Bernie Sanders: “I urge a ``no'' vote on this rule. I strongly support the concept of reimportation, and helped to introduce the initial…”

“I urge a ``no'' vote on this rule. I strongly support the concept of reimportation, and helped to introduce the initial legislation with the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Berry) and the gentlewoman from Missouri (Mrs. Emerson). I support that concept because it is an outrage that the people of this country pay two times, five times, ten times more for the same exact drugs manufactured in the United States and sold in Canada, sold in Mexico, and sold in Europe. We are the suckers of the world, paying far more to an industry which is the most profitable industry in this country, earning $27 billion in profits, while the pharmaceutical industry fought us from the beginning on this bipartisan effort. They spent $40 million against us. They have 300 paid lobbyists in Washington, D.C. fighting against us; yet we moved forward in a bipartisan way. Unfortunately, at the very end of the stage, at the end of the process, a nonpartisan effort became partisan. The Republican leadership introduced legislation with significant loopholes which would go a long way to nullify what we tried to do. Let me quote The New York Times today. A lobbyist for one of the Nation's biggest drug companies, which have worked against the measure, said, ``I doubt that anyone will realize a penny of savings from this legislation.'' The existing legislation allows the following loopholes: it allows drug companies and their intermediaries to price discriminate against U.S. pharmacies and importers.”