Jack Kingston: “Mr. Chairman, I wanted to speak in favor of the amendment, and I do so with the greatest respect, of course, to the…”

“Mr. Chairman, I wanted to speak in favor of the amendment, and I do so with the greatest respect, of course, to the committee upon which I serve. But if we look at the seniors who are having to go across the border to get prescription drugs and other people who need it, they are not doing this because it is convenient, they are not doing it because they want to, they are not doing it because they want to support a Canadian pharmacy. They are doing it because they have to economically. My dad is from Buffalo, New York, and I went to school in Michigan, and I know on those border States there is a lot of economic overlap and social overlap and everything else, and so for them to go to Canada to get cheaper drugs is not that unusual. But then imagine being 82 years old and getting a letter like this that says, however, future shipments of these or similar drugs may be refused admissions; that is very disturbing if we have to take something for high cholesterol or something for a heart condition. What am I doing? These people are World War II veterans. They do not want to go around breaking the law, and that is what the implication is from FDA once they get it. Mr. Chairman, look at these price differences. I think we cannot expect people who can save as much as 50 percent on a drug not to take advantage of it and to go overseas.”