Senate to Vote on Agriculture Bill Without Drug Reimportation Provisions

The Senate version of the fiscal year 2002 agriculture appropriations bill, set for a vote today, "lacks any language" that allows prescription drug reimportation -- "much to the irritation" of House and Senate supporters of drug reimportation, CongressDaily/AM reports (Rovner, CongressDaily/AM, 11/15). In July, the House approved a measure that would allow individuals to purchase FDA-approved prescription drugs from some foreign nations (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 7/12). The House adopted the provision, sponsored by Rep. Gil Gutknecht (R-Minn.), as an amendment to the FY 2002 agriculture appropriations bill (CongressDaily/AM, 11/15). However, the House rejected a broader proposal to allow drug distributors and marketers to reimport drugs for sale to U.S. consumers (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 7/12). Several senators, including Sens. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) and Paul Wellstone (D-Minn.), had "intended to pursue" the broader proposal in the Senate version of the bill, but they "opted not to push the issue" in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon (CongressDaily/AM, 11/15).