December 17, 2009
Firedoglake.com
The Dorgan reimportation amendment has been debated for three days without a vote. Jeffrey Young reports for The Hill that the sticking point is that it might pass:
A deal between the White House and the pharmaceutical industry is holding up a bipartisan amendment to allow the importation of cheaper prescription drugs from abroad, according to a member of the Senate Democratic leadership [...]
Dorgan’s measure, which would permit bulk exports of medicines from countries such as Canada, enjoys broad and bipartisan support and likely has the backing of more than 60 senators, which would guarantee its adoption on the healthcare reform bill.
Tension between the White House and Democratic supporters of the so-called drug reimportation amendment is primarily behind the delay, Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said Thursday.
“There’s a political subtext here,” Durbin said. “It has to do with whether or not we can do as part of the impact on pharma in this bill and whether or not there are other things that are higher priorities.”
Basically, the deal between the White House and the pharmaceutical industry didn’t allow for any circumstance that would save consumers $106 billion over ten years by being able to purchase cheaper drugs. Some liberals have objected on the grounds that Republicans are making bad-faith arguments about the value of a single negotiator, but as a means to block drug customers from tens of billions in savings annually, it’s a weak argument. And it’s especially weak when the only reason it’s being held up, despite massive support, is that the White House doesn’t want to take a big bite out of Big PhRMa.
There are also several representatives of the pharmaceutical industry in the US Senate.
Democratic senators from states home to pharmaceutical companies, including Tom Carper (Del.), Frank Lautenberg (N.J.) and Robert Menendez (N.J.), object to the amendment, citing concerns about ensuring the safety of medicines entering the U.S. supply chain from foreign sources. Congress Daily has reported that Carper (D-Del.) placed a hold on the amendment, but his office refused to comment to The Hill.
The Dorgan amendment is co-sponsored by 19 senators, including Snowe and John McCain (R-Ariz.), who have been leading the floor debate. On Thursday evening, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Lautenberg had offered an alternative to the Dorgan amendment; both amendments will come to a vote at the same time, Reid said.
What’s this Lautenberg amendment? It was introduced last night, it’s 100 pages long, and was probably written by PhRMa. With one hour’s notice, Harry Reid tried to drop it onto the floor for a vote. There is no language for it at Thomas. The LA Times reports that Lautenberg’s measure is a poison pill.
Democrats from states with major drug companies strongly oppose the amendment. One of them, Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg (D-N.J.), offered an alternative to address the safety concerns. (Note: there are no safety concerns. In fact, safety is strengthened by the Dorgan amendment -ed.)
In the past, supporters of easier importation have seen similar amendments as “poison pills” — effectively neutering the proposal by requiring U.S. officials to certify in advance that imported drugs would be safe and effective [...]
The resistance from his own party infuriated Dorgan, as did Lautenberg’s amendment. “It is an amendment designed to kill our effort to allow the reimportation of drugs and put the brakes on skyrocketing drug prices,” he said.
The White House issued formal statements saying that the president backs the concept of importation — but has concerns about its safety.
“The president supports reimportation of safe and effective drugs,” said White House spokeswoman Linda Douglass. “The Food and Drug Administration has raised safety concerns about the current proposal and will continue exploring policy options to create a pathway to importing safe and effective drugs.”
This is just horseshit, pardon my French. The safety issue is a red herring; in fact, the recent settlement of Vioxx and other drugs show that we have a safety issue NOW with the current system. Under reimportation, the exact same drugs bottled at the exact same factories will be allowed for sale in this country, with actually higher safety standards.
Even when you have 60 votes in the US Senate, you don’t have them – at least when a powerful industry wants to subvert your bill and the leadership agrees with them. The White House basically has to stop talking about cost control when they try to kill one of the quickest and simplest cost control measures out there.
Byron Dorgan has some power here, though. He could announce that the underlying bill would not have his support until his amendment, which has over 60 votes, passes. More on this in a bit.