United State - Australia Free Trade Implementation Act

UNITED STATES-AUSTRALIA FREE TRADE IMPLEMENTATION ACT -- (House of Representatives - July 14, 2004)

Mr. THOMAS. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 712, I call up the bill (H.R. 4759) to implement the United States-Australia Free Trade Agreement, and ask for its immediate consideration.

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Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, the Australia Free Trade Agreement is for the most part a good agreement with a strong U.S. ally. But because it is becoming increasingly clear that the reimportation of prescription drugs from other countries is on the horizon, so much so that even the Secretary of Health and Human Services has said that it is coming, this administration, in cooperation with this majority, has included a provision into a bill designed to stave off the inevitable, this time interfering with the reimportation of a patented product into the United States in a trade agreement and setting a bad precedent for other agreements with western developed countries.

American seniors, fed up with discount cards that do nothing to reduce their drug costs, should not be fooled by this. The Republican leadership has failed to win the reimportation debate on every level. The American people disagree with them. Their own members disagree with them. Absent Republican support, this body would not have voted to legalize the practice last year with 243 bipartisan Members.

Putting any reimportation legislation passed by this Congress in violation of free trade is their goal in this agreement. It is not enough for the drug companies to do everything in their power to prevent the United States from lowering the cost of drugs. Now, through international trade laws, they are trying to cut off the ability of others to reimport safe, affordable drugs and the efforts of what other countries do for their citizens as well. So when the United States Trade Representative says that his core objectives in negotiating this deal were "rewarding innovation and R&D" and "due process," what he is actually saying is that the drug companies should be able to keep their prices as high as they want for as long as they want in America and across the world.

Before we press ahead with this Free Trade Agreement offered under a closed, nonamendable process, I urge my colleagues to consider the very serious ramifications of this bill on every single person in this country struggling to keep up with the skyrocketing cost of prescription drugs. Absent allowing the Federal Government to negotiate the price of prescription drugs, the safe importation of drugs from other countries is the only way that ordinary people can afford the drugs they need. That is what is at stake with this legislation.