Political Quotes

“Madam President, I rise in opposition to the McCain amendment No. 2107. I appreciate the intent of Senator McCain to make lower cost drugs available to the American people, but I have many flashing lights about this amendment. I bring this from knowledge of being both on the Intelligence Committee and also in working with the FBI as the chair of the Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, and Science. This amendment allows individuals to import FDA approved drugs from Canada. It sounds great, but we don't know if the drug was made in Canada. No HHS Secretary has been able to demonstrate that importation will be safe. It is ironic that some faux populists who oppose a public option, who oppose allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices, support importing price controls from Canada. This amendment doesn't guarantee cost savings for consumers, Medicare, Medicaid, or insurers. I oppose this amendment for four reasons. First, it is a budget buster. Enforcing this will take enormous amounts of resources, and the amendment doesn't give the FDA the human resources, the financial resources, or the technological resources to ensure the safety of these drugs for U.S. consumers. It doesn't give FDA the resources to inspect and certify the brick-and-mortar and Internet-based Canadian pharmacies, nor does it give FDA the resources to verify that these pharmacies comply with Canada's laws.…”