BAMANEWSBOT
Staff
WASHINGTON — In a surprising rebuff to President Trump and Republican leaders, the House derailed a bill on Tuesday that would have given patients with terminal illnesses a right to try unproven experimental treatments.
The bill was considered under special fast-track procedures that required a two-thirds majority for passage, and it fell short. When the roll was called, 259 House members supported the bill, and 140 opposed it.
Most of the opposition came from Democrats, who said the bill gave false hope to patients and could actually endanger people dying of incurable diseases, because it would undermine protections provided by the Food and Drug Administration.
“By defeating this bill tonight, we protected patients and supported F.D.A.’s continued role in approving experimental treatments that may help save a patient’s life,” said Representative Frank Pallone Jr. of New Jersey, the senior Democrat on the Energy and Commerce Committee. “This bill should have never been on the House floor in the first place since it was only introduced today.”
House Rejects Bill to Give Patients a ‘Right to Try’ Experimental Drugs
The bill was considered under special fast-track procedures that required a two-thirds majority for passage, and it fell short. When the roll was called, 259 House members supported the bill, and 140 opposed it.
Most of the opposition came from Democrats, who said the bill gave false hope to patients and could actually endanger people dying of incurable diseases, because it would undermine protections provided by the Food and Drug Administration.
“By defeating this bill tonight, we protected patients and supported F.D.A.’s continued role in approving experimental treatments that may help save a patient’s life,” said Representative Frank Pallone Jr. of New Jersey, the senior Democrat on the Energy and Commerce Committee. “This bill should have never been on the House floor in the first place since it was only introduced today.”
House Rejects Bill to Give Patients a ‘Right to Try’ Experimental Drugs
