[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 96 (Tuesday, July 13, 2004)]
[House]
[Pages H5541-H5542]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    PRESCRIPTION DRUG REIMPORTATION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the order of the House of 
January 20, 2004, the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pallone) is 
recognized during morning hour debates for 5 minutes.
  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, last year Republicans here in the House 
approved the prescription drug bill that did more to help the 
pharmaceutical companies than senior citizens. The pharmaceutical 
companies can continue to charge outrageous prices because Republicans 
refuse to give the Secretary of Health and Human Services the ability 
to negotiate better prices for seniors in the government.
  The pharmaceutical companies also benefit from the fact that 
Republicans also refuse to allow for the reimportation of prescription 
drugs from other countries. My colleagues probably heard of seniors 
taking bus trips across the border into Canada to purchase their 
prescription drugs. And that is because drugs in other counties, 
including Canada, cost 40 percent less than they do here.
  This year alone experts at Boston University estimate that Americans 
would save $59.7 billion by paying Canadian prices for brand name 
drugs, and, yet, Republicans refuse to include a provision in their 
legislation that would provide seniors with this much needed 
assistance.
  Why would Republicans pass a prescription drug bill that helps the 
pharmaceutical companies out more than the very seniors who have been 
waiting for help? What one of the reasons is that the Bush 
administration's main negotiator on the bill, then Medicare 
administrator Tom Scully, was actually looking for a job with the very 
pharmaceutical companies at the same time he was hammering out the 
final Medicare legislation.
  Mr. Speaker, there is no better indication that Medicare 
administrator Tom Scully was working on behalf of the pharmaceutical 
companies than when he refused to provide critical information to one 
of my democratic colleagues on the actual cost of the Medicare bill. 
Last week the Bush administration announced that Tom Scully did, 
indeed, threaten to fire Richard Foster, a career civil servant, if 
Foster told Congress that the Republican prescription drug bill would 
actually cost more than they previously thought. Now, unfortunately, 
even though the administration has admitted that, Scully cannot be 
punished for withholding this information to Congress. He no longer 
works at Health and Human Services. Guess where he works? He now 
lobbies for the drug companies.
  Now, Mr. Speaker, my democratic colleagues and I, we really feel very 
strongly that we have to continue to fight this new Medicare law and 
will work to provide seniors a meaningful benefit within the Medicare 
system. We still can have a good law. Today, thanks to the 
tenaciousness of the gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Kaptur) we are going to 
vote on an appropriations bill amendment that allows for the safe 
reimportation of prescription drugs. The gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. 
Kaptur) offered the amendment in committee last week. Republicans tried 
to block it but they failed. And that is because it is the right thing 
to do.
  Seniors need help now with lower drugs costs and the reimportation 
provisions that Democrats inserted into the agriculture appropriation 
bill. I think it is a good start.
  Democrats have also filed a discharge petition on a bill that would 
finally allow the Secretary of Health and Human Services to negotiate 
for cheaper prices on behalf of the more than 40

[[Page H5542]]

million Medicare beneficiaries. The bill we want to bring to the floor 
ensures that the government will use the purchasing power of millions 
of seniors to negotiate lower drug costs just like we do for the 
veterans health care system. And this would lower prices by about 50 
percent.
  Now, Mr. Speaker, in order to truly help seniors with the 
prescription drug bills, we have to do something about the outrageous 
and skyrocketing costs. That is the key. Republicans and the 
pharmaceutical companies shamefully refuse to address the cost issue. 
As I have stated before, Democrats will continue to work on behalf of 
America's seniors and continue to fight to pass legislation that 
finally addresses the high cost of prescription drugs.

                          ____________________