HOUSE & SENATE DRUG WORK

Congress returns to business this week with approximately one more month to produce drug benefits for those receiving Medicare. Seniors have expressed extraordinarily strong interest in such a benefit; Congress would be smart to bring one home in October.

Both houses have something to work on, and the politics in both are difficult. For the House, the generics bill co-authored by Sen. Susan Collins is waiting. Republican Rep. John Thune of South Dakota has introduced a version similar to the Senate bill, which would close loopholes in patent laws that allow pharmaceutical companies the ability to receive numerous extensions and keep lower-priced generics off the shelves. House Democrats, including Maine Reps. John Baldacci and Tom Allen, are supportive but House Speaker Dennis Hastert and most Republicans are not, and neither is the Bush administration, though it agrees with the central idea of the bill to limit the reasons for patent extensions.

The generics legislation has not received as much attention as a drug benefit under Medicare, but it deserves a vote and strong support in the House. It represents billions of dollars saved annually for purchasers of prescription drugs, making drugs more affordable for the poor, the elderly, those without insurance and those with high co-pays. It is the most comprehensive measure to reduce the cost of drugs Congress has seen this year and the best chance to bring savings to the greatest number of people. Discharge petitions to force leadership to consider a vote are used with care in the House; this would be a good time to start gathering signatures.

The Senate has its own work to do. Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota made a miscalculation late in July when he thought he had enough Republican votes to reach the 60 necessary to pass a prescription drug plan for poor seniors. Sen. Collins supported the measure; Sen. Olympia Snowe and most Republicans rejected it. It is up to the majority leader now to decide whether to encourage a broad compromise that would attract bipartisan support or try to wait until after Oct. 1, when for procedural reasons, a new bill would need only 51 votes, which he could get from his party and one Republican.

The risk in waiting is that Congress is scheduled to adjourn Oct. 4, leaving little time for a House-Senate conference to align whatever the Senate passes with the puny prescription-drug measure passed earlier in the House. Majority Leader Daschle is far better off getting a strong bipartisan vote earlier in September on a plan that incorporates a broad formulary, government safety nets for regions without strong private-insurance competition and a nearly settled $400 billion 10-year price.

The details matter in both the generic and the Medicare benefit, but the imperative is for Congress to return home in October with real advances in making prescription drugs more affordable. Time is short.