November 14, 2012

Tells packed hearing: "You can take a regulator to a problem, but you can't make them regulate." WASHINGTON, DC: Congressman Joe Barton (R-TX) delivered the attached opening statement at Tuesday's Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations hearing titled "The Fungal Meningitis Outbreak: Could It Have Been Prevented?" The FDA showed up at the hearing asking Congress for more regulatory authority. However, during a tense exchange (included in video), Rep. Barton got agency leaders to admit they already had the power to remove the tainted drugs at the heart of the meningitis outbreak from the market.