Bush Claims:Bush Says Importing Drugs Makes Sense
- Wednesday August 18, 2004 10:54pm
HUDSON, Wis. (AP) - President Bush (website - news - bio) said Wednesday that pressure is building in Congress to allow lower-priced drugs to be imported from Canada and elsewhere but that it's still unclear whether it would be safe.
"What I don't want to do is be the president that says we'll allow for importation, and all of a sudden drugs that are manufactured somewhere else come in over the Internet and it begins to harm our citizens," Bush said at a campaign event held at a park here along the St. Croix River.
People on both sides of the issue say there is growing, bipartisan support in the House and Senate to make it legal for drugs to be imported, but Republican leaders have not allowed a vote so far this year.
"I'm looking at this," Bush told supporters. "There's a lot of pressure in Congress for importation."
The Facts (From Kerry Campaign):
Bush strongly opposes drug re-importation. In a Statement of Administration Principles issued by the White House Office of Management and Budget on July 23, 2003, Bush stated his strong opposition to drug re-importation. The SAP states, "H.R. 2427 (to allow the re-importation of prescription drugs) is dangerous legislation. It would expose Americans to greater potential risk of harm from unsafe or ineffective drugs, would be extremely costly to implement, and would overwhelm FDA's already heavily burdened regulatory system." (Office of Management and Budget, SAP on HR 2472, 7/23/03,
http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb )
Read the full release from the Kerry campaign:
http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?ReleaseID=34912Related story:
Kerry Belts Bush On Health Costs-
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/07/25/politics/main631657.shtml