would appreciate it. >> and try to explain, senator mccain is on at the armed services bill downstairs i believe is occurring so is running back and forth and what he asked is senator braun to manage this discussion for the amendment. >> i would say if we're going to vote on it now i have not had time to read. >> mr. chairman, can i also -- can i senator mikulski. >> mr. chairman, i too am a strong advocate of consumer opportunity but i have to be up here for consumer protection and what i want to put in here is not my health had but i had as a member of intelligence committee and also my hands as they a proofreader for commerce justice and the funding for the fbi. we are in a tremendous risk coming into this country of

counterfeit drugs and we know from a variety of sources including the mafia run over of exploiting yes. this is real and serious. i'm not showing any of the drug companies so i really have to insist on a certification from the secretary on a safety. i can only do as a matter of really good conscience. i wonder consumers to get the best deal. out of love for them to be able to imports inexpensive prices, but everything i know from both classified and unclassified briefing this i really would have enormous amount of anxiety over voting for this month as constructed. >> mr. chairman senator roberts can back out like to echo an associate with remarks by the distinguished senator from maryland. i was chairman when she was most

helpful on the committee when this first came up. i don't think we are repeating anything classified here when we say we have a hot spot or we did have hotspot hearings and basically would focus on the threats to the united states. this is an area where i share her concern and her concern is very real and so i think i did not realize and i apologize to the sanitary i did not know that she had an amendment in order and that's another thing mr. chairman, i thought we were going to do this next week and the coverage section of the bill. >> is not her amendment. >> feet mccain an amendment. >> i know but i have a an amendment for modification but it wasn't filed, this is an mine is not a i thought the deadline for coverage a section was next week. last week the deadline came and

went. some of us were a little confused about that in regards to the process and the modification i had a is very quick because i think some others have shown the same concern and we're talking about drugs coming in from the stoning of a slovakia, hungary, bulgaria, albania is cetera and any move to the mideast against shaky. we even had that one case in your remember the bottle or that prescription bottle that came in from iraq of all places so i think it is a very real threat. my modification since i had missed the deadline on the eminence but again i thought we were going to do this under the coverage section of my deadline on the amendment would be next week. but simply said this act shall

become affected only the secretary certifies to the congress the implementation of all pose no additional risk to the public's health and safety and results in a significant reduction and cost to the american consumer. in section eight is essential and i am going to support this amendment although i know exactly what the senator is trying to do, i respect that and i don't mean to throw a clear in here or be a johnny-come-latelies' but i did want to share the concern of the senator from maryland. i would like to ask the chairman some guidance here. i know that senator mccain is busy in the armed services committee but i thought this was going to be next week, i was going to offer an amendment prior to the deadline for next week which i think i understand is next week and that would be in order. i'm also unhappy to lead to the

distinguished senator from washington to do this. i need some guidance here. >> my guidance is to count noses and as i counted noses at 1. i would say senator mccain is not here that my view is the mccain the amendment is offered without the roberts cochrane or whoever else would be offering the language will fail. i also would be supportive of the amendment to deal of the safety and effectiveness issues but i would tell people as a look around on my job and right now if john is interested in adopting you will be better suited and excepting the road that deals with these other issues otherwise would not make it so my advice would be they

want to hear advice is to wait until title one to allow for amendment offered and that is my judgment. so obviously they have a right to offer amendments but if it were offered at this point that is not a conclusion. >> senator mccain was two go ahead with a vote, i thank you know sometimes we tilt at windmills and he may not describe it that way, you know sometimes you lose but he knows as i do that to the so-called safety language is a language that really does restrict the importation. we have all seen this, we have seen the drug industry every year every time there is a spite we have every importation language and they usually win because there are darn good at this and we don't get anywhere but the fact is i hear members

signed a united nations role call raising fears in people to import drugs from places with no strong safety net for the safety regimen like fda has. that is not what going to happen. we have worked on this for years and i understand that and body fat. it gives the secretary the power to figure out the authority work the same drugs come from there is and not on food safety. and there is a lot but the fact is i have confidence when i take my constituents 10 years ago they brought lipitor and other prescription drugs in the same boxes and the same brand name and the same ingredients that, in fact, the candidate the

equivalent protect the public in canada, those fears on real so i know i hear it's and has this way and i hope senator mccain tries again but he wants to go ahead and on the amendment and i ask for a roll-call and keep debating roll-call. >> i really take offense at what shoe are implying of those worried about safety. you know my affection for you and we tend to be on the same side 99 percent of the time but discounted to drug thing is a real thing if we could all go to canada with a drug stores it would be a different gig but this is not what importation is. importation will come through a variety of trade routes for which there will be inspection and there is a lot of counterfeiting. so if we want to vote on it don't imply those of us are

going to show drug companies. >> i think is always a danger when we get into motivations weathercaster votes. in i support the mccain imminent but i don't believe people are worried about the safety and efficacy necessarily tools of the drug industry. >> i apologize if people thought my comments indicated. >> senator sanders. >> i don't often agree with senator mccain but he is absolutely right on this issue and i concur with what senator brown says. many years ago i was an hour away from the canadian border in vermont and was the first member of congress to take people over the border and i will never forget because we will with a busload of women dealing with breast cancer who did have a lot of money. the purchase tamoxifen a widely used breast cancer drug, this was 10 years ago, they paid one-tenth the price that they

paid in vermont than in the united states. i will never forget with tears in their eyes, working-class woman struggling for their lives did not have enough money to buy medicine and they paid in one-tenth the price an hour from where they were living in the saint albans area in vermont. so i think there is little doubt in my mind that if we as a nation think we can eat fruits and vegetables that come from a developing country from farms and mexico and china and the idea we cannot properly import medicine from canada to come to the united kingdom from major developed countries with the help of the fda you can't have a paper trail to make sure these products are safe isn't to me. we have been involved for 15 years. i think this is one way. i hear my friends, i'm not a great exponent of unfettered

free trade. but to his credit center mccain is, this is a free trade issue so if you can import food from all over the world and all kinds of products, why in god's name cannot import prescription drugs on the very heavy regulation of the fda whose job it will be to say any product comes into this country has to pass the highest safety ratio. of course, we can do it in if we do it will lower the cost of drugs for the government for millions of american people. now i would say strongly support this amendment and hope we can pass and now appear know i think mr. chairman you can correct me if i am wrong but majority leader read indicated this would come to the floor of the senate -- a couple weeks ago it was taken out, so i think we will have another shot on the floor but i hope we could pass it today. >> mr. chairman it without the more careful safety language in there i can to vote for it.

the examples always given of the safe low-cost ones are people that shoveled up to canada and bought their drugs in person. the difficulty is with the people that get them through mail-order and if you think that you are going to a lincoln canada and getting the pharmacist in canada chances are much better than you are getting a pharmacist in saudi arabia through greece through canada to you. and the examples that they found that sometimes these chemicals, the compound is exactly the right compound, but it will dissolve in the body. so we have store rooms full of stuff that people thought they would get that would be good that will not work for them if they were to get it, that is a safety concern. we have to be concerned about the safety of the stuff and we worry about dog food and everything else, i don't know

why we wouldn't worry about prescriptions. we have lots of examples as bad medicine, the labels are exactly the same, the cartoons of the same. everything looks the same. the packaging is the same but the pill won't work. how many people would die taking a pill that will dissolve or just because it has the right chemical compound and until we can have assurance i don't think that is a bigger quest, some assurance that would be met to. i can't vote for it to. >> thank you very much mr. chairman. as we have been sitting here i have been in beijing to this amendment and thinking about the broad debate. much of the conversation has been about examples of bad

medicine as the senator from wyoming has appointed to. that is occurring and its existing structure. this is fraud and outside the existing structure of a long. it would make sense to have an amendment that sets up a structure for importation then says that that the importers and exporters had to be qualified and, they have to be licensed. they have to be reviewed and if they break the rules of their kicked out. the madisons are checked, the medicines are the same chemical formats they claim to be, they have the same efficacy as their counterparts in the u.s. and all of that is in this bill. all of that is in this mccain eminent so all the commentary about fraud and is commentary about fraud and that is importation outside the structure of law. and by the way i am sure members

of this committee understands there is fraud within the boundaries of the united states of america. cases that have occurred with the drugs delivered have been prepared in someone's raunch and are simply not chemo treatment that will be just a bag of it salim solution with a label on it. so the issue is neither bounded by the boundaries of this country and it is not about whether or not there is a structure, it is about the lack of structure and so just as we have established a system within the u.s. to combat fraud and this is about extending that structure and restoring incoherent to markets so that the citizens can benefit from a pair pricing of pharmaceuticals. it is ironic and i think a point to dwell on that many of these

drugs, many of these drugs or developed with research funded by the taxpayers of the u.s. and that we turned around and create a framework for those same taxpayers have to pay the highest price in the world in order to utilize those drugs. we funded the research and have to pay the highest price in the back end. i certainly embrace the conversation with my colleagues about safety. i think that we need to observe there is a lot in this bill in this amendment mccain has put for that address the safety and not that we can do more. i certainly would fully entertain that conversation. allen encouraged since there is going to be a boat to embrace the mccain eminent or the core principle he has sent out a structure of registration and licensing of supervision and excluding those.

i would point for example on page 20 of this bill that notes that the folks who violate the rules get thrown out of the system and i'm sure there is more that can be done and i gather additional commentary would be appropriate in a subsequent section of the bill for the conversation then came forward. the fall on considering down the line will still be relevant if amendments brought up under that section to further address safety. i don't know that is the case but it could be. >> allyson please encourage my colleagues to say yes to fairness to the american consumer who has funded the research with the understanding we are going to have a follow on conversation be on the floor in this committee about additional things to create safety. thank you very much mr. chairman. >> anyone else in it be heard on this matter?

>> when we bring this up on the floor i would ask the mccain amendment be sent to the secretary of hhs for her comment in preparation of the debate if we are going to do it on the floor i would like to have more information. >> i'm sure that request will be in here two. >> the clerk will call the roll on the mccain amendment. [roll call]

[roll call] [roll call] [roll call]

one [roll call] >> the amendment is not agreed to appear in a and all i can say it my nose counting is correct. the other any additional

amendments. >> wanted to. >> to the fraud and abuse section for a couple of moments. i know that senator enzi has some comments before dealing with senator mccain's amendment so i wanted to respond to a couple of innings. and wanted to commend the the way seven tariff enzi along with our chairman has conducted himself in this whole process over these many days and weeks and grateful with the way he has approached this bill, as difficult as it is an much as there is conflict of a lot of major elements. with regard to the fraud and abuse section i wanted to do a couple of things very briefly that will take a few moments. one is to highlight and enter into the record and i would ask

consent that two letters be entered into the record. one is from the american health insurance plans dated june 24th 2009, a letter to chairman candy and ranking member and see about the fraud and abuse section that is number one and never to the second letter dated the same day june 24th of this year of the national insurance crime bureau and coalition against insurance fraud and the national health care anti-fraud association. also a letter addressed to chairman kennedy and ranking member enzi, i asked those be included. >> i want to apologize, those of the letters from the insurance commissioners? >> those two letters are not,

this letter from the national insurance crime bureau of the coalition and anti-fraud association. in. >> that is fine, i think my colleague for including them. i understand there was an ever made on the bingaman amendments to resolve the language offered yesterday and he withdrew the amendment to work on it. i know if he can hold over until next week. i do want to keep members unnecessarily over. >> there are still working on that. as i understand. closeout title five. >> there is a letter to the insurance commissioners and did not cite that but there is a letter. >> let me thank my colleagues around 260 eminence of the last eight or nine days and obviously more work to be done and my intention is to get to all of my

colleagues language and the joint tax on the other areas in the legislation so we can begin our work as well on the coverage title and related matters including the follow-on biologics. we will get that as quickly as we get member is two have been a review of that and have to pick up as well on the long-term care issues and talk about this morning. we have numbers in joint tax and i want to think that senator enzi. i sat on this committee as well. senator gregg and cheered as well so we had a number of former chairs so they all have some appreciation to try and keep people together and someone once described this is like keeping frogs in a wheelbarrow and the have a tendency to jump

out so i appreciate they have stated it in the wheel barrow i hope everyone has a healthy independence day break an accord to see my colleagues on the sixth of july.

up next pennsylvania senator specter talks about supreme court nominee. his remarks on the floor are about 10 minutes. >> i have sought recognition to comment briefly on the pending nomination of a speech to to be

an associate justice on the supreme court of the united states. i have made it in a practice to write to nominees in advance of the hearings. in order to give advance notice to the nominee so that the nominee will be in a position to respond to questions raised without going back to read cases are considering the issues and facilitate the proceedings. i commented to root justice judge sotomayor when she had the so-called courtesy call that i would do that and i wrote for the first letter commented about it on the floor statement discussing in some detail the qualifications of a judge sotomayor for the supreme court

to briefly recapitulate. i noted in my earlier for a statement her excellent academic record, high rankings at princeton, undergraduate and yale law school, her work as an assistant district attorney and her professional experience with a major law firm. her tenure on the federal trial court and her current tenure on the court of appeals for the second circuit. today i am writing to judge sotomayor to give her any man's notice i will be acquiring to her views on television. i have long advocated televising the proceedings of the supreme court to and have introduced legislation to require that subject to a decision by the court on a particular case and they thought that the court ought not to be televised.

i think the analogy is very apt televising proceedings of the u.s. senate or the u.s. house of representatives so that the public may be informed as to what is going on on these public matters. in the arguments to the supreme court are open to the public and only a very few people have an opportunity to see them first not easy to come to washington and sign and so many people would then come to washington are allowed to be their only a very human its ear in a the with the marvels of television in this proceeding appears in the homes of many americans on c-span 2, the house is televised on c-span, and many of our hear