[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 10 (Tuesday, January 17, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Page S324]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           NOMINEE FOR SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I wish to address a troubling report 
about the President-elect's nominee for Secretary of Health and Human 
Services that came out last night. We learned that Congressman Price 
bought shares in a medical device manufacturing company just days 
before introducing legislation in the House that would directly benefit 
that company.
  His legislation wasn't broad legislation. It didn't affect health 
care in general. It specifically blocked a regulation on medical device 
companies that do hip and knee implants, including the very business he 
bought stock in. According to CNN, the company Representative Price 
bought stock in was one of two companies that would have been hardest 
hit by this new regulation--one of two--and he puts in legislation to 
repeal it just after buying stock in it.
  Again, this is not someone who has Johnson & Johnson stock and then 
votes to cut Medicare. This is a narrow company that works on hip and 
knee implants--narrow legislation that deals with undoing some 
regulations on them. It is really troubling.
  These revelations come on top of the report late last year by CQ and 
the Wall Street Journal that Congressman Price had traded stocks in 
dozens of health care companies valued at hundreds of thousands of 
dollars during his time in the House as chair on the Budget Committee, 
when he introduced, sponsored, or cosponsored several pieces of 
legislation that impacted these companies.
  Yesterday's report makes it clear that this isn't just a couple of 
questionable trades but, rather, a clear and troubling pattern of 
Congressman Price trading stock and using his office to benefit the 
companies in which he was investing.
  Our President-elect claims he wants to drain the swamp, but 
Congressman Price has spent his career filling it up. I have asked the 
Office of Congressional Ethics to investigate whether or not 
Congressman Price violated the STOCK Act during his time in office 
before his nomination moves forward in any way.
  It may well be that this trade was illegal. This isn't a witch hunt. 
These are serious and disquieting allegations. The American people 
deserve to know if their potential Secretary of Health and Human 
Services violated a law against insider trading in Congress.
  The facts here are a narrow company with hip and knee implants and 
legislation with hip and knee implants coming soon thereafter, after he 
bought stock--whoa. These questions cry out for answers before--let me 
underline ``before''--Nominee Price goes before the Senate Finance 
Committee.
  When the public faith in government is as low as it is today, when 
politics and campaigns are saturated by money, as they are today, when 
folks feel their representatives are beholden to special interests 
before their constituents, reports like the one that just came out 
about Congressman Price perpetuate that distrust. They add fuel to the 
fire.
  We need to get to the bottom of these allegations and get to the 
bottom of them quickly. The only way to restore faith in our government 
and in our most important democratic institutions is to insist upon 
transparency and ethical behavior by those in positions of the highest 
public trust. Until a congressional ethics investigation can be 
completed, this report and his previous trades cast serious doubt on 
whether Congressman Price is fit to hold the office of Secretary of 
Health and Human Services.

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