[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 12]
[Senate]
[Page 17091]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       FINISHING SENATE BUSINESS

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, this great body, the Senate, has a unique 
ability to work very quickly when cooperation is present. That is one 
of the many special things about this institution. Unfortunately, 
cooperation in the recent months has been very lacking.
  Case in point: One Senator has delayed action for more than a month 
on a bill to ensure the safety of custom medications mixed by 
pharmacies for patients with unique health needs.
  The reason that 97 Senators voted to move this legislation is because 
64 people died and 800 people were made very, very sick, with some of 
them very sick. They had strokes and other medical issues because of 
the irresponsibility and negligence of this company in Massachusetts.
  A lawsuit was filed recently in Nevada where two young boys were 
allegedly impacted significantly as a result of this medication. It was 
really bad medication.
  Unless the entire U.S. Senate bends to that one Senator's wish, the 
one who voted no--and the vote was 97 to 1--he will force this body to 
jump through hoops and work through the next several days wasting time 
to finish the crucial drug safety bill, but we are going to finish that 
bill. This bill is important for our country, and I cannot let one 
Senator dictate what goes on in the Senate.

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