Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I thank the Senator from Maryland, Ms. Mikulski, for her passion and understanding and intense work on this particular bill. Of course, she extends her passion and intense work on any bill she is involved in. I am so pleased this bill has gone to committee and has had the time for the committee to work on it. We have a very bipartisan approach on the bill and a very reasonable way to do it. I rise to support S. 3187, the Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act of 2012, and I appreciate Senator Mikulski making the opening statement. This bill will reauthorize FDA's drug and medical device user fee programs, authorize new user fees for generic drugs and biosimilars, and make a small number of targeted bipartisan policy reforms at the same time. This legislation represents over a full year of work by the HELP Committee. Fridays have been dedicated to coming up with solutions on this for over a year, and it has paid off. It reflects the information we have learned from hundreds of meetings with patients, with advocates, with stakeholders, with outside experts, and with the FDA. More importantly, it reflects both the ideas and the feedback we have gotten from every member of the HELP Committee and a lot of people outside the HELP Committee. The HELP Committee approved this bill by a voice vote on April 25 and reported the bill out of committee on May 7. This bill will make important changes to how FDA does business.…”