David McKinley

America deserves better, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you. And I just want to reinforce for everyone, you ought to read this United Nations report, because it really does document very clearly some of the problems that we are foisting on other nations, instead of doing it ourselves.

Isn't it time to be honest with the American people about the raw materials needed to make these batteries, where they come from, and the consequences of extracting these raw materials?

Look, this road to get 100 percent EVs and renewables is littered with environmental damage and human rights abuses.

But I could tell you, Mr. Chairman, maybe it is time they look in the mirror and ask themselves why are they denying these devastating environmental and human right abuses in order to obtain the critical minerals needed for batteries?

The last thing we want to do is take away people's mobility and livelihoods by limiting options of affordable and reliable vehicles.

The big question is how are we supposed to build these electric vehicles here at home?

We should let the market and consumer choice drive the adoption of EVs.

I have real concerns that the CLEAN Future Act puts the cart before the horse by mandating electric vehicles.

We need regulatory reform to mine and process critical minerals at home.

Healthcare is a right for everyone, and access to prescription medication should not be reserved as a privilege only for the wealthy few.

Policies like referencing pricing and government price-settings will effectively turn our biopharma industry to a risk-averse, think-inside-the-box-rather-than-outside-the-box commodity industry.

We need a robust biopharma industry, and I think everyone agrees to that, investing in rare diseases.

I want to respond to my good friend, Representative Castor, with regard--she brought up the VA.

The status quo is not acceptable. Congress must act to ensure that the American people have access to and can afford the treatments that they need.

If I could, I want to ask a last question to Dr. Gupta because the United States, we are still--across the country still experiencing a wave of drug overdoses at a higher rate than we have ever seen before.

So we know the loser here is going to be the American public if we don't get a bill to the President's desk for signature.

H.R. 3, unfortunately, is an overreach, and unfortunately it gives me the impression, for those in the package, that Congress is seemingly willing to let American patients suffer.

But pursuing this highly partisan H.R. 3 is just an example of overreach, unfortunate overreach, that occurs too often in Washington, and it gets in the way.

They are retiring them because of the regulatory uncertainty, and the threats that are being posed to them.

Are you willing to work with us, or--to make these reforms?

We have to start now, because it takes 7 to 8 years to do this.

I want to see in your budget, do you have enough money in there for research to be able to get us down to 80 percent by 2030?

Thank you again, Administrator Regan, not only for appearing before us, but also our conversation yesterday to get to know each other.

This is nothing but a politically driven agenda aimed at ending the use of coal and natural gas in this country.