Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2007

DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2007 -- (House of Representatives - May 25, 2006)

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Mr. GUTKNECHT. Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of H.R. 5441, the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2007. This bill will provide valuable homeland security dollars to communities and infrastructure in our country.

I'm particularly pleased about one provision included in this bill. It will prevent U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) from seizing the property of Americans. Believe it or not, this is being done today.

For years, individuals have been allowed to purchase prescription drugs for personal use from Canada and other foreign countries. Last November, without notification, CBP began to seize medicine that Americans had bought from Canadian mail-order pharmacies. We now know that between November 2005 and February 2006 almost 13,000 packages of drugs were seized.

Preventing these life-saving drugs from getting to their intended destination puts Americans' health at risk. Many seniors on fixed incomes lost hundreds of dollars worth of drugs when they were seized. That may not seem like much to a pharmaceutical executive, but this is a lot of money to someone on a fixed income.

Section 532 of H.R. 5441 states that ``None of the funds made available in this Act for United States Customs and Border Protection may be used to prevent an individual not in the business of importing a prescription drug ..... from importing a prescription drug . . .'' This will put a stop to our own government confiscating the medicine on which its citizens depend. I urge passage of this bill. We should insist that this provision remain in the final bill that the House receives from the Conference Committee.

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