Cross-posted at The Word Smiths
Today the Senate passed amendment 1010 to Senate bill 1082, Prescription Drug User Fee Amendments of 2007. Some background information:
The maneuvering occurred on broader legislation to renew the FDA's ability to collect fees from the drug industry to defray the cost of reviewing new drugs.
The "broader legislation" refers to Senate Bill 1082, in itself a good thing. Now about Amendment 1010. The short title of the amendmentis:
S.Amdt.1010 Offered To protect the health and safety of the public.
Sounds all well and good. So how does S. Amdt. 1010 protect the health and safety of the public. Like this:
On a 49-40 vote, the Senate required the administration to certify the safety and effectiveness of imported drugs before they can be imported
Still sounds good, right? If we are going to take drugs that haven’t been produced under regulation of our FDA, we should have them inspected and certified before they come in to the States. Oh, but there is this caveat:
Under both Democratic and Republican administrations, secretaries of Health and Human Services have declined to certify that foreign drugs
So, Congress has allowed drugs to be imported, so long as they are certified by an agency that refuses to certify them. Brilliant!
So, our Congress has renewed legislation ensuring that Americans will not be able to obtain less costly prescription drugs that healthy societies, such as Canada, Australia, Europe, Japan and New Zealand., have already deemed appropriate for consumption.
Here is the kicker. This legislation only applies to civilians. The bill only applies to drug imports into the United States. However, deployed Soldiers all over the world who are treated in coalition field hospitals are given foreign drugs exclusively. Where is a link to back this assertion up? I don’t have one.
All I have is my personal testimony. I have long suspected that I suffered from Attention Deficit Disorder. Earlier this year, at a Canadian field hospital in Afghanistan, I was diagnosed by a Canadian psychiatrist with ADD. He prescribed me a generic form of Ritalin, which was filled at the Canadian pharmacy with Canadian drugs.
In addition to this, anyone in my unit who falls ill sees Canadian medical personal. If they require medication they are also sent to the Canadian pharmacy and given Canadian drugs. I doubt this is limited to my location. I’d be willing to bet any other installation throughout the world were there are American military personnel and only a foreign hospital, the Soldiers are given foreign drugs. I have no complaints as to my prescription, and neither does any one else I’ve encountered. It appears as though foreign drugs may be safe for consumption after all. But evidently Congress thinks this is not so. The drugs are bad for Americans, and substandard, but good enough for our Soldiers.
So I ask Congress, "what is going on here"? Are Soldiers undeserving of the same prescription drugs as the rest of America? Or are the drugs just ass good, and you are just protecting the pharmaceutical industry?
By the way, there are quite a few prominent Democrats who contributed to the passage of this amendment. I urge you all to write, call and email these Senators, and ask them if they are in the pocket of pharmaceutical lobbyists, or if they don’t think American Soldiers deserve the same quality of treatment as the rest of America. As I see it, those are the only options.
Roll Call vote on Amdt. 1010:
Akaka (D-HI), Nay
Alexander (R-TN), Yea
Allard (R-CO), Not Voting
Baucus (D-MT), Yea
Bayh (D-IN), Yea
Bennett (R-UT), Yea
Biden (D-DE), Not Voting
Bingaman (D-NM), Nay
Bond (R-MO), Yea
Boxer (D-CA), Nay
Brown (D-OH), Nay
Brownback (R-KS), Not Voting
Bunning (R-KY), Yea
Burr (R-NC), Yea
Byrd (D-WV), Nay
Cantwell (D-WA), Yea
Cardin (D-MD), Nay
Carper (D-DE), Yea
Casey (D-PA), Nay
Chambliss (R-GA), Yea
Clinton (D-NY), Nay
Coburn (R-OK), Yea
Cochran (R-MS), Yea
Coleman (R-MN), Yea
Collins (R-ME), Nay
Conrad (D-ND), Nay
Corker (R-TN), Yea
Cornyn (R-TX), Yea
Craig (R-ID), Nay
Crapo (R-ID), Yea
DeMint (R-SC), Nay
Dodd (D-CT), Not Voting
Dole (R-NC), Yea
Domenici (R-NM), Yea Dorgan (D-ND), Nay
Durbin (D-IL), Nay
Ensign (R-NV), Not Voting
Enzi (R-WY), Yea
Feingold (D-WI), Nay
Feinstein (D-CA), Nay
Graham (R-SC), Yea
Grassley (R-IA), Nay
Gregg (R-NH), Yea
Hagel (R-NE), Yea
Harkin (D-IA), Nay
Hatch (R-UT), Yea
Hutchison (R-TX), Yea
Inhofe (R-OK), Not Voting
Inouye (D-HI), Nay
Isakson (R-GA), Yea
Johnson (D-SD), Not Voting
Kennedy (D-MA), Yea
Kerry (D-MA), Yea
Klobuchar (D-MN), Nay
Kohl (D-WI), Nay
Kyl (R-AZ), Yea
Landrieu (D-LA), Yea
Lautenberg (D-NJ), Yea
Leahy (D-VT), Nay
Levin (D-MI), Nay
Lieberman (ID-CT), Yea
Lincoln (D-AR), Yea
Lott (R-MS), Nay
Lugar (R-IN), Yea
Martinez (R-FL), Yea
McCain (R-AZ), Not Voting
McCaskill (D-MO), Nay
McConnell (R-KY), Yea Menendez (D-NJ), Yea
Mikulski (D-MD), Yea
Murkowski (R-AK), Yea
Murray (D-WA), Yea
Nelson (D-FL), Nay
Nelson (D-NE), Yea
Obama (D-IL), Not Voting
Pryor (D-AR), Nay
Reed (D-RI), Not Voting
Reid (D-NV), Nay
Roberts (R-KS), Yea
Rockefeller (D-WV), Yea
Salazar (D-CO), Yea
Sanders (I-VT), Nay
Schumer (D-NY), Nay
Sessions (R-AL), Nay
Shelby (R-AL), Nay
Smith (R-OR), Nay
Snowe (R-ME), Nay
Specter (R-PA), Yea
Stabenow (D-MI), Nay
Stevens (R-AK), Yea
Sununu (R-NH), Yea
Tester (D-MT), Not Voting
Thomas (R-WY), Yea
Thune (R-SD), Nay
Vitter (R-LA), Nay
Voinovich (R-OH), Yea
Warner (R-VA), Yea
Webb (D-VA), Nay
Whitehouse (D-RI), Nay
Wyden (D-OR), Nay
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