Senate passes biomedical bill, sends it to Obama
WASHINGTON — The Senate shipped legislation to President Barack Obama on Wednesday lowering hurdles for government drug approvals as the 114th Congress bumped toward the end of a two-year run highlighted by upheaval and stalemate.
A week after the House easily approved the biomedical bill, senators passed it by a similarly overwhelming 94-5 margin. Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., supported the bill; Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., did not vote on the bill. The package plans on spending $6.3 billion over the next decade on popular efforts such as cancer research and battling drug addiction.
“This is a reminder of what we can do when we look out for one another,” Obama said in a written statement that promised his signature. Referring to families that have endured losses to cancer, Alzheimer’s disease and drug abuse, he added, “Their heartbreak is real, and so we have a responsibility to respond with real solutions. This bill will make a big difference.”
Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., chairman of the Senate health committee, said, “This is an opportunity we cannot miss, and we’re not going to miss it.”
Before adjournment, which leaders targeted for later this week, lawmakers also were tackling bills financing government agencies into late April, mapping Pentagon programs and planning water projects.
The Senate floor was also the stage for accolades to departing Vice President Joe Biden, who served 36 years as a Democratic senator from Delaware.
“You’ve been a real friend, you’ve been a trusted partner and it’s been an honor to serve with you,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said to Biden, who presided over the tribute.
That camaraderie also was reflected in the biomedical bill, which included a planned $1.8 billion for cancer research. Biden, whose 46-year-old son Beau died of the disease last year, has championed such work.
The bill, which also takes steps to sharpen federal mental-health programs, drew praise from scores of pharmaceutical, device and other medical industry associations and from numerous patients groups.
It was opposed by consumer organizations and liberals who said the measure’s shortcuts for Food and Drug Administration approvals would endanger consumers and represented a sellout to drugmakers. They also complained that it will take later legislation for Congress to provide the funds the bill envisions.
“Congress should not have had to jeopardize patient safety to increase medical research funding,” said Michael Carome, director of Public Citizen’s Health Research Group.
The drug bill was a cooperative capstone to a Congress that has seen its share of tumult.
A conservative rebellion booted Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, from office last year. Democrats staged an overnight sit-in on the House floor protesting the GOP-led Congress’ inaction on gun control. Senate Republicans refused to let Obama fill a Supreme Court vacancy after Justice Antonin Scalia died in February.
The two parties gridlocked over easing trade barriers with Pacific Ocean nations and revamping criminal-justice statutes, and in a prelude to next year’s battles, Obama vetoed a repeal of his health care law. It took months for lawmakers to approve money to combat the Zika virus.
Congress did extend dozens of minor tax breaks for individuals and businesses, reshaped how Medicare reimburses doctors and rewrote federal education and transportation programs.
Before adjourning, lawmakers still need to approve a governmentwide spending proposal. The measure contains money to keep agencies functioning into next spring, when the new President Donald Trump and GOP-run Congress would make final budget decisions.
It includes $4.1 billion in disaster aid for Louisiana and other states, $170 million to help Flint, Mich., rebuild its lead-poisoned water system and other funds for U.S. anti-terrorism operations overseas. It also contains a provision to help former Gen. James Mattis become Trump’s defense secretary by making it easier for Congress next year to waive the required seven-year wait before military retirees can head the Pentagon.
No one is expecting the bill to fail — which would produce a Friday night government shutdown — but there are lingering disputes to resolve.
These include complaints from coal country lawmakers that the measure insufficiently extends health care benefits for 16,000 retired mine workers, whose coverage is to end Dec. 31. Democrats are unhappy the bill provides just $7 million of the $35 million the Obama administration requested to beef up security in midtown Manhattan, home to President-elect Trump.
By 92-7, the Senate gave preliminary approval to a defense policy bill that would block Obama from his goal of shuttering the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Boozman voted yes; Cotton did not vote.