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A year-long bipartisan initiative to speed up the cycle of medical research culminated Tuesday in the filing of a bill called 21st Century Cures Act.
The bill, stripped of its most controversial provisions to accelerate drug approvals, which the FDA and critics had said could compromise patient safety, headed to the House Energy & Commerce Committee for debate and markup Tuesday and Wednesday.
The House is looking to use an overwhelming bipartisan vote to raise pressure on the Senate over a medical cures bill on which the upper chamber has been lagging.
The House is moving forward on its 21st Century Cures measure, aimed at speeding up the FDA's approval of new drugs and increasing funding for the National Institutes of Health.
House Energy and Commerce Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) has repeatedly said he wants to get a bill signed into law before the end of the year.
Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette (CO-01) stood with dozens of bipartisan Members of Congress in opposition to the practice of bulk collecting US citizens' phone and email records.
Washington, D.C. –Today, Rep. DeGette (CO-01) applauded the swift approval of the bipartisan 21st Century Cures Act. The legislation advanced by voice vote after subcommittee members from both sides of the aisle expressed strong support for the effort, led by Rep. DeGette and the Chairman of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, Rep. Fred Upton. 21st Century Cures seeks to bring new, cutting edge treatments and cures to patients and their families.
WASHINGTON – U.S. Reps. Diana DeGette (CO-01) and Louise Slaughter (NY-25), co-chairs of the House Pro-Choice Caucus, issued the following statement after House Republican leaders revived their misguided attempt to pass H.R. 36, adding additional barriers to women seeking medical and abortion services:
MADDOW: Joining us now is Congresswoman Diana DeGette. She`s co-chair of the Pro-Choice Caucus in the House.
Congresswoman DeGette, thanks for being with us tonight. Nice to see you.
REP. DIANA DEGETTE (D), COLORADO: Good to be with you, Rachel.
MADDOW: So, I will admit to being fuzzy on the language as to what has ended up being in this new iteration of the House Republicans` abortion ban. Do you understand what it is they`re going to ask for a vote on in terms of these rape and incest provisions and all the rest?
At the time, GM insisted there were only 13 deaths attributed to the safety defect. Such a claim seemed preposterous. It turns out DeGette, a Colorado Democrat, was prescient.
A package of new policies aimed at getting cutting-edge medical cures to Americans more quickly is moving forward, with House lawmakers releasing the latest iteration last week. In an effort to gain bipartisan support, Republicans slashed the draft in half from an earlier version, removing one particularly controversial section giving drug developers more time to exclusively market their products and inserting more funding for the National Institutes of Health — one of Democrats' key demands.
A bill sponsored by a Colorado Congressman that would allow legal marijuana dispensaries access to the federal banking system has been re-introduced to the House of Representatives — but it faces long odds.
Representatives Ed Perlmutter of Colorado and Denny Heck back H.R. 2076 — the Marijuana Business Access to Banking Act of 2015.
An unusual coalition of Democrats and conservative Republicans is calling for increased funding for the National Institutes of Health, but the lawmakers must contend with spending caps known as the sequester.
Bipartisan legislation introduced this week, called 21st Century Cures, would provide billions of dollars in new funding for medical research at NIH.
The caps provide a major obstacle. But coming on the heels of a major deal to reform Medicare payments, the passage of the bill would be another bipartisan accomplishment on healthcare.