hold no water anywhere, and they know it. And I
think that there will be a lot to answer to if we do not support this
tonight.
Mr. Speaker, I yield the remainder of my time to the gentleman from
Indiana (Mr. Burton).
Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Mr. Speaker, I have been here for 21 years in
this body. I know I look a lot younger, but I have been here 21 years.
And I have never seen the kind of pressure exerted on Members of this
body like I have seen on this bill.
They say it is about safety. It is not about safety; it is about
money. They say it is about health, the health of the seniors who might
be taken in by counterfeit drugs. It is not about that. It is about
money, the money that the pharmaceutical companies are making on the
backs of the American people.
Talk to a lady who has got a child who is suffering from some very
serious disease and she finds out, to buy her pharmaceutical products
here, it costs four or five times here than what it costs in Canada or
Germany or France. What do we say to her? It is about money. What do we
say to a woman who has breast cancer, who is going to die, who needs
Tamoxifen to survive? Her life depends on it. How do we tell her it is
going to cost six or seven times what it costs in Canada or Germany for
the very same thing? Is her life worth that much less? Tell me, is her
life worth that much less?
And if the profits are so great here and they are not as great
elsewhere, then why not spread it around? Why should all these profits
be loaded on the backs of the American people?
When the Members vote, I want them to think about this. Think about
this. And I approach this from a personal standpoint. There is a woman
who is dying of breast cancer. This is one example. How do we tell her
when she goes to buy Tamoxifen and she cannot afford it that she could
go right across the border to Canada and get it for one-sixth or one-
seventh what it costs here? How do we tell her that? We cannot.
We need to pass this bill to send a message to the pharmaceutical
companies that the American people deserve the same rights and
privileges as anybody else in this world, especially those who really
need it because of their health.
Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from
Louisiana (Mr. McCrery).
Mr. McCRERY. Mr. Speaker, one thing I agree with the last speaker
about, and that is that Americans pay an unfair share of the research
and development costs for pharmaceuticals in the world; but the proper
way to address that is not by abandoning our free market principles and
importing price controls, and that is what this bill would do.
I have heard it several times here this evening, there is no safety
issue. That is a ruse. Do not believe PhRMA. Do not even believe FDA.
But how about the Secretary of HHS for two different administrations,
one Democratic and one Republican? A previous speaker said, well, I
personally talked to Secretary Shalala not long ago and she assured me
that that is not what she really said. What she really said is that if
the FDA had the appropriate resources, then we could certify the safety
of these drugs.
I would ask the gentleman who spoke with Donna Shalala, did he ask
her does the FDA have the appropriate resources? The answer would be
no. Does this bill give them the appropriate resources? The answer is
no. When would they get the appropriate resources? We do not know. But
you want to pass this bill tonight. If the FDA got the appropriate
resources, how long would it take them to put those safety devices in
place?
So you can say there is not a safety issue, but that is all it is, is
words. The people who have researched this, the people in positions of
responsibility in government, both Democratic and Republican, have said
there is a safety issue. So think about that before voting for this
bill.
There is a chart to my left here. This side of the chart shows a
chart that was put up on this floor earlier by one of the proponents of
the bill. The other side shows the rest of the story. Germany imposes
price controls, called
[[Page H7541]]
``reference prices'' on most drugs. Seven out of the 10 drugs on this
chart that was shown have price controls. Most of the drugs on this
list are also available as generics in Germany. Seven out of 10, in
fact, are available as generics. Nine out of 10 are either subject to
price controls or are available in generic form. What happens when a
generic form comes on market? The price comes down of the patented
drug.
In addition, all drugs in Germany are subject to the threat of
compulsory licensing, that is, the drug company can lose its patent in
Germany if they refuse to sell the drugs there. I do not know where the
United States prices on the supporters' charts came from. The
difference is not 300 percent, as they would advertise, but 31 percent.
That is reality. Vote against this bill if we want better wonder drugs
in the future for better health.
Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
These proposed changes will prevent the greatest scientific research
and development organization in the world from continuing to solve the
medical problems of tomorrow. We need to pass a prescription drug plan
that reduces the cost of drugs, not one that ruins those that make
drugs that solves problems, that takes care of the real-life problems
that we face, moms, dads, brothers, and sisters. We need to make sure
that we vote ``yes'' on the rule and that we vote ``no'' on Gutknecht
to make sure that the prescription drug people who do the hard work are
alive and well and provide those things that are necessary and pass a
prescription drug plan that takes care of the problems with the cost of
high prescription drugs.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time, and I move the
previous question on the resolution.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on ordering the previous
question.
The question was taken; and the Speaker pro tempore announced that
the ayes appeared to have it.
Recorded Vote
Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I demand a recorded vote.
A recorded vote was ordered.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 9 of rule XX, the Chair
will reduce to 5 minutes the vote on adoption of the resolution, if
ordered, and on any other votes arising in this series.
The vote was taken by electronic device, and there were--ayes 417,
noes 10, not voting 7, as follows:
[Roll No. 439]
AYES--417
Abercrombie
Ackerman
Aderholt
Akin
Alexander
Allen
Andrews
Baca
Bachus
Baker
Baldwin
Ballance
Ballenger
Barrett (SC)
Bartlett (MD)
Barton (TX)
Bass
Beauprez
Becerra
Bell
Bereuter
Berkley
Berman
Berry
Biggert
Bilirakis
Bishop (GA)
Bishop (NY)
Blackburn
Blumenauer
Blunt
Boehlert
Boehner
Bonilla
Bonner
Bono
Boozman
Boswell
Boucher
Boyd
Bradley (NH)
Brady (PA)
Brady (TX)
Brown (OH)
Brown (SC)
Brown, Corrine
Brown-Waite, Ginny
Burgess
Burns
Burr
Burton (IN)
Buyer
Calvert
Camp
Cannon
Cantor
Capito
Capps
Capuano
Cardin
Cardoza
Carson (IN)
Carson (OK)
Carter
Case
Castle
Chabot
Chocola
Clay
Coble
Cole
Collins
Conyers
Cooper
Cox
Cramer
Crane
Crenshaw
Crowley
Cubin
Culberson
Cummings
Cunningham
Davis (AL)
Davis (CA)
Davis (FL)
Davis (IL)
Davis (TN)
Davis, Jo Ann
Davis, Tom
Deal (GA)
DeGette
Delahunt
DeLauro
DeLay
DeMint
Deutsch
Diaz-Balart, L.
Diaz-Balart, M.
Dingell
Doggett
Dooley (CA)
Doolittle
Doyle
Dreier
Duncan
Dunn
Edwards
Ehlers
Emanuel
Emerson
Engel
English
Eshoo
Etheridge
Evans
Everett
Farr
Fattah
Feeney
Ferguson
Filner
Flake
Fletcher
Foley
Forbes
Ford
Fossella
Frank (MA)
Franks (AZ)
Frelinghuysen
Frost
Gallegly
Garrett (NJ)
Gerlach
Gibbons
Gilchrest
Gillmor
Gingrey
Gonzalez
Goode
Goodlatte
Gordon
Goss
Granger
Graves
Green (TX)
Green (WI)
Greenwood
Grijalva
Gutierrez
Gutknecht
Hall
Harman
Harris
Hart
Hastings (FL)
Hastings (WA)
Hayes
Hayworth
Hefley
Hensarling
Herger
Hill
Hinchey
Hinojosa
Hobson
Hoeffel
Hoekstra
Holden
Holt
Honda
Hooley (OR)
Hostettler
Hoyer
Hulshof
Hunter
Hyde
Inslee
Isakson
Israel
Issa
Jackson (IL)
Jackson-Lee (TX)
Janklow
Jefferson
Jenkins
John
Johnson (CT)
Johnson (IL)
Johnson, Sam
Jones (NC)
Jones (OH)
Kanjorski
Kaptur
Keller
Kelly
Kennedy (MN)
Kennedy (RI)
Kildee
Kilpatrick
Kind
King (IA)
King (NY)
Kingston
Kirk
Kleczka
Kline
Knollenberg
Kolbe
Kucinich
LaHood
Lampson
Langevin
Lantos
Larsen (WA)
Larson (CT)
Latham
LaTourette
Leach
Lee
Levin
Lewis (CA)
Lewis (GA)
Lewis (KY)
Linder
Lipinski
LoBiondo
Lofgren
Lowey
Lucas (KY)
Lucas (OK)
Lynch
Majette
Maloney
Manzullo
Markey
Marshall
Matheson
Matsui
McCarthy (MO)
McCarthy (NY)
McCollum
McCotter
McCrery
McDermott
McGovern
McHugh
McInnis
McIntyre
McKeon
McNulty
Meehan
Meek (FL)
Meeks (NY)
Mica
Michaud
Millender-McDonald
Miller (FL)
Miller (MI)
Miller (NC)
Miller, Gary
Miller, George
Mollohan
Moore
Moran (KS)
Moran (VA)
Murphy
Murtha
Musgrave
Myrick
Nadler
Napolitano
Neal (MA)
Nethercutt
Neugebauer
Ney
Northup
Norwood
Nunes
Nussle
Oberstar
Obey
Olver
Ortiz
Osborne
Ose
Otter
Owens
Oxley
Pallone
Paul
Payne
Pearce
Pelosi
Pence
Peterson (MN)
Peterson (PA)
Petri
Pickering
Pitts
Platts
Pombo
Pomeroy
Porter
Portman
Price (NC)
Pryce (OH)
Putnam
Quinn
Radanovich
Rahall
Ramstad
Rangel
Regula
Rehberg
Renzi
Reyes
Reynolds
Rodriguez
Rogers (AL)
Rogers (KY)
Rogers (MI)
Rohrabacher
Ros-Lehtinen
Ross
Roybal-Allard
Royce
Ruppersberger
Rush
Ryan (OH)
Ryan (WI)
Ryun (KS)
Sabo
Sanchez, Linda T.
Sanchez, Loretta
Sanders
Sandlin
Saxton
Schakowsky
Schiff
Schrock
Scott (GA)
Scott (VA)
Sensenbrenner
Serrano
Sessions
Shadegg
Shaw
Shays
Sherman
Sherwood
Shimkus
Shuster
Simmons
Simpson
Skelton
Slaughter
Smith (MI)
Smith (NJ)
Smith (TX)
Smith (WA)
Snyder
Solis
Souder
Spratt
Stark
Stearns
Stenholm
Strickland
Sweeney
Tancredo
Tanner
Tauscher
Tauzin
Taylor (MS)
Taylor (NC)
Terry
Thomas
Thompson (CA)
Thompson (MS)
Thornberry
Tiahrt
Tiberi
Tierney
Toomey
Turner (OH)
Turner (TX)
Udall (CO)
Udall (NM)
Upton
Van Hollen
Velazquez
Visclosky
Vitter
Walden (OR)
Walsh
Wamp
Waters
Watson
Watt
Waxman
Weiner
Weldon (FL)
Weldon (PA)
Weller
Wexler
Whitfield
Wicker
Wilson (NM)
Wilson (SC)
Wolf
Woolsey
Wu
Wynn
Young (AK)
Young (FL)
NOES--10
Clyburn
Costello
DeFazio
Dicks
Johnson, E. B.
Menendez
Pascrell
Rothman
Stupak
Towns
NOT VOTING--7
Baird
Bishop (UT)
Gephardt
Houghton
Istook
Pastor
Sullivan
Announcement by the Speaker Pro Tempore
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. LaHood) (during the vote). Members are
reminded there are 2 minutes remaining in this vote.
{time} 1959
Messrs. OLVER, COOPER, and NADLER changed their vote from ``no'' to
``aye.''
So the previous question was ordered.
The result of the vote was announced as above recorded.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the resolution.
The resolution was agreed to.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
____________________