WASHINGTON – U.S. Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, made the following statement during the full committee markup of 11 public health bills:

“Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you for scheduling this markup of the 11 bills that we’re going to try to work together on today.

“Before I talk about the specificity of the bills before us, I want to comment on an oversight hearing Mr. Pallone held in his subcommittee last week on the NIH Reform Act. As you well know and remember because you were such an integral part of that, it’s the first time we reauthorized NIH in, at that time, 13 years. It was what I consider to be the milestone of my brief tenure as chairman of this very prestigious committee.

“During that hearing last week, Dr. Zerhouni, who is the current director of the NIH, stated that the NIH Reform Act is working. In a letter that he sent to both you and me, he specifically stated that ‘it would be a grave mistake to go backwards in mandating disease-specific research at a time when barriers need to be torn down, not rebuilt.’

“Mr. Chairman, as you well know, the very structure of NIH lends itself to the kind of trouble that nobody can afford. That’s why we worked so hard last Congress to counter the tendency to politicize disease-specific research. We both believe that scientists – not politicians and not advocates – should figure out how to maximize limited resources for medical and scientific research. You supported that goal then and you continue to support that goal today.

“It’s unfortunate, but inevitable that we continue to see a surge in disease-specific funding proposals. I understand that, and so does everyone in this room today. We all get elected to represent the people and we all feel the same pain when someone comes in with some terrible tale about a specific disease that in their opinion is not being given the proper priority in current system. So many of us, myself included, just want to say, ‘Yes, I’ll help. What can I do?’ We end up signing as co-sponsors of these many bills thinking at the time that sure it’s a noble goal but probably nothing’s going to happen. But if we continue to do that, it leads us back to the bad old days when special interest muscle and not scientific merit dictated where research dollars flowed. If we make everything a priority, nothing is a priority. Mr. Chairman, I hope as we go through this markup today and markups in the future that we’ll remember the goal of the NIH Reform Act in the last Congress, a goal that so far in this Congress, you and I both have continued to support.

 “With that being said, let’s take a look at the 11 bills that we’re going to mark up today.

• H.R. 6469, the Organ Transplant Authorization Act of 2008, increases authorized funding for the Organ Procurement and Transplant Network. This provides coordination between individuals in need of an organ transplant and donor organs made available from deceased donors. We support the increase of federal funding for this program, which currently represents only seven percent of the operating costs.
• S. 1760, Healthy Start Reauthorization Act of 2007 reauthorizes the Healthy Start program. This service provides services tailored to the needs of high-risk pregnant women, infants and mothers in geographically, racially, ethnically and linguistically diverse communities with exceptionally high rates of infant mortality. This is an important program, and we support its passage.
• H.R. 1532, the Comprehensive Tuberculosis Elimination Act of 2007, revises the national strategy to combat tuberculosis at the CDC. CDC provides leadership and assistance to domestic and international efforts to prevent, control and eliminate tuberculosis. This bill will go a long way toward eradicating this disease.
• H.R. 2994, the National Pain Care Policy Act of 2007, enhances awareness of chronic pain with providers and the community. Chronic pain is an issue that many people suffer from. This bill would create an interagency coordinating committee to coordinate all efforts within HHS and other federal agencies related to pain research.
• H.R. 5265, the Paul D. Wellstone Muscular Dystrophy Community Assistance, Research, and Education Amendments of 2008 reauthorizes the existing CDC efforts toward muscular dystrophy. I am supportive of this bill’s efforts to reauthorize and improve the existing muscular dystrophy registry at CDC.
• The Meth Free Families and Communities Act, reauthorizes a grant program administered by Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.  This is a needed piece of legislation that will go a long way to helping that problem. This bill updates the law by directing the agency to expand, intensify and coordinate efforts to provide PPW family-based treatment for methamphetamine addiction.
• H.R. 1014, the Heart Disease Education, Analysis Research, and Treatment, or HEART Act for Women provides help to those suffering from heart, stroke or other cardiovascular disease.
• H.R. 6353, the Ryan Haight Online Pharmacy Consumer Protection Act of 2008 prohibits the delivery, distribution or dispensing of controlled substances over the Internet without a valid prescription. Ryan Haight overdosed and died on February 12, 2001, on narcotics that he had purchased on the Internet. He was prescribed the medication from a doctor on the Internet that he never saw. He was 17 when he purchased the drugs and 18 when he died. This bill will provide the DEA better tools to combat rogue Internet sites that are peddling narcotics to our children. I am very supportive of this piece of legislation.
• H.R. 2583, the Physician Workforce Enhancement Act of 2007 assists small, rural hospitals that serve rural or growing areas by providing them with resources to establish a residency training program for certain high-need medical specialties.
• H.R. 1076, the HIPAA Recreational Injury Technical Correction Act, requires health plans and insurers to inform enrollees prior to enrollment of any restrictions or limitations in coverage that may occur. Current law allows plans to restrict or limit coverage of services and benefits so long as the restriction or limitation is applied to all similarly situated insured. The bill provides that if a plan or insurer decides to restrict or limit coverage or benefits under the plan, it must describe such restrictions and limitation to persons prior to enrollment in the plan. That seems to me to make just plain common sense.
• H.R. 758, the Breast Cancer Patient Protection Act allows patients who are seeking mastectomy or breast-conserving surgery or a lymph node dissection for the treatment of breast cancer to not less than a 48-hour hospital stay, provided that the physician finds that length of stay medically necessary. Furthermore, the bill seeks to protect insured from losing their coverage when an insurer finds that he or she did not disclose information on the insurance application about a treatment or condition unrelated to the treatment or condition for which benefits are being sought. This amendment, Mr. Chairman, is one which I brought to your attention and I’m very appreciative of you including it in your manager’s amendment.

“These 11 bills have almost total support of members not only of this committee but a majority of the House of Representatives. They are an example of what can be done when we work across the aisle on a bipartisan basis.

“Mr. Chairman, we look forward to a swift markup today and passage of all 11 of these bills. Thank you for your leadership on these important legislative issues.”