Bill would open door to cheaper, imported drugs - if it is enforced
By Associated Press
Published November 25, 2005
WASHINGTON - Patients won't find it any easier to import prescription medicine even though President Bush has signed legislation containing a provision that lawmakers say was meant to clear the way for cheaper drugs.
The provision, sponsored by Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., and Rep. Anne Northup, R-Ky., and passed by the House and Senate, is part of the huge Commerce-Justice-State spending bill.
Bush signed the bill into law Tuesday, but said he will consider the imported drug provision "advisory."
That leaves open the question of how - or if - the measure will be enforced.
It would bar the U.S. trade representative from crafting trade agreements that block such importation.
Recent agreements with Singapore, Australia and Morocco effectively prevented drug importation by requiring the consent of drug patent owners.
"The intent of the language was clear and the intent of Congress was clear when the measure was included in the passage of the bill," Northup's chief of staff, Terry Carmack, said Wednesday. "I suspect there will be many, many discussions with lawyers and committee staff to figure what the next step might be."
The trade representative's office opposed the provision, arguing that blocking its ability to make such agreements would impinge on pharmaceutical manufacturers' intellectual property rights.
Bush was "reserving the right to object" to the provision through his statement, said White House spokesman Trent Duffy. "Essentially it means that the legislative branch has the ability to suggest things, but there are powers reserved by the constitution for the executive branch."
Trade agreements are negotiated by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, a cabinet-rank post in the executive branch. They then must be approved by Congress.
A spokeswoman for U.S. Trade Representative Rob Portman did not return calls for comment.
The drug provision was one of seven in the bill that Bush singled out, saying, "The executive branch shall construe as advisory the provisions of the act that purport to direct or burden the executive's conduct of foreign relations."
As the bill was being considered in Congress, Rep. Rahm Emanuel, D-Ill., said Portman was using a "back door" to block drug importation. Northup said the provision "sends an unmistakable message to the trade rep that he can no longer do this and that Congress is watching."
The provision lasts for one year.
The full bill signed by the president funds the Commerce, Justice and State departments and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative for fiscal 2006.
Other agencies funded in the bill include the Federal Trade Commission, Small Business Administration and Securities and Exchange Commission.
