[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 150 (Wednesday, September 25, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6405-S6408]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
AUTHORIZING THE PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE TO CERTIFY THE REPORT OF THE
COMMITTEE ON HEALTH, EDUCATION, LABOR, AND PENSIONS OF THE SENATE
REGARDING THE REFUSAL OF DR. RALPH DE LA TORRE TO APPEAR AND TESTIFY
BEFORE THE COMMITTEE
Mr. SANDERS. Madam President, over 4 months ago, Steward Health Care
and the more than 30 hospitals it owns in 8 States declared bankruptcy,
with some $9 billion in debt. This bankruptcy has caused devastating
harm to patients, healthcare workers, and entire communities from
Massachusetts to Arizona.
In July, the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee,
which I chair, voted to authorize a bipartisan investigation into the
financial mismanagement of Steward Health Care. On that same day, the
HELP Committee also voted to subpoena Dr. Ralph de la Torre, the CEO of
Steward Health Care, to testify at a hearing on this very important
issue on September 12.
Sadly, Dr. de la Torre made the unfortunate and unacceptable decision
not to show up at this hearing in defiance of a congressional subpoena.
So last week, the HELP Committee voted 20 to 0 on two resolutions to
hold Dr. de la Torre accountable for his failure to appear at this
hearing.
The first resolution instructs Senate legal counsel to bring a civil
suit in the District Court for the District of Columbia to require Dr.
de la Torre's compliance with the subpoena and his testimony before the
HELP Committee.
The second resolution would refer this matter to the U.S. attorney
for the District of Columbia to criminally prosecute Dr. de la Torre
for failing to comply with the subpoena.
In a few moments, I will be asking unanimous consent to pass the
second resolution, which seeks to hold Dr. de la Torre in criminal
contempt for failing to comply with the congressional subpoena.
But before I do that, let me take a moment to briefly explain why the
HELP Committee believed it was so important for Dr. de la Torre to
testify before Congress.
First, we wanted Dr. de la Torre to explain to us how it could happen
that at least 15 patients at hospitals owned by his company died--
died--as a result of a lack of medical equipment or staffing shortages,
and why at least 2,000 other patients were put in immediate peril,
according to Federal regulators.
That is something that the American people deserve to know. But
perhaps most importantly, we wanted to know how it could happen that
while thousands of patients and healthcare workers suffered and
communities around the country have been devastated as a result of
Steward Health Care's financial mismanagement, Dr. de la Torre and the
companies he owned were able to receive at least $250 million in total
compensation over the past 4 years.
For months, Senator Cassidy, the ranking member of the HELP
Committee; Senator Markey, the chair of our healthcare subcommittee;
and I have asked Dr. de la Torre to testify before our committee to
answer these questions. And time after time, he has arrogantly refused,
and that is simply not acceptable.
So, today, I will ask the Senate to unanimously adopt this resolution
seeking to hold Dr. de la Torre in contempt of Congress.
Let me take this opportunity to thank Ranking Member Cassidy and his
staff for working with me and my staff on this very important issue.
The passage of this resolution by the full Senate will make clear that,
even though Dr. de la Torre may be worth hundreds of millions of
dollars, even though he may be able to buy fancy yachts and private
jets and luxurious accommodations throughout the world, even though he
may be able to afford some of the most expensive lawyers in America,
no, Dr. de la Torre is not above the law. If you defy a congressional
subpoena, you will be held accountable no matter who you are or how
well connected you may be.
The goal of the HELP Committee throughout this entire process has
been to make sure not only that we have a complete understanding of the
financial chicanery surrounding Steward Health Care but to do
everything that we can to make sure that such a travesty never occurs
again.
Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that two letters be printed
in the Congressional Record, one from Dr. de la Torre's attorneys to
the committee and, secondly, a response letter from Ranking Member
Cassidy and myself.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record as follows:
[[Page S6406]]
September 18, 2024.
Re Senate HELP Committee Subpoena to Dr. Ralph de la Torre.
Hon. Bernie Sanders,
Chairman, Committee on Health Education, Labor, and Pensions,
U.S. Senate, Washington, DC.
Dear Senator Sanders: We write to follow up on our
September 4, 2024 letter (``Letter'') to the Senate Health,
Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee (the ``Committee'')
and the Committee's recent announcement that it intends to
vote this week on two contempt resolutions regarding the July
25, 2024 subpoena issued to Dr. de la Torre, in his capacity
as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Steward Health
Care System LLC (``Steward''), for testimony at the
Committee's September 12, 2024 hearing titled ``Examining the
Bankruptcy of Steward Health Care: How Management Decisions
Have Impacted Patient Care'' (the ``Hearing'').
As we underscored in our Letter, Dr. de la Torre lacks the
authority to speak on behalf of Steward with respect to the
ongoing bankruptcy proceedings and he is prohibited by a
federal court order from doing so. Despite these valid
objections, however, the Committee moved forward with the
Hearing without meaningfully considering the issues that Dr.
de la Torre raised and without attempting to reschedule the
Hearing. What is more, the Committee's disregard for Dr. de
la Torre's request to reschedule the Hearing in light of
these legal restrictions substantiated our concern that the
true purpose of the Hearing was not to gather facts within
the Committee's constitutional and congressional remit, but
instead a pseudo-criminal proceeding with the goal of
convicting Dr. de la Torre in a court of public opinion.
Our concerns that the Hearing would be used to ambush Dr.
de la Torre in a pseudo-criminal proceeding were on full
display last week, with the Committee soliciting testimony
from witnesses calling Dr. de la Torre and Steward executives
``health care terrorists'' and advocating for Dr. de la
Torre's imprisonment, all while the Committee refused to even
acknowledge or aid the bankruptcy settlement that would
ensure continuity of services in all but two Steward
hospitals across the nation.
Dr. de la Torre cannot be permitted to provide sworn
testimony at this time, given that the Hearing was seemingly
designed as a vehicle to violate Dr. de la Torre's
constitutional rights, including his Fifth Amendment rights.
The U.S. Constitution affords Dr. de la Torre inalienable
rights against being compelled by the government to provide
sworn testimony that is specifically (yet baselessly) sought
to frame Dr. de la Torre as a criminal scapegoat for the
systemic failures in Massachusetts' health care system.
Accordingly, on the advice of counsel, Dr. de la Torre
invokes his procedural and substantive rights under the Fifth
Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, including the privilege
to refrain from testifying at the Committee's Hearing. See
Quinn v. United States. 349 U.S. 155, 161 (1955). (``Still
further limitations on [Congress's] power to investigate are
found in the specific individual guarantees of the Bill of
Rights, such as the Fifth Amendment's privilege . . .'').
If the Committee had any concern for the hospitals affected
by Steward's bankruptcy proceedings it would, consistent with
Dr. de la Torre's request to postpone the hearing for a more
appropriate time, permit the bankruptcy resolution to move
forward and focus its actions on tackling legitimate
questions in the best interests of Steward patients,
hospitals, and communities.
Sincerely,
Alexander J. Merton.
____
September 25, 2024.
Alexander J. Merton,
Partner, Quinn Emanual, Washington, DC.
Dear Mr. Merton: We write in response to your letter of
September 18, 2024. As explained in our letter of September
5, 2024, your client, Dr. Ralph de la Torre, had a legal duty
to attend the hearing of the U.S. Senate Committee on Health,
Education, Labor, and Pensions on September 12, 2024, as
commanded by the duly authorized Committee testimonial
subpoena issued to him on July 25, 2024, for which you
accepted service on his behalf and indicated his
availability.
As further explained in our September 5, 2024, letter, had
Dr. de la Torre appeared to testify, he would have had a full
opportunity to assert his Fifth Amendment right against self-
incrimination in response to questions posed to him by
members of the Committee that implicated that right. Having
elected not to appear, Dr. de la Torre willfully placed
himself in default of the Committee's subpoena. Your effort
to assert the Fifth Amendment, on your client's behalf, after
the fact, and generally rather than in response to specific
questions, is untimely and inadequate and does not cure your
client's default.
In response to Dr. de la Torre's failure to appear, the
Committee convened an executive session on September 19,
2024, and voted to report two resolutions to the Senate for
further consideration. The first directs Senate Legal Counsel
to bring a civil action to enforce the Committee's subpoena
and the second authorizes the President of the Senate to
certify a Committee report regarding the refusal of Dr. Ralph
de la Torre to appear and testify before the Committee to the
U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia for criminal
prosecution. Both resolutions were agreed to and favorably
reported by the Committee.
Sincerely,
Bernard Sanders,
Chairman,
=========================== NOTE ===========================
On page S6406, September 25, 2024, in the middle column, the
following appears: Sincerely, BERNARD SANDERS, HAIRMAN
The online Record has been corrected to read: Sincerely, BERNARD
SANDERS, CHAIRMAN
========================= END NOTE =========================
Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
Bill Cassidy, M.D,
Ranking Member,
Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
Mr. SANDERS. With that, Madam President, I would be happy to yield to
the ranking member of the committee who has done an excellent job on
this issue, Senator Cassidy.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Louisiana.
Mr. CASSIDY. Madam President, for months the HELP Committee, on a
bipartisan basis, has investigated the financial mismanagement of
Steward Health Care and the impact on the delivery of care at its
hospitals.
Steward's mismanagement has nationwide implications, affecting
patient care in more than 30 hospitals across 8 States, including one
in my home State, Glenwood Regional Medical Center in West Monroe, LA.
Because of Steward's management decisions resulting in limited
resources at Glenwood, the State had to force the hospital to operate
at one-third capacity. One patient reportedly died waiting for transfer
to another hospital because Glenwood did not have the necessary
resources to treat.
According to a report from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid
Services, a doctor at Glenwood told a Louisiana State inspector that
the hospital was performing ``third-world medicine.''
Now, the problems at Glenwood are not unique. The HELP Committee
heard testimony that because of understaffing at a Steward-owned St.
Elizabeth's Medical Center in Boston, patients at the hospital waited
in the emergency room for hours and sometimes days.
We have also heard testimony that Steward neglected to pay the
vendors for essential hospital services. At St. Elizabeth's, there is a
report that when newborn babies died, nurses had to put their bodies
into cardboard shipping boxes because Steward did not pay for proper
bereavement boxes.
A new mother who experienced a hemorrhage, or a bleed, during
childbirth died because a basic piece of medical equipment required to
save her life to stop the bleeding had been repossessed because Steward
did not pay its bills.
Through the committee's investigation, it became evident that a
thorough review of Chief Executive Officer Dr. Ralph de la Torre's
management decisions was essential to understand Steward's financial
problems and its failure to serve its patients.
To better understand and hopefully prevent this from happening again,
we sought testimony from Dr. de la Torre, frankly, giving him the
opportunity to present his side. It is possible that there is something
that we didn't understand. And if he presented it, that understanding
would have given us a different perspective.
Unfortunately, Dr. de la Torre refused to testify voluntarily. As a
result, the committee issued a subpoena in July. And up until September
4, his lawyers indicated he intended to comply with the subpoena and to
testify. However, 8 days before the scheduled hearing, Dr. de la Torre
informed the committee he would not comply with the subpoena.
We responded to Dr. De la Torre explaining why his objections to the
committee subpoena had no merit, directing him to comply.
Unfortunately, Dr. De la Torre ultimately defied the subpoena,
refusing to appear before the committee.
Now, a witness cannot disregard and evade a duly authorized subpoena.
That is why today the Senate will be voting on a resolution to hold Dr.
de la Torre in criminal contempt for defying the subpoena.
I think it is unfortunate that we are here. But if someone shows
contempt for the American people by defying a subpoena and refusing to
provide answers, that is a contemptible thing. Congress has a
responsibility to act.
I urge my colleagues to approve this resolution and to hold Dr. de la
Torre in contempt.
And with that, I yield to my colleague.
Mr. SANDERS. Senator Markey has played a leadership role in the
investigation of this whole process. I would like to yield to Senator
Markey.
[[Page S6407]]
Mr. MARKEY. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, very much. Thank you for your
great leadership on this issue. Thanks to Senator Cassidy. We have made
this bipartisan from the very beginning in order to ensure that the
American public can completely understand what has happened to this
Steward Health Care chain, and I thank him for the leadership in
holding Dr. Ralph de la Torre accountable for his greed and shining a
light on the deadly consequences that result from the involvement of
for-profit forces in our healthcare system.
Steward Health Care declared bankruptcy in May. It was a culmination
of a financial tragedy. Over the past decade, Steward, led by its
founder and CEO, Dr. Ralph de la Torre, and his corporate enablers,
looted hospitals across the country for their own profit. And while
they got rich, workers, patients, and communities suffered.
Nurses paid out of pocket for cardboard bereavement boxes for the
babies to help grieving parents who had just lost a newborn. Hospital
beds collapsed underneath patients. Patients died alone in hallways.
The Boston Globe Spotlight team has laid out the details in eye-
watering fashion.
Meanwhile, Ralph de la Torre and his corporate cronies got just what
they wanted: hundreds of millions of dollars in profit, yachts, private
jets, luxury vacations. They used hospitals to fund their own episode
of ``Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous.'' And its star is CEO Dr. Ralph
de la Torre.
Today, we are here because Dr. de la Torre has yet to answer for what
he has perpetrated. I asked him to appear before my Primary Health and
Retirement Subcommittee in April in Boston. He declined. He refused.
Senators Sanders and Cassidy invited Dr. de la Torre to testify in
July here in Washington. He declined. He refused.
On July 25, the committee issued a legal order for him to appear. He
ignored it. He refused.
Dr. de la Torre is using his blood-soaked gains to hide behind
corporate lawyers instead of responding to the U.S. Senate's demand for
actions.
But while he tries to run and hide, Dr. de la Torre is revealing
himself for what he truly is: a physician who placed personal gain over
his duty to do no harm.
The Senate has not made a criminal contempt referral in more than 50
years, since 1971. It is a rare move for the rare degree of
callousness, cruelty, and cowardliness that Dr. de la Torre has
demonstrated.
In the face of all of the mismanagement, health workers fulfill their
sacred responsibility to their patients and to their communities. They
cared for young and old, held grieving families' hands, and responded
in people's greatest moments of fear and vulnerability.
And now workers and communities will spend years cleaning up Ralph de
la Torre's disaster all in order to ensure that they will be protecting
patient care.
The rich don't need to use communities as a safety net for their
wealth, but that is how Dr. de la Torre used these hospitals and
communities--including in Massachusetts--and sacrificed community
health in the process. They are rightly outraged in those communities,
and I am outraged for them.
For them and for everyone who has suffered due to Ralph de la Torre's
greed and Steward's collapse, I hope the Department of Justice will
move swiftly to bring charges against him.
To Dr. de la Torre, you cannot use your millions to shield yourself
from accountability to the American people.
I urge the Senate to hold Dr. Ralph de la Torre, CEO of Steward, in
criminal contempt.
And I thank, once again, Chairman Sanders and Ranking Member Cassidy
for their great leadership on this issue.
Mr. SANDERS. Senator Markey, thank you for your leadership on this.
Madam President, as if in legislative session, I ask unanimous
consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of
Calendar No. 522, S. Res. 837.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the resolution by title.
The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:
A resolution (S. Res. 837) authorizing the President of the
Senate to certify the report of the Committee on Health,
Education, Labor, and Pensions of the Senate regarding the
refusal of Dr. Ralph de la Torre to appear and testify before
the Committee.
There being no objection, the committee was discharged and the Senate
proceeded to consider the resolution.
Mr. SANDERS. I know of no further debate on the resolution.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there further debate?
Hearing no further debate, the question is on adoption of the
resolution.
The resolution (S. Res. 837) was agreed to.
Mr. SANDERS. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that 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 preamble was agreed to.
(The resolution, with its preamble, is printed in the Record of
September 23, 2024, under ``Submitted Resolutions.'')
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. Cortez Masto). The Senator from Maine.
National Lobster Day
Ms. COLLINS. Madam President, before I begin my remarks on the
continuing resolution to fund the government, I do have to take just a
moment to note that today is National Lobster Day, and that is
extremely important to the State of Maine.
Just last week, I treated the Members of my caucus to a wonderful
lobster lunch, complete also with Maine potatoes and Maine wild
blueberry pie. That should be an incentive for people to become
Republicans, I would think, to get that annual lobster lunch. But it is
an iconic industry in my State. If you ask people about the State of
Maine, lobster always comes up.
So I do want to acknowledge that Senator King and I have once again
this year noted that September 25 is National Lobster Day, and we
appreciate the support of our colleagues.
Government Funding
Now, Madam President, I rise to urge passage of the government
funding measure that was approved by the House of Representatives
earlier today. The bill, which is known as a continuing resolution, or
a CR, is straightforward. Most important of all, it prevents a
government shutdown.
Government shutdowns are inherently a failure to govern effectively.
They have negative consequences all across government. They require
certain essential government employees, such as Border Patrol agents or
members of our military or air traffic controllers, to report to work
but with no certainty that they will be paid. We simply cannot allow
that to occur.
Other harmful impacts have been outlined by the Secretary of Defense
and all of the service Secretaries who point out that new defense
programs cannot be started when there is a government shutdown--that
inevitably increases costs to the taxpayers--and programs that should
be terminated or trimmed are continuing to be funded at current levels.
So we can't have--or stopped altogether, as people cannot do their
work--so we cannot have a government shutdown.
This continuing resolution is not perfect, but it is an effort to
extend current year program levels through December 20, with limited
exceptions aimed primarily at preventing program disruptions and
preparing for the Presidential transition and inaugural activities.
I would also note that this temporary funding bill includes $231
million for the Secret Service's immediate protection operations
following the two recent assassination attempts on the life of former
President Trump. All of us are aware that there also is a plot by the
Iranian Government to assassinate President Trump. So we need to make
sure we are providing robust protection.
While the first attempt on President Trump's life, the Secret Service
has conceded, was due to poor communication and other failures, the
Secret Service has also asked for this additional funding. It is
absolutely essential as they deal with the increased threat environment
and ensure that our current President and Vice President and
Presidential candidates are all fully protected.
As I mentioned, the Secret Service has acknowledged that the security
failure on July 13 was not a result of a
[[Page S6408]]
lack of resources. The additional funding in this bill will help to
surge support to meet emergent personnel, equipment, and logistical
needs. It will also allow for the Department of Defense to be
reimbursed for the activities that it provides and will now resume for
former President Trump.
The continuing resolution also allows the Federal Emergency
Management Agency, FEMA, immediate access to more than $20 billion for
its Disaster Relief Fund to sustain disaster assistance during the
period covered by this CR.
This funding resolution is the product of bipartisan, bicameral
negotiations. It is essential that it be adopted in order to prevent a
government shutdown, and I urge its adoption.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Washington.
Mrs. MURRAY. Madam President, I am very pleased that we now have a
straightforward, bipartisan compromise to fund the government and avoid
a pointless, devastating shutdown. I hope every single one of my
colleagues will join us in voting to pass this bill.
Our work does not end here. My hope is that now we can get going in
earnest on hammering out bipartisan full-year funding bills, including
providing long overdue disaster assistance.
It is time for Democrats and Republicans to negotiate those bills
together instead of House Republicans just following the loudest voices
on the far right, because it is getting a little exhausting to watch
some House Republicans push again and again for the most extreme,
partisan cuts and policies--stuff that is not realistic at all--before
learning the same lessons the hard way yet again.
You cannot strike a deal to govern with people who do not really want
to govern. You can't avoid a shutdown trying to placate the people who
want a shutdown. But here is the important thing: You do not have to
waste time trying. If you are serious about governing, you do not have
to let a few extreme House Republicans set the agenda or let Donald
Trump call the shots.
There is a better way, and I know because it is the path that we have
been following here in the Senate. Vice Chair Collins and I passed 11
funding bills out of our committee with overwhelming bipartisan
support. We negotiated strong bills that could actually be signed into
law and would make a real difference for folks back at home.
We did it by listening to each other, by listening to folks back
home, rejecting partisan policies, and focusing on how we set our
Nation and families up for success. That is the same approach I hope we
can now take now that this CR gives us the time we need to negotiate
bipartisan, bicameral full-year bills.
I know compromise takes time, and it takes a lot of hard work. I have
hammered out with my colleague many tough deals here in my time, but I
think we have proven in this Congress, many times over, that the path
to bipartisanship is far easier and far more productive than the dead-
end MAGA extremism House Republicans keep making their very first
priority.
So let's all vote to pass this CR, and then let's get to work, in a
serious bipartisan way, on our full-year funding bills and on meeting
the long overdue disaster relief needs of so many of our States and our
communities.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Maine.
Ms. COLLINS. Madam President, I do think it is important to point out
that the House passed this bill by an overwhelming bipartisan vote.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader.
Order of Business
Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, I understand the Senate has received
H.R. 9747 from the House, and I ask the Chair to execute the order of
September 24 with respect to the bill.
____________________