E PL UR UM IB N U U S Congressional Record United States th of America PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE 112 CONGRESS, SECOND SESSION Vol. 158 WASHINGTON, MONDAY, MAY 21, 2012 No. 73 Senate The Senate met at 2 p.m. and was a Senator from the State of Maryland, to the floor. I am cautiously optimistic called to order by the Honorable BEN- perform the duties of the Chair. that the spirit of bipartisanship will JAMIN L. CARDIN, a Senator from the DANIEL K. INOUYE, continue because Democrats cannot State of Maryland. President pro tempore. pass this legislation without the co- Mr. CARDIN thereupon assumed the operation of our Republican colleagues. PRAYER chair as Acting President pro tempore. I certainly hope they will allow us to The Chaplain, Dr. Barry C. Black, of- f advance this bill this evening without fered the following prayer: additional delay caused by another fili- RECOGNITION OF THE MAJORITY buster. I would like Senators from both Let us pray. LEADER Eternal God, our provider, give to parties to be free to offer relevant our lawmakers provisions for their The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- amendments to improve a worthy bill, daily needs. Give them grace to keep pore. The majority leader is recog- but before we can get to work on this Your commandments, to accept Your nized. legislation in earnest, I urge my Re- guidance, to stay on Your path, and to f publican colleagues to stop their fili- walk in Your light. Lord, give them buster. Americans living with cancer FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION stamina to run until they reach their and other life-threatening illnesses are SAFETY AND INNOVATION ACT— goal and to be true to You until the watching closely to see whether the MOTION TO PROCEED very end. Make them this day wise Senate is capable of moving to quick with Your wisdom and strong with Mr. REID. Mr. President, I now move action to ease shortages of crucial Your strength. Help them to believe in to Calendar No. 400, S. 3187. medicines or whether we will once Your power so that they may be cer- The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- more be paralyzed by Republican ob- tain that You are able to do for them pore. The clerk will report the motion. structionism. more than they can ask or imagine. The legislative clerk read as follows: Americans have seen that obstruc- We pray in Your merciful Name. Motion to proceed to Calendar No. 400, S. tion time and time again this Congress. Amen. 3187, a bill to amend the Federal Food, Drug, They are frustrated with the slow pace and Cosmetic Act to revise and extend the of Senate action to reauthorize the Vi- f user-fee programs for prescription drugs and olence Against Women Act, Iran sanc- medical devices, to establish user-fee pro- tions, and on legislation to stop inter- PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE grams for generic drugs and biosimilars, and est rates from doubling on student for other purposes. The Honorable BENJAMIN L. CARDIN loans. Earlier this month Republicans led the Pledge of Allegiance, as follows: SCHEDULE blocked an attempt to keep higher edu- I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the Mr. REID. Mr. President, we are now cation affordable for 7 million stu- United States of America, and to the Repub- on the motion to proceed to the FDA dents. But Democrats have not given lic for which it stands, one nation under God, user fees bill. At 4:30 the Senate will up. I hope our Republican colleagues indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. proceed to executive session to con- will come to their senses and allow us sider the nomination of Paul Watford f to prevent this crisis that affects 7 mil- to be U.S. Circuit Judge for the Ninth lion young men and women before it is Circuit. At 5:30 there will be a cloture APPOINTMENT OF ACTING too late. vote on the Watford nomination. If we PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE Republican obstruction and infight- are able to confirm his nomination, we ing has also stalled critical new sanc- The PRESIDING OFFICER. The should expect a second vote on the mo- tions on Iran. For 2 months Democrats clerk will please read a communication tion to proceed to the FDA user fees have worked to resolve Republican ob- to the Senate from the President pro legislation. jections to this bipartisan measure tempore (Mr. INOUYE). OBSTRUCTIONISM REPEATED which passed out of the Banking Com- The legislative clerk read the fol- Mr. President, this week the Senate mittee unanimously. The stakes lowing letter: must complete work on legislation couldn’t be higher. Sanctions are a key U.S. SENATE, that will enact crucial reforms that tool to stopping Iran from obtaining a PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE, will prevent drug shortages and bring nuclear weapon, threatening Israel, Washington, DC, May 21, 2012. To the Senate: lifesaving medicines to market more and jeopardizing U.S. national secu- Under the provisions of rule I, paragraph 3, quickly. Senators HARKIN and ENZI, a rity. We cannot afford more delays to of the Standing Rules of the Senate, I hereby Democrat and a Republican, worked putting stronger sanctions in place. I appoint the Honorable BENJAMIN L. CARDIN, very hard to bring this legislation to hope my Republican colleagues will see ∑ This ‘‘bullet’’ symbol identifies statements or insertions which are not spoken by a Member of the Senate on the floor. S3295 . VerDate Mar 15 2010 01:14 May 22, 2012 Jkt 019060 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 4624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\A21MY6.000 S21MYPT1 jbell on DSK7SPTVN1PROD with SENATE S3296 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE May 21, 2012 how important it is to advance these The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- try. There was an unduly long wait for important measures and prevent Iran pore. Without objection, it is so or- patients to have access to new medi- from obtaining a nuclear weapon. dered. cines and technologies. For FDA, it Republicans have also needlessly Mr. REID. Mr. President, I suggest often took 2 or 3 years to review a drug blocked progress on reauthorization of the absence of a quorum. application. Materials were submitted the Violence Against Women Act. This The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- manually in a very costly fashion. It helps law enforcement effectively com- pore. The clerk will call the roll. cost manufacturers to the tune of al- bat and prosecute domestic crimes The legislative clerk proceeded to most $10 million a month. against women. Although both Cham- call the roll. So we decided to come together in bers have passed a version of this legis- Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, I ask the era when Bill Clinton said big gov- lation, House Republicans have refused unanimous consent that the call of the ernment was over—not to make gov- to go to conference with the Senate. quorum be rescinded. ernment to be bigger but for govern- Their excuse—a hypertechnical budget The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. ment to be smaller—and we came up issue called a blue slip—isn’t much of a COONS). The Senator from Maryland. with a public-private partnership figleaf to hide their blatant obstruc- Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, I called the PDUFA, the pharmaceutical tion. The truth is that they are looking come to the floor to lend my voice to user fee legislation. PDUFA supports for any excuse to stall or kill this wor- asking my colleagues to vote for the drug review, so that those who make thy legislation, but American women motion to proceed to the FDA Safety the products pay a fee to be able to have not been fooled. If Republicans and Innovation Act. Like the Presiding have their drugs reviewed. They also really want to give police the tools Officer, who is from Delaware, where expect their government to reduce the they need to prosecute domestic abus- its excellent private sector and public time it takes to move reviews expedi- ers, they will drop this facade. If Re- sector have been the hallmark of inno- tiously yet safely. publicans really care about protecting vation, I represent a State that is abso- Let’s be clear: This is a public-pri- women and families, they will abandon lutely critical to the innovation econ- vate partnership. For FDA, as it looks these hypertechnical objections and omy. at its—remember, FDA has two jobs, join us in conference. Those of us from Maryland know life which are food safety and then the There are differences between the science innovation is one of the impor- safety of drugs and medical devices. House and Senate bills that could be tant economic engines in our economy More than 60 percent of funding for worked out easily. American women both today and in the future. We are drugs and medical devices comes from and families are counting on our ac- the home to flagship government agen- industry fees—$712 million. The re- tion. But in this Congress it seems the cies such as the National Institutes of mainder comes from Federal appropria- Republicans are more interested in in- Health, the FDA, and iconic inter- tions—$473 million. So the private sec- action than action; they are more in- nationally branded universities that do tor carries a big part of this responsi- terested in blocking worthy legislation research and move it into clinical prac- bility. The kind of staffing, expertise, for partisan gain than in working to- tice at Johns Hopkins and the Univer- and modernization we have at FDA gether. Their infighting and partisan sity of Maryland.