(Washington, D.C.) – The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW) and its 21,500 Illinois members today called on the state's House of Representatives to override Governor George Ryan's amendatory veto of H.B. 2256, restoring the bill's original language.  The bill as passed by the Legislature would remove archaic and unnecessary barriers to generic pharmaceuticals in Illinois.  The bill as vetoed is expected to come before the House on Tuesday.

“When the Governor vetoed this bill, he denied taxpayers and patients in Illinois quick access to less expensive generic drugs.  His language mimics an ongoing national campaign to restrict access to certain types of drugs that have been declared safe for substitution by the Food and Drug Administration.  We hope and expect that the Illinois House of Representatives will override this costly action by the governor,” said Thomas A. Schatz, president of CCAGW.

“Illinois taxpayers continue to endure paying for the Illinois Technical Advisory Council, which is essentially another generic approval process, even though the FDA has created one process for bringing a generic drug to the marketplace and developed explicit guidelines for a generic drug’s therapeutic equivalence.  This second approval process causes unnecessary and expensive delays for Illinois citizens, sometimes up to several months or years.  Most states do not have this extra process and rely on the FDA’s expertise.  The governor has decided to support continued bureaucracy instead of consumers and taxpayers.  We hope the House will do the exact opposite,” said Schatz.

CCAGW noted that H.B. 2256 was supported by consumer groups, taxpayer groups, senior citizen organizations, labor unions, insurance companies, employers and an overwhelming majority of state representatives when the bill was first voted on in March of this year.

CCAGW is the lobbying arm of Citizens Against Government Waste, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, mismanagement and abuse in government.