Frank Pallone

Medicaid is an efficient program, its cost per beneficiary is substantially lower than private insurance and Medicare and in recent years, these costs have grown far more slowly.

Medicaid was designed at the federal level to expand and contract according to a state's need and that is a tenant we must protect and improve, not reverse.

The truth is, the overwhelming majority of the more 71 million Medicaid beneficiaries are children, the elderly, the disabled, and pregnant women, all our most vulnerable populations.

Medicaid is not a welfare program. It is a health insurance program that more Americans depend on than any other single federal health program.

The Medicaid program is often called the innovation incubator.

I believe the government exists to help all Americans succeed and improving and strengthening Medicaid for generations to come continues to be a primary goal of mine.

This is an important hearing, not only in terms of what is happening to biosimilars, but just the larger issue of drug pricing.

I do worry that it is important in the case of biosimilars or generics that that continue to be a way of reducing drug pricing.

I worry that this inappropriately treats biosimilars like generic drugs and will disincentivize manufacturers from entering the biosimilars marketplace.

We have seen how our healthcare system has benefitted from the competition that comes with a robust market.

I supported the creation of the pathway for biosimilars and for empowering FDA with the authority and resources to ensure that biosimilars are safely available here in the United States for the patients that need them most.

Biosimilars hold enormous potential to offer patients with serious and life-threatening diseases access to more treatment options and potentially lower cost options.

I do want to ask one additional last question for Mr. Marsan because in his written testimony he said that, since enactment of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, that FERC has been interpreting I think Section 203 to mean that any acquisition…

I fear that we may face the same situation with natural gas infrastructure where we are building pipelines that ultimately we may not need.

This legislation is not needed. FERC already allows aerial data to be used in proceedings under Section 7 of the Natural Gas Act.

We should not categorically make a decision that photos taken thousand of feet in the air are as accurate in cataloguing endangered plants and animals as surveys on the ground.

Unfortunately, I can't say the same about the AIR Survey Act of 2015. It is a reckless and brazen effort...

I am particularly pleased that the subcommittee is considering H.R. 2984, Representative Kennedy's Fair Rates Act...

As large and devastating storms become more frequent because of climate change, we need FirstNet at full force across the country as soon as possible.

I had the opportunity to see this equipment for myself at the forum and it is impressive and it will save lives.

FirstNet will help ensure that first responders across the country have the best, the most rugged communications equipment.

We learned a lot. I incorporated many of these lessons into the Sandy Act that I recently introduced.

I heard from first responders about their difficulty communicating.

I think that had we known more about the workings of LED light bulbs at the time, we would have exempted them specifically from mandatory efficiency standards from the start.

I'm concerned about any action, no matter how well-intentioned, that might interfere with that success.