Bernie Sanders

Mr. SANDERS

Mr. SANDERS. Mr. Chairman, I yield 45 seconds to the gentleman from Maine (Mr. Baldacci).

Mr. SANDERS. Mr. Chairman, I do not object; but my understanding of the unanimous consent that the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Bonilla) gave was to give Ms. Kaptur 2 minutes. Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent for 2 additional minutes for both sides.

Mr. SANDERS. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. DeFazio).

Mr. SANDERS. Mr. Chairman, I would once again ask unanimous consent to ask the chairman now just for 3 minutes on each side of additional time, because we have many speakers who feel strongly about this; and I am sure the gentleman does as well.

Mr. SANDERS. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Maine (Mr. Allen).

Mr. SANDERS. Mr. Chairman, that is absolutely correct. Some groups supporting it are Public Citizens Network, the National Catholic Social Justice Lobby, the National Educational Association, Communication Workers of America, the Children's Foundation, the Alliance for Retired Americans, the Gray Panthers, and a number of other organizations. And I thank the gentlewoman for asking that question.

Mr. SANDERS. Mr. Chairman, will the gentlewoman yield?

Mr. SANDERS. Mr. Chairman, I yield 45 seconds to the gentlewoman from Florida (Mrs. Thurman).

Mr. SANDERS. I would urge the other side to go ahead.

Mr. SANDERS. Mr. Chairman, may I know what the time frame is?

Mr. SANDERS. That the chairman grant us 5 minutes more so people on both sides can have the opportunity to debate this issue. Five minutes on both sides.

Mr. SANDERS. I am.

Mr. SANDERS. Mr. Chairman, can I have a point of personal something or other? On this issue of enormous consequence our friends do not want to add a few more minutes to debate? I think that is really unfortunate. I want to ask the chairman again, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Bonilla), who I know is a decent man and I respect his opinion, but we have many people here, so what is wrong with 5 more minutes on either side?

Mr. SANDERS. Mr. Chairman, the gentleman knows this is not what we are doing. This is a place holder for the Senate and the conference committee to do what we did last year in developing a comprehensive bill and doing away with the pricing loopholes.

Mr. SANDERS. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. SANDERS. Does the gentleman not have people who want to debate the issue?

Mr. SANDERS. Mr. Chairman, we have so many speakers who feel strongly about it that I ask unanimous consent that each side have an additional 7\1/2\ minutes.

Mr. SANDERS. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Crowley), a cosponsor of this amendment.

Mr. SANDERS. Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Rohrabacher), our cosponsor.

Mr. SANDERS. Mr. Chairman, just as a point of fact, Donna Shalala did not implement last year because of safety. It had nothing to do with safety; it had to do with pricing loopholes. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Gutknecht), who has done an excellent job on this issue.

Mr. SANDERS. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2\1/2\ minutes to the gentlewoman from Connecticut (Ms. DeLauro), the cosponsor of this legislation and a real fighter in terms of lowering the price of prescription drugs.

Mr. SANDERS. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, this tripartisan amendment is offered by the gentleman from New York (Mr. Crowley), the gentlewoman from Connecticut (Ms. DeLauro), the gentleman from California (Mr. Rohrabacher), and the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Paul). It is about lowering the cost of prescription drugs so that the American people do not have to pay by far the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs. It is about ending the national disgrace of tens of thousands of American citizens in New England, the Midwest, the Northwest, from having to go across the Canadian border in order to purchase the same exact prescription drugs that they buy at home for 50 percent of the cost or 60 percent of the cost or 20 percent of the cost. It is about ending the absurdity of American citizens in California, Texas, Arizona, and the southern parts of our country of having to go to Mexico for the same exact reason. It is about allowing women in the United States who are fighting for their lives against breast cancer so they do not have to pay 10 times more than the women in Canada for Tamoxifen, a widely prescribed breast cancer drug. It is about telling the drug companies that they can no longer charge the American people $1 for drugs when those same exact products are sold in Germany for 60 cents, France for 51 cents, and Italy for 49 cents, the same exact products made by the same exact companies. Mr. Chairman, for decades now, good people, Democrats, Republicans, in the House and in the Senate, have attempted to do something about lowering the cost of prescription drugs in this country so that the American people do not have to pay outrageously high prices for their medicine, so that doctors do not have to write out prescriptions knowing that their patients cannot afford to fill them. But year after year with lies, with scare tactics, with well-paid lobbyists and massive amounts of campaign contributions the pharmaceutical industry always wins. They never lose. In the last three years alone the drug companies have spent $200 million in campaign contributions, lobbying and political advertising. In the last election cycle they doubled the amount of campaign contributions from 9 million to $18 million, and I have no doubt that they are prepared to double it again. The issue today is not only the high cost of prescription drugs. The issue today is whether the Congress has the guts to stand up for their constituents, people who are being ripped off, people who are dying and suffering because they cannot afford sky-high prescription drug prices; or do we cave in again to the pharmaceutical industry that is spending so much money trying to buy our votes. The pharmaceutical industry has endless amounts of money. Year after year the industry sits at the top of the charts in profits. The top 10 companies last year made $27 billion in profits. They have a lot of money to spend on Congress. Their top executives, well, they have a lot of money to spend too. A report came out yesterday from Families U.S.A., which talked about the compensation of executives in the pharmaceutical industry. At a time when Americans die and suffer because they cannot afford prescription drugs, you might be interested to know that the CEO of Bristol-Myers Squibb has unexercised stock options of over $227 million. Elderly people cannot afford prescription drugs, and this CEO has unexercised stock options of over $227 million. Pfizer has $130 million in unexercised stock options. Merck has $180 million, and on and on it goes. Mr. Chairman, today in a tripartisan amendment, the gentlewoman from Connecticut (Ms. DeLauro), the gentleman from New York (Mr. Crowley), the gentleman from California (Mr. Rohrabacher), the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Paul), and I are offering an amendment that is exactly the same as the Crowley amendment that won overwhelmingly in the House last year by a vote of 363 to 12. As was the case last year, this amendment will serve as a place- holder that will allow the Senate and conference committees to address the pricing loopholes contained in last year's bill. Mr. Chairman, a lot of people here talk about free trade. In a globalized economy where we import millions of tons of beef, pork, vegetables, and all kinds of food products from virtually every country on earth, it is high time that we end the monopoly that the drug companies have on the importation and reimportation of prescription drugs in this country. Prescription drug distributors and pharmacists should be able to purchase and sell FDA safety-approved medicines at the same prices as they are bought and sold in Canada, England, and every other major country. The passage of reimportation could lower the cost of medicine in this country by 30 to 50 percent and enable Americans to pay the same prices as other people throughout the world. In a Nation which spends $150 billion a year on prescription drugs, lowering the cost by a conservative 30 percent could result in a $45 billion-a-year savings. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. SANDERS. Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.

Mr. SANDERS

Mr. SANDERS. Mr. Chairman, even the New York Yankees sometimes lose, and it has been known that on occasion the Los Angeles Lakers lose a ballgame. But, Mr. Chairman, one organization never loses, and that organization has hundreds of victories to its credit and zero defeats in the United States Congress, and that is the pharmaceutical industry. For decades now, good people in the House and Senate, Democrats and Republicans, have attempted to do something about lowering the cost of prescription drugs in this country so that Americans do not have to pay by far the highest prices in the world for the medicine they need. And year after year with lies, distortions, well-paid lobbyists, massive amounts of advertising, and millions in campaign contributions, the pharmaceutical industry always wins. Americans die and suffer because they cannot afford the outrageous cost of prescription drugs, and we remain the only country in the industrialized world that does not in one way or another regulate the cost of prescription drugs. As part of this bill, the gentlewoman from Connecticut (Ms. DeLauro), the gentleman from New York (Mr. Crowley), the gentleman from California (Mr. Rohrabacher) and the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Paul) and I will be introducing an amendment which is exactly the same as the Crowley amendment that 363 Members of this House voted for last year. This amendment will serve as a placeholder so we can move the reimportation bill forward that was passed overwhelmingly last year, but was not implemented. In a globalized economy, prescription drug distributors and pharmacists should be able to purchase and sell FDA safety-approved medicines at the same prices as in other countries. The passage of reimportation will lower the cost of medicine by 30 to 50 percent and enable Americans to pay the same prices as people in Canada, Europe, Mexico and all over the world. Mr. Chairman, this amendment is supported by the Alliance for Retired Americans; the Children's Foundation; Church Women United; The Communication Workers of America; Families U.S.A.; The National Education Association; Network, a national Catholic social justice lobby; the Presbyterian Church; Public Citizen; The Service Employees International Union, SEIU; and the Universal Health Care Action Network. Mr. Chairman, every time anyone comes up here to take on the pharmaceutical industry, their disinformation campaign goes forward; and this time in opposition to this amendment the issue is, quote/ unquote, ``safety.'' Every Member here should understand that this amendment does nothing to compromise safety, it only makes it possible to move the reimportation bill that we passed last year forward.

Mr. SANDERS

Mr. SANDERS. Mr. Speaker, the pharmaceutical industry is at it again. This industry which has spent $200 million in the last 3 years to defeat all efforts to lower the cost of prescription drugs, this industry which has 300 paid lobbyists here on Capitol Hill, continues to charge the American people by far the highest prices in the world for the same exact prescription drugs. Mr. Speaker, American women should not have to go over the Canadian border to buy tamoxifen, a breast cancer drug, for one-tenth the price that it is charged in the United States. Seniors should not have to go to Mexico or Europe to pick up the same drugs for a fraction of the price. Mr. Speaker, in a globalized economy, prescription drug distributors and pharmacists should be able to purchase and sell FDA safety-approved medicine at the same prices as in other countries. The passage of reimportation will lower the cost of medicine in this country by 30 to 50 percent. Let us pass the Sanders-Crowley-DeLauro amendment in the agriculture appropriations bill, which will allow Americans to get fair prices for their prescription drugs.