Peter Welch

I want four issues. One, R&D spending; 2, stock buybacks; 3, advertising; 4, executive compensation.

Pharma is claiming that it spends all its money on R&D, but it won't show us the books.

They are fiction. They really are.

But you, I think, have answered my question that it is not new money.

But my point is this was--this was presented to the public as a big deal.

But we know that 25 million Americans currently lack access to broadband.

The standards have made a difference. You know, there are about 2.7 billion lightbulb sockets where, if we use those, it is going to save homeowners about 100 bucks a year.

It is very dispiriting that we are not making the progress on energy efficiency that both sides know is really good.

How essential are they, and how can we provide them?

I want to thank the panel, and I want to thank you, Madam Chair, and I will yield back the 30 seconds I have.

Thank you, doctor. That is fantastic about the AMA. I mean, that is the kind of support that your patients need, and I think we need here, to make some steps to bring those prices down.

My view is the safety issue is a red herring because I haven't heard anybody anywhere who is in favor of unsafe products.

One of the things that he talked about was drug importation, and, obviously, this would have to be safe.

It really is bizarre what happens.

I endorse everything that my colleague, Mr. Griffith, said, and appreciate you being willing to work with him.

All of us have a concern about a formulary. Is that going to restrict patient access?

It cost taxpayers $500 million--500 million bucks.

I don't see that as R&D.

There ought to be transparency--transparency on the rebates and, I think, transparency on how much is really spent on R&D.

The pharmaceutical industry creates life-saving and -extending drugs and pain-relieving drugs. That is a good thing. You are killing us with the price and that is on both sides--both sides--and we are trying to get to the bottom of this.

However, as newer and more specialized medicines come to market, these drugs typically have much higher prices that are too often just simply unaffordable.

Solving this drug-pricing crisis will require a multifaceted approach that addresses the misaligned incentives throughout the supply chain that often encourage gaming and lead to higher costs.

Now, I am proud of the bipartisan work but it is critical that we recognize that the work cannot and will not stop there.

When they're over in Iraq or Afghanistan, they have this unit cohesion. There is a sense of incredible solidarity where it's all about helping their battlefield comrades.

In Vermont, and during Iraq and Afghanistan, our loss of combat causalities was, on a per-capita basis, the highest in the country for quite a period of time, and now we have the highest suicide rate.