Mr. Speaker, H.R. 1829, the Hoekstra-Frank-Collins-Maloney-Sensenbrenner-Conyers Federal Prison Industries Competition in Contracting Act of 2003 will bring fundamental and necessary comprehensive reform to Federal Prison Industries…

I am enthusiastic about this bill. It has bipartisan support, supported by development organizations. It is supported by the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the Education Association of the University Centers. So it has clearly met the needs of…

In the global war on terror, Iraq is a major theater of conflict. We chose to take the war to the terrorists, where they live, where they seek refuge, and not allow them to again gather strength and the resources to attack us in the United…

tonight I wish to spend a few minutes talking about a couple of issues; number one, the progress and the commitment and the hope that I have observed in Iraq in two different trips, two different opportunities I have had to travel to Iraq…

I had an opportunity to go back in September to complement that trip and see some things we were not able to see in August; and in coming back, there are some things we agreed on. Number one, we agreed on the quality of our troops. We have…

the media is portraying a very different story regarding what is going on in Iraq than what we saw. There is no doubt that Iraq is still a dangerous place. At least it was in August, it was in September, and it probably still is today. But…

We talked about the horrors of Saddam. I will give you one of the ones that I have not seen published anywhere, but that I heard on my last trip. I had the opportunity to go through the Ministry of Health. Then I had the opportunity to go…

I notice that none of the folks that are opposed to the bill are willing to answer the single most important question tonight which is, why do drugs cost 40 percent more in the United States than they do in Canada and in Europe? That…

the interesting thing that the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Gutknecht) is talking about, if you are buying pork or hog bellies from Canada, they were raised and grown in Canada and exported to the U.S. These drugs that we are talking…

So much of the debate has been about ensuring that seniors have access to health care, and that is important, that they have access to affordable health care. But what has been lost in the debate... is that small businesses and others are…

what my local pharmacist said today was we would have not that great of a drug crisis in the United States if we had Canadian pricing or German pricing or other EU pricing. The three reasons that Mr. Trewhitt gave my local newspapers as to…

Fifty-two percent. One of my pharmacists called me this morning, and he is outraged because he opens his morning newspaper, and he is seeing this ad and says, how do I compete? And I said, I want you to do a press conference with me next…

Not only on the surface is it ridiculous, but as we peel the onion, it gets even more absurd. They say that these are Canadian drugs, who knows where they manufactured. No, they were not manufactured in Toronto. These things were…

We are fighting in a world economy for every job. Every American worker faces not only competition, but in Michigan we face competition from Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota, and Ohio, each and every day. And each and every day they fight…

That is right. Our price being the one in Canada. Premarin, the U.S. price, $80. Our price, if you buy it through mail order from Canada, $17. One of my pharmacists called me today because he says I cannot sell this for $80. He says, when…

Lipitor, save 43 percent. The average U.S. cost is $288. Our price is $165. Neurotonin, you have got all these down, but average U.S. cost $130. Our price $78.

They come back and they give us their best judgment. I am impressed with the work of the chairman and the ranking member, how they have set a course that says we are going to go through this in a bipartisan way. We are going to take a look…

We pay the highest prices. We do the development, the testing, we do all the market research and all of that here in the United States. We are the largest market. These drugs are made here, and we pay the highest prices.

Which is kind of where I am with Federal Prison Industries. I have never been a fan of them, but I have been fanatical about it just because of the sheer injustice. But this is absolutely critical right now, just like the Federal Prison…

The other thing that happens on this, there is a ripple effect, because when you go to Canada, and we are competing against Canada for automotive manufacturing, furniture manufacturing, when a Canadian worker needs to pay for health care…

What does she do that would get her thrown into jail? Going to Canada or going to Mexico or going to Europe is not illegal to buy these drugs, is it?

This affects the ability of GM to sell cars in Europe. This affects the ability of GM to sell cars in the United States against cars that are made in Europe by companies who are providing benefits to their workers. And we are subsidizing…

Whether it is from the Swiss or Spain or Canada or the U.S. Again, I am assuming many times that that product is going to be built in a factory perhaps even in the United States; or a single or a couple of factories are going to supply the…

Just think, the numbers and the examples you are using, a conservative estimate says rather than the U.S. price being 20 times what they might be able to get it somewhere else, let us say U.S. companies could save, 25, 30 percent. For a…

But just the sheer difference between these, for $5 in Germany to $100. The thing is, for anybody who has traveled, you typically do not go to an airport and expect best prices. It would be interesting what would happen if you went to a…