Brett Guthrie

Mr. GUTHRIE

Mr. GUTHRIE. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Bilirakis), my good friend.

Mr. GUTHRIE. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Balderson).

Mr. GUTHRIE. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. GUTHRIE. Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Burgess), my good friend on the Committee on Energy and Commerce.

Mr. GUTHRIE. Madam Speaker, I yield myself 5 minutes. Madam Speaker, I rise today in strong opposition to H.R. 5376, the mislabeled Inflation Reduction Act. This is another reckless tax and spending spree that is not being accurately portrayed to the American people by Democrats. Washington Democrats are trying to convince Americans that adding more reckless government spending and raising taxes during a recession will combat inflation. Even nonpartisan organizations say this bill will have virtually no impact on inflation and at least half of the expected tax revenue for next year is estimated to come from Americans making less than $400,000 a year. Americans will see more IRS audits because this bill gives the IRS the ability to hire an army of new IRS agents. People should pay the taxes they owe, but instead of an army of IRS agents focusing on auditing low- to middle-income Americans, we need to put our resources into hiring more Border Patrol officers to protect the border and stop the flow of illicit drugs such as fentanyl. More troubling parts of this bill are the healthcare provisions. I strongly disagree with using Medicare money to pay for ObamaCare subsidies for the wealthy. I introduced an amendment to keep Medicare savings in Medicare, which is already at risk of insolvency in the very near future. Unfortunately, House Democrats didn't even give this amendment a chance to be considered. While Democrats praise government price setting, or, as they call it, negotiation, they fail to mention that such policies would lead to at least 15 fewer drugs coming to market, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. What are the 15 cures? Could it be the cure for Alzheimer's? Could it be the cure for diabetes? It could be. They also won't mention that the nonpartisan CBO said this bill will lead to higher prices on new drugs. Finally, Democrats are voting to give Secretary Becerra a $3 billion slush fund to set drug prices, despite HHS botching the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including politicizing guidance that kept schools closed and young children masked in Head Start programs. How can anyone support giving billions of dollars in more unrestricted authority to HHS that we know will lead to fewer cures for our loved ones? Let me be clear: We absolutely need to address the cost of prescription medication. In the Energy and Commerce Committee, there is a bipartisan bill ready to go, H.R. 19, that could achieve this, but the Democrats have repeatedly refused to bring the bill to the floor for a vote. Our country is also facing an energy crisis created by President Biden and Washington Democrats' war on American energy. Despite this, the Democrats' solution is to double down on the nearly $400 billion to be spent on far-left Green New Deal policies and impose billions of dollars of tax increases on energy that will be passed to consumers. Unbelievably, even as energy prices are at historically high levels, they have included a new tax on natural gas and revived a tax on petroleum products that will cost consumers tens of billions of dollars. I filed an amendment to exempt our defense bases from this natural gas tax, but again, Democrats refused even to consider it. Democrats want to create a $27 billion slush fund at the EPA for a national climate bank to subsidize the solar energy that is heavily dominated by the Chinese Communist Party and even spend $9 billion in rebates for wealthy Americans to green up their homes with new appliances and electric vehicles. To conclude, this legislation not only crushes hope for patients and their families living with devastating diseases that currently lack a treatment or a cure, but it also significantly undermines our economic and national security. I cannot vote for the more appropriately named inflation expansion act. Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to join me in opposing it, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. GUTHRIE. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Latta), a member of the Committee on Energy and Commerce.

Mr. GUTHRIE. Madam Speaker, I include in the Record an editorial from The Wall Street Journal titled, ``Tilting at Climate Windmills,'' which notes that the massive spending bill reduces global temperatures at the most by 0.28 degrees. [From the Wall Street Journal] Tilting at Climate Windmills Shumer-Manchin will have little effect on the world's temperature (By Editorial Board) Nearly all of Washington--Democrats, the press, lobbyists-- is taking a victory lap with Senate passage of the Schumer- Manchin tax, climate and drug price control bill. The climate lobby is especially thrilled, claiming a historic victory that will reduce temperatures, hold back the rising sea, and save the planet. Or, maybe not. Our contributor Bjorn Lomborg looked at the Rhodium Group estimate for CO2 emissions reductions from Schumer-Manchin policies. He then plugged them into the United Nations climate model to measure the impact on global temperature by 2100. He finds the bill will reduce the estimated global temperature rise at the end of this century by all of 0.028 degrees Fahrenheit in the optimistic case. In the pessimistic case, the temperature difference will be 0.0009 degrees Fahrenheit. In other words, the climate provisions in this ballyhooed legislation will have no notable impact on the climate. This isn't surprising. No matter what the U.S. does to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions, it will be dwarfed by what the rest of the world does. China, India and Africa aren't about to stop burning fossil fuels as they develop, and China is sprinting ahead to build huge new coal capacity despite its pledge to start reducing emissions after 2030. Barring a breakthrough in battery or other technology, carbon emissions will continue to increase. No one knows how much the Earth's temperature will warm, though even the U.N. model has modified its estimates from the apocalyptic predictions of some years ago. Schumer-Manchin won't reduce inflation, won't reduce the budget deficit, and it won't reduce the world's temperature. What it will do is transfer some $369 billion from taxpayers and drug companies to the pockets of green energy businesses and investors. It will tighten the hold that politicians have on the allocation of capital, as they pick winners and losers with their grants and tax credits. Everyone will get a nice warm feeling as they pretend they are cooling the climate.

Mr. GUTHRIE. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from California (Mr. McCarthy), who is one of my good friends here in Congress, a great leader, and the Republican leader in the House of Representatives.

Mr. GUTHRIE. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. GUTHRIE. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, there is nothing in the bill that increases our production of natural gas. The Methane Emissions Reduction Program is a natural gas tax that will impact the entire economy. The natural gas tax will make everything more expensive for American families. The natural gas tax will increase the price of fuel, fertilizer, and food. Madam Speaker, 180 million Americans use natural gas to heat homes and run appliances. About 5\1/2\ million businesses use it to run their workplaces and manufacturing facilities. This bill will give EPA sweeping authority to expand the natural gas tax to other sectors, including agriculture. There are no guardrails to prevent the EPA from ratcheting up the natural gas tax in years ahead. Madam Speaker, I yield 2\1/2\ minutes to the gentlewoman from the State of Tennessee (Mrs. Harshbarger).

Mr. GUTHRIE. Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. GUTHRIE. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. GUTHRIE

Mr. GUTHRIE. Madam Speaker, I rise in opposition to the abortion on demand until birth act. This Supreme Court ruled each individual State can decide the rights for the unborn. This bill would override State laws to nationalize abortion for any reason at any stage of pregnancy up until birth. This does not merely ban pre-viability restrictions on abortion, as supporters say that it does. This bill allows the person doing the abortion to decide what qualifies as pre-viability. This is unacceptable. The majority of Americans do not support abortions with no limits. In fact, 80 percent of the Americans say abortions should be illegal in the third trimester. This is a radical bill, and I urge a ``no'' vote.

Mr. GUTHRIE

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I yield the gentleman from Michigan an additional 1 minute.

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, as the chair of this committee, Mr. Upton made his signature issue the 21st Century Cures, and not just passing that which has changed people's lives already but being able to work with Ms. DeGette and all the others to say that this is something we all need to work on together in a bipartisan way and make a big difference. Now as chair emeritus, this is, I think, his signature piece. He may have other pieces of legislation, too, but this is the one that I have worked on with him in the very beginning in the Oval Office with the President. We worked together to say: Can we do something big that is really going to change the lives of people in this country? He has done it. He has done it his entire career. He is a mentor of mine, and, unfortunately, at the end of this year he is going to do something different than being here in Congress. He will be missed for his voice and being a champion of this issue. Mr. Speaker, I am going to yield to him so that he can speak on this bill for himself. The gentleman certainly has left a legacy here with the previous legislation and this piece of legislation. So let's work together to move it forward. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Upton).

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise to speak in support of the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Health Act, or ARPA-H Act. I know this has been an important priority for researchers, industry, and, most importantly, patients who are waiting for life-changing medical technology to improve or even save their lives. This legislation will authorize the establishment of ARPA-H within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The agency will specifically be charged with helping to foster high-risk, high-reward treatments and cures for diseases with clinically unmet needs. Some of my colleagues may be concerned about a new agency, and that is where a number of Republicans on the Committee on Energy and Commerce were early in October when this legislation was introduced. ARPA-H was funded at $1 billion in the previous appropriations bill in 2021. To ensure that funding was used for the best possible result, the Committee on Energy and Commerce for the past several months has worked hard to ensure that ARPA-H has a clear mission. As a result, it passed out of committee with a strong 55-to-3 vote. We most notably ensure this newly created agency remains separate from the NIH. We limit administration costs associated with setting up ARPA-H to maximize research investments, which would require a strategic plan and transparent reporting on projects; define the number of offices; and require that the majority of offices within the organization be exclusively devoted to biomedical research and development. In order to ensure this agency is fostering the development of innovative, transformative health technologies that are not being met by Federal programs or private industry, the technologies the agency should pursue are very explicitly defined in the legislation before us today. The legislation puts guardrails in place to ensure that priority access is granted to U.S. researchers over researchers abroad. There are additional requirements for international researchers to work in collaboration with a U.S. counterpart if they receive ARPA-H funding. Importantly, the bill makes clear that funding is prohibited from going to nondomestic recipients of a malign foreign country, most notably Chinese research labs or Russian research labs. This is a significant step to ensure the United States' intellectual property isn't being stolen by our adversaries and to ensure we remain the world leader in biomedical research and innovation. As the Republican leader on the Health Subcommittee, I am leading efforts to strengthen oversight of NIH-funded research. It is unacceptable that some Federal grants have been supporting foreign researchers with ties to governments of adversarial nations like China. We must prevent this from happening moving forward. Mr. Speaker, I emphasize the need to pass this bill. The funding has already been appropriated in a previous year. If we don't pass this bill and don't authorize this agency to move forward, then this will erode our oversight role in Congress. Funding decisions made by ARPA-H must require diligence to ensure that resources are being spent as appropriately and as effectively as possible. The Biden administration ARPA-H organizational chart, without this bill, has 14 offices, less than half of which are actually dedicated to research. This gives us insight into how the Biden administration would manage this new agency without congressional guidance. It is just appropriate that the legislative branch sets up the way this money is being spent. That is what the bill before us today does. It puts ARPA-H on the right track, gives Congress the opportunity to set high standards, and promotes greater biomedical research and innovation for patients. Mr. Speaker, I thank the majority for working together. I thank our staff for the excellent work they have done. I encourage the passage of this because if we don't pass it, the money is still going to be spent but without congressional guardrails. Mr. Speaker, I support this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentlewoman from Washington (Mrs. Rodgers), who is the Republican leader of the full committee.

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. Mr. Speaker, it is important we are here today. I thank the chair of the other subcommittee whom I have the privilege to work alongside as the Republican leader. She has been a champion of ARPA-H as it first came out and at the first meeting at the White House. We have discussed quite a bit about where it should be and what the guardrails should be. I know the funding got out in front of it. We all really wanted Congress to have a say in how this agency operated and not the executive branch the way, unfortunately, getting in front of authorization does. I appreciate the hard work. I appreciate the work of the colleagues who have spoken and everybody else who is working on this together on our staff. Mr. Speaker, I think it is important that we pass this bill. I urge my colleagues to vote for the bill tonight, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I claim the time in opposition, even though I am not opposed to the bill.

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, the Chair of the subcommittee kind of went through what the amendment says. Another thing that we need to make sure is reinforced is that the amendment would ensure that agency and precious U.S. taxpayer dollars can never go to nondomestic recipients organized under the laws of a covered foreign entity as defined by the National Security Act of 1947. This includes China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea. So I want to make sure we understand that. I said this on the debate on the bill that the Chair and I were talking back and forth. And I understood the mission of what we wanted to accomplish with ARPA-H, but I was concerned about the application of it and how it would actually be put into place. We had a lot of discussions based on that. This amendment really does define as best as we can define in legislation, without vague terms, what we want ARPA-H to do. This amendment ensures that 85 percent of the money goes to research and not to administration and growing an agency. We think that this really does narrow and, as we said earlier, put guardrails. This amendment is what accomplishes that with the bill. I am for this amendment, and I encourage its adoption. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. GUTHRIE

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, H.R. 7666 the Restoring Hope for Mental Health and Well- Being Act is a significant bill that will help support our mental health workforce, increase access to pediatric mental health treatment, and help make schools safer. This bill will bolster substance use disorder prevention, treatment, and recovery resources. The Committee on Energy and Commerce has worked on this for many months, held hearings, and reported it out by a voice vote in May. Recognizing children's mental health has been negatively impacted by school closures, ineffective lockdowns, and increased violence. This bill provides specific resources to help communities respond to the children's mental health crisis. This legislation also supports community mental health services for children with serious emotional disturbances through crisis-care service and early intervention activities. The need to strengthen resources for children's mental health has been further heightened after the horrific school violence we have seen in Uvalde. This bill also works to reauthorize the Garrett Lee Smith Suicide Prevention Program, provide funding for a suicide prevention lifeline, and update a major block grant that States use to provide support to those with serious mental illness. In addition to supporting those with mental illness, the legislation helps those with substance use disorders. Kentucky has seen a drastic rise in overdoses throughout the pandemic and, nationally, the CDC estimates that drug overdoses exceeded 107,000 between November 2020 and November 2021. Many of these drug overdoses have been caused by synthetic opioids, like illicit fentanyl poisoning, which were involved in about 70 percent of all Kentucky overdoses in 2021. Ultimately, fighting the drug overdose epidemic will require a two- pronged approach: Equipping our law enforcement with the tools they need to keep these deadly poisons off our streets and providing recovery and treatment resources. Through the passage of this bill, we are advancing the second part of this approach by increasing access to critical treatment and recovery resources for people from all walks of life and every stage of life. This includes resources for moms and pregnant women by supporting care for maternal health and substance use disorders, which are among the leading cause of death for pregnant and postpartum women. In addition, this legislation also has a provision led by Representative Bucshon, alongside Representatives Miller-Meeks, Axne, and Pappas, to remove unnecessary regulatory barriers to help those with opioid use disorder seek the care that they need as quickly as possible. The Timely Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder Act removes a Federal requirement of having to live with opioid disorder for more than 1 year to be admitted for in-person treatment. I am proud that my bill, the Substance Use Prevention, Treatment, and Recovery Services Block Grant Act of 2022, which I have worked together with my colleagues, Messrs. Tonko, McKinley, and Ms. Wild, is also included in this bill. The legislation would deliver more coordinated substance use disorder care as well as explicitly reauthorizing funding for recovery support services, which include workforce training and others. Mr. Speaker, I encourage my colleagues to vote for this bill.

Mr. GUTHRIE

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of the Food and Drug Amendments of 2022, introduced by Chair Eshoo and myself. This legislation recently passed the full Energy and Commerce Committee unanimously. The bill will protect access to lifesaving cures, promote innovation, secure our medical supply chains, and lower costs for patients. It would also reauthorize the Food and Drug Administration's medical product user fee programs through 2027. User fees allow the FDA to collect fees from industry in exchange for timely review of their drug or device applications. Importantly, these fees not only permit the FDA to carry out drug or device application reviews, but they also represent significant percentages of FDA's total operating budget without costing the taxpayer. Additionally, according to the Congressional Budget Office, sections of the bill will save close to $600 million by promoting increased access to generic drugs. Some of these savings will be used for deficit reduction and other amounts can be put toward preserving access to critical services in the Medicaid program, such as telehealth. Not only do these agreements help save taxpayer dollars, but they also yield significant returns on investment since they were originally authorized by Congress decades ago. For example, in 2021 alone, 38 of 50 of the world's novel drugs were first approved in the United States. This was made possible by the Food and Drug Administration Amendments of 2017. I am proud to say that the legislation includes two of my bills, the Pre-approval Information Exchange Act, which will help reduce the time in which patients wait for a drug or a device to be covered by the insurer after it is approved by the FDA. The bill before us today also includes legislation that Chair Pallone and I have been championing for several years to help facilitate the transformation of drug manufacturing processes, so they are more efficient, less costly, and result in improved drug quality. The use of continuous manufacturing technology will not only serve as an incentive for U.S. drug manufacturers to bring their production back to American soil but will also help reduce drug shortages. Other important components of the Food and Drug Amendments of 2022 require guidance on the collection of real-world evidence for companies with products authorized under emergency use authorization during the COVID-19 public health emergency. This can serve as a strong foundation for the regulatory community in addition to drug or device companies to best understand how products can get approved more quickly and safely in the future. Finally, the Food and Drug Amendments of 2022 preserves access to lifesaving therapies approved under the accelerated approval pathway. By preserving the pathway, we are giving patients hope to one day find cures to currently incurable diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease or terminal cancers. As the Chair said, usually when you come to the floor on suspension bills, they are ones that have great unanimous consent with Congress. This has gone through the regular process, and it has gone through a lot of hard work by Members, but I have to say a lot of hard work, significant hard work, by the men and women who work with us here on the committee. We really appreciate the staff's hard work. Although we are here in a suspension moment on the floor, I emphasize to my colleagues, there has been a lot of work, a lot of committee work, a lot of subcommittee work, a lot of Member work, and a whole lot of staff work to make this move forward. I really appreciate that. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this legislation today, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I was incorrect. I said Mr. Bucshon. Dr. Bucshon; his words on healthcare are certainly very important to all of us. Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentlewoman from Washington (Mrs. Rodgers), my good friend, the Republican leader of the full Committee on Energy and Commerce.