Affordable Health Care For America Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. CONYERS. Thank you, Chairman Rangel, and all of our colleagues that have supported single-payer health care. Eighty-six other Members are now working to make sure that we get this bill passed. I single out my colleagues Dennis Kucinich and Anthony Weiner for their particularly effective work.

But I want to say that this is the same battle that some people went through when we passed Social Security. We had the same naysayers. The same people when we passed Medicare, the same naysayers. The same people when we passed Medicaid, the same naysayers. And now we try to reform health care today, and what do we get? The same people saying ``no'' again.

So I'm proud to bring all of the support that I can to make sure that this bill becomes law, that more people are covered, and that preexisting conditions no longer will be an excuse to get rid of people.

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Mr. CONAWAY. Mr. Speaker, I have criticized many of the provisions of H.R. 3962, the Affordable Health Care for America Act, and with good reason. However, I believe that the creation of a market for biosimilar products is one area of the bill that strikes the appropriate balance in providing lower cost options to consumers without destroying a healthy and functioning industry in this country. These provisions were adopted on an overwhelming bipartisan vote for the Eshoo-Inslee-Barton (EIB) amendment in the Energy and Commerce Committee.

Creating a pathway for new products that does not destroy the ability or the incentives for innovator companies to develop breakthrough technology and at the same time provide a safe and effective way to bring competition to benefit patients is a creditable achievement. Ideally, this provision would be removed from this fatally flawed piece of legislation and considered separately, as it would pass with overwhelming bipartisan support.

These provisions are the first step on the long path to the marketing of these new products. New research and clinical testing will have to occur, and the FDA must write rules that will ensure that research is done safely and effectively. I have long supported the U.S. biotechnology industry as it has been a strong engine of job creation in this country. Unfortunately, many larger companies that seek to enter the biosimilar market have outsourced research to foreign countries. With this week's devastating news that unemployment has reached 10.2 percent, it is critical that we preserve jobs in the United States.

As this new market launches in the United States, we must foster innovative products at home to create jobs, and conduct research that will prove whether products are interchangeable with innovators' products. It is unlikely that these companies can create such interchangeable products; however research and testing will prove if it can be conducted within our borders without being outsourced.

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