Drug reimportation language holds up homeland security bill

Prescription drug reimportation language in the House and Senate fiscal 2007 Homeland Security spending bills has emerged as a major sticking point to completing negotiations on the $33.7 billion measure.

Both bills contain a provision barring Customs and Border Protection agents from seizing legal drugs being brought across the U.S.-Canada border, prompting an outcry from the powerful pharmaceutical lobby. The White House and GOP leaders oppose the provision, but it has widespread support among rank-and-file Republicans in both chambers, notably Rep. Jo Ann Emerson of Missouri and Sen. David Vitter of Louisiana.

Emerson, a member of the Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee, would be among the House negotiators, but House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., has not yet appointed conferees.

Republican leaders are trying to load up the bill with as much "must-pass" legislation as possible -- including an extra $1.8 billion for border fencing, the Coast Guard and three immigration enforcement measures scheduled for the House floor Thursday.

But GOP leaders still face a backlash in both chambers over the drug reimportation issue, to the point where Hastert planned to meet with House Appropriations Chairman Jerry Lewis, R-Calif., and Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Harold Rogers, R-Ky., to discuss how to proceed.

The Emerson provision was attached to the House bill in the Appropriations Committee. Senate Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Judd Gregg, R-N.H., who opposed the provision, declined to comment on its status.

"It's at the Speaker's level, and the [Senate] Majority Leader," Gregg said. Senate Appropriations Chairman Thad Cochran, R-Miss., is offering compromise language that would block reimportation until the Food and Drug Administration certifies that foreign drugs meet safety requirements. But reimportation backers argue that is a license for the FDA chief to simply block reimportation.

The pharmaceutical industry's trade group PhRMA staunchly opposes the measure and has weighed in with GOP leaders. The seniors group AARP announced Tuesday the kickoff of a grassroots and advertising campaign to support stand-alone prescription drug reimportation legislation sponsored by Sens. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., and Olympia Snowe, R-Maine.

AARP Policy Director David Certner said the organization does not support Vitter's amendment because it does not include safety protections. The Dorgan-Snowe bill requires that FDA oversee and regulate shipments of drugs into the country for commercial or personal use.

The AARP advertising campaign features print ads and radio spots asking constituents to urge their senators to sign on as cosponsors to the bill. The organization is targeting 24 senators in 14 states who cosponsored Vitter's amendment but have not signed on to the Dorgan-Snowe legislation. The Dorgan-Snowe bill has 30 cosponsors.

Kristen Lee contributed to this report.