Heidi Alexander: “First, Mr. President, I congratulate Senator Casey and Senator Isakson for doing a terrific job of being excellent…”

“First, Mr. President, I congratulate Senator Casey and Senator Isakson for doing a terrific job of being excellent Senators and coming up with legislation a couple of years ago that has helped children. We have now heard from the only two U.S. Senators in the whole body, so far, who have voted against this bill this year. We have 22 members on our HELP Committee--Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. We voted to extend this bill another few years because it has been so successful. The vote was 20 to 2. You just heard from those very eloquent Senators. They don't like Republicans, they don't like drug companies, they don't like billionaires, and they asked the question: Well, is anybody listening? I am listening. Whom do we care about? Let's talk about these 7,800 children at St. Jude's Hospital in Memphis. These are children who are very sick. Many of them will die prematurely. Every single one of them has free care at St. Jude's Hospital thanks to the contributions of many people. This is what the doctors at St. Jude's Hospital say about the proposal Senator Isakson and Senator Casey have made that has been in the law since 2012 and received 20 votes in our committee against the two votes of the Senators who are on the floor. St. Jude's doctors who are taking care of these very sick children say: Priority vouchers (PRVs) provide a very powerful incentive to stimulate drug development in rare pediatric diseases.…”