Doug Bereuter: “many people will talk about the substance of the bill. I want to talk about what is really at stake here tonight and…”

“many people will talk about the substance of the bill. I want to talk about what is really at stake here tonight and what is really at stake is the integrity of the legislative process. The gentleman from Ohio just talked about the spending program that has gone on here by the pharmaceutical industry. We are all knee-deep in Washington, D.C., with money being spent on this issue. Extraordinary numbers of groups have been brought to bear on this issue, massive spending, nothing like it that I have ever seen since I have been here. When I went to my town hall meetings, I saw my name, my picture, informing me by the Senior Coalition exactly why counterfeit drugs were so potentially lethal and such a big loss to the protection of consumers. It was funded by the Senior Coalition. Ask AARP how much money from the pharmaceutical industry comes to the Senior Coalition. What is at stake here, I would say, is whether or not this is the people's House, whether or not we have integrity in this House to do what is right for our constituents. Four of my colleagues actually have a Dear Colleague out which says, "The Canadian-European socialistic price controls already dictate drug prices in the United States because drug-makers and policy-makers are willing to pander to price control systems overseas. We enable protectionism and fixed high prices at home," and that is exactly right.…”