Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2007

DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2007 -- (Senate - July 11, 2006)

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Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, I support the Vitter amendment to stop the Customs and Border Protection agency from using its funds to block the personal importation of prescription drugs from Canada that comply with requirements of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. We all know that drugs distributed in Canada are as safe and effective as drugs distributed in the United States.

Each of us has constituents who obtain prescription drugs from Canada. The reason is obvious. They are tired of being gouged by exorbitant U.S. prices for their medicines, when the identical drugs are available in Canada at half the price and are just as safe. Drugs from Canada are certainly a better choice for hard-pressed patients than cutting their U.S. pills in half or taking them every other day to make them more affordable or not taking needed drugs at all.

Innovative senior citizens first alerted the Nation several years ago to the opportunity available in Canada by organizing bus trips across the border from many of our Northern States.

In Massachusetts, the city of Springfield began using Canadian pharmacies to provide drugs for its city employees and retirees. Springfield's example led the way for other city and State governments across the country to do the same. The Internet revolution vastly expanded the opportunity by enabling patients across America to go to Canada on the internet and save thousands of dollars a year on their prescriptions.

The administration should not be using the Customs agency to block patients from getting safe drugs from Canada. Yet recently it has been using the Customs agency to avoid a current requirement that the Food and Drug Administration give special notice to a patient if it detains the patient's imported drug at the border. This amendment should stop that abuse, but this amendment is not the real answer on importation. It is time for Congress to allow safe imports from Canada--and from other developed countries, too.

S. 334, the Dorgan-Snowe drug importation bill, will do this, and the Senate needs to act on this bill. Patients will be able to import drugs from exporters in Canada who are registered with FDA and regularly inspected by FDA. Wholesalers and pharmacies will be able to import drugs from other developed countries if they register with FDA and agree to regular inspections by FDA. The imported drugs will fully meet FDA standards for approval and will have FDA-approved labeling.

S. 334 also prevents drug companies from blocking imports, as several major drug companies have been doing to shut down the rising tide from Canada.

The high price Americans pay today for prescription drugs is unacceptable and unfair. The bipartisan Dorgan-Snowe importation bill is a practical solution to bring drug prices down for patients at no risk to the safety of our drug supply. That is the measure we should have voted on today, but our Republican leadership keeps denying us a debate and a vote on that needed bill.

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