DORGAN STATEMENT ON SENATE ACTION ON IMPORTATION OF LOWER PRICED PRESCRIPTION DRUGS
Monday, May 7, 2007
CONTACT: Justin Kitsch
or Brenden Timpe
PHONE: 202-224-2551
(WASHINGTON, D.C.) --- U.S. Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND) issued the following statement Monday, after the U.S. Senate voted 49 -40 to add language that nullifies the amendment he and Senator Olympia Snowe (R-ME) were offering to allow the safe importation of lower priced prescription medicines from Canada and other countries. The Dorgan-Snowe amendment was adopted, but only after the Cochran amendment was added, which in effect, nullifies it.
Text follows:
STATEMENT BY U.S. SENATOR BYRON DORGAN (D-ND)
May 7, 2007 Washington, D.C.
"Today's vote is a set back, to be sure, but it is not the end of our effort to make prescription drugs more affordable for the millions of Americans who need them to live healthy and independent lives.
"We're going to keep fighting. One day, I assure you, we are going to inject a little price competition into the American market when it comes to prescription medicines. Without competition, the big drug companies monopoly price their medicines and Americans pay the highest prices in the world.
"Today is a day of lost opportunity for the Senate. We could have voted to help improve the lives of millions of Americans, make prescription drugs more safe, and, according to the Congressional Budget Office, save $50 billion over ten years through something we all say we believe in - market competition.
"This fight is not over. We'll be back. And eventually, the American people are going to win."
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