Nathan Deal

Mr. DEAL of Georgia

Mr. DEAL of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the Senate bill (S. 544) to amend title IX of the Public Health Service Act to provide for the improvement of patient safety and to reduce the incidence of events that adversely effect patient safety.

Mr. DEAL of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume, and I rise today in support of S. 544, the Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act of 2005. This bill reflects the bipartisan and bicameral agreement of the leadership of the Committee on Energy and Commerce and the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. The bill is identical to H.R. 3205, which was passed by the Committee on Energy and Commerce last week. In 1999, the Institute of Medicine first identified that up to 98,000 Americans die every year as a result of preventable medical errors. In the report, entitled ``To Err is Human,'' the IOM recommended that Congress pass legislation to protect the development and analysis of information related to improving safety and quality. The Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act of 2005 codifies the principal recommendations made in the IOM report. This bill will assist in promoting a culture of safety and quality; and, more important, it will save lives. The bill encourages providers, such as hospitals and physicians, to share information with HHS- certified patient safety organizations to assess ways in which to improve the delivery of health care and reduce medical errors. Information regarding patients, providers, and reporters, called patient safety work product, would now remain confidential and protected. Mr. Speaker, the bill fosters open and honest communications among providers and patient safety organizations to achieve an environment where providers are able to discuss errors openly and learn from them. The bill also provides a privilege from disclosing patient safety work product in most court or administrative proceedings. In addition to enjoying bipartisan support, this bill is also supported by providers and consumer groups. These include the American Medical Association, the American Hospital Association, the American College of Surgeons, and the AARP. This new language builds directly on the work of our colleague, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Bilirakis), who worked to develop a bipartisan patient safety bill that passed by over 400 votes in the last Congress. I also want to recognize Senators Enzi and Kennedy; our House ranking member, the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Dingell); and the ranking member of the Subcommittee on Health, the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Brown), for their leadership in this effort. They, along with the staffs of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce and the Senate HELP Committee, deserve our thanks for producing this important bipartisan bill. I also specifically would like to recognize Andrew Patzman and David Bowen from the Senate HELP Committee, along with Bridgett Taylor, Purvee Kempf, Nandan Kenkermath, Melissa Bartlett, and Brandon Clark for their important help on this bill. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Bilirakis), the original sponsor of this legislation in the past Congress and one who has continued to work on it.

Mr. DEAL of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on S. 544, the Senate bill now under consideration.

Mr. DEAL of Georgia

Mr. DEAL of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. DEAL of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, S. 1395, the Controlled Substances Export Reform Act of 2005, is simply about allowing companies to better compete in the global marketplace. Under the Controlled Substances Import and Export Act, a company is not allowed to export controlled substances to one country and then send it to a third country. Companies that export controlled substances must make a large number of long-distance, small shipments to individual countries, incurring large shipping costs. Due to this restriction, American manufacturers are less competitive than their foreign competitors, which results in high-paying U.S. jobs being sent overseas. S. 1395 will enable U.S. companies to export products more efficiently by allowing them to send a large shipment to one nation overseas and from there to distribute smaller shipments to other countries. All subsequent transfers of controlled substances would still be subject to strict oversight by the DEA and will require a permit from the Attorney General to prevent any potential abuse. Both the Committee on Energy and Commerce and the Committee on the Judiciary have reported the House companion legislation to this bill earlier this year. I would like to thank the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Pitts), a member of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, for his work on this issue. I urge my colleagues to support this needed legislation. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. DEAL of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Pitts), the author of the House companion bill to the legislation that we are considering now.

Mr. DEAL of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on S. 1395.

Mr. DEAL of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the Senate bill (S. 1395) to amend the Controlled Substances Import and Export Act to provide authority for the Attorney General to authorize the export of controlled substances from the United States to another country for subsequent export from that country to a second country, if certain conditions and safeguards are satisfied.

Mr. DEAL of Georgia

Mr. DEAL of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. DEAL of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman. I want to assure her that we will work with her and the other Representatives from the territories in conference to try to make sure that they are included in this reauthorization of the State high- risk pool. I thank her for her comments. I think they were well taken. And I have already spoken to the author of the legislation, and he assures me that he is in agreement with the proposition that the gentlewoman has brought to our attention.

Mr. DEAL of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, will the gentlewoman yield?

Mr. DEAL of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my counterpart as the ranking member of the health subcommittee for what I perceive to be his unqualified endorsement of this legislation. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Shadegg), the author of the legislation.

Mr. DEAL of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I might consume. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased that we are on the verge of passing H.R. 3204, the State High Risk Pool Funding Extension Act. Simply put, this bill will help more people get health insurance. People with preexisting conditions or high health care expenses face major difficulties when they seek to purchase health insurance. This is especially true for workers in small businesses or those who are self-employed. So they often go without health insurance and turn to government programs like Medicaid when they become sick or disabled. This bill authorizes Federal grant money to help fund the initial start-up and operation of State high-risk pools. Risk pools allow eligible individuals to purchase health insurance, pay premiums, and receive health coverage through private insurers. This grant money will allow States with those pools to cover more individuals and reduce the premiums they must pay. It will also allow States like my home State of Georgia that do not have a qualified high-risk pool to simply start one. This bill will help to reduce the number of uninsured and provide affordable health insurance for more Americans. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the bill's sponsors, the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Shadegg), who I will recognize in a few moments, and his Democratic counterpart, the gentleman from New York (Mr. Towns), and their staffs for their hard work on this bill. I would also like to thank the staff of the Energy and Commerce Committee, including Bill O'Brien of the majority staff, and Amy Hall on the ranking member, the gentleman from Michigan's (Mr. Dingell), staff for their efforts to come up with a bipartisan proposal that will help States to ensure that individuals who do not otherwise have health insurance are able to purchase it. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. DEAL of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 3204) to amend title XXVII of the Public Health Service Act to extend Federal funding for the establishment and operation of State high risk health insurance pools, as amended.

Mr. DEAL of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on this legislation.

Mr. DEAL of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Barton), the chairman of the Committee of Energy and Commerce.

Mr. DEAL of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Norwood).

Mr. DEAL of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague from Georgia (Mr. Norwood) for taking time out on his birthday to be with us, and I congratulate him on his birthday. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as she may consume to the gentlewoman from the Virgin Islands (Mrs. Christensen) for the purposes of engaging in a colloquy.

Mr. DEAL of Georgia

Mr. DEAL of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and to insert extraneous material on this bill.

Mr. DEAL of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 1132) to provide for the establishment of a controlled substance monitoring program in each State, as amended.

Mr. DEAL of Georgia

Mr. DEAL of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material in the consideration of this Senate bill.

Mr. DEAL of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the Senate bill (S. 45) to amend the Controlled Substance Act to lift the patient limitation on prescribing drug addiction treatments by medical practitioners in group practices, and for other purposes.

Mr. DEAL of Georgia

Mr. DEAL of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Energy and Commerce be discharged from further consideration of the bill (H.R. 3423) to amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act with respect to medical device user fees, and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.

Mr. DEAL of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from California for yielding. In 2002, Congress passed the Medical Device User Fee and Modernization Act, and it allowed the Food and Drug Administration to collect user fees from manufacturers who would submit applications for medical devices. This legislation was in response to the fact that there were many applications for new devices, and we were falling behind in the approval process. With the passage of this legislation, the FDA was authorized to add additional personnel, and have done so and have speeded up the approval time for these new devices. However, the legislation provided that Congress had to set and reach certain marks of appropriations for fiscal year 2003 and through 2005 for this program to continue; and in the event we did not reach those targeted appropriation levels, then the program would expire at the end of this September. Unfortunately, Congress did not meet those targeted appropriation levels. Since Congress did not reach the targeted appropriations required to keep the program in place, this user fee program will cease at the end of September, and the FDA will be required to start sending out notices of termination. So this legislation is essential to keep this very successful program in place, and it will allow us to retain the medical personnel who are working and approving device applications in a much more speedy and rapid fashion than they would have been able to do without the user fee being in place. Mr. Speaker, that is the purpose of this legislation is to extend the program.

Mr. DEAL of Georgia

Mr. DEAL of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks on H.R. 3423, the bill just passed.