[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 4 (Wednesday, January 8, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S70-S72]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                         Senate Accomplishments

  Mr. President, on another matter, I spoke last week on the Senate 
floor about some of the great things that have been accomplished this 
last year for our country, including my home State of Texas.
  I pointed out that we notched a number of wins for the American 
military as well as our veterans. We sent much needed assistance to 
communities devastated by natural disasters, like Hurricane Harvey and 
others. We confirmed more qualified judges to the Federal bench. We 
invested heavily in securing America's elections from the sort of 
interference we saw occur in the last Presidential election, and I am 
proud to say we strengthened our fight to end the rape kit backlog.

[[Page S71]]

  We made strides, big and small, to improve the lives of the American 
people, and I am eager to add more wins to that list this year.
  Unfortunately, Congress is starting this year in a rather 
inauspicious way, not designed to regain the confidence of the American 
people and our ability to do what benefits them as opposed to 
satisfying some partisan political interest.
  High on that list of pretty embarrassing developments are the 
Articles of Impeachment that the House passed. Three weeks after the 
House said this urgent matter must be pushed through to protect the 
country and defend the Constitution, Speaker Pelosi is still refusing 
to send those Articles of Impeachment to the Senate, and we are 
waiting. Now, I would be happy if she never sent the Articles of 
Impeachment here and realizes the error of the House's ways, but I 
don't expect that to happen.
  In the meantime, we are going to continue to confirm well-qualified 
nominees, as we are today, and hopefully we will be able to do work on 
the USMCA--the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement--which, as the 
Presiding Officer knows, we voted out of the Senate Finance Committee 
yesterday but which has to clear six other committees before it is 
ready for floor action. Hopefully, we will be able to get that done 
sooner rather than later.
  With an impending impeachment trial consuming most of the oxygen here 
in Washington, there is not a lot of opportunity, let alone political 
will, to get actual legislating done.
  There is a laundry list of bills we could add to our accomplishments 
in 2020, but there is an opportunity cost when we are squandering our 
time on this ill-considered impeachment mania. The time and effort we 
are spending on that could well be used to pass these other pieces of 
legislation, but these pieces of legislation wait in impeachment 
purgatory.
  At the top of my list this year is legislation to bring down 
healthcare costs to the American people, particularly out-of-pocket 
costs for prescription drugs--something I thought was a high priority 
for Members on both sides of the aisle as well as the White House.
  Over the summer, the Senate Judiciary, Finance, and Health, 
Education, Labor, and Pensions Committees passed bipartisan bills which 
deal with everything from high prescription drug prices to surprise 
medical billing. While we knew there was still additional work that 
needed to be done, everyone was somewhat optimistic that we could pass 
some combination of these bills by the end of last year. Unfortunately, 
that didn't happen.
  Negotiations are continuing, but I had hoped we could make progress 
on some noncontroversial bills in the meantime, like the one I 
introduced to stop drugmakers from gaming the patent system.
  I just read this morning that the manufacturer of HUMIRA, which is an 
incredible drug and the most widely prescribed drug in America, is 
raising their list price by 7 percent. This is a drug that has generic 
competitors overseas, but they are not approved here in the United 
States because HUMIRA has gamed the patent system by acquiring more 
than 120 different patents on this drug, the same one that is being 
sold cheaper and more widely available in Europe.
  The bill I introduced with Mr. Blumenthal, the Senator from 
Connecticut, to deal with that is called the Affordable Prescriptions 
for Patients Act. It strikes a delicate balance of protecting 
innovation while increasing competition. It would be a win for every 
American who has felt the sticker shock at the pharmacy. This bill is a 
modest bill, but it represents real progress. Bipartisan support--check 
that box. I introduced this bill with Senator Blumenthal from 
Connecticut, as I mentioned, and I am proud to have the support of the 
minority whip as well as the ranking member of the Health, Education, 
Labor, and Pensions Committee. This passed out of the Senate Judiciary 
Committee unanimously.
  Well, does it increase the deficit? No, it actually helps the 
deficit, so we can check that box. The Congressional Budget Office 
estimates the bill would save the government more than half a billion 
dollars over the next decade, not to mention what it might do to 
private insurance costs.
  During simpler times, this bill would have been quickly approved by 
the Senate and sent to the House for their consideration and the 
President's signature. If we have learned anything these last few 
years, it is that nothing is simple here in Congress or in Washington.
  So, after waiting for months, I came to the Senate floor to ask that 
the bill be passed. After all, it sailed through the process, and I 
hadn't heard a single Senator with any substantive objection to the 
bill. That is when the Democratic leader, the Senator from New York, 
came down here to block it, and he did it not once but twice. He didn't 
object on substance. In fact, he admitted it was a good bill. As I 
said, it checks every box when it comes to good legislation, so it 
certainly wasn't because it fell short there.
  The only reason the Democratic leader objected to this legislation on 
two separate occasions is because of politics. He has chosen to 
participate in political games with a bill that is noncontroversial and 
straightforward, which would stop Big Pharma from abusing the patent 
system to increase their profits and increase prices to consumers.
  At a time when he views his most critical priority as minority leader 
to oppose the President and, in turn, Senate Republicans, he couldn't 
stand to see a bill introduced by a Republican actually advance and 
become law. I am sure his constituents in New York can't be too happy 
about that because they are paying the high price of patent 
gamesmanship too. I can guarantee you that Big Pharma is rejoicing over 
his obstruction.
  Well, as I said just this last week, big drug companies have already 
begun to announce their price increases. According to their analysis, 
445 different drugs have had their prices raised already by an average 
of 5 percent, and we are only 1 week into the new year.
  It is particularly maddening that even consensus legislation is 
getting caught up in this hyperpartisan environment. But I am hoping 
that, once this looming impeachment trial is behind us, we can find a 
way to work together and make some progress.
  Another bill that I am anxious to see pass this year is a 
reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, which again has 
gotten caught up in partisan gamesmanship. Last year the House passed 
an ultrapartisan bill, which both parties knew would be dead on arrival 
in the Senate. Our friends, the House Democrats, chose to include a 
variety of poison pills in order to prove a point and perhaps gain some 
political advantage rather than to actually get a bill to the 
President's desk.
  Well, that is where Senator Feinstein, the Senator from California, 
and Senator Ernst, the Senator from Iowa, to their credit, tried long 
and hard to try to come up with a bill that we could take up here on 
the Senate floor, but all of a sudden, late in the game, our friends 
across the aisle walked away from the negotiating table and chose to 
introduce a near replica of the House's partisan piece of legislation.
  Unfortunately, they succumbed to the politics of the moment rather 
than solving the problem that would actually help support victims of 
violence and reauthorize that legislation. Despite our Democratic 
colleagues leaving those negotiations, though, our colleague from Iowa, 
Senator Ernst, continued to work in good faith on a bill to reauthorize 
the Violence Against Women Act, and I am proud to be a cosponsor.
  I urge the majority leader to put that piece of legislation on the 
floor and to do it at the earliest possible moment so that we can have 
a vote, we can have a debate, we can offer amendments, but we can 
actually get the job done rather than continuing to use this as a 
political football. It sends more funding and resources than the bill 
that the Democrats have proposed, and it authorizes the program for 
twice as long.
  It is not just an alternative; it is a better choice for victims of 
sexual assault and violence. It includes a whole lot more than funding, 
though. It addresses a number of horrific crimes that are being 
committed against women and girls around the country, which are not 
included in our Democrat colleagues' version.
  I regret that we were unable to pass a reauthorization for the 
Violence

[[Page S72]]

Against Women Act, and I hope our colleagues across the aisle will 
reconsider and come back to the negotiating table and work with us so 
that we can finally reauthorize this program.