[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 13]
[House]
[Page 18789]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                   SUPPORT REIMPORTATION LEGISLATION

  (Mr. ALLEN asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. ALLEN. Mr. Speaker, 2 years ago, in October of 1998, I released 
in my district the first study comparing the prices of prescription 
drugs in the United States to prices in Mexico and Canada. In that 
study we found that Mainers pay 72 percent more than Canadians and 102 
percent more than Mexicans for the same drugs from the same U.S. 
manufacturers in the same quantities.
  For 2 years, the Democrats here have been fighting for a prescription 
drug benefit, fighting for a discount for seniors. But today I rise to 
ask for support for legislation that would allow pharmacists to buy 
prescription drugs in other countries and bring them and sell them 
here. That would mean a substantial discount for our seniors.
  We need to reduce prescription drug prices for seniors in this 
country. Seniors cannot wait until the next Congress to get relief from 
price gouging by the pharmaceutical industry. I urge my Republican 
colleagues to act now.

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