Political Quotes

“Mr. President, this bill means so much to my State. I spoke earlier today about the need to improve the approval process at the FDA, and this bill will speed that up with the agreement reached between industry and the FDA on the fees. I thank the Senator for his leadership on that issue. We have literally tens of thousands of employees in our State who have incredibly good jobs in the high-tech industry. This is a huge potential export. It is already an export, but even more could come if we do this right as we look at the growing middle class in countries such as China and India who are going to the hospital and using medical devices. So this bill is speeding up that process but still keeping the very important safety standards in place, which couldn't be more important--as well as for patients who have been waiting for lifesaving treatment. So I thank the Senator for that. I also thank the Senator for including, as Senator Bennet referenced, my drug shortage provision. We worked on that for 2 years. We gathered support as the years went on. I thank Senator Harkin for the hearing we had on that bill and for the work of his staff in bringing people together. We got Senator Casey's and Senator Collins' provisions in this bill. We all know what has been going on.…”