[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 150 (Monday, September 19, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4810-S4811]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                             Mark Frerichs

  Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, 2\1/2\ years ago, a native of my home 
State of Illinois and a veteran of the U.S. Navy, Mark Frerichs, was 
abducted by the Taliban or one of its affiliates in Afghanistan.
  He was working there as a contractor, and his disappearance was 
devastating to his family back in Lombard, IL.
  Senator Duckworth and I have spent countless hours and staff hours 
working with his family trying to find out what happened to Mark. We 
spoke to his sister Charlene and repeatedly raised his case with both 
the Trump and Biden administrations. We wanted to let them know we 
cared, and we joined the family on that course.
  Well, today, the family's prayers have been answered. The news was 
released that Mark is coming home. I want to commend President Biden, 
Secretary of State Blinken, and their teams for never giving up on Mark 
and ultimately securing his freedom.
  His sister Charlene said upon news of her brother's release that 
``[w]e never gave up hope that he would survive and come home safely to 
us.'' She was right. And Mark was so fortunate to have her as his 
steadfast champion.

  Welcome home, Mark Frerichs.


                    Inflation Reduction Act of 2022

  Madam President, I listened to the comments that were just made by 
the Republican leader about events in Washington, the state of the 
economy, and it was interesting, the perspective he took. He was 
critical of President Biden for calling a meeting of several thousand 
supporters last week on the White House lawn from all over the United 
States to celebrate the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act here in 
the U.S. Senate and House. You know and I know there wasn't a single 
Republican vote in favor of the Inflation Reduction Act. Some 6 weeks 
ago, we did some things that, frankly, many of us had been hoping for 
for a long time without a single Republican vote supporting it.
  The Senator from Kentucky wondered what we were celebrating. Well, 
let me tell him a few of the things we are celebrating.
  After years of candidates going out on the campaign trail and telling 
America that the cost of prescription drugs were too high, we finally 
did something about it--finally. After years of negotiating the price 
for drugs in the Veterans' Administration so we could afford to give 
our veterans the very best, we applied the same standard to Medicare. 
What does it mean? It means that the most popular and most expensive 
drugs that are sold through Medicare to recipients over the age of 65, 
we are now going to negotiate the prices to come up with a reasonable 
amount to charge taxpayers for those drugs.
  Well, if you wondered whether or not the pharmaceutical industry can 
handle that kind of truth, I might remind people what they already 
know. Exactly the same drugs in the same boxes are for sale in Canada 
at a fraction of the price that we pay in the United States. The same 
thing is true in Europe. And we said, once and for all, we are going to 
do something about it. I think that is something to celebrate.
  Let me tell you something else that is part of it too. We said that, 
from this point forward, when this bill takes effect, no recipient on 
Medicare will ever pay more than $2,000 a year for prescription drugs--
upper limit, ceiling, 2,000 bucks. Do you know what these same people 
were faced with when it came to cancer drugs and other therapies? 
Thousands and thousands of dollars. And we brought it home to a level--
which I wish we could have done more, but it is very important as 
well--and that is when it comes to diabetes. Millions of Americans 
suffer from diabetes or someone in their family does, and we said that 
if you are on Medicare, you won't have to pay more than $35 for a dose 
of insulin--$35. That is a relief to a lot of people with diabetes in 
their family. Some of those people couldn't afford insulin, couldn't 
afford the doses they need, and they endangered their life in the 
process.
  In addition to all of that, we, in this bill, did, in fact, address 
the Tax Code. The Senator from Kentucky said earlier that we raised 
taxes. We did. Let me tell you who is going to pay more in taxes. If 
you own a corporation that over the last 3 years has had a net profit, 
an average net profit, of $1 billion a year--1 billion--I am not asking 
for a show of hands--but if you had a net profit that averaged over $1 
billion over the last 3 years, you have to pay a minimum corporate tax 
of--get ready--15 percent. Fifteen percent.
  Most Americans pay their taxes believing that is what the law 
requires, and many believe, as I do, that is the price of admission in 
America for a great nation. Fifteen percent--we would all welcome that 
rate. There are very few people at that rate. But to say that a 
corporation with a net profit on average of $1 billion a year over the 
last 3 years finally has to pay taxes instead of escaping all tax 
liability--

[[Page S4811]]

guilty as charged. The Senator from Kentucky is right. We did that. Do 
you know the net result of it? The net result of it, it is going to 
reduce the deficit this year by $1.3 trillion.
  All this talk about the big spenders in Congress, the bill we put 
together for inflation reduction zeroed in on those two issues: capping 
the cost of prescription drugs for Medicare and making certain that 
corporations, profitable corporations, pay their fair share of taxes 
just like every American family. Those two elements were not mentioned 
by the Senator from Kentucky. It is understandable. But what I want to 
make clear is, we didn't have a single Republican vote in support of 
what I have just given you.
  There is an additional section there that is controversial, but I 
feel strongly about it. I think we are facing in this world today 
obvious evidence of extreme weather and changes that should alarm us. 
Yes, it is climate change. It is global warming. And what we did in 
this bill was to create incentives for American families and 
corporations to start taking steps toward responsible conduct. It is 
coming. It wasn't a Federal mandate that required all the car companies 
to build electric vehicles. They see the writing on the wall. They 
realize we have to change the way that we energize transportation in 
America, and they want to be in front of the parade, not behind it. So 
do we. That was part of this bill as well. I support it. Not a single 
Republican voted for it. That is the reality.

  Incidentally, inflation is a burden on American families and 
individuals. There is no doubt about it, and I am not going to 
sugarcoat it. We have seen some progress. For example, the price of 
gasoline stares us right in the face every time we drive right down the 
road. Well, I did some driving over the weekend, probably put 600 to 
700 miles on the car in Illinois, driving around to various events, and 
I kept an eye out for the cost of gasoline. I don't know what it is in 
Hawaii or in any home State, but I will tell you that in Missouri, 
gasoline was selling for $3.13 a gallon; in Illinois, closer to $3.50 a 
gallon. High? Yes. But not $5, which we faced just a few months ago. We 
have made some progress, and we need to continue to focus on reducing 
the cost of goods for families that they face every week. That is part 
of our mission as well.