Political Quotes

“people from around the world come to America for their medical care. Yet Americans travel around the world for affordable medications. Between 2000 and 2003, seniors' expenditures on prescription drugs increased 44 percent. The legislation we are debating today is about inserting competition and the free market into the pricing of medication to ensure that Americans no longer have to pay a 25 to 40 percent premium over the prices paid in other countries. For too long, our constituents have subsidized the starving French, Germans, Italians and Canadians. Americans have also subsidized the research and development for pharmaceutical companies through the NIH funding and through the R&D tax credit. We are about to embark on the largest expansion of entitlement in over 40 years and spend $400 billion of the taxpayers' money. We owe it to the American taxpayer to ensure that they are getting the best price for their money, not the most expensive price. I want to address and speak to the myth of safety concerns. Last year, Americans imported $14.8 billion worth of medications from around the world. Lipitor is a cholesterol drug that is on every pharmaceutical counter. It is made in Ireland, but we import it. If it is unsafe, get it off the counter and get those ads off the television, because we import Lipitor from Ireland. Folks, when somebody tells you it ain't about money, it is about money, and that is what this debate is about.”