Political Quotes

“I do appreciate all that the gentleman has done. The bill that we are proposing as the Walden amendment in the nature of the substitute, actually deals with an item that we have talked about a great deal, and that is pharmacy benefit managers. I am going to give the gentleman a second to talk about that, but I do want to mention the item that I have been bringing up a lot in these, and that is the unconstitutionality of H.R. 3. The problem is, as you know--and it sounds shocking, but it is true-- if you don't accept the price the government is paying you, they take 95 percent of your gross revenues on that drug. That money they take from you, that penalty is not tax deductible, doesn't do anything as far as what expenses you put into it, so you are actually going to lose money. Now, as I said in my comments earlier this evening, that is not negotiation. That is, as the Godfather would have said in the old movie series, ``an offer you can't refuse.'' I wish I could do the voice; I can't. But that is a problem. And you don't have to believe me. In the committee I brought this up--the committee didn't necessarily believe me--but the Congressional Research Service has said this bill likely violates the Fifth and the Eighth Amendments of the Constitution. This is a nonpartisan group that works for Congress that came out and said, Yeah, there are some real problems here. When you are being confiscatory, you are not really negotiating. It is a problem.…”