SENATE BILL: Antibiotics Research Act (Law'd)

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

Is section 3 even necessary? Whatever the research yields will have to comply with federal regulations to be used by the public anyway.

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

Is section 3 even necessary? Whatever the research yields will have to comply with federal regulations to be used by the public anyway.

My intention while writing that was that those agencies could apply for the tax credit and that it wouldn't be automatic. I see your point, though, so I would be open for revising that.

For simplicity's sake, we could just appropriate the $5 billion to the national science foundation for research and be done with it. It seems like it is a blanket fund anyway since we aren't designating specific things to research.

I also think TNF's amendment is not necessary either. If the Foundation creates a new drug, they can easily patent it for X number of years and make themselves the exclusive producer. Once a patent expires, it is fair game for anyone to produce as it is usually.

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

Okay, we are screwing this up here. The NSF is not in the field of medical research. Further, the annual budget for the proper agency, the National Institutes of Health, operates on a $26 billion budget. I am proposing this amendment, and I think we may want to consider increasing the funding in this bill.

Further, I don't see a need to give a government agency a tax credit. I am not even sure how their tax structure works since it's a government agency.

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[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

In fact, I would assume most of the income they receive is tax exempt. It is entirely funded by the government, which we are doing here and is done using taxpayers money. That is my reasoning for striking section 3.

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

I thought clause 3 was meant to incentivize private research, although I grant it was not written like that.

If that's what it's for, we need to make it more clear. I thought this bill's intention was merely to fund the NIH an additional $5 billion, but the sponsor can clarify for me if they wish.

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

I will add that we could add a section for private research firms, but they will make loads of money anyway if they produce an FDA approved drug and that drives them to succeed. I don't believe a tax break is really necessary, especially if we are able to pass my tax reform bill.

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

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X Duke

Totes fine with it now.