Hi Marjorie,
The Agriculture Appropriations Bill has not yet been passed by the Senate
but the Conference Report was presented on the Senate floor on Fri 10/13
and the vote is expected to take place next week.

Current Status of FY2001Appropriations Bills
Last update: Fri, 13 Oct 2000 18:02:37 GMT
http://lcweb.loc.gov/global/legislative/appover.html

Did you read the tribute to retiring Senator Connie Mack? (Congressional
Record Friday Oct. 13 - Senate)
http://thomas.loc.gov/r106/r106s13oc0.html

Cheers ............. murray


> As you all know, I have a new Hard Drive,
> and I have spent most of the week restoring
> from backup, all my files.
>
> Well, my computer got smart with me this morning
> and told me to delete some files because I was getting
> short on Memory in MS Word.  I hate it when a computer
> is smarter than I am!!!
>
> Anyway, I'm in the process of reading 398 files I have saved
> and will transfer what I want to keep to a CD with my CD/RW,
> and delete them from MS Word, to keep it from talking back to me!
> but I came across this information, and thought since we have
> been discussing drug cost, that you might like to read it.
> Maybe Murray, who has a divine gift for finding information ,
> could find out what happened to this amendment, Please!!
> just me,
> Marjorie
> ************************************************************************************
> Burns Backs Legislation to Lower Drug CostsFor immediate release:
> July 19, 2000
> Burns Backs Legislation to Lower Drug Costs
> Amendment Requires Health Secretary to Certify Safety, Lower Prices
> WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Montana Senator Conrad Burns today backed legislation
> designed to make prescription drugs less expensive by giving community
> pharmacies and distributors the ability to buy medicine in foreign
> countries so
> long as they meet strict government safety requirements.
> "We need to do what we can to lower the price of medicine in America," Burns
> said, "and if the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) says we can
> do it
> safely, allowing foreign purchases might help."
> Burns said allowing importation of FDA-approved medicine is only one part
> of his
> plan to make prescription drugs more affordable and more available for all
> Montanans, but especially for senior citizens.
> Some prescription drugs cost substantially less in Canada and Mexico than they
> do in the United States. Under a law passed in 1988, only a drug manufacturer
> can "reimport" medicine form foreign countries. Consumer advocates charge the
> law results in unfair price differences between countries.
> According to Burns, the Democratic-controlled Congress passed the
> reimportation
> ban in 1988 out of concerns for counterfeit drugs and drugs that were
> improperly
> stored or handled overseas. Burns said he insisted on strong safety
> measures as
> a condition of supporting today's legislation.
> "The legislation we passed today has iron-clad protections for people who
> purchase reimported medicine," Burns said, "including a requirement that the
> Secretary of HHS tells us we can do it safely, and in a way that will lower
> prices, before we move forward."
> Burns said he has sponsored other legislation to make medicine more affordable
> and more available, including a plan to give Medicare recipients access to
> discount prescription drugs, and also a plan to give tax credits to low and
> moderate income families to buy health insurance.
> "Allowing reimportation won't solve the problem of high priced drugs by itself
> but, so long as we can do it safely and as part of a larger package, it might
> help," Burns said.
> The Senate adopted the legislation on a vote of 74 to 21 as an amendment to
> the
> annual agricultural appropriations bill. The appropriations bill must still
> pass
> the Senate, and differences with the House ironed out, before it can be
> sent to
> the president.
> # # #


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