Frank Pallone: “a principal goal of this new Democratic majority is to make health care more affordable for all Americans, and that is…”

“a principal goal of this new Democratic majority is to make health care more affordable for all Americans, and that is the reason I rise in strong support of H.R. 4. This legislation will help lower prescription drug costs for our Nation's seniors and the disabled by simply repealing the provision inserted by the Republican majority into the 2003 law that prohibits the Secretary of Health and Human Services from negotiating lower drug prices. Now, Mr. Speaker, it is a national embarrassment, in my opinion, that we have the tools to lower drug prices for America's seniors and the disabled and yet we do not utilize them. It is simply time for a new direction. This provision that we are repealing never made any sense, except to the pharmaceutical industry. My colleague who is controlling the bill on the other side talked about reality and talked about irony. The reality is that this provision was inserted by the pharmaceutical industry, a special interest, because of their alliance essentially with the Republican majority. And the irony is that that gentleman continues to talk about saving money when in reality we would save a tremendous amount of money by having this provision repealed. That savings, as Mrs. Emerson said, could actually be used to increase the quality of the program, perhaps by filling up the donut hole or doing other things that would make it possible for seniors to have even more access to prescription drugs at a lower cost.”