[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 178 (Thursday, November 7, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Page S6459]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                        Prescription Drug Costs

  Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, the Senator from Connecticut, Mr. 
Blumenthal, and I have come to a floor to offer a unanimous consent on 
a bill called the Affordable Prescriptions for Patients Act. We are in 
consultation with our colleagues on the other side that have another 
bill that they would also like to offer a unanimous consent request 
for, and we are going to talk and continue the conversation during 
these two upcoming votes to see if we can work out holds on their bill, 
and we certainly would consider to do that.
  But Senator Blumenthal and I do expect to offer a unanimous consent 
on our bill which would lower out-of-pocket costs for prescription 
drugs, which is something I thought we were all for. But working in 
good faith with our colleagues to try to work through these two issues, 
we are going to give it a little bit of time, as long as we can get 
that done before we leave today.
  I will just say there is no agreement to pair these. If they could 
pass sequentially, I have no objection to that, but just to say that it 
would be nice, at a time when we are so polarized here and have put the 
``dys'' back in ``dysfunction'' here in Washington, DC, that we could 
actually show that we could work together in a bipartisan basis and 
pass a bill that passed unanimously in the Judiciary Committee, of 
which my friend from Illinois is a cosponsor.
  I understand they want to use this opportunity to get their bill 
passed. Again, I have no objection to that and do not intend to object, 
but there are others who apparently have some concerns that we need to 
check with.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I would say that my friend and colleague, 
the gentleman from Texas, has accurately stated the situation, but let 
me add a few sentences about the bill that we are trying to couple with 
his effort. I totally support what he and Senator Blumenthal are trying 
to do. The end goal we all have in mind is to bring under control or at 
least restrain the increases in prescription drug prices.
  The Senators from Texas and Connecticut have their approach. What 
Senator Grassley--a Republican from Iowa--and I have suggested with 
this approach is direct-to-consumer advertising. The pharmaceutical 
industry spends about $6 billion a year on ads on television. If you 
have not seen a drug ad on television, you clearly do not own a TV.
  We want to make sure that each one of these ads contain, amid all the 
other information they give you, one other critical piece of 
information: the cost of the drug.
  We think that will be at least an indication to the pharmaceutical 
industry that we are watching how much they are charging us. I think 
some people will be shocked when they see the actual cost of Humira and 
some other drugs. But that is it, a complementary approach. I hope we 
can do both. I think the American people want to see prescription drugs 
become more affordable.
  I yield the floor.