WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Mike Lee (R-Utah) reintroduced a bill, the Reciprocity Ensures Streamlined Use of Lifesaving Treatments Act, to expand healthcare innovation and accessibility for Texans and all Americans. The RESULT Act would increase access for all Americans to life-saving drugs, devices, and other medical therapies already approved in other trusted countries. Sen. Cruz previously introduced the bill in 2021.
Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) introduced the companion bill in the House of Representatives.
The RESULT Act amends the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act to allow for reciprocal approval of drugs, devices and biologics approved in certain trusted countries, including the UK, EU member countries, Israel, Australia, Canada, and Japan.
Upon reintroduction, Sen. Cruz said:
“Healthcare decisions should be made by patients and their doctors–not government bureaucrats. We should allow patients to use life-saving drugs, devices, and medical therapies that other countries are successfully using. This is a commonsense advance in healthcare policy that would go a long way to moving America from a bureaucratic takeover of healthcare toward a patient-centered system.”
Rep. Roy said:
“The American people should not have to wait years and years for bureaucrats at the FDA to sign off on medicines that are already approved in other trusted countries.
“This bill would cut through another wall of red tape that separates Americans from care, which means taking power away from the pencil pushing gatekeepers and putting it back where it belongs — the doctor-patient relationship.”
Americans For Prosperity Senior Policy Analyst Charlie Katebi said:
“The Reciprocity Ensures Streamlined Use of Lifesaving Treatments Act of 2023 would empower patients with greater choices to select the best medicine for their health care needs. By allowing the FDA to automatically approve new drugs that have already been approved in other industrialized countries, millions of families suffering from life-threatening conditions will be able to access important medications to improve their health.”
Sen. Cruz is a passionate fighter for life and a defender of health care freedom:
- Sen. Cruz has consistently defended life and in 2021, he filed an amicus brief in the case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, urging the Supreme Court to overrule its decisions in Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey. He supported the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, which would ban late-term abortions that result in pain and suffering for an unborn child. He has repeatedly called for investigations and accountability when clinics are found to conduct illegal and horrific abortion and infanticide practices – from clinics like Kermit Gosnell’s house of horrors in Philadelphia, to the clinic in Washington, D.C. where the remains of five preborn children were discovered, and following reports that Planned Parenthood was selling body parts of aborted babies.
- When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Sen. Cruz led the fight against unlawful Covid-19 mandates by introducing the first and most sweeping bill in 2021 to prohibit federal vaccine mandates, tracking persons based on vaccination status and denying essential liberties based on vaccine status. In addition, his proposal would provide all employees with protections against employment-based vaccine mandates by extending current civil rights protections.
- Sen. Cruz supported legislation to stop President Biden’s vaccine mandate on private employees under the Congressional Review Act, introduced the Parental Rights Protection Act to prohibit the federal government and any entity that receives federal funding from requiring COVID-19 vaccines for minors, and introducedlegislation to end the Biden administration’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention mask mandate for all Americans, regardless of vaccination status.
- Sen. Cruz introduced legislation to prohibit denying an individual from donating or receiving an organ because of their COVID-19 vaccination status, and from the number of COVID-19 cases in a region being used as a factor in determining eligibility to donate or receive an organ transplant. The GIVE LIFE Act would also prevent Medicare and Medicaid providers from denying services to individuals based on their COVID-19 vaccination status.
- Sen. Cruz led the fight against Obamacare, working to repeal it, delay funding for it, supporting challenges in court, and played a critical role in repealing Obamacare’s individual mandate in Congress’ historic tax reform bill. By repealing the mandate, 6.5 million Americans who have been unfairly fined by the IRS for not being able to afford health care insurance got immediate and significant relief. He continues fighting for Americans hurt by Obamacare, and for commonsense healthcare reform.
- Sen. Cruz led the fight to address long wait times for veterans, successfully passing an amendment requiring the VA Secretary to provide Congress with a plan to address the long wait times for veterans seeking health care at the South Texas Veterans Health Care System.
