[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 146 (Thursday, September 12, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5478-S5482]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 RECOGNIZING THE SEMIQUINCENTENNIAL OF THE COMMUNITY OF WHEELING, WEST 
                                VIRGINIA

  Mrs. CAPITO. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate

[[Page S5479]]

proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 310, submitted earlier today.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       A resolution (S. Res. 310) recognizing the 
     semiquincentennial of the community of Wheeling, West 
     Virginia.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the 
resolution.
  Mrs. CAPITO. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the 
resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and that the 
motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with 
no intervening action or debate.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The resolution (S. Res. 310) was agreed to.
  The preamble was agreed to.
  (The resolution, with its preamble, is printed in today's Record 
under ``Submitted Resolutions.'')
  Mrs. CAPITO. Mr. President, I am really pleased to be here with my 
fellow Senator from the State of West Virginia to talk about a really 
great city and very historic city in our State of West Virginia, and 
that is to recognize the 250th birthday anniversary of the city of 
Wheeling, WV.
  In September of 1769, Ebenezer Zane set out into the great unknown, 
as many of our brave earlier settlers did. He found a place nestled at 
the mouth of a river, and he girdled a group of trees together and 
carved his family name into them, claiming his tomahawk right, as was 
the custom of the time. That clearing that Zane created, where he built 
his home and raised his family, would develop into the city of 
Wheeling.
  I grew up just 10 miles south of Wheeling, WV. Wheeling is a city of 
industry, good people, and growth. Yes, there have been ups and downs 
over the years, but today it is as vibrant as ever. As West Virginians, 
we all take pride in our State's progress through the years, but 
Wheeling has made a particularly special mark on our State.
  During the Wheeling Convention of 1861, Western Virginians voted to 
secede from Virginia so that we could remain loyal to the Union. They 
declared that Virginia officials had abandoned their posts, and they 
established a provisional government with Francis Pierpont as the 
Governor.
  Then, in 1863--something we are very proud of--President Lincoln 
issued a proclamation admitting the State of West Virginia into the 
Union and instituting Wheeling, WV, as our first State capital.
  The bold actions of the men of the Wheeling Convention opened the 
gate for the creation of the State I know we know and love, the State 
that we are so proud to call home and to serve here in the Senate.
  As a matter of fact, we have a statue to honor our first Governor, 
Governor Francis Pierpont, the father of West Virginia, and it still 
stands in the Capitol in Statuary Hall today.
  As a new State following the Civil War, West Virginia sought to 
cement its place in the recovering Union, and Wheeling became an early 
transportation epicenter. Probably, traveling to the Presiding 
Officer's State, you had to go right through Wheeling.
  With the presence of the National Road, including the Wheeling 
Suspension Bridge, which is still there today, the city connected the 
Ohio River with the Potomac River and offered further expansion to the 
west. As a result, Wheeling, WV, was able to become a powerhouse in the 
steel industry. We have all heard of Wheeling steel. In the late 19th 
century, Wheeling was producing nearly half of the Nation's nails, 
earning it the nickname ``Nail City.''
  Today, Wheeling has revived its downtown, winning the 2019 Great 
American Main Street Award.
  In the past 3 years, they have opened 37 new small businesses--the 
backbone of our State--and the city has opened tourism to the Ohio 
River Valley, from the Victorian Capitol Theater and the shops and 
eateries of Centre Market to one of the best--and, I will say, not one 
of the best but the best--holiday light shows in the country at Oglebay 
Park, their Winter Festival of Lights.
  Wheeling is historic. It is beautiful, and it is booming. That is all 
thanks to the creative and incredible men and women who have called it 
home over the years.
  One of my favorite historic stories about Wheeling involves one of 
those brave men, Major Samuel McColloch.
  Back in September of 1777, during the Revolutionary War, there was a 
siege on Fort Henry, which today is Wheeling. As the fort came under 
attack by a group of Native Americans, Major McColloch arrived at the 
fort with 40 mounted men. They all made it safely inside the gate 
except for the major, who was then forced to flee to a nearby hill. If 
you know anything about West Virginia or Wheeling, WV, we have plenty 
of hills.
  So when he got to the top, he found himself surrounded, and his only 
hope of escaping was by leaping off of the edge, which was about a 300-
foot drop. Well, being the bold leader that he was, Major McColloch 
took the jump. He and his horse survived this leap, and they galloped 
away.
  Today, that spot is marked by an historic marker, and it is called 
McColloch's Leap. I can remember my parents, when I was a young girl 
and we would go to Wheeling, stopping and explaining this incredible 
story about the leap of Major McColloch with his horse down the 300 
feet. You ought to go see it, because when you look at it, you go: 
Whoa, that is a long way.
  Of course we cannot forget the women who also helped to shape 
Wheeling's history. There was another siege on Fort Henry that took 
place in September of 1782. It is often known as the Last Battle of the 
Revolutionary War. Native Americans and British Rangers had laid siege 
to the fort, with some 40 men defending it and protecting and guarding 
the women and children inside.
  As the battle raged on, the settlers knew that they would soon 
deplete their ammunition, but they knew of a stockpile at the nearby 
Zane homestead. So one volunteer, Betty Zane, Ebenezer's sister and one 
of the original settlers of Wheeling, stepped up. She ran to her 
brother's cabin at her own peril, gathered up the gunpowder in a 
tablecloth and returned through enemy fire.
  Betty was successful and unharmed, and with the replenished 
resources, the forces were forced to retire, resulting in a victory for 
Wheeling and a very young United States of America.
  So, as we gather today, Senator Manchin and I, to honor Wheeling's 
250th birthday, I also honor the individuals who built the city, from 
the first settlers to those who walk down Market Street today. 
Together, they have secured an important place for Wheeling in our 
Nation's history, and they have made it the success and the incredible 
city that it remains today.
  I was just in Wheeling last weekend, where we had a parade 
celebrating the 250th birthday of Wheeling. With the amount of young 
people, music, and great feeling that exuded all throughout the city--
restaurants full, bands playing patriotic music--it was a wonderful day 
for the entire community to celebrate that birthday.
  In West Virginia, we have little names for little cities and how we 
feel. Wheeling is a place I have frequented many, many times in my 
life. I can say that day, celebrating the 250th birthday on Saturday, I 
definitely had the ``Wheeling feeling.'' I had the opportunity to see 
so many of those in the northern panhandle celebrate Wheeling as a 
vibrant city. I look forward to continuing to celebrate this vibrant 
city and everyone who calls it home for years to come.
  I yield the floor and welcome Senator Manchin.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The other Senator from West Virginia.
  Mr. MANCHIN. Mr. President, I thank my colleague Senator Capito. We 
are very proud West Virginians, born and raised in West Virginia, as 
you can tell by our presentations. It is a special day where we can say 
happy birthday to Wheeling.
  Wheeling is an unbelievable historical city, when you think about it. 
When you think about the State of West Virginia, we were the only State 
forged out of the Civil War. Abraham Lincoln's handprint was all over 
our State, and basically he was involved in our becoming a State in 
1863.
  The significance of the formation of our State--and Wheeling being a 
major economic stronghold because of the river, because of the 
gateway--can you believe that in 1949, when the suspension bridge was 
built, it was called the Gateway to the West? It is not that far

[[Page S5480]]

from here, maybe 4 hours' drive. So you can see how our country has 
expanded and how quickly it expanded.
  The lessons learned during the construction of the bridge were later 
used to build the Brooklyn Bridge. I want to tell Senator Schumer that 
we helped. I am sure he would be pleased with that.
  In 1933, the Wheeling Jamboree--the Wheeling Jamboree was the 
longest. People will tell you, during World War II, they would hear--
because it was 50,000 watts, they would hear it on the battleships. It 
was unbelievable.
  The music, the talent, the country music that came out of there from 
some of the most famous artists of the time and still yet to this day 
passed through Wheeling.
  These points in time showcase the importance of the city of Wheeling 
and the State of West Virginia throughout American history.
  I keep thinking about the Marsh Wheeling stogies. Anybody who maybe 
liked to smoke a cigar every now and then--that was 1840, and it is 
still in operation. It is unbelievable.
  Of course Senator Capito talked about Wheeling Steel. It had a 
tremendous industrial might there for many, many years.
  As talked about also, the Zane brothers established a settlement in 
1769. Continuing to join the Zane brothers, people came from all over. 
A small settlement kept growing and growing like the country was at 
that time.
  Wheeling's Fort Henry played a role in what is considered the last 
battle of the Revolutionary War. It was a significant strategic point 
for us.
  The Restored Government of Virginia at that time--Virginia seceded in 
1861. In 1861, there was no Virginia as we know Virginia today. They 
moved over to Western Virginia, which is where Wheeling is. That was 
the restored government, and that is where the capital was. That was 
all through Arthur Boreman.
  In 1863--we have a statue in the capital that has Abraham Lincoln 
walking at midnight deciding whether he is going to sign the 
proclamation. The country is already divided; now he is going to divide 
a State. That had not been done because basically, up until then, the 
Constitution was very clear: You had to have permission from the 
territory you were in or from another State to secede. But Abraham 
Lincoln took it upon himself.
  If you see the beautiful, unusual shape of our State, there are very 
few straight lines. Especially when you see the zoning of the eastern 
panhandle--it is an hour-and-10-minute drive from here--you have 
Harpers Ferry and John Brown's raid in 1859, which kicked off the Civil 
War. Then you have the railroads, the confluence of the Shenandoah and 
the Potomac. It is just unbelievable. He knew he needed that arsenal.
  This is the folklore. I don't know if it is true or not, but it is a 
good story. The three counties we have over there are Morgan, Berkeley, 
and Jefferson. It was said that after the war, they were supposed to 
have a referendum and a vote to see if it would go back to the State of 
Virginia. Well, I am understanding that Ulysses S. Grant, who was then 
the President--it is said that he stationed quite a few troops that had 
voting rights, and the rest is history because it is still West 
Virginia. There are really some good anecdotes about that.
  Wheeling became the provisional capital for the split in the western 
part of Virginia during the Civil War.
  There are so many parts of Wheeling that I have become so fond of, 
and the people. The ``Wheeling feeling'' is a saying they have. They 
have a Wheeling Jamboree. They have a Wheeling Italian festival. The 
ethnicity of that community is unbelievable. It brings everybody 
together, and it has brought everybody together.
  Having been raised in Farmington--Shelley was raised about 2 hours 
north of me. Back in those days, it was a good 2-hour drive. I am a 
little bit farther in the north-central part of the State, closer to 
Fairmont-Morgantown. But knowing about that--Wheeling was the hub. It 
was the place to go. It was basically the gateway also at that time 
into Pittsburgh, and it is still considered a distant suburb of 
Pittsburgh to a certain extent. The economy, the history, the people--
some famous people, some productive people--a lot of our leaders come 
from that area.
  When Wheeling became the first capital--we couldn't decide where the 
capital of West Virginia should be, so they floated up and down the 
Ohio River, back to Charleston and back to Wheeling, Charleston and 
Wheeling, until it settled in Charleston, WV.
  I am just proud to be standing here with my colleague today. For 
those who live in Wheeling today and those who have lived in Wheeling 
at some time in their lives or have family--because all the good-
quality jobs are there, good union jobs, well-paying jobs and 
benefits--to all of them, there is a special place in our hearts for 
Wheeling, WV, a special place in American history for Wheeling, WV, and 
a special place in all of our hearts for the State of West Virginia.
  I say thank you and happy birthday to a great city of ours and to the 
great State of West Virginia. We are proud this has become a resolution 
that has been entered and accepted.
  With that, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Oregon.


                        Prescription Drug Costs

  Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, this summer, while American families 
enjoyed time away from work and from school, the big pharmaceutical 
companies revved up their influence machine to dismantle bipartisan 
legislation aimed at bringing down prescription drug costs.
  In July, the Senate Finance Committee, on which I am the ranking 
Democrat, passed legislation that constitutes the most serious and the 
most significant bipartisan effort in recent memory to lower drug 
prices. It is the result of months and months of work by Members on 
both sides. With respect to Chairman Grassley he and I worked literally 
every single day for 6 months with our colleagues to try to bring 
together this bipartisan package. Now the big pharmaceutical companies 
want to shred the bipartisan Finance Committee bill into confetti.

  The bill has two particularly important proposals. First, it has an 
out-of-pocket cap in Medicare that is going to save senior citizens $27 
billion in the next decade. It will end the era when prescription drugs 
forced senior citizens into bankruptcy.
  The second key proposal is the one that really has Big Pharma 
mobilizing their lobbyist armies. It is a provision that stipulates 
that if big pharmaceutical companies are engaged in price gouging--
engaged in price gouging--they are going to face consequences. They are 
going to be able to set the prices, but if they price gouge, the 
taxpayer is not going to funnel up unlimited subsidies any longer. That 
is what that provision does that the big pharmaceutical companies are 
fighting. It is literally a requirement that drug companies, big drug 
manufacturers, when they price gouge, make a payment to Medicare, a 
penalty, one might call it. It is going to save the Medicare Program 
$60 billion.
  If the drug companies raise prices faster than inflation, they will 
have to pay the difference back to Medicare. There will be no more 
unjustifiable price hikes to please the shareholders at everybody 
else's expense and, particularly, no more taxpayer subsidies for price 
gouging on pharmaceuticals in America.
  For literally years, I have been hearing the big drug companies say 
that they didn't want price controls, that price controls would be bad 
for innovation. Nobody--nobody--wants to freeze innovation, so we went 
back to the drawing board, and we said: OK. You set your price, but if 
you do price gouge, if you do hit patients, families, and consumers in 
an unfair way, the taxpayer is not going to ladle out unlimited 
subsidies. That is what that provision of our bill does.
  Unfortunately, the big pharmaceutical companies would do just about 
anything to protect the status quo, keep the prices climbing up and up 
and the profits rolling in.
  Their lobbyists are walking the halls here on Capitol Hill. The 
pharmaceutical company executives are pulling out all the stops from 
their political headquarters to generate support. Their fear-mongering 
messages have spread in op-eds attacking our legislation, saying that 
somehow this bill, a bipartisan bill written by Senator Grassley, the 
senior Member of the Republican Caucus, is somehow a socialist price 
control.

[[Page S5481]]

  I already talked about how it is pretty hard to call it price control 
if the company gets to set its prices, but it certainly doesn't limit 
subsidies. Apparently, the pharmaceutical companies will not accept any 
limits there as well.
  Basically, the pharmaceutical lobbyists are calling it inhumane for 
the Senate Finance Committee to try to fix the broken system and bring 
down pharmaceutical prices. They basically say that any effort--any 
effort--to hold down prices is socialism.
  One op-ed said that the Medicare drug program would cease ``to 
function as a market entirely'' if drug companies lost their 
constitutional right to limitless--limitless--price increases. Others 
have even claimed that drug prices are falling nationwide, which 
millions of seniors can tell you is fiction, based on the trips they 
take to the pharmacy window.
  I have a bottom line, now that the Senate has come back after the 
summer break. The big pharmaceutical companies have had just about the 
longest winning streak in Washington. It seems as though they have a 
couple of lobbyists for practically every Member of Congress. Yet the 
Finance Committee voted on a bipartisan basis to actually act in the 
face of price gouging and protect American patients and families.
  We cannot let the big pharmaceutical companies win this time. We 
cannot let them win on that price-gouging penalty in particular. They 
want it gone. They know this is going to ripple through the American 
economy because people are going to say: Hey, this is a pretty fair 
approach. The companies can set their prices, but they don't have a 
right to unlimited subsidies.
  I personally believe--and the head of the Congressional Budget Office 
touched on this for our committee--this has the potential to be copied 
in the private sector as well. I think that is a good thing also.
  The question for the Senate is going to be this: Are we going to hand 
pharma essentially the power of a line-item veto, where they can go in 
and strike one provision--one provision--the provision that does the 
most to stop drug company price gouging? Whether pharma gets to comb 
over our proposals to strike down anything that might curtail their 
price increases or cut into their profits--that is really what they are 
seeking to do. If pharma can prevent the Senate from taking even the 
first basic steps to bring down drug prices, then the question is, What 
is going to come next? Are the drug company and the drug lobbyists 
going to get their own desks here on the floor of the U.S. Senate? At 
least then their influence wouldn't just be in the shadows of the 
Nation's Capitol.
  The prices of prescription drugs in America are out of control. All 
this summer I was having townhall meetings at home. I went to small 
pharmacies across my State, urban and rural. Usually, in these 
meetings, I would ask if somebody in the audience knew somebody who had 
been affected by high insulin prices. Everybody's hand went up. I 
asked: How many of you have neighbors who have been affected by high 
insulin prices? Everybody's hand goes up.
  The fact is that insulin prices have gone up thirteenfold in the last 
few years, and that drug is not 13 times better. It is basically the 
same drug, basically the same insulin that has been around for decades.

  The reason those prices go up and up and up constantly is that the 
big pharmaceutical companies can get away with it. Now the Senate 
Finance Committee is saying: You aren't going to get away with it any 
longer. The days when everybody in Congress would just look the other 
way and they could charge anything they want will be over.
  There was one particularly interesting article written over the 
course of the summer in which the author, using AARP data, basically 
said that if Senator Grassley and I and bipartisan members of the 
Finance Committee had done this 10 years ago, there wouldn't be a 
crisis with drug prices. His argument--he went through AARP data--was, 
essentially, drugs that had gone up $5,000 over a few years would have 
gone up something like $500--something much more manageable for 
American families and patients.
  The Senate Finance Committee is moving to actually stop this price 
gouging. I don't believe the pharmaceutical industry ought to be able 
to overrule 19 Senators on the Senate Finance Committee, Democrats and 
Republicans. Pharma shouldn't be able to gobble up 50 billion Medicare 
dollars that our legislation would otherwise save as part of the effort 
to stop the price gouging.
  Our legislation gets to the heart of how drug companies have managed 
to manipulate and abuse the broken healthcare system for far too long. 
They have done it with a pretty simple formula: Just make sure that the 
U.S. Senate lets them do anything they want--no constraints on 
companies at all. Keep the seniors on the hook for huge costs when they 
are prescribed expensive drugs.
  It is not just a crisis in Medicare. A recent study showed that 
nearly one-third of American adults said that at some point in the last 
year, they chose not to take medication--medication that was 
prescribed--because of the cost. In particular, insulin is cited again 
and again as a prime example, with tragic stories about people who died 
after self-rationing the insulin they needed to manage their diabetes.
  Rising drug costs force the people of this country into impossible 
choices. You are robbed of your savings if you get your prescriptions 
filled, and you are robbed of your health if you don't. Obviously, that 
is unacceptable. It ought to be unacceptable to every Member of this 
body, just the way it was unacceptable to the Senate Finance Committee 
on a bipartisan basis.
  I did make clear in the Finance Committee that this was just the 
beginning. I believe, for example, it is long overdue for Medicare to 
have the power to bargain with drugmakers directly for lower drug 
prices. Something like 90 percent of the American people--90 percent of 
the American people--believe that it is time to lift the restriction on 
Medicare so that Medicare could bargain to hold down the costs of 
medicine. We weren't able to get that into the bill, but, at a minimum, 
the bipartisan legislation the Finance Committee approved should not be 
picked apart by pharma lobbyists, particularly on the key question of 
whether they want to stop pharmaceutical price gouging.
  On this side, my colleagues and I are going to continue to fight to 
get this legislation passed by the full Senate. For now, it is up to 
Leader McConnell to bring our bill to the floor.
  My message to every Member of this body is this: The Americans who 
are battling illnesses and struggling to pay for their medications 
cannot wait. These are people who are walking an economic tightrope. 
Every month they balance their food bill against their fuel bill and 
their fuel bill against their medicine bill. These are Americans who 
cannot afford to be shunted aside while the Senate favors business as 
usual for the drugmakers.
  Every one of us knows what this crisis is all about and how big it 
is. Senators were home for weeks this summer. They heard from those in 
their communities, in grocery stores, in gas stations, in restaurants, 
and in Dairy Queens--everywhere you go. When a Senator is home, folks 
come up and tell them a story about how they feel when they get their 
prescription drug bills, that they have been hit by a wrecking ball. I 
held townhall meetings all over the State. The issue of prescription 
drug costs came up at every single one of them.

  I am going to close with this. Pharma's winning streak has to end 
here, and it has to end now. For the Senate to cave and allow pharma to 
block the price-gouging penalty would be an outrage. It would be a 
dereliction of duty on the part of the Senate.
  I am going to keep up this fight, and I know Chairman Grassley is 
going to continue to fight for our bipartisan bill, and I urge Senators 
on both sides of the aisle to stand with us.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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