Recognizing the Food and Drug Administration of the Department of Health and Human Services on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the passage of the Food and Drugs Act for the important service it provides to the Nation.

Mr. Speaker, I want to express my appreciation to my good friend and colleague from Texas (Mr. Gene Green) for providing me with this opportunity.

As we have heard, Mr. Speaker, next week the Food and Drug Administration turns 100 years old, and it is unfortunate that this agency is not making laudatory headlines as it celebrates such an auspicious occasion.

Instead, the Food and Drug Administration is at the nadir of its trustworthiness with the American people. Its basic defense of the public health has simply been perverted in the name of so-called conservative interests.

As a member of the House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee which has oversight over the Food and Drug Administration, I have been frustrated by the agency's cozy relationship with the pharmaceutical industry whose products it is supposed to regulate.

In 2001, fees paid by the drug companies funded 32 percent of the FDA's budget for drugs. Today, that figure is nearly 50 percent, and it is expected to go higher. Making matters worse, the FDA must negotiate with the drug industry on how those user fees are allocated. This financial dependency, along with the FDA's constant negotiations with companies over how to spend the fees, is the foundation for the conflict of interest that exists between the FDA and the pharmaceutical industry and others it is supposed to regulate.

I have been alarmed that financial conflicts of interest are waived by the FDA among its advisory committee members. The agency relies heavily on these scientists and these experts to guide policy when questions arise concerning medical treatments. When the FDA allows conflicted scientists to serve on these boards, events that have occurred over 100 times already during this fiscal year alone, the public health is obviously jeopardized at the expense of inappropriate personal interests.

I have been saddened by the stories I have heard from American families who have paid the price for mismanagement of this agency. I have met with many of these families on the efforts by the FDA to preempt their right to sue pharmaceutical companies in local and State courts. These families must be allowed to seek the understanding and justice they are owed after their loved ones are injured or killed from an adverse reaction to a product regulated by the FDA. I will meet with some of these families again later next week.

For these and many other reasons, I and many of my Democratic colleagues have introduced legislation, the FDA Improvement Act and others, to address many of the loopholes that currently exist at this agency. This legislation would sever the financial links between the FDA and the drug companies. It would restore the independence of the FDA. It would strengthen the agency's efforts to guarantee post-market drug safety. It would eradicate conflicts of interest on FDA advisory boards. It would restore the public trust in this very critically important agency.

Last month, the Wall Street Journal and Harris Interactive released a poll on public perceptions of the job that the FDA is doing on the safety of prescription drugs. Only 36 percent of the adults polled believe that the agency was doing a good job on ensuring the safety and efficacy on new prescription drugs. Eighty-two percent of the people polled believed that the FDA's decisions are influenced by politics over medical science to a great extent or at least to some extent.

According to its own Web site, the FDA is our country's oldest consumer protection agency. It should be given the authority to do its job independently, and the administration should sufficiently use that authority to protect the American people. It is a two-step process.

Yesterday, the American Association of Retired Persons reported that prices for brand-name pharmaceuticals jumped nearly 4 percent during the first 3 months of this year alone. The men and women paying for these drugs should be able to trust in the safety and the efficacy of the products for which they are paying so dearly.

The Food and Drug Administration's 100th anniversary should be a time of celebration, and if we are going to make it such, we have to bring forward legislation to the floor of this House, legislation which makes the Food and Drug Administration free and independent, legislation which reestablishes the arm's-length relationship between the regulator and the regulated. That arm's-length relationship has completely disappeared because the FDA has become financially dependent upon the agency, the entities, the corporations, the drug companies that it is supposed to regulate, and that regulation has fallen apart.

Let us bring forward legislation to the floor of this House which improves the FDA and protects the American people.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the concurrent resolution (H. Con. Res. 426) recognizing the Food and Drug Administration of the Department of Health and Human Services on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the passage of the Food and Drugs Act for the important service it provides the Nation, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks on this legislation and to insert extraneous material on the bill.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of House Concurrent Resolution 426, a resolution offered by the chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, Mr. Joe Barton of Texas, and the ranking member of the committee, Mr. John Dingell of Michigan.

Today the House is honoring the 100th anniversary of the Food and Drug Administration, an organization responsible for ensuring the gold standard of safety for the medical products Americans use and the foods we consume.

For a century now, the dedicated public servants at FDA have worked professionally and tirelessly to promote public health by regulating drugs, biologics, medical devices and cosmetics in a science-based way. As a result of their continued efforts, the United States stands alone, rightfully laying claim to the safest and most effective medical product supply in the world.

Additionally, the agency's vigilant work on food safety protects us against natural and man-made threats to the safety of the foods we eat.

The long-standing tradition of professionalism and diligence of this importance agency, which regulates roughly 25 percent of our gross domestic product, continues today under the able leadership of the Acting Commissioner of Food and Drugs, Dr. Andrew C. von Eschenbach. Under his leadership, the FDA enters its second century of service, with both a broad history and a bright future.

As chairman of the Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee, I look forward to continuing to work closely with Dr. von Eschenbach and his agency's outstanding staff on many important public health issues. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank Dr. von Eschenbach and the more than 10,000 civil servants for their continued service to the American people who are safer and healthier because of their efforts.

Again, I would like to commend Chairman Barton and Ranking Member Dingell for offering this worthy resolution and for their strong leadership on FDA-related issues. I encourage all of my colleagues to support this resolution.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I have no other additional speakers, and I will be prepared to close. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, we are not here today to say that the Food and Drug Administration is infallible. They certainly have made mistakes, as I am sure every Member of this body has made mistakes.

We are here, though, to say that over the past 100 years, there have been tens of thousands of FDA employees who have dedicated their lives to ensuring that our food and our medical products are safe. Time and again, Congress has entrusted fundamental safety responsibilities to the FDA.

We do not have a perfect system, but because of the dedicated public servants at the FDA, the United States stands alone as having the safest and most effective medical products supply in the world.

In 2002, we entrusted the FDA with new authorities to protect our food supply from terrorist threats. Every day, the employees at the FDA go to work to protect the best interests of the American people.

Although we may have disagreements over particular issues, we are better off as a country by having the dedicated individuals at the FDA working for the American people. We should not politicize a resolution that seeks to recognize their hard work. Mr. Speaker, I urge the adoption of this concurrent resolution.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I want to thank my colleagues, both Chairman Barton and Ranking Member Dingell, for introducing this resolution.

The Food and Drug Administration is the Nation's premier consumer protection agency. It ensures that food and drugs are safe and properly labeled, that medical devices are safe and effective, and that cosmetics are properly labeled. In the 100 years since its founding, the FDA has changed with the times and has adapted to the health and safety needs of Americans.

As initially enacted, the 1906 Food and Drug Act prohibited food, drinks and drugs to be adulterated or misbranded.

Over the years, the scope of the FDA has increased significantly. In 1938, its authority was extended to cosmetics and devices through a law that also established a new system for regulating drugs. The 1938 law also gave the authority to inspect factories.

By the 1960s, the FDA's role in ensuring drug safety expanded even more as the 1962 drug amendments required pharmaceutical manufacturers to prove the effectiveness of their drugs before being allowed to market them.

In 1958, the FDA played a key role in the country's response to the growing AIDS epidemic by approving the first blood test for AIDS.

Given the sensitive nature of its many activities and the effect they have on Americans from all walks of life, the FDA has not been without controversy or its critics. Yet, 100-years after its creation, I hope that we can all agree that the FDA remains a critical part of our efforts to protect and improve the health and safety of our Nation.

Every day, the FDA evaluates and approves new drugs and medical devices that improve our lives and productivity. It regulates food packages so we know what we are getting when we buy food for our families at the grocery store. The agency develops oversight policies regarding blood donations to ensure safe blood supplies. These are just some of the way the FDA's responsibilities are essential to protecting the public health.

As we come up on the 100th anniversary of this vital Agency, I am happy to support this resolution honoring the FDA and its staff for their 100 years of work to protect and improve public health.

Just a side note, Mr. Speaker, the FDA Commissioner von Eschenbach actually was a great researcher at MD Anderson in Houston, and with the National Cancer Institute, now at the FDA. Again, I know of no better person to be at the FDA because of both his experience, both as a cancer patient, but also as a researcher. He knows how important it is to make sure our drugs are protected will actually cure us, and will do what they say they will.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. President, as we recognize the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the Food and Drug Administration, I would like to rise and express my concern about the current direction of this agency.

There is no doubt that, since the agency's founding, the employees of the FDA have made an enormous contribution to protection the health of our Nation, and I believe that we should recognize the efforts of the thousands of civil servants who have helped to ensure the safety of our food and medicine.

Yet while the FDA has long represented the gold standard of consumer protection, I am afraid that this standard is being tarnished by the current activities of the agency. Under this administration, we have seen ideology placed before science, and politics before the public health.

Consider the way in which the FDA has sought to block wider access to Emergency Contraception, also known as Plan B, a tool that can prevent unintended pregnancy. Two successive FDA commissioners--Bush administration political appointees--blocked Plan B from being sold over the counter, overruling the FDA's medical experts, advisors, and the recommendations of over 70 organizations, induding the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics. The Government Accountability Office has confirmed that the FDA's 2004 decision not to approve over-the-counter sales was politically motivated. And despite the years that have passed since the original recommendation to approve Plan B for over the counter use, we still have no action, other than delay after delay, on that recommendation.

American women deserve an answer from the FDA. With Senator Patty Murray, I have placed a hold on the nomination of current acting Commissioner Dr. Andrew Von Eschenbach's to lead this agency, and I will continue to hold the nomination of Dr. von Eschenbach until the FDA issues a decision on Plan B, yes or no.

The FDA was founded in 1906 to protect the interests of the American consumer. One hundred years later, I fear that politics and ideology may triumph over the agency's original mission. I believe the best way to celebrate the FDA centennial is to make a commitment to reforms that will restore this agency's reputation as the gold standard of consumer protection.

Mr. Speaker, I want to join with my colleagues in thanking Congressmen Barton and Dingell for introducing H. Con. Res. 426, which recognizes the 100th anniversary of the passage of the Food and Drug Act. I also want to thank the gentleman from Texas for yielding.

I rise in support of this resolution. First of all, Chicago had a great deal to do with the development of the Food and Drug Act because of the book that Upton Sinclair wrote, ``The Jungle,'' and the vast stockyards and meat packing plants that were in Chicago, running amok and running afoul at that time.

But I most directly want to associate my comments with those of the gentleman from New York (Mr. Hinchey), who just spoke, because I too believe that we must, in fact, have enough distance between the Food and Drug Administration and any kinds of political considerations.

I have had the opportunity in the last few weeks to meet and hear and be in the presence of Dr. Andrew C. von Eschenbach, the new acting director, and I must tell you that I have been tremendously impressed with his vision, with the articulation of a mission for the Food and Drug Administration, and with the assurances that he continues to give that science-based evidence will be his approach.

So I am optimistic about what the Food and Drug Administration is going to continue to do in the future, and we are going to find ourselves pleasantly pleased, I believe, under the leadership of Dr. von Eschenbach.

So I thank the gentleman again from Texas for yielding.