Joe Barton

I want to thank Karen Harbert for her help in passing the repeal of the ban on crude oil exports.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman and Ranking Member Green, for holding this hearing.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman and Ranking Member Rush, for holding this hearing.

Mr. Davis just said, CMS has announced that they're going to reverse their earlier policy and assign a separate HCPCS code for each biosimilar rather than have a single payment rate.

Congratulations on your chairmanship. You follow me, Fred Upton, Gregg Walden, and when we were in the minority, John Dingell, Bart Stupak.

Do you plan to use a red team-blue team approach and if so when might we expect that to start?

Are you aware of that finding document and, if so, do you have any plans to revisit it?

Thank you, Chairman Shimkus. I want to give Ranking Member Tonko A+ for the line of the day...

I would encourage you to go back and revisit the finding document and get the report that this career analyst put forward.

I had sexual relationships with other mature adult women. Each was consensual. Those relationships have ended. I'm sorry I did not use better judgment during those days.

Well, to me that seems overly complicated.

Well, who is the decision maker?

I got that and you have done it.

We have talked a lot today on the floor about the children's component of this bill, the S-CHIP. It is a good program. It covers about 45 percent of the low-income children in Texas. It is a very worthwhile program and needs to be…

Maybe this time it is different. You know I can't speak for anybody else but I am ready to, if necessary, legislate to change the law and actually put in the statute some of the recommendations of the GAO.

I don't have any frame of reference but it would appear to me, when you see the potential danger...

Should we put a limit on the number of these laboratories that handle these highly dangerous materials?

I think that we are going to have to change the law and that we are going to have to do more than require disclosure.

The current system is not working.

Should we make that an illegal act? When Chairman Walden says some pharmacy in West Virginia gets 11 million pills...

We represent the people of the United States. When you get a letter or your agency gets a letter from this committee that is signed by the chairman and the ranking member and maybe the subcommittee chairman, you are supposed to answer it.

I am going to recommend to the chairman that we bring the wrath of this committee down on DEA.

we had a hurricane in Texas too. We're a little bit more developed as a state, so our ability to endure it was possibly somewhat stronger.

I want to extend my personal welcome to our newest member, Mr. Duncan. He's an outstanding member of the Republican baseball team that I manage.

Thank you for your service, and I look forward to following up on the rest of this.