Lower Drug Costs Now Act of 2019

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. CARTER of Georgia. Madam Chair, I thank the gentleman for yielding.

We have a situation here where we all want the same thing. We all want to bring down prescription drug prices. We want the same thing. We need the same thing. We can achieve the same thing. We can achieve the same thing without taking the risk of drugs not coming to the market.

Physicians take an oath when they graduate from medical school, it is called the Hippocratic Oath. It says, ``first, do no harm.'' Now, whether you believe the Congressional Budget Office that it will be eight to 15 drugs, or whether you believe the Council of Economic Advisers that it will be over 100 drugs, even if it is one drug, that is one drug too many.

It is simply a chance we cannot afford to take. Every one of us in this body knows a story, knows someone who has suffered from that awful disease Alzheimer's. It is an awful disease.

Barbara Lutz tells the story about her husband, Richard, who suffered from that disease. She tells the story about how she and her family suffered through that with him. Oftentimes, it is the caregivers who suffer so much.

Finally, Richard has succumbed to that disease after a 7-year fight. Now, people who are diagnosed or who have family and loved ones who are diagnosed with Alzheimer's come up to Barbara and ask her: ``What do I do? What do I do?'' Barbara simply told me: ``All I can tell them is to pray for a cure.''

This is not a Republican-Democratic issue. This is our issue. This is America's issue. We have to solve it together, and we can do that.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source