Jim McCrery

Mr. McCRERY

Mr. McCRERY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I have heard several speakers today on the floor say that this is a tax loophole for the wealthy; it is just a way for the wealthy to be able to set aside tax free money because these high- deductible plans are not of use to anybody but the wealthy. The high-deductible portion of this bill is the health savings account provision. The health savings account provision only accounts, according to the Joint Tax Committee, for $5.5 billion of $173.5 billion tax expenditure proposed by this bill. So it is not the high- deductible HSA, the health savings account, which has been alluded to here today, which accounts for the vast majority of costs under this bill. It is instead the health savings security accounts which eligibility for begins to phase out at $75,000 of income for an individual. I hardly think anyone would call an individual making up to $75,000 a year wealthy, able to take advantage of huge tax loopholes. I wanted to set the record straight on that. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. McCRERY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. Let me thank the gentleman for his remarks that explain very well the rationale for what we think is an excellent prescription drug program that we constructed within the confines of the budget, the $400 billion in the budget. But, once again, Mr. Speaker, let me point out that the motion to instruct before us has nothing to do with the prescription drug program. It in no way relates to the prescription drug program. It does not allocate a dime of spending, extra spending, to the prescription drug program. All the motion to instruct before us today does is delete from H.R. 1 a very worthwhile tax incentive designed to get more people in this country health insurance coverage for themselves and their families. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. McCRERY

Mr. McCRERY. Mr. Speaker, one thing I agree with the last speaker about, and that is that Americans pay an unfair share of the research and development costs for pharmaceuticals in the world; but the proper way to address that is not by abandoning our free market principles and importing price controls, and that is what this bill would do. I have heard it several times here this evening, there is no safety issue. That is a ruse. Do not believe PhRMA. Do not even believe FDA. But how about the Secretary of HHS for two different administrations, one Democratic and one Republican? A previous speaker said, well, I personally talked to Secretary Shalala not long ago and she assured me that that is not what she really said. What she really said is that if the FDA had the appropriate resources, then we could certify the safety of these drugs. I would ask the gentleman who spoke with Donna Shalala, did he ask her does the FDA have the appropriate resources? The answer would be no. Does this bill give them the appropriate resources? The answer is no. When would they get the appropriate resources? We do not know. But you want to pass this bill tonight. If the FDA got the appropriate resources, how long would it take them to put those safety devices in place? So you can say there is not a safety issue, but that is all it is, is words. The people who have researched this, the people in positions of responsibility in government, both Democratic and Republican, have said there is a safety issue. So think about that before voting for this bill. There is a chart to my left here. This side of the chart shows a chart that was put up on this floor earlier by one of the proponents of the bill. The other side shows the rest of the story. Germany imposes price controls, called ``reference prices'' on most drugs. Seven out of the 10 drugs on this chart that was shown have price controls. Most of the drugs on this list are also available as generics in Germany. Seven out of 10, in fact, are available as generics. Nine out of 10 are either subject to price controls or are available in generic form. What happens when a generic form comes on market? The price comes down of the patented drug. In addition, all drugs in Germany are subject to the threat of compulsory licensing, that is, the drug company can lose its patent in Germany if they refuse to sell the drugs there. I do not know where the United States prices on the supporters' charts came from. The difference is not 300 percent, as they would advertise, but 31 percent. That is reality. Vote against this bill if we want better wonder drugs in the future for better health.

Mr. McCRERY

Mr. McCRERY. Point of order, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. McCRERY. Mr. Speaker, I have a privileged motion at the desk.

Mr. McCRERY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 20 seconds to the gentleman from California (Mr. Herger), a member of the committee.

Mr. McCRERY. Mr. Speaker, assuming that the gentlewoman from California has only one remaining speaker and that is to close, I yield 20 seconds to the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Hulshof), a member of the committee.

Mr. McCRERY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Hyperbole is something that is used often for effect, even in fictional writing. On the floor of the House debating something this serious, I think it has no place. And to claim that the police were there to arrest Democrats is indeed hyperbole. No one ever suggested that anyone was to be arrested. There is no evidence to that. Not even any hearsay to that. The fact is they were being asked to move from that room to another Ways and Means hearing room. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1\1/4\ minutes to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Weller).

Mr. McCRERY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentlewoman from Connecticut (Mrs. Johnson), a member of the Committee on Ways and Means.

Mr. McCRERY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Shaw).

Mr. McCRERY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Hulshof), a member of the Committee on Ways and Means.

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

Mr. McCRERY. Mr. Speaker, may I request the time remaining on each side?

Mr. McCRERY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume, and I would tell my friend from California (Mr. Matsui) that he was not in the hearing room and, therefore, he cannot speak with any authority about the time line within which events transpired. I was in the hearing room. I know that the behavior of the minority prior to the completion of the reading of the bill warranted the Sergeant at Arms being called. So I would caution the gentleman not to make absolute statements which he cannot back up with any certainty. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Washington (Ms. Dunn).

Mr. McCRERY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself so much time as I may consume. Unfortunately, Mr. Speaker, none of us, at least who have spoken here on the floor, knows who told who what when; but I do know, I do know that I was told by a member of the staff, the majority staff of the Committee on Ways and Means, that that staff person went back to the library, which is the room in question, it is not the hearing room, that the Democrats were asked to move from. It was the library and prior to the Sergeant at Arms and the police getting there, the staff person went back and notified the minority that that room was to be used during the markup, it was reserved, and they would have to move to 1129, which is another Ways and Means room just down the hall. So I want everyone to know that that transpired before the Sergeant at Arms and the police got to the library to ask the minority to move out of that room. So I think what we have here, in total, to support this proposal, this resolution, is a very short period of time, minutes, during which the Sergeant at Arms, the Capitol police were told by someone to remove the Democrats from the library to another room, to another Ways and Means room; and very shortly after the Capitol police, Sergeant at Arms arrived in the library, the chairman of the committee, in my presence, directed the staff to go back and tell the police and the Sergeant at Arms that it was all right for the minority to use the library. So even if it was the chairman who directed, ordered the police and the Sergeant at Arms to the library specifically to tell the Democrats to move out of that room, it would have been a mistake that was corrected almost immediately by the chairman. And for that you bring a resolution to the floor of the House? I think that those who would do this might have a bad memory with respect to their own actions at times during their lives and wish that their actions would not be judged so harshly for so short a period of time. So, insofar as any other basis for this resolution, as I have pointed out, there is no basis for determining that the committee was out of order or acted contrary to the rules of the House. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. McCRERY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Hayworth), a member of the committee.

Mr. McCRERY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Before I yield to the gentleman from Colorado, I would point out that the chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means, as the chairman of any standing committee, has the prerogative to call the Sergeant at Arms to maintain order in his committee, and that was the basis of the chairman's call for the Sergeant at Arms. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. McInnis), a member of the committee.

Mr. McCRERY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Shaw), a member of the committee.

Mr. McCRERY. Mr. Speaker, parliamentary inquiry.

Mr. McCRERY. The majority has not been supplied with a copy of the resolution, Mr. Speaker; and it is hard for us to proceed without a copy of the resolution.

Mr. McCRERY. I thank the Speaker.

Mr. McCRERY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 20 seconds to the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Ryan), a member of the committee.

Mr. McCRERY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 20 seconds to the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Lewis), a member of the committee.

Mr. McCRERY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 20 seconds to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. English), a member of the committee.

Mr. McCRERY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the remaining time. It is time for the House to bring to a close this resolution. I would say that in no way has the minority, which brought this resolution to the floor, proved any facts which would substantiate a rationale for passage of this resolution, and I would urge all Members on both sides of the aisle to reject this resolution and vote ``no.'' Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.