[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 25 (Tuesday, March 2, 2004)]
[House]
[Page H728]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               MARK McCLELLAN: THE WRONG MAN FOR THE JOB

  (Mr. BEREUTER asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks and include therein 
extraneous material.)
  Mr. BEREUTER. Madam Speaker, Members of this body should be alarmed 
that Secretary Tommy Thompson, Secretary of Health and Human Services, 
named Food and Drug Commissioner Dr. Mark McClellan, a vocal opponent 
of importing drugs from Canada, to lead a government study of 
reimportation. This decision is a bad one and is a slap in the face of 
243 Members of Congress who voted in support of the Pharmaceutical 
Market Access Act.
  As head of the FDA, Dr. McClellan has vehemently opposed the 
importation of drugs from Canada. Despite the assurance of Secretary 
Thompson that the study will be balanced and fair, with Dr. McClellan 
at the helm there is no way this study will be seen as objective. With 
the proper effort and technology, it is clearly possible for 
pharmaceuticals to be safely reimported from Canada and from other 
countries. American consumers are now asked to subsidize the consumers 
in the rest of the world by the prices we are charged. This is an issue 
that will not go away.
  Madam Speaker, in closing, no matter what barriers they erect and 
excuses the FDA or drug companies offer, Americans will continue to 
search for the much lower drug prices found everywhere else in the 
world.

              [From the Omaha World Herald, Mar. 1, 2004]

                          Choose Someone Else

       The Bush administration on Wednesday took a step toward 
     establishing a common-sense policy on importing prescription 
     drugs from Canada. Then it took two steps back. That's no way 
     to reach a reasonable policy on a highly significant issue.
       Good: Officials announced a year-long study of how drugs 
     could be safely imported from Canada, where the prices can be 
     60 percent or more lower than U.S. citizens pay. Importation 
     is technically against the law, but many senior citizens, 
     some encouraged and even aided by their local or state 
     governments, do it anyway. The saving is significant for 
     those on fixed incomes and the risks appear minimal.
       Bad: U.S. officials appointed Dr. Mark B. McClellan, 
     recently nominated to head the Centers for Medicare and 
     Medicaid Services, to lead the study. McClellan has been a 
     vocal and vehement opponent of any change in the rules that 
     prohibit drug imports, and his agency has threatened legal 
     action against local and state governments that help seniors.
       In the Senate, Democrats and some Republicans have 
     objected. ``Putting the fox in charge of the chicken house,'' 
     observed Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D. McClellan has already 
     shown ``a personal bias'' against drug importation, said a 
     spokeswoman for Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.
       Health and Human Services Department leaders promised a 
     balanced commission and a thorough study of the issue. But 
     Director Tommy Thompson has launched a leaky ship with 
     serious holes in its credibility merely by appointing 
     McClellan to captain it.
       Drug importation distresses the pharmaceutical industry for 
     obvious reasons. The Canadian government regulates 
     prescription prices. In the recent Medicare reform bill that 
     would give senior citizens a prescription drug benefit in 
     2006, Congress forbade the federal government from 
     negotiating for lower drug prices for Americans. That is 
     industry-friendly to the extreme.
       So is the appointment of McClellan to such a sensitive 
     post. The administration shouldn't squander the opportunity 
     to settle this contentious issue in a rational manner. And it 
     shouldn't squander its credibility by so blatantly stacking 
     the deck. A more objective professional should be chosen.

                          ____________________