[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 18]
[House]
[Pages 24685-24686]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




               AFFORDABLE PRESCRIPTION DRUGS FOR SENIORS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Gutknecht) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. GUTKNECHT. Madam Speaker, I have come to the well of this House 
many times in the evening and in the day to talk about the high cost of 
prescription drugs and how much Americans pay for drugs relative to the 
rest of the industrialized world. I believe it is a crime, and I 
believe it is shame on us. I always say it is not shame on the 
pharmaceutical companies, it is shame on us, because the FDA and the 
Justice Department work for us. I have been regularly vocal and very 
critical of our FDA and what they have done in terms of, quote, 
protecting the public health. I have repeatedly said that a drug you 
cannot afford is neither safe nor effective.
  Tonight, Madam Speaker, I come to the floor of the House to offer 
some congratulations, because if you are going to hand out the thorns, 
I think once in a while you have to hand out the roses. First, I would 
like to congratulate the people at the FDA because today there was a 
conference held in Bethesda, and they were participants in that 
conference. What they talked about was new technologies to make our 
drug supply safer, so that whether you buy your drugs from Manhattan or 
Munich, you will be able to get safe drugs. I want to talk about a 
couple of those technologies and the FDA was there to talk about it. 
One of them is this tamperproof, counterfeit-proof technology. This 
packaging is made by a little company out in California called Flex 
Products. They also make the dye that goes on our $20 bills that make 
it almost impossible, although they and I think the Federal Treasury 
says that this is impossible to counterfeit, the same technology is now 
available for pharmaceutical companies. And I am told that seven of the 
largest pharmaceutical companies are already employing this technology.
  Let me also talk about another technology. This is the first time I 
have ever talked about it here on the floor of the House. This is made 
by a family-owned feed and seed company in Minneapolis, Minnesota, a 
little company called Cargill. These are microscopic markers. They are 
edible and they are so small that you cannot even see one. But we now 
have the ability to apply this to every drug. In fact, we can even 
apply this to the products that go into the drugs, so that we can know 
that that drug is in fact what is said that it is very simply. That was 
also on display today at that conference.
  But, Madam Speaker, what I really want to do is say a special thank 
you to some of the senior groups that have stepped up. I want to single 
out one in particular, the TREA Senior Citizens League, who is made up 
of just some of the most wonderful people, and their board is here 
tonight. I want to show an ad that they ran earlier this year. They 
were one of the few senior citizens groups that used real money, 
contributed by their seniors, and they ran this half-page ad 
encouraging Congress, and I want to make sure that we can put at least 
the text of this into the Congressional Record. I want to thank them, 
and I want to thank George Smith, their chairman, who serves on their 
board. What a wonderful board it is. These are people who volunteer. 
They do not get paid large retainers. All that they do is work on 
behalf of their members and on behalf of seniors everywhere. When they 
saw what was happening to the cost of prescription drugs, they stepped 
up, and they made a difference. I want to thank them. And I want to 
thank our former colleague Dave Funderburk. Congressman and Dr. 
Funderburk was a valuable Member of the Congress. He and his wife Betty 
have just been super people. They help steer the Senior Citizens League 
through some of the choppy waters and explain how things happen. It is 
groups like that that are making a difference. They are stepping up and 
saying there is something wrong, we need to do something about it. We 
need to fix it. They have run ads. They have informed their members. 
They represent 1.2 million members around the country. They are the 
second largest senior citizens group in the country. I have to take my 
hat off to them because, as I say, they stepped up, they helped run 
ads, they used real money, they did not take it from some other special 
interest group and they are making a difference.
  We are going to have to vote here in the next couple of weeks perhaps 
on a prescription drug bill. We are going to have to ask ourselves some 
simple questions. One of those questions is why is it that Americans 
pay so much more than consumers around the rest of the industrialized 
world? The second question is, what are we going to do about it? I hope 
you will be able to give us good answers because I think we are going 
to get a chance to vote on that.
  The House has done the right thing. We are waiting on the other body. 
We hope that we will have a conference committee. People like the TREA 
Senior Citizens League are watching. They are paying attention. Their 
members are watching. They are paying attention. They are making a 
difference. They are counting on us to do the same.

                     TREA Senior Citizens League Ad

       Congress: Senior citizens need you to vote ``Aye'' on H.R. 
     2427, prescription drug importation legislation.
       This week, Congress will have the opportunity to help 
     seniors by voting ``aye'' on H.R. 2447, legislation to allow 
     America's seniors ``market'' access to lower priced 
     medicines.
       The bill would mean seniors would pay a more reasonable 
     price for their prescriptions, and would mean that many 
     seniors wouldn't have to choose between their medications, 
     and rent and food.
       The pharmaceutical industry, however, doesn't want this 
     critical legislation to pass. Some are more concerned about 
     making the best possible profit, rather than making a profit 
     while still allowing seniors to have access to safe, 
     affordable medicines. This is wrong.
       Vote for our seniors--not for special interests.

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