to carry his name. i urge passage and i yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman yields ack the balance of his time. mr. brady: i yield two minutes to a member of the ways and means committee, mr. lahood. mr. lahood: and i rise tonight in opposition to h.r. , the fewer cures and more government control act. the overal costs of prescription drugs are too high and there are bad actors in the system and i wonder why we are debating that puts a system. we should be finding ways to find more companies to gaming in cures and drive competition for lower costs. during consideration of h.r. 3 in our ways and means committee,

i offered a commonsense alzheimer's reat from negotiable drug end quote. aleds i'mer's research needs to remain international tact so the doctors that are working every y to find a cure can do it uninterrupted. unfortunately, the amendment was defeated. 38 cures will not come to market because of the legislation over the next two decades and cuts off at the off innovation. the impact on potential cures for diseases like alzheimer's and dementia is unacceptable. an impact on even one cure is one too many. let alone 38. instead we have an alternative.

the house should support h.r. 19, the lower cost, more cures act, which consists of over 40 bipartisan provision which is president trump may actually sign to lower costs for prescription drugs for all our constituents. it's disappointing that democrats won't work aross the aisle to solve this problem and instead are pushing a bill that will stifle innovative health care solutions and result in fewer life-saving cures and the research that goes into alzheimer's. i urge my colleagues to oppose h.r. 3 and i yield back. the chair: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. mr. neal: thank you, madam speaker. with that, let me yield two minutes to the gentlelady from alabama, congresswoman sewell. the chair: the gentlewoman is recognized. ms. sewell: i rise many support of h.r. 3, the elijah cummings lower drug costs now act. i'm particularly proud of a provision i worked with speaker pelosi to improve a provision in

the original bill that caps out of pocket spending for medicare rt b beneficiaries at $2,000 annually. my proposal further protects seniors by allows them -- allowing them to pay these out of pocket costs in equal installs over 12 months rather than all at once. the final version of h.r. 3 includes a bill i introduced earlier this month, h.r. 4669, the maximizing drug coverage for lower income seniors act. this is a smart and innovative legislation that will ensure seniors are enrolled in the best medicare part d program for their individual needs, not just randomly assigned. this will save them money on out of pocket costs as well as improve access to their needed medications while also enerating savings in overall medicaid spending that can be reinvested in the program. in the richest nation in the world, every american should be able to afford their life-saving

medication i urge my colleagues to support this ground breaking legislation and vote for h.r. 3. thank you and i yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the gentlewoman yields back. the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. brady: i reserve. we have another speak thorne way. the chair: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized mr. neal: let me yield two minutes to the gentlelady from california, congresswoman chu. the chair: the gentlewoman is recognized for two minutes. ms. chu: i rise today in support of h.r. 3, the elijah cummings lower drug costs now act. americans are sick and tired of getting fleeced by big pharma and had enough of skyrocketing prescription drug prices. in my district, an uninsured patient with diabetes has to pay 55 for a monthly supply of

flex pens, a popular brand of insulin. in canada, that same supply can be purchased for just $47. this is outrageous. why should americans have to pay so much more than any other developed country for the exact same medication? why should my constituents have to plan trips to mexico and canada to get the medications they need to stay alive because even with the cost of travel, it's still cheaper to buy their insulin abroad. and why are drug company profits soaring while patients go bankrupt? this is simply not right. h.r. 3 is a landmark piece of legislation. it give -- it gives medicare the power to negotiate for lower prices directly with the drug companies. it makes those lower drug prices available to those with private insurance. seniors will not have to pay more than $2,000 out of pocket for their drugs. and drug companies can no longer rip off americans while charging

other countries less for the same drugs. this bill is an important first step in addressing the skyrocketing cost of prescription drugs. i'm proud to stand here today as a co-sponsor of h.r. 3 and i'm committed to continuing our work for the people to bring down the cost of prescription drugs for all americans. thank you and i yield back. the chair: the yom yields back. the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. brady: thank you madam speaker, i reserve at this time. the chair: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. mr. neal: let me yield two minutes to the gentleman from pennsylvania, congressman boyle. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. boyle: thank you, madam speaker. i thank the chairman and cleefings mine on both sides of the aisle in my committee, the ways and means committee. what a perfect illustration of the difference in priorities between the two parties.

the major health initiative of the opposite party when they were in power two years ago was to repeal the affordable care act which would have taken away health care from more than 20 million americans. yet now the house, under democratic leadership, is considering the major priority on this side of the aisle, h.r. 3. a bill that according to the congressional budget office will save drug costs of $500 billion for the american people. there are many reasons why i support h.r. 3 and i'm proud to do so. but i want to highlight a special -- i want to highlight especially just one of them. this legislation would generate $10 billion to fight the opioid crisis. setting aside resources for the localities that have been impacted the most. that includes many rural areas in our country, but it also

includes urban areas as well, especially in my district in my hometown of philadelphia. i am proud to stand here and support h.r. 3. this is one of the most important things we can do for the american people, save prescription drug costs. i urge its support and i yield back. the chair: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. brady: i reserve. the chair: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. mr. neal: let me yield two minutes to the other gentleman from pennsylvania, congressman evans. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. evans: thank you, madam speaker. i'm proud to stand before you and offer my support for h.r. 3, the elijah cummings lower drug costs now. one issue that has a significant impact on my constituent sthess rise -- skyrocketing cost of insulin. across pennsylvania, more than one million people live with

diabetes and can spend anywhere from $1,200 to $20,000 on insulin medication each year. over the past decade, the price 197%.ulin has increased when i think about the impact that these price hikes have on my constituent the first person that comes to my mind is a young man by the name of chase. chase is from philadelphia. he was diagnosed with type 1 die bee cease at the age of 3. he came to my office not long ago. chase told me that he and his mother needed members of congress to do something about the cost of insulin. because he was worried about the burden it was placing on his mother. even though his illness was brought on through no fault of his own, chase walked through, he -- through each step of his journey with his illness.

he told me he and his mother do on a daily basis to manage the diabetes. he is strong and his message -- strong in his message that we need to do something about this rising cost. chase is 10 years old. he did not choose this, neither did the 30 million americans across the country. under h.r. 3, there will be a reduction in insulin. it is important that i stand with my colleagues today and support h.r. 3 which includes my bill. it is important that this bill will help make seniors afford health care costs by increasing the number available. no one chooses their sickness and no one chooses their children. the speaker pro tempore: -- chip the -- the chair: the time of the gentleman has expired. mr. evans: i urge my colleagues

to act. the chair: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. brady: i reserve. the chair: the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. mr. neal: let me yield two minutes to the gentleman from illinois, congressman snyder. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. snyder: thank you, madam chair. today the house is taking long overdue action in fulfilling our promise to the american people to lower the cost of prescription drugs. medical research has fueled life-saving advancements in medicine but these inknow rations remain out of reap for too many due to exorbitantly high costs. tragically, three in 10 adults report not taking their medicines as prescribed because of the cost. even those who can afford them, the cost is many times higher than in other countries. this is unacceptable. h.r. 3 puts us on a path toward a more equitable health care system where cost is no barrier to getting the care patients need.

in particular i want to highlight my legislation, the protecting medicare beneficiaries where pre-existing conditions act, now included in h.r. 3 of section 801. more than 13 million medicare beneficiaries have a supplemental insurance policy known as medigap. medigap helps with cost bus more than three million americans aren't able to buy medigap plans without being charged more for a pre-existing condition, specifically disabled americans under 65 and medicare advantage enrollees are not afforded the same guarantees as nearly every other american. the affordable care act rightly eradicated discrimination for pre-existing conditions in the individual market. we need to finally right this wrong for medicare beneficiaries as well. that's exactly what this bill does. i look forward to this chamber passing h.r. 3 to give more americans peace of mind when buying their insurance and standing at the pharmacy

counter. i hope all my colleagues on both sides of the aisle will join me in supporting this bill. with that, i yield back. the chair: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from texas is ecognized. mr. brady: i yield myself one minute. the republican alternative, the lower cost more cures act is based on both parties working together. we were doing so until speaker pelosi blew this up with h.r. 3, written in credit, without any republican input. our bill contains 36 different pr visions that passed unanimously on the ways and means and energy and commerce committees. 17 provisions that passed out of the house also with bipartisan support. 28 different provisions that passed out of three different senate committees with bipartisan support and 21 of these provisions from the grassley-wyden drug pricing package. when this partisan bill die, h.r. 3, we republicans will be

ready to take up these bipartisan measures because we agree democrats and republicans, we need to lower drug prices, we need to accelerate these cures. with that, i reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. mr. neal: let me yield two minutes to the gentleman from new york, swongman suozzi. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. suozzi: thank you, madam chair, and thank you, chairman neal. i rise in strong support of h.r. 3. i think this is one of the most important issues facing america today. the american people are hungering for a solution to this problem. in january -- on january 11, 2017, president-elect trump said when referring to the pharmaceutical companies, quote, these guys are getting away with murder, close quote. for too long, big pharma has cashed in because our government, the largest purchaser of prescription drugs in the world, has been prohibited from negotiating lower drug prices.

americans pay nearly four times as much for prescription drugs as people in other countries. h.r. 3 will finally give the united states government the power to negotiate lower prices. it will stop unjustified price hikes and put a cap on medicare part d beneficiary out of pocket costs. the $500 billion in cost savings will be used to create historic medicare improvements such as dental, vision, and hearing benefits. this bill will also provide financial support for more medicare beneficiaries, will boost funding for scientific innovation, will invest in community health centers and will provide more money to fight the opioid epidemic. i want to thank our chairman neal for also including a provision i wrote to help protect seniors that will require medicare prescription drug plans to publicly disclose information about when beneficiaries are denied at the pharmacy counter. i want to thank congressman reid for for helping in that legislation.

i'm -- i want to thank conman reed for helping in that legislation. i want to thank the -- congressman reed for helping in that legislation. i yield back my time. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. brady: i yield two minutes to the gentleman from kansas, mr. estes. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. estes: i rise in opposition to h.r. 3, a bill that should be called the fewer cures and more government price controls act my colleagues know this partisan bill is another that's dead on arrival in the senate but it didn't have to be this way. i truly wish that my colleagues across the aisle had not abandoned a good faith, bipartisan negotiations on a realistic workable solution to was changed to be a giveaway. even the nonpart soon budget

office that it will result in fewer cures and current drugs coming to market. that means while h.r. 3 may lower drug prices comes at the expenses of fewer drugs coming to market. we should not be forced to choose. no one should have to choose for paying for groceries or paying for medication. h.r. , i encourage my colleagues in supporting the amendment before us based on h.r. 19, the lower cost more cures act. this will amendment and h.r. 19 bill will use bipartisan reforms to lower prices and provide to ss and strengthen access drug companies and aor competition to thrive. i heard from a constituent in my

in rict, fees to p.b.m.'s 2018 have left it hard for this business to stay afloat. our bipartisan solution will give him and other community pharmacists the needed stability and predict. that is one way that the amendment will help patients lower their out of pocket costs and help more cures from coming to market. the chair: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. mr. neal: i yield two minutes to congressman horsford. the chair: the gentleman is recognized.

mr. horsford: thank you, mr. chairman. i rise today to speak in support of h.r. 3 aligeave cummings lower cost drug act. stephen who lives with m.s. he shared, my whole life of my body was weaker than my left and i had a hard time doing anything. steven was not able to access his medication which cost 35,000 more than the people of nevada earn a.m.ly. so many people in our country are in steven's position and cannot access their medications outright. chairman cummings would say we re better than that.

constituents tell me they have diabetes, heart dizz ease and asthma and want this congress to to do something. we tell americans across this country that we value your health more than than big pharmaceutical profits and we will pass h.r. to lower drug costs now. i thank my colleagues for working so hard. this is one of the most important issues and i'm proud to be a sponsor of this legislation and i yield back. the chair: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. mr. brady: we are prepared to close and i reserve the balance. the chair: the gentleman from massachusetts. mr. neal: i'm prepared to close. the chair: the gentleman reserves.

the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. brady: i yield myself such time as i may consume. parets or politics, that is the choice when we vote on these different drug pricing bills. this path takes a partisan approach and democrats and republicans working together to lower drug prices. experts tell us this will delay or eliminate lifesaving cures. this piece of legislation is potentially unconstitutional and leads to restrictions while ating more power and set and what cost? to save a few dollars in the short-term in the worst landscape of america that discourages science, research and discovery.

matey stuart in st. petersburg, pennsylvania, go to that page and understand how patients are waiting for us for those new cures. i think of my fends in my neighborhood. we had a neighbor who died from a rare brain cancer and another who is fighting from cancer and another, very dynamic friend who is now struggling with parkinson 's and two friends who died from a.l.-s and parents who struggle ith alzheimer's. his bill, just rips hope, robs hope for people waiting for those cures.

there is no way there are no cures. up to $1 trillion will be taken away from research and science and revenues that are invested in drugs and new discovery. some say the new drug companies will never see it. but they can't do as much as and let me put it in perspective. drug companies could not spend a dime on any advertisement for the next 25 years and couldn't make up what is taken from this bill. we could zero out for a quarter century. that is what a trillion dollars does. you are in denial if you don't know, there will be fewer cures whether it is 38 or 100 or something in between. that cure that is lost won't be

parkinson's .l.s., or cancer. we believe that is do high a price to pay for this bill because we think there is a bipartisan road right in front of us that we can take together won that chooses patients and their needs and i believe that democrats believe we can both. i believe with goodwill and good ideas, we can do the lower cost re cures act and i set to do ut or. we now wrote to lower the cost of prescription drugs and we are committed to work together to end this cycle. i believe we can do this. i believe the solution is in nt

in h.r. . i think the solution is h.r. 19 and working together to fine-tune it even better by not killing lifesaving medical cures and doing what is bipartisan, driving out of pocket costs down nd deducting medical expenses, letting people use their fsa more, forcing drug companies to justify their increases and pull that back and making that and paying more of the drug burdens in medicare part d and we can tell people who are suffering, so many other illnesses that we are committed together to finding a cure. my vote will be on behalf of

patients. it will be on behalf of bipartisan solutions. it will be cast with the hope that future cure for cancer can be discovered and developed right here in america sooner rather than later. i know my republican colleagues will join me and i ask my democrat colleagues to do the same. i think the democrats have come here to solve problems and boxed out. my simple request is join us in voting for bipartisan solution h.r. 19 no matter how you will vote. send a signal that it is not too late for the malties of the world and we can deliver to lower drug prices in that cure we all pray for for our families back.ved ones and i yield

the chair: the gentleman yields. the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. mr. neal: i yield myself the balance of my time. the rising cost of prescription drugs is a complicated issue. and it needs a thoughtful approach. h.r. is a critical step towards a long-term sustainable solution. a lot of hard work went into crafting this measure and bringing it to the floor and umber of staff to thank from , adam, carl, lisa fiona, james and henry from cbs, tom bradley is retiring and we rebecca, and l,

stuart, and from the joint committee on text c hmp ao, helly, lin. lisa, dan, maya, stacy arms and jenny and as always, i want to thank the staff of the ways and means committee who worked tirle leslie. the legislation before this house today is in no mall part baugh of improving the members of the american family.

thank u amy, sarah and you neal. we have heard today from the floor on a lot of views and i'm open to suggestions. one policy isn't going to be the final fix and i welcome continued dial log. join me in supporting this historic legislation and i yield back. the chair: jabblet. the time of the committee on ways and means has expired.

the chair: the gentleman from virginia, mr. scott, and the gentlewoman from north carolina, ms. foxx, each will control 30

minutes. the gentleman from virginia is recognized. mr. scott: i yield myself two minutes. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. scott: i would like to thank chairman neal, chairman pallone, the speaker of the house and other democratic leaders for their leadership in low the skyrocketing cost of drug. the elijah e. cummings lower drug cost now act is a historic proposal to improve the health and well being of all americans. not only does the legislation lower drug costs for taxpayers and seniors on medicare, it lowers drug costs for businesses and families across the country, allowing employer sponsored plans to access the same cost savings negotiated for medicare. in fact, according to the centers for medicare and medicaid service, h.r. 3 will save households and businesses more than $160 billion over the next 10 years. in my district, this means savings for approximately 00,000

people in public and private health insurance programs. h.r. 3 will save the taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars and these savings will be reinvested in health care priorties. these priorities include funding new cures for the national institute of health. funding community health centers. esearch -- which serve thousands across the country and combat the opioid epidemic. the elijah e. cummings lower drug costs now act will lower costs for workers today while investing in a healthier future for all americans. i urge my colleagues to support this legislation and deliver on our bipartisan promise to lower health care costs for the american people. i reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman reserves. the gentlewoman from north carolina is recognized. ms. foxx: thank you, madam speaker. i thank my colleague for yielding. i yield myself such time as i

may consume. the chair: the gentlewoman is recognized. ms. foxx: thank you. all of us in this chamber have heard the troubling stories of mothers and fathers, grandmothers and grandfathers, friends an colleagues who suffer every day because they can't afford their med cases. that is why congress started a collaborative and bipartisan process to tackle this issue earlier this year. in october, bipartisan collaboration was cut abruptly short by speaker pelosi with the introduction of h.r. 3, which was written in secret without member input or the regular committee process. instead of a bipartisan solution, we're left with h.r. 3, which is nothing more than a democrat down payment on a government-run health care system that would eliminate private insurance and implement a government-controlled rationing of prescription drugs. i served as senior republican on the education and labor committee.

h.r. 3 is the latest string in a series of radical democrat bills that i've seen in the committee and in the house that promote unprecedented government interference in private markets and increase regulatory red tape. proposals that can and should be bipartisan, such as addressing the skills gap, pension reform, and now drug pricing, are being rewritten by democrat leadership who are held hostage by their most left-wing members. an amendment adopted in our committee markup proves just that point. representative jayapal's amendment pushes this radical bill even further to the left by requiring the secretaries of labor, health, and human services and the treasury to study and issue regulations on extending government price controls to private health care plans.

the mandate for additional price controls suggested in this amendment tells private companies how much they can increase their prices each year or forces them to pay a fine. house democrats aren't satisfied with only setting prices in government programs and they continue to find ways to expand the already radical scope of h.r. 3 to the private market as well. since the education and labor committee markup this issue has been a key area of disagreement between moderate and progressive democrats, with speaker pelosi yet again caved to the demands of her progressive caucus and agreing to keep the amendment in the final bill. the flawed and extreme approach taken by h.r. 3 includes troubling and unprecedented government interference in private market negotiations. governments don't negotiate,

they dictate. so this radical scheme will eliminate choice and competition and yep ardies innovation, investment, and access to future cures. breakthrough cures for diseases like alzheimer's, cancer, sickle cell disease, and others will be at risk. in fact, if we pass h.r. 3, the nonpartisan congressional budget office says we could see up to fewerimately 38 fewer, 38 cures for deadly diseases over the next 20 years. the council of economic advisors says up to 100 fewer cures over the next 10 years. if those estimates aren't concerning enough, just look at real world examples for proof. countries that have adopted drug pricing systems like those included in h.r. 3 face decreased access to innovative newed me sips, increased wait

times for treatment, and supply shortages for in-demand drugs. democrat supporters of this bill have said fewer cures in exchange for government control prices is, quote, worth it. this is shameful. democrats may be ok with fewer cures, i am not. and neither are my colleagues. the american people deserve better from congress. they deserve a real solution that will lower the cost of preprescription drugs without jeopardizing access to new treatments and cures. that is why house republicans have introduced h.r. 19, the lower costs, more cures act. this bill contains measures that have bipartisan support in the house and the senate. and it can become law this year. specifically, h.r. 19 will help lower out of pocket costs, protect access to new medicines

an cures, strengthen transparency and accountability, and champion competition. yet house democrats are ignoring this bipartisan, commonsense legislation. clearly they prefer politics over progress. thank you, madam speaker, i reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the yom reserves. the -- the gentlewoman reserves. the gentleman is recognized. mr. scott: i yield three minutes to the distinguished member of the committee on education and labor, the gentleman from connecticut, mr. cordray. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for three minutes. mr. cordray: the chamber can see the chart on my right which is prepared by the organization for economic cooperation and development which shows that the american people pay far more for prescription drugs than any other country in the world. mr. courtney: per capital, the -- cap tark the u.s. spends more

than any other country. specific examples of this outrageous disparity abound. a vile of insulin in the -- a $76,of insulin in the sust in canada it's $32. in the u.s. an epi-pen is $608. in the u.k., $69. 79% of americans think the cost of prescription drugs is unreasonable. approximately one third of american say they haven't taken their medicine as prescribed because of trouble affording it. this week, congress will vote, haslly, to use the medicare to get drug prices in line if the international price index. c.b.o. confirmed this bill will save patients millions of dollars and will ensure that this chart changes for the

better. crucially this bill is unique from other proposals by lowering drug costs not just for medicare but for the 50% of merps who receive their health insurance through work. it directs the secretary of h.l.s. to negotiate lower drug prices and extends that price voluntarily to employer-sponsored health plans, reducing the relentless increase in health care costs that's driving premiums higher for large employers, small employers, a and the self-insured. according to the connecticut department of insurance, the portion of health care premiums attributable to prescription drug coverage has increased from 15% to 23% of every premium dollar since 2010 which eats up wages and salaries. in a nutshell this bill will put billions of dollars into the pockets of working americans, their family, at the same time not using a limited formulary, at the same time not using research and development tax credit, at the same time boosting support for pharmaceutical research at the

national institute of health. this bill is the most significant health care proposal in a decade. it is time to -- it is time for us to listen to the american people who in 2018 listed health care costs specifically prescription drug costs as their number one concern in exit polls in the highest voter turnout for a mid-term election since 1914. this is the bill that responds to that loud signal from the american people. i urge passage of h.r. 3 and yield back. the chair: the gentleman yields back. the gentlewoman is recognized. ms. foxx: i yield three minutes to the gentleman from south dakota, mr. johnson. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for three minutes. mr. johnson: thank you very much. americans want lower drug prices. i want lower drug prices. my colleagues want lower drug prices. now we have been told tonight that h.r. 3 is the proper vehicle to accomplish that goal.

i regret to inform the body that it is not. h.r. 3 is not a bipartisan attempt to find common ground. and make no mistake about it, it will not become the law of the land. but for those of us who came to congress to solve problems, there is some good news. there is a better way. h.r. 19, which was introduced by me and 111 of my colleagues this week, is markedly better than h.r. 3 and it can become law. i want to highlight four components of h.r. 19. first, it would end abuse of the patent system and end the pay for delay agreements that allow generic manufacturers to actually be paid by their competitors to keep drugs off the market. secondly, it would, for the

first time ever, place a cap on seniors' out of pocket drug costs. now that is supported by 75% of americans. third, it would establish a new negotiator within the u.s. trade office, allowing us to push back against countries that expect that the u.s. should subsidize their drug costs. and finally, it would increase transparency in the doctor's office and at the pharmacy. that will be welcome news for the 90% of americans that want to see more transparency in the drug pricing system. so madam chair, with agreement this is week on the u.s.-mexico-canada agreement and on the national defense act, we have some bipartisan momentum building in this town. oh, my. perhaps it is a christmas miracle.

with that in mind, we should set aside the partisan h.r. 3 and instead apply that re-emerging bipartisan spirit to ending, our rather, to lowering drug prices. thank you and i yield back. the chair: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from virginia is recognized. mr. scott: thank you, madam chair. i'm delighted to yield two minutes to a distinguished member of the committee on education and labor, chair of the subcommittee on higher education and work force investment, the gentlelady from california, -- from california. the chair: the gentlewoman is recognized. >> madam chair i want to first thank chairman scott and thank you for your leadership on this bill. this bill is named after the late congressman elijah cummings for his great work fighting for affordable health care and prescription drugs. you know, he fought for people like a constituent of mine who

wrote to me regarding the absurd dihigh cost of insulin. mrs. davis: he explained in this letter that his brother had been diagnosed with type 1 die bee dees -- diabetes which requires him to take an inlince injection four times per day. probably familiar with that, people that we know. a single bottle of insulin costs $400. he tells me that some people skip needles, others let themselves stay at harmful blood sugar levels to make their insulin last longer no one should have to suffer this indignity, especially when in many places across the world, insulin is as low as $8. with h.r. 3, medicare will be able to negotiate drug prices for seniors and beneficiaries and our constituents won't be plagued by such high costs for

such a common drug. thanks to this bill, the n.i.h. will have more resources to encourage more research and more experimentation. the savings can be used for large projects and for new pilot initiatives to assist the development of new cures and treatments. and this can really be groundbreaking for all of us. i i supported this bill by saving american workers and billions of dollars. we all know that that can mean. so i encourage my colleagues to vote for the underlying legislation. and with that, i yield back. the chair: the gentlewoman yields back. the gentlewoman from north carolina is recognized. ms. foxx: i yield three minutes to the gentleman from texas, mr.

wright. mr. wright: thank you, dr. foxx. i rise in opposition to h.r. . this congress, we have seen on multiple occasions the democrats and republicans are able to gee on and move on powerful egislation when we put aside legislation. members on both sides of the aisle agree that drug prices are a may scror concern and you would think we would be able to deliver for the american people. unlike the radical bill foff of b us, h.r. 19 contains bipartisan solutions and has a real chance being signed into law. sadly, we are wasting the taxpayers' time debating the innovate that will result in more harm than good. h.r. 3 represents the first step

of a government take overall under the guise of helping. threatening companies is not helping. restricting future cures is not helping. threatening the jobs of texans is not helping. this bill would slap manufacturers with an excise tax with not negotiating its prices. that's not negotiating, that's dictating. speaker pelosi's negotiating gives them a stark choice, comply or exit the u.s. market entirely. doctors take appear oath to do know harm. public officials should do the same. if one thing is clear, h.r. will do harm. this will has one outcome. the stifleling of medical innovation here in the united

states. experts in the congressional budget office, the council of economic advisers have warned of the disastrous impact of h.r. will have on future cures. specifically, they warn up to a third of new cures could be lost over the next 10 years. e don't have to rely on expert estimates. we can look at the real-time results in other countries. between 2011 and 2018, 89% of new treatments introduced were available to americans compared the2% in germany and 60% in united kingdom. we have seen to the united states' benefit the migration of activity from europe. now is not the time to slow down medical innovation in the united

states. we must stop this radical government overreach and i yield back. the chair: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. is entleman from virginia recognized. mr. scott: i yield to the gentlelady from virginia. ms. wild: the elijah e. cummings lower drug costs now act. in his name, the days of putting profits over people must come to an end. to my colleagues across the aisle, why do you consider this to be a partisan idea? drug companies make profits for their share holders, but as members of congress, we have a much more important share holder, the american people. en we try to pass good bills

drive down drug prices, pharmaceuticals talk about research and development without disclosing that they spend more on marketing then they do on innovation and could lose $1 trillion in sales and still be the most profitable industry. one vial should not cost 10 times more than it costs in canada. danielle and her son brandon should not have to worry about the price of insulin. people like mitchell shouldn't have to worry whether his 14-year-old daughter who has type one diabetes will be able to afford her insulin when she is no longer on his health insurance plan. the secretary of h.h.s. must be

able to negotiate lower drug prices for the highest cost prescription drugs, something that other countries have long been able to do. the congressional budget office tells us that h.r. 3 will lower price eggs and increase the availability of prescription drugs. the c.b.o. score says this bill will reduce federal spending for medicare by $345 billion. this will free up fundings for some of other other priorities like my bill and for expanding trauma informed education practices in our schools and mental health services. i call ol my colleagues to put people over profits finally and pass this bill. and with that, i yield back. the chair: the gentlewoman yields back. ms. foxx: i yield three minutes

to the gentleman from michigan, mr. walberg. mr. walberg: i thank the gentlelady and madam speaker, as i travel across michigan, i constantly hear about the high cost of prescription drugs. hardworking families are simply paying too much. we agree on that. and that's why we need to tackle this issue in a bipartisan way and not try to score political points like i'm hearing tonight. h.r. is a partisan, heavy-handed approach that has no chance of becoming law. mr. speaker, let's be honest, governments don't negotiate. they dictate. this drug pricing scheme while ultimately hurt families, stifle innovation and prevent lifesaving cures from becoming

available to our friends, our neighbors, our families. approximately 100 lifesaving drugs according to the economic lifesaving adviser won't come to fruition. i wog like to ask my colleagues, which of those cures would we do away with, alzheimer's, parkinson's disease, childhood cancers? which ones would we give up for h.r. 3? there's a better approach. a plan that's patient-focused and filled with bipartisan provisions that enjoy support in the senate and by the way, the president would sign. it would become law. t would reduce the costs and increase innovation. h.r. 19, the lower cost, more

cures act. mr. speaker, this bill will trengthen transparency encourage medical break -throughs. if the other side is serious, mr. speaker, about getting something done, then we should be voting on the lower costs more cures act this week and moving forward for our people and provide cures at lower costs and many more than the other countries that you are talking about tonight. i yield back. the chair: the gentlelady from north reserves. the gentleman from virginia is recognized. mr. scott: i yield two minutes to the member of the education and labor and practicing physician, the gentlelady from

washington. the chair: the gentlelady is recognized. >> and thanks to everyone who worked hard on this bill. as so many of my colleagues have said already, this is a groundbreaking bill. medicare is the biggest purchaser of medications in the world and it should absolutely have the power to negotiate costs and we should not continue to pay three to four times more than the rest of the world for our medications. with negotiations in this bill saves hundreds of billions of dollars and we are going to use that money well. part is for research. but one of the ways is my bill included in h.r. 3 that requires medicare to cover vision care. gaw combpart b covered ave but doesn't cover glasses

and this is a tremendous gap. we want to make sure seniors can live independently as long as possible and they can see well enough to drive to appointments and read their prescription bottles. poor vision can limit physical activity and leaving them to deteriorating health. as a doctor, i'm concerned about older americans who haven't had an eye exam in over a year. we will ensure that older americans will access affordable care. i yield back. the chair: the gentleman from virginia reserves. the gentlelady from north carolina is recognized. ms. foxx: i yield three minutes to the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. keller. the chair: the gentleman from pennsylvania is recognized.

mr. kelly: i urge my colleagues too much for ay health care and the rising cost of prescription medicines. h.r. is not the bill. traveling across pennsylvania, i have met with patients who have told me that the best way to address rising drug costs, include patent reform and price transparency, so consumers know the actual cost of medication they are purchasing and incentive advising new innovation. h.r. would turn a blind eye to od bipartisan work through 2019 that can provide savings to our families. h.r. would lead to government control over a private industry.

and h.r. 3 would lead to fewer cures with some estimates saying up to a 100 fewer cures being found. we have a bipartisan plan that has the support of doctors and patients alike. h.r. 19 would provide for more cures, create price transparency d get generics to market faster. these are backed by doctors and pharmacists in the commonwealth of melf and across our country. while americans struggle to pay, we have real legislation that can solve this real problem. we should not be wasting our time by providing fewer cures. i urge my colleagues to provide this socialist fantasy and work on the real bipartisan solutions

in h.r. 19. i yield back. the chair: the gentlelady from north carolina reserves. the gentleman from virginia is recognized. mr. scott: i yield two minutes to a former national teacher of e year, the gentlewoman from connecticut, ms. hayes. ms. hayes: i rise in support of e elijah cummings act, the bill that would weapon nies by massive drug companies and put it back in the hands of the american people. it is beyond unacceptable that families around the count try are price gouged at the pharmacy counter and forced to make the impossible decision to pay for medication or put food on their table. h.r. would save constituents suffering from diabetes, asthma and arthritis, hundreds even

thousands of dollars per year. perhaps, the thing i am most proud of it includes the supporting trauma informed education practices act. this bill will put drug companies who share responsibility for the opioid opioid crisis on the hook for part of the solution. my bill would direct, $100 million of the savings from drug pricing negotiation to grants that support grant serving services for children in schools. as a as a member of congress who has spent years in the classroom, i have seen the painful reality of too many schools having too few counselors and psychologists to tackle the complex needs of studenting from abuse, neglect and trauma. we need to implement ongoing supports and wrap-around services for every student that is affected.

for every student that has faced loss or been separated from their parents as a result of the opioid crisis. drug companies are prioritizing profits over human lives in their cruel business calculus. communities like waterbury, litschfield and new britain in my district desperately need help to fight this opioid crisis. which mirrors the crisis that consumers are currently facing with rising drug costs. i am proud that this bill also includes legislation i co-sponsored that would lower drug costs for some of the most vulnerable members of the population. mr. scott: i yield an additional 30 seconds. the chair: the gentlelady is recognized. hathes hayes -- mrs. hayes: a bill that would save older adults with limited income money and improve access to their needed medications. mr. chairman, my constituents cannot wait for change. patients in rural communities cannot wait for change. the 22,000 connecticut residents

diagnosed with cancer each year cannot wait for change. the student in meridan who has suffered as a victim of the opioid crisis cannot wait for change. i urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to recognize that our constituents need us. i urge my colleagues to vote in support of h.r. 3. i yield back. the chair: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from north carolina is recognized -- the gentlelady from north carolina is recognized. ms. foxx: thank you, mr. chair. i yield three minutes to the gentleman from wisconsin, mr. grothman. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. grothman: thank you, dr. foxx. i also rise to speak against h.r. 3. you know, to me there are two segments of society in which the costs have gone out of control and are really broken. one is the secondary education system. and the other is the medical situation. it's not surprising that the two areas where the prices have spun

out of control since i was a child are two areas in which the government has been most involved. and therefore we should be very measured before we become involved in a lot more government prescription or mucking around the medical industry. and i say that as somebody who is no friend of the drug companies. i think their behavior's become absolutely deplorable. nevertheless, we have to remember that when it comes to new drugs right now on the market, other countries have a lot less access than we do in america. in that regard, america's still number one. only 36% of the new drugs are allowed into australia. 46% in canada. under 60% in the u.k. we are still the envy of people in other parts of the world. of new cancer drugs launched in the last eight years, 95% are available in the united states.

74% in the u.k. and less than 50% in japan. the thing to remember, which is so frequently true, government involvement can be good, but a lot of times government involvement can make things worse. the next frustrating thing about this bill is there are good things that both sides could agree on and you could pass right away. we've heard a lot about h.r. 19 right now, one of your folks was talking about the high cost of insulin. we are doing things or people would do things in h.r. 19 to rush more biosims to insulin to -- arket -- biosims biosimilars to insulin to the market tomorrow. but rather than vote on a bill you know will pass and will do a great deal to reduce the cost of prescription drugs, you've

elected to bring forth a bill that you know will not pass. which comes down to the third point i'm going to make. why are you not passing a bill that would collect the vast majority of republican notice house and would have a good chance of passing the senate and being signed by president trump? i reluctant conclude that one more time you don't want to have a victory in these two years for whatever motivation. and that's truly sad because these drug costs are out of control. and they're victories that can be taken today. but instead of passing a bill, given the political reality you can bring to the floor, you will pass a bill on the house floor that you know is going to go nowhere in the senate and that you know is going to delay the relief that people need. the chair: the gentleman's time has expired. ms. foxx: i yield the gentleman 30 seconds. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. grothman: you know will delay that relief for at least

another year. i have a bill i'm going to talk about, the chairman, myself a little bit later, chairman scott. in any event, i yield the additional time that dr. foxx has given me. the chair: the gentlelady from north carolina reserves. the gentleman from virginia is recognized. mr. scott: thank you, mr. chair. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. scott: mr. chair, just want to comment about a letter that we received from the american federation of state, county and municipal employees. this letter states in part, and i quote, enactment of h.r. 3 is needed because it directs our government to stand on the side of all americans and protect us from price gouging by directly negotiating for lower prescription drug prices. it creates a new $2,000 out-of-pocket limit on prescription drugs for people on medicare. it reinvests the federal savings and much-needed new medicare benefits such as dental, vision

and hearing. the cost of inaction is too high. it is calculated in the suffering of individuals who are forced to ration their medicines or choose between buying medicines or paying for housing and groceries. prescription drug companies must be held accountable, we urge you to send a clear message that congress is on the side of all americans by directing the government to directly negotiate for lower prescription drug proo -- drug prices. please vote in support of h.r. 3. i yield back the balance of my time. i reserve the balance of my time. river reserve. -- i reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentlelady from north carolina is recognized. ms. foxx: thank you, mr. chairman. i yield three minutes to the gentlelady from west virginia, mrs. miller. the chair: the gentlelady is recognized. mrs. miller: thank you. mr. speaker, i rise today to oppose h.r. 3. every single person in our country deserves lower prescription drug prices. congress needs to act. but the bill on the floor today

is not the answer. with this legislation, my colleagues across the aisle have decided that once again government should be in the business of health care. picking winners and losers, taxing life-saving cures, and ignoring that private innovation is the main driver in advancing health care. house republicans have a bipartisan solution. one which will deliver the transparency, affordability and predictability we need. h.r. 19, the lower costs, more cures act. with this bill, we can make sure that every person, the parents of a newborn baby, a young adult with a chronic illness, a coal miner coping with black lung disease, or a senior citizen taking their daily pills, have access to the drugs they need at the affordable, predictable

prices they deserve. we need the innovators to be at the forefront of creating new, better drugs to improve quality of life for all americans in need. h.r. 19 delivers this. we can have it all. that is why i oppose h.r. 3. i yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the gentlelady from north carolina reserves. the gentleman from virginia is recognized. mr. scott: thank you, mr. chair much i yield myself such -- mr. chair. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. scott: thank you, mr. chair. i want to comment on a letter we received from the afl-cio, a legislative alert. it says in part that three in 10 adults report that they were unable to take their medicines as prescribed at some point in the past year because of costs, often worsening their medical condition, according to the keizer family foundation. yet according to the aarp, the average annual cost of prescription drugs rose nearly 58% between 2012 and 2017.

prices in 2019 increased for 3,400 drugs on the market with an average price increase of $10 -- 10.5%, a rate roughly five times the inflationary rate. the lower drug prices now act takes bold action to address this relentless rise in drug prices. h.r. 3 invests in -- invests the estimated $500 billion in federal savings and historic improvements in medicare benefits and other important health care programs. medicare part d prescription drug coverage is substantially improved by the addition of a 2,000 out-of-pocket maximum. medicare benefits are further expanded by the inclusion of visual, dental and hearing benefits to help low-income seniors. the legislation expands subsidy eligibility to make premiums and out-of-pocket costs more

affordable. other investments in health care include $7.7 billion to support community responses to the opioid crisis, and $10 billion for national institutes of health biomedical research toward the discovery of breakthrough drug therapies. the drug price -- the lower drug price now act would provide critical -- crucial assistance to working families who are currently unable to afford the medicines they need while simultaneously making important investments to address other health care priorities. we urge you to vote for this bill. i reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentlelady from north carolina is recognized. ms. foxx: thank you, mr. chairman. i yield three minutes to the gentleman from north carolina, dr. murphy. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. murphy: thank you, dr. foxx. thank you, mr. speaker. i rise tonight in opposition to h.r. 3. as a practicing surgeon for the last 30 years, i believe i give somewhat of a unique perspective

on the unbearable high price of prescription drugs. an issue that all americans can agree upon. i have seen patients and continue to see patients who simply cannot afford their medications. we all agree on this problem. unfortunately, however, h.r. 3 is, while well-intentioned, a poorly executed solution. health care economics are unique. a fact that many here do not realize. price controls do not work in health care. there is evidence to show that in countries that implement price controls, only a fraction of medicines that come to market are actually available. i should know. i have worked across the globe. i have worked in places where i've tried to prescribe medications that i thought were best for patients only to have government prevent me from doing so. in australia, for example, only 30% -- 36% of new drugs released between 2011 and 2018 were available. canada and the united kingdom, hardly fared better, with 46%

and 59%. the american public does not deserve to be short-changed. in my 30 years as a practicing surgeon, i have seen new drugs and treatments become available that 20, 10 and even five years ago patients could only have dreamed of. but curative therapies do not occur overnight. they occur by innovative and dedicated scientists that continue to be on the cutting edge of research and development. yet it takes financial risk to develop these drugs. at present, less than one in 100 drugs that are being discovered actually ever come to market. h.r. 3 will gut companies with a 95% tax if they do not succumb to the government's strongarm negotiation. as a urologist, i can personally attest to the leaps and bounds that have been made in drugs that treat advanced prostate cancer. in just the last five years, more progress has been made in prostate cancer than in the preceding 70 years.

i can now talk to patients about outliving their cancers rather than succumbing to them. we can control drug costs. h.r. 19, the lower costs, more cures act, is a much better path. we should cut the billions spent on direct to consumer advertising or the billions spent on pharmacy benefit managers. we need a surgical approach to cure this disease. not a heavyhanded hatchet job by an overreaching government. h.r. 19 leads to decreased costs while at the same time provides a pathway for the cures that so many patients desperately seek. thank you, mr. speaker, i yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the gentlelady from north carolina reserves. the gentleman from virginia is recognized. mr. scott: thank you, mr. chair. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. scott: just to point out that the question of availability of drugs in the united states came up at a hearing we had on this legislation. it was pointed out that the target negotiated price will be

approximately 120% of the international average. that's a lot better than the twice or three, five, as much as 60 times that americans are paying for the same drugs that -- here than other countries. and at that price, at 120%, that ll be the highest price -- will be the biggest market and they certainly won't take a drug away from the biggest market paying the highest price. so we don't have to worry about availability. i reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman reserves. the gentlelady is recognized. ms. foxx: thank you, mr. chairman. mr. airman, i believe -- chairman, we're prepared to close if the gentleman from virginia is prepared.

mr. scott: i'm prepared to close. the chair: the gentlewoman from north carolina is recognized. ms. foxx: thank you, mr. chairman. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the chair: the jerusalem is recognized. ms. foxx: house democrats have once again decided to pursue poll toimbings progress and advance a radical drug pricing scheme that will eliminate choice and competition and jeopardize innovation, investment, and access to future cures, putting breakthrough treatments for diseases like alzheimer's, cancer, sickle cell disease and overs at risk. as many as 100 life-saving drugs, and that needs to be repeated, mr. speaker, as many as 100 life-saving drugs could kept from americans desperately in need because of speaker pelosi's socialist drug pricing scheme. this is unacceptable. we shouldn't be pursuing

policies that will harm the health and well being of american patients. and we shouldn't destroy a system that allows the u.s. to lead the world in new cures and treatments. bottom line, this radical legislation offers fewer cures and american families will suffer because of it. i strongly urge my colleagues to vote no on this seriously flawed bill and with that, i yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the gentlewoman yields back. the gentleman from virginia is recognized. mr. scott: thank you, mr. chairman. i yield myself the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. scott: thank you. mr. chairman, last year, congress made a promise to lower skyrocketing drug costs and strengthen our health care system for all americans. h.r. 3, the elijah e. cummings lower drug costs now act, delivers on that promise. the legislation not only lowers

the cost of prescription drugs for taxpayers and those enrolled in medicare, but also for workers, businesses, and families. it improves quality of health care by expanding benefits to include vision, hearing, and dental benefits and limiting out of pocket co-pays and deductibles to $,000. it strengthens public health by investing in community health centers, provides historic funding for evidence-based student pharma services and the the child abuse prevention and treatment act which will help support children who have suffered because of trauma-related substance use disorder and the opioid crisis. the elijah e. cummings lower drug costs now secretary act is a long-overdue act to lower prices for drugs for americans today and in days tocome. i want to thank chairman neal, chairman pallone, speaker pelosi and others for working to bring this legislation to the floor.

i urge my colleagues to support this priority for the american people. with that, mr. chairman, i yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman yields back. the time of the committee on education and labor has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from virginia seek recognition? mr. scott: i ask unanimous consent that when the house journ today it adjourn to -- the chair: does the gentleman have a motion to rise? mr. kot: i move that the house house now rise. the chair: the question is on

the motion that the committee rise. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the ayes have it. the motion is adopted. accordingly, the committee rises. the speaker pro tempore: mr. chairman. the chair: committee of the whole house on the state of the union having had under consideration h.r. 3 directs me to report it has come to no resolution thereon. the speaker pro tempore: the chair of the committee of the whole house on the state of the union reports that that committee has had under consideration h.r. 3 and has come to no resolution thereon. for what purpose does the

gentleman from virginia seek recognition? mr. scott: madam speaker, i now ask unanimous consent that when the house adjourn today it adjourn to meet at 9:00 tomorrow. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the chair will now entertain requests for one-minute peeches. the chair lays before the house the following personal requests. clip leave of absence requested for mr. barragan of california for today. -- the clerk: leave of absence requested for ms. barragan of california for today. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the request is granted. under the speaker's announced

policy of january 3, 2019, the gentleman from georgia, mr. carter, is recognized for the remaineding time until 10:00 p.m. as the designee of the minority leader. mr. carter: thank you, madam chair. i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the topic of this special order. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. carter: thank you, madam chair. thank you for having us, giving us this opportunity here tonight. obviously the subject matter that we've been discussing here, prescription drug prices is something that's very important to all americans an i'm very happy that we're all getting around to this. madam chair, as a practicing pharmacist for most of my clear i take the issue of drug pricing personally. it's one of the primary reasons i wanted to come to congress, to do something about it. i had the honor and privilege of

practicing pharmacy for over 30 years. i was the one at the front counter who had to tell the patient how much medication was. i was the one who witnessed the mother who was in tears because they couldn't -- she couldn't afford the medication for her child. i was the one who witnessed the senior citizen trying to make a decision between whether they were going to buy their medications or buy their groceries. i was the one on the other side of the counter. i committed myself to do something about that once i became a member of congress. i'm glad to see we're finally doing that i want to preface my remarks by saying this. i truly believe that those on the other side of the aisle and us on this side of the aisle want the same thing. i truly believe that. i truly believe we all want to lower prescription drug prices. and i truly believe that we can do just that. and i truly believe that we need to do just that. however, there are some dirnses here. -- differences here.

those experiences i had on the other side of the counter have driven me to work hard on bipartisan solutions to lower drug costs for patients since coming to congress but particularly during this last year. however, it seems that every time i get my hopes up that we will work together to pass meaningful policies to help the american people afford their medications, the democrats have put the politics over progress. in the spring, i was proud to work with my friend, congressman schrader, in a bipartisan way on the blocking act to increase generic competition in the marketplace. again, both of us wanned the same thing. we worked on this together in a bipartisan fashion. but what happened? speaker pelosi paired our bipartisan drug pricing bill on the floor with poison pill bills. politics over progress. this summer i worked with congresswoman schakowsky to strike a deal to pass a

comprehensive drug transparency bill, the metric act. unanimously, unanimously it passed out of committee. republicans and democrats voted for it. but what happened? different versions of these policies we had struck a bipartisan agreement on were added to the speaker's bill before us today. politics over progress. this fall, energy and commerce republicans were close to striking a bipartisan deal with our friends across the aisle to cap out of pocket spending for seniors and medicare. what happened? our democratic colleagues walked around -- walked away from those bipartisan negotiations to double down on a partisan bill that we know is dead on arrival in the senate. politics over progress. now this holiday season, energy and commerce republicans have introduced a bill h.r. 19, the lower cost, more cures act, to make one last, earnest effort to pass good, bipartisan drug

spending policies that could be signed into law this year, this year, and immediately help patients, immediately -- immediate help for patients. my hope is that we can come together because as i said before, we all want the same thing. we all need the same thing. my hope is that we can come together and we can support the walden amendment to pass a bipartisan lower cost, more cures act instead of this deeply partisan h.r. 3. my hope is that my democratic colleagues stop putting politics over progress and join us to pass bipartisan drug pricing reforms that can actually be signed into law. and will actually help patients. madam chair, we've got a number of people here today who want to speak on this and i hope that you will note during this time, i know that i'm going to have some personal stories that i want to share, i think some of these -- some of my colleagues will have some personal stories as well. real-life situations.

real people. real problems. real diseases. this is what we're talking about here. this is not -- there is no reason in the world that this should be a partisan issue. never in my over 30 years of practicing pharmacy did i ever go to the counter and say are you a republican or a democrat? no. never did that happen. and it should not happen. and it should not happen in the hall os congress either. no excuse. no reason that that should ever happen. madam chair, at this time, i'm going to call on the gentleman from kentucky and yield to him such time as he may consume, the gentleman on the energy and commerce committee from kentucky, representative guthrie. mr. guthrie: thank you. i thank the gentleman for yielding. i thank you thank you, madam speaker. i rise today to bring attention to the consequences of the drug pricing bill h.r. 3.

there is no doubt we must act to lower prescription drug prices for americans. americans to only pay their fair share. however, this bill is not the right path. we often hear stories about the way other countries pay for their drugs and the countries' payment systems. what you don't often hear about are stories about patients who are unable to receive care and access to life-saving drugs because of limitations in their country. from louise moorhouse we have examples of how much are offered in other countries. a teacher inuse is u.k. she enrolled in a trial for a drug that treats a rare metabolic disorder. if left untreated, the disease can result in mild to severe

neurological issues. when she was in the clinical trial she was able to eat an funs like anyone else. sadly, louise discovered after the trial that the drug that helped her live a more normal life was not covered by the united kingdom's health service. despite the agency's acknowledgment of the drug's efficacy. as the drug is not covered by the n.h.s., she no longer has access to this drug and it has -- and returned to taken 80 pills a day in conjunction with a highly restricted diet instead. in the united states, we have access to innovative drugs and the keyword is access. when people talk about h.r. 3, what they want to say is that we can completely transform the way we pay for drugs and never talk about, or never acknowledge, the way we completely transform the way we receive and have access to drugs. we know that, the congressional budget office and other studies, we could use 100 different cures

coming down the path. so as americans want relief from prescription drug prices, americans also want access to these innovative drugs. president carter is alive today because of access to one of his experimental drugs that are becoming more -- becoming lower cost and more affordable for everyone. my point is, it doesn't have to be a choice. we could have lower prices and not lose access to the drugs. not lose access to the drugs and continue the great innovation that we have. that choice is h.r. 19. it's a bill that will be on the familiar tomorrow. every bit of it is bipartisan. every single piece of it has a republican an a democrat co-sponsor. it is something we know the senate will take up and the president will sign and give relief to the american people and continue to give access to the great innovations that we have. . i hope we can take up that bill tomorrow. i thank the gentleman for yielding and i yield back. mr. carter: i thank the gentleman.

i especially thank him for making the point that is true. we can have both. we can lower drug costs, we can continue with innovation. we do not have to stymie innovation. we can achieve what both sides want to achieve. without stymieing innovation. without cutting out research and development. madam speaker, i want to bring up another situation in which modern medicine has played a role. to give you an example of where research and development has .esulted in miracle cures duchenne muscular dystrophy is another terrible disease that predominantly impacts males and is a result of a genetic mutation that inhibits the body from creating a chemical need that makes your body work. as with the other diseases that we're going to mention tonight, it has the significant impact on those who are affected. but fortunately we have a drug to treat it.

a drug developed to treat a particular group of people suffering from duchenne was the first treatment of its kind approved by the f.d.a. that means that these people for which this was developed would be able to have their bodies develop the protein necessary to stimulate muscle development and activity. in other words, it can help to improve the daily lives of these people with that particular type of muscular dystrophy. once again, i can't stress how much of an impact these incredible cures that i've witnessed during my lifetime, during my professional practice, i've seen nothing short of miracles, nothing short of miracles of people being able to get their lives back, being able to extend their lives and live a healthy life. this therapy, however, is not available, this one that we're talking about right here is not available in any other country if you needed it.

you have to come to the united states. that's the only place that it's available. it's not available in these other -- the gentleman from kentucky just mentioned about all these medications that aren't available in other countries. this is an example of one that we're talking about right here. our focus has to continue to be on the cutting edge of drug development. with that said, i want to yield now to my good friend and a valuable member of the energy and commerce committee who brings just an outstanding portfolio of -- portfolio of experience and we appreciate her very much, the gentlelady from washington, representative mcmorris rodgers. mrs. rodgers: thank you very much to my friend, my colleague from georgia, representative buddy carter, for bringing us all together. many of us are members of the energy and commerce committee. we are on the forefront and we are committed to making sure that life-saving drugs and treatments are more affordable. it is a top priority and i appreciate your leadership as a pharmacist on the front lines of so many of these life-saving,

life-changing treatments. we hear it every day, we hear it every day from seniors, people with disabilities, patients, that they are anxious for results and the good news is that we are leading, the trump administration has led on this front to deliver. f.d.a. is breaking records for the amount of generic drugs that are being approved right now. that is a key to bringing down the costs of prescription drugs. i'm also so proud of the work that we did, bipartisan work in the energy and commerce committee three years ago, to get the 21st century cures legislation signed into law. and thanks to cures, we are continuing to lead. america has led for 70 to 80 years and because of this legislation, we will continue to lead. however, that is all threatened with h.r. 3. it means fewer cures. you know, i think about my dad. he has diabetes. my mom, struggles with heart

issues. my grandma had dementia and my son was born with an extra 21st chromosome, down syndrome. you know what, because of america, because of research, because of giving my son an opportunity to live and to reach his full potential, his life expectancy is today longer than ever. let's keep moving forward. h.r. 19, the lower costs, more cures act, helps us move forward. it includes bipartisanlusions -- solutions that president trump can sign -- bipartisan solutions that president trump can sign into law this year. we should be building upon the work that we did with 21st century cures. we want to see more generic drugs come to the market faster and finally make insulin more affordable for our seniors. lower out-of-pocket spending. cap the doughnut hole. access new medicines and cures. and require price transparency.

every single provision is bipartisan. unfortunately the speaker and the democrats are moving forward in a partisan exercise. directing the federal government to set drug prices. and it will stop innovation. america will fall behind as the global leader and we can see what impact that has all over the world. hundreds and hundreds of fewer drugs entering the market. i want to stand on the side of innovation. more breakthroughs. helps million ofs people with the ravages -- millions of people with the ravages of disease they encounter every day. i thank you for your tremendous leadership on this issue. mr. carter: we thank the gentlelady as well. madam chair, again, perfect example. and i guarantee you, every person, every person that has the honor and privilege of serving in this august body has a story just like that. knows someone or has a family member who has been impacted by a disease, who has -- whose call

quality of life hassan -- whose quality of life has been improved by the fact that we've had medications available. every one in this -- everyone in this chamber, everyone that has the honor and privilege of serving in this chamber, again, as i've said all along, we all want the same thing. we all need the same thing. and as representative guthrie said earlier, we can have the same thing without, without stopping innovation, without stopping research and development. madam chair, now i'd like to recognize another invaluable member of the energy and commerce committee, a lady who brings, again, an outstanding portfolio of experience and we appreciate her very much, the gentlelady from indiana, representative brooks. mrs. brooks: madam speaker, i rise today to thank my colleague . the only pharmacist in the house , buddy carter, from the great

state of georgia, who has brought us together to talk about the importance of lowering drug costs and making sure we can continue to focus on more cures. i also rise today in opposition to h.r. 3. we know that americans pay far too much for the drugs that the farm -- at the pharmacy counter. something my colleague knows better than anybody. and it's our duty to come together to find solutions, solutions to lower costs of drugs while protecting innovation and future drug development in our country. unfortunately h.r. 3, which we're scheduled to vote on tomorrow, jeopardizes that american innovation and patient access to care. the nonpartisan cobb estimates that -- c.b.o. estimates that under h.r. 3, approximately 15 fewer drugs will be introduced over the next decade. and about 30 fewer drugs over the following decade with a then 10% reduction annually afterward into perpetuityy. that means that over 40 --

perpetuity. that means that over 4030 fention -- potential cures will not -- 40 potential cures will not be discovered. it might mean there might not be a cure for breast cancer, maybe no cure for diabetes, no cure for alzheimer's. diseases that we know impact americans all across our country. we lead the world in innovation, breakthrough medicines, cutting edge technologies and therapies to save and improve lives. our peer nations have 40% to 60% fewer cures, as you just heard, from previous speakers, as compared to what's in our market. in canada, a country with nationalized health system, a 21-year-old with s.m.a. type 2 spinal muscular atrophy is unable to access a treatment called spinrasa because it's not covered for those in ontario. stringent eligibility criteria for model medicines prevent tori, a college student, from

focusing on her schoolwork and future. she must suffer through this disorder that effects the nerve cells that control voluntary muscles, instead of being granted access to this critical drug. in america, tori would be able to access this cure. if we lose these 15 drugs over the next decade, again, which drug, which disease is going to lose out? is it breast cancer? a disease that claims one in eight women each year. do i go home and tell my dear long-time friend judy, who at one time was told she had 18 months to live, that was eight years ago, do i tell her, sorry, we may not be able to work on, and the drug companies that do this r&d might not be able to -- we can't get our act together to protect innovation? judy's been fighting for the second time breast cancer for eight years. she's been holding on to hope that next month there may be a cure, that next year there may be a cure.

ut under h.r. 3, those chances drop precipitously. if we lose 15 drugs over the next decade, will it be diabetes? a disease affecting over 30 million americans, a disease gripping 700,000 of my fellow hoosiers. this past summer i visited with a young j.d. -- jdrf advocate, ella, from minneapolis. ella was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at age four -- 4. she's an incredible young girl who's advocating on behalf of kids like her with diabetes. she came to washington and shared her story with me. she's a gymnast, but with her disease, she has to be incredibly careful and monitor her wlood blood sugar constantly. she told me she sometimes has to sit out of practice due to her blood sugar and that it's very annoying to this 11-year-old gymnast. she she focused on her gymnastics and school but instead of being a kid, she has to worry about her blood sugar and insulin pump. i hear from constituents like ella and her family that the

technology developments in the diabetes space is working to make lives almost normal. almost normal. diabetes was a death sentence just over 100 years ago. now diabetics can almost live normal lives. but what if we could find a cure? hopefully one day advancements in medicine technology will allow ella to be that kid, a kid without any worry. if we lose those 15 drugs over the next decade, is it the gnao-1, a rare neurological disorder that causes developmental delays, early infan tile seizures and abnormal movements? my dear friend and a former house staffer here on the hill, leave my team when

she found out that her first child, sweet madeline, was diagnosed with this rare disease. we need answers to this very rare disease. we could go on and on and on, if we lose 15 drugs over the next decade. h.r. 3 is so wrong for america, but we have an alternative. we came together with h.r. 19, the lower costs, more cures act, of which i'm proud to be an original co-sponsor. this is a piece of legislation that is a bipartisan package. what buddy carter was talking about. it is focused on lowering drug prices while protecting america's ability to lead the world in innovative solutions. our energy and commerce committee enjoys an actually very warm bipartisan working relationship on so many bills. we work across the aisle, we held many hearings, we had many markups, we work on thorny issues together.

and our committee actually put forward several serious bipartisan measures that could become law. they are part of h.r. 19. and i'm not going to go through all of those pieces that are in h.r. 19, but one of the things that's so important about h.r. 19, it provides affordability and predictability for patients and seniors. americans don't want a guessing game at the pharmacy counter. h.r. 19 caps out of pocket -- for seniors -- out of out-of-pocket costs for seniors it. increases low-cost options for patients by bringing these generics to the mark place faster. it ends pay for delay, it implements -- and eases new product entries into the market. i could go on and on. these were things we worked on with our colleagues across the aisle. and that's what's in h.r. 19. so while h.r. 3 crushes investments in the r&d of new cures and it stifles innovation and it uses incredibly harsh

penalties to squeeze drug manufacturers who create these cures, it squeezes them almost out of existence in many ways, ultimately it's the patients who suffer. and it's h.r. 19 that will encourage innovation of those cures and protect access to new medicines. it will support competition which will drive down prices and lower the cost of medicines and it does put patients first. so i urge my colleagues to support that innovation by opposing h.r. 3 and supporting the bipartisan h.r. 19, lowering costs for more cures, real solutions for americans. and i thank my colleague for hosting this important hour. mr. carter: you're right. whether you believe the c.b.o. that said h.r. 3 would result in 8 to 15 drugs not coming to market, or whether you believe the council or economic

advisors, who says it's 100 dugs won't come to market, even if it's just one drug, that's one too many. i thank the lady. at this time i want to recognize one of the members of the doctors caucus. we are blessed in this congress to have a number of fine physicians. ne is from kansas. >> thank you, mr. carter. you and i worked together in different cities on the same projects trying to help patients out. here we are gathered in congress now for the same purpose. i thought i might talk about alzheimer's disease. it's hard to imagine, five million americans have aleimer's. there's probably not a person watching that doesn't have a loved one suffering, watching them go through the stages of alzheimer's. five million americans. in three decades we'll have 13

million americans with alzheimer's. for the sake of humanity we need a drug to cure this. you and i both know thate're truly this close. there are medications in the pipeline that will help eat alzheimer's. the economic impact of this also on our countrys extraordinary. mr. marshall: we're spending about $300 million a year treating alzheimer's patients, it will be over $300 trillion in a few years. a drug to cure this would save the country trillions of dollars. when i go back home people ask me a couple of things. they want us to lower the cost of health care and lower the cost of prepre-prescription drugs. they also want us to balance the federal budget. if we're ever going to be able to balance the federal budget we have to start driving the cost of health care down and innovation, innovation is the way that we're going to do this.

i hope everybody understands that the democrats' h.r. 3 does just the opposite. by their price mix -- price fix, they're going to stop innovation, drugs that will cure alzheimer's will never come. and talking about hepatitis, when you and were in college, in medical school, farm -- pharmacy school, there was no cure for hepatitis. now we have a medication, take one pill a week for 12 weeks, 90% cure for hepatitis so the person who was going to end up with a liver transplant that would cost $500,000 we've cured them with an outpatient medicine. i think about the cures for cancer, new innovations out there. spinal muscular dystrophy. court call blindness. for the sake of humanity we cannot let h.r. 3 happen. we need h.r. 19 to, the lower cost more cures act. that's what's going to drive

down the cost of health care and bring great solution, great new innovations to this -- to this country. again, congressman carter, thank you for leading on this important issue. mr. carter: thank you. i thank the gentleman. i want to recognize another valued member of the doctor's joyce, the gentleman, dr. from pennsylvania. mr. joyce: yes, sir. mr. carter: i got it right. mr. joyce: thank you. to have a pharmacist leading this discussion is so important . the leadership you've taken in this roll. i rise in strong opposition to h.r. 3. this would severely constrain biomedical innovation, limit access to future cures and ultimately harm so many patients across america. while all of us agree that we must act as a congress to lower the cost of prescription medicine, this bill takes a

fundamentally incorrect approach that will jeopardize americans' access to new medicines and have a negative impact on patient outcomes. as a physician, as a legislator, i have witnessed new cures that offer hope to patients facing devastating dige know -- diagnoses. as recently as 10 years ago, when i would see a patient presenting with metastatic melanoma, the prognosis often would be fatal. now, thanks to the advent of new biologic therapies, patients diagnosed with widespread metastatic melanoma have a chance to live. a chance to embrace life. let me be clear about this issue. passing h.r. 3 would deprive patients and their loved ones of a chance for a cure. fortunately, we have the

alternative in h r. 19. the lower cost, more cures act. of which i am proud to be an original co-sponsor. this bill is a package of more than 40 bipartisan provisions that would actually become law and have real impact on our patients, on our constituents, and in addition would ultimately lower drug prices. i am grate to feel you, mr. carter, for leading this discussion and for hosting this special order on this crucial topic. thank you, madam speaker, and i yield back the balance of my time. mr. carter: i thank the gentleman. thank him for he invaluable experience that he brings to congress. that's another example of one of the fine physicians we have in congress. at this time i want to recognize the gentleman from arizona, representative schweikert.

mr. schweikert: madam speaker, buddy, thank you for letting me come and engage with you. i may want to ask you a couple of questions. we had our -- my doctor friend from kansas here a couple of minutes ago. a quick thought experiment. what's the greatest economic threat to our society? it's actually our inability to have enough resources to pay for the promises. so we have made promises in social security, but medicare if you look at the 30-year window. i'm ways and means, thank you for letting me intrude, but we've made promises in medicare, really, really difficult. we're talking potentially $103 trillion of deficit if you add in social security and medicare but mostly health care costs. turns out, you can reduce the unfunded liabilities in medicare by 30% by just a cure, just a cure for diabetes. i will argue the mechanisms in

this h.r. 3, this sort of democrat takeover of the pricing mechanisms and the capitalization of the next generation of health care, does incredible violence to the future. and congressman carter, i don't know if you saw this, but remember, this is a reference pricing bill. the underlying secret is the efficiencies are actually being clailed in this bill. they're hiding behind something that's really dark and i don't think they've explained it. let's say you're in great britain and with what's a year of your life worth? turns out in great britain the way they'll price a new pharmaceutical that gives you a year of quality life, a quality year adjusted formula, is $37,000. so you show up with a new drug that's going to give you a year of quality life but it's $38,000, they do not buy it. what is your life worth? what is a quality year of your life worth for a year? because this is what the left is

about to import into the country. there are countries out there that are down to $19,000, if a drug is more than $19,000 but gives you a year of life, they don't buy it. that's rationing mechanism the left is about to import here. in many ways the stunning cruelty of such a thing. and they haven't told the truth. this is actually where much of their savings actually comes from is denying you the things that keep you healthy. and this is the mechanism. i know it's a confused chart. but functionally, if that outlay crosses these numbers, you do not get that pharmaceutical. yet there's crazy things you and i can be doing just, actually, taking your prescriptions. things we could build into a model, a half trillion dollars a year we could be saving on health care costs. just by re-- stepping up and changing the way we do our public policy around pharmaceuticals.

and the left has completely cut us out on the ways and means committee. republican ideas on saying there's a whole bunch of things we actually agree upon. stop being so crazy dogmatic with your hate and start thinking about people's lives. and giving them a future. because if we can cure parts of that 5% of the chronic condition that the majority of our health care spending, we can have a revolution crushing the price of health care in this country. i yield back. mr. carter: i thank the gentleman. excellent points. very well expressed. thank you so much. at this time, i want to recognize another valuable member of the energy and commerce committee, a gentleman from virginia, representative griffith. mr. griffith: thank you rr much, representative carter. i do appreciate all that you have done and you know, the bill that we are proposing as an amendment, as your substitute, actually deals with an item that we talked about a great deal and that is pharmacy benefit

managers. i'm going to give you a second to talk about that in just a second but i want to mention the item i've been bringing up a lot in these. the unconstitutionality of h.r. 3. the problem is, as you know, and it sounds shocking but it's true. if you don't accept the price the government is paying you, they take 95% of your gross revenues on that drug that money they take from you, that penalty, is not tax deductible. doesn't do anything as far as what expenses you put into it. you're going to lose money. now as i said in my comments earlier this evening, that's not negotiation. that is as the godfather would have said in the old movie series, an offer you can't refuse. i wish i could do the voice, i can't. but you know, that's a problem. and it's not, you don't have to believe me. in the committee i brought this up, the committee didn't necessarily believe me. but the congressional research service has said this bill likely violates the fifth an

eighth amendments of the constitution. this is a nonpartisan group that works for congress. came out and said yeah, there's some real problems here. when you're being confiscatory, you're not negotiate, it's a problem. in our bill that we've put forward that's bipartisan, we have some things on a subject both of russ very concerned about and that is pharmacy benefit managers, they're a big part of the problem here. drug manufacturers we need to work on. but their bill doesn't do anything on this. our bill does. why don't you tell the people just how that sham works. mr. carter: very quickly, pharmacy benefit managers are a big part of the problem. what we have to have in the drug supply train and -- in the drug supply chain is transparency, that's what we don't have now. p.p.m.'s bring no value whatsoever to the system. they don't do research and development. all they do is take from the system.

mr. griffith: let me ask you if this is not true as i understand. the p.b.m.'s went to drug manufacturers and said, raise your prices we'll do rebates. but those rebates don't help those in the doughnut hole or those paying a high deductible. even with the rebate if you're in an insurance company that gets the rebate and you don't have to pay as much, they increase their profit margin and they're making hundreds of millions of dollars that we have no idea what they're contributing as you were just saying. is that true? mr. carter: that is true. very true. i thank the gentleman for bringing that up. i thank you for your expert witness testimony. about the constitutionality of h.r. 3. because we both know that it's not -- we're very limited for time here right now, madam speaker, and with your permission, i want to end with this story. madam speaker, again, we're talking about real people. we're talking about people like richard loots, a store manager

who could be regularly found refereeing youth football and basketball games around savannah, georgia. he started having memory problems at 63 years of age. he was prescribed aricept to slow down the effects of alzheimer's. but before long he needed someone with him at all times. his wife barbara worked as a nurse, they couldn't afford for her to stop working too. helped heir four kids oout as much as they could, but they had to hire another nurse as well. he lost the ability to converse. for the last months of his life he could only respond to his family members, i love you too he passed away at the age of 69. barbara hears from neighbors and friends when they find out someone they know and love gets diagnosed they've reach out to her and ask, what do i do? what do i do? barbara told me, all i can tell

them is pray for a cure. pray for a cure. madam speaker, we want the same thing. we need the same thing. we can achieve the same thing. and we can do it without giving up hope for a cure for alzheimer's or all the other diseases out there. thank you, madam speaker, for this opportunity. the speaker pro tempore: the entleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from georgia seek recognition? mr. carter: madam speaker, i move that the house now do adjourn. the speaker pro tempore: the question is on the motion to adjourn. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the ayes have it. the motion is adopted. accordingly, the house stands adjourned until 9:00 a.m. tomorrow.

>> when the house returns at 9:00 a.m., you can watch live coverage here on c-span. the house judiciary meeting concerning two articles of impeachment against president trump, abuse of power and obstruction of congress. you can watch live on c-span two, online at c-span.org, or listen live on the free c-span radio app. today, justice department inspector general michael horowitz testified before the senate judiciary commi