Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I do want to comment on the Vitter amendment and then be able to have the Senator from New Hampshire speak. But before the leader leaves, I want to express my condolences to the Mullins family for what happened. It is a little hard to get back into talking about amendments and debating issues when you hear such a poignant and wrenching story. I am glad the Senator from Louisiana is on the floor, because I know we will be debating his amendment. I want to make a comment about the Vitter amendment No. 769, as modified. I oppose the amendment. I appreciate the intent of the Senator from Louisiana to make lower cost drugs available to the American people, but we have many flashing lights about this and I bring this from knowledge of being both on the Intelligence Committee and also in working with the FBI through our CJS in both the classified and unclassified setting. The 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, and we don't know if it is coming from a regulated Canadian Web site. We are concerned because of organized crime involvement and now counterfeit drugs--lethal, lethal, lethal drugs--could come into our country and have dire and devastating effects. We could talk about how to have pharmaceutical FDA-approved drugs available to our people at less cost. Ironically, this is coming from a national health system.…”