[Ip-health] House passes farm appropriations bill w/ amendment to legalize drug reimportation

[Mike Palmedo]

House Passes FY 2008 Agriculture Appropriations Bill With Provision To
Allow Prescription Drug Reimportation From Canada, Other Nations

Kaiser News Network
August 03, 2007

The House on Thursday voted 237-18 to pass a $91 billion fiscal year
2008 Agriculture appropriations bill (HR 3161) with a provision that
effectively would allow U.S. residents to purchase lower-cost
prescription drugs from Canada and other nations, AP/USA Today reports
(AP/USA Today, 8/3). Under the provision, FDA could not use federal
funds to enforce a ban on prescription drug reimportation.

Earlier on Thursday, the House voted 283-146 to reject an amendment
proposed by Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.) to remove the provision from the
legislation. Kingston, who supports prescription drug reimportation,
said that he proposed the amendment to establish a record of majority
House support for the provision, according to CQ Today.

Critics of the provision raised concerns about the safety of
prescription drug reimportation. "What we are doing is throwing open the
gates to every counterfeiter in the world," Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) said.

In an argument against passage of the amendment, Kingston said, "If we
want to make this safe, we can make this safe," adding, "This is a
country that just invented the iPhone. We can figure out how to make
this safe" (Richert, CQ Today, 8/2). Rep. Jo Ann Emerson (R-Mo.) said,
"I would prefer to stand up for my constituents in Missouri as opposed
to the pharmaceutical companies keeping competition and low prices out
of this country."

The Bush administration "strongly opposes" the provision, but a policy
statement released by the administration did not include an explicit
veto threat (AP/USA Today, 8/3). According to CQ Today, the
appropriations bill passed, although more than half of Republicans left
the House and refused to vote on the legislation, "saying the Democratic
leadership handled the bill poorly."