Congress debates lower-cost drug imports

WASHINGTON, Dec. 14 (UPI) -- Pharmaceutical makers are lobbying hard against a plan that would let U.S. citizens buy cheaper drugs from foreign countries, officials said.

The U.S. Senate was to resume debate Monday on the plan, which poses a difficult political challenge for the Obama administration, The Washington Post reported Monday.

President Barack Obama co-sponsored a similar bill when he was a U.S. senator and he included funding for the plan in his first budget as president. Now, he needs the support of the pharmaceutical industry to pass broad healthcare legislation, but the industry vehemently opposes the plan to import cheaper drugs from overseas, the Post reported.

The pharmaceutical industry argues there is no way to ensure drug imports would be safe and not counterfeit or contaminated.

The AARP, the powerful lobbying group for seniors, supports the lower-cost drug plan, sponsored by Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., and supported by Sens. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, and John McCain, R-Ariz.