senator, being strongly in support of reimportation. he voted for the full-fledged reimportation bill in 2007. as he became a presidential candidate, that strong, clear support continued during the presidential campaign. then-candidate obama clearly stated again his strong, crystal-clear support for reimportation. in fact, he used very feisty language about it. he claimed he would fight big pharma, the big pharmaceutical companies, stating -- quote -- "we'll take them on, hold them accountable for the prices they charge." and -- quote -- "drug companies are exploiting americans by dramatically overcharging u.s. consumers." well, unfortunately, mr. president, after then-candidate obama was elected president, some things changed and the biggest thing that changed was the obama-care proposal and all of the backroom deals, bartering and deal making that led to its passage through congress. i had those concerns at the ti time. in fact, i spoke very clearly about them here on the senate floor, that there were some back-room deals going on, es

senator obama was full-bore for reimportation. candidate obama campaigned on the issue and was very strong and vocal about it. president obama cut the back-room deal and killed it. senators who are still fighting for lower prescription drug costs here in the senate are, quite frankly, still reeling from the setback, still trying to deal with it. but i believe we ultimately will deal with it and will recover from this major setback when the american people fully realize what went on. the corrupt, i would say, bac backroom deal that was cut between the white house and bigg pharma and how seniors and other americans are paying the price. mr. president, obamacare passed and prescription drug prices continue to be sky high. they continue to hurt tens of millions of americans, particularly those on a fixed income like seniors. and we continue to need a solution to that very real problem. that's why i'll continue to fight, mr. president. i'll it into fight for any measure that makes sense to lower prescription drug prices: generics refor