Frank Pallone: “more information comes out every day about the influence of the drug industry, both on the White House and on Congress…”

“more information comes out every day about the influence of the drug industry, both on the White House and on Congress, in terms of what kind of prescription drug plan we pass here in the House and in the other body, which is currently debating the bill. I do not bring up the information about the links between the prescription drug industry because of any desire to defame them, but only because I am very concerned that their amount of influence that they exert here basically skews the dialogue and what we pass in a way that is not beneficial to the average Americans. The bottom line is that Democrats in the House a few weeks ago, when the Republicans passed the prescription drug bill, were very critical of the Republican bill because it was basically giving money to private insurers in the hope that they would offer drug-only policies to senior citizens. There was nothing in the Republican prescription drug bill that passed the House that would guarantee a prescription drug benefit for seniors. There was no guarantee, and there was no absolutely effort on the Republican part to address the issue of price, which is the main problem most Americans face now, that the price of drug continues to rise.”