{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.paul.senate.gov/news-dr-rand-paul-hhs-nominee-convince-me-you-have-plan-safely-reimport-drugs-or-i-cannot-support/", "Dr. Rand Paul to HHS Nominee: Convince Me You Have a Plan to Safely Reimport Drugs, or I Cannot Support Your Nomination", "2017-12-12", "2017", "2017-12", "Republican", "Senate", "KY", "Rand Paul", "P000603", "www.paul.senate.gov", "paul", "https://www.paul.senate.gov/news/", "scraper", "FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:\n\nNovember 29, 2017\n\nContact: Press@paul.senate.gov, 202-224-4343\n\nDr. Rand Paul to HHS Nominee: Convince Me You Have a Plan to Safely Reimport Drugs, or I Cannot Support Your Nomination\n\nWASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 During today\u2019s U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee hearing, U.S. Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) stated that he cannot support the nomination of Alex Azar to be the next Secretary of Health and Human Services unless he can convince Dr. Paul that he is open to the idea of reimporting prescription drugs and can lay out a plan to do so safely.\n\n\u201cIf you\u2019re open to it, and not just say it\u2019s unsafe, will say, \u2018This is how I would do it, and this is how I would reimport drugs and make it safe,\u2019 that\u2019s an honest reform. If you can\u2019t do that, I can\u2019t support you,\u201d said Dr. Paul. \u201cSo I hope you will come back with an answer that says, \u2018This is how I would make reimportation safe.'\u201d\n\nEarlier in the exchange, Dr. Paul urged Azar to represent the American people over the interests of Big Pharma, saying, \u201cBig Pharma manipulates the system to keep prices high. It is not capitalism, and it\u2019s big government, and we\u2019ve got to fix it.\u201d He went on to add, \u201cYou need to convince those of us who are skeptical that you\u2019ll be part of fixing it and won\u2019t be beholden to Big Pharma.\u201d\n\nIn 2016, then-candidate Donald Trump called for eliminating \u201cbarriers to entry into free markets for drug providers that offer safe, reliable and cheaper products\u201d as part of his seven-point health care plan, also declaring, \u201cAllowing consumers access to imported, safe and dependable drugs from overseas will bring more options to consumers,\u201d a statement Dr. Paul highlighted during his remarks.\n\nYou can watch Dr. Paul\u2019s exchange with HHS Secretary nominee Alex Azar below:", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-08T22:19:19Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.paul.senate.gov/news-dr-rand-paul-hhs-nominee-convince-me-you-have-plan-safely-reimport-drugs-or-i-cannot-support/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.7468280382454395, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}