[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 9 (Thursday, January 16, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Page S197]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          LEGISLATIVE SESSION

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                        LAKEN RILEY ACT--Resumed

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the Senate will 
resume consideration of S. 5, which the clerk will report.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       A bill (S. 5) to require the Secretary of Homeland Security 
     to take into custody aliens who have been charged in the 
     United States with theft, and for other purposes.

  Pending:

       Thune (for Ernst/Grassley) Amendment No. 8, to include 
     crimes resulting in death or serious bodily injury to the 
     list of offenses that, if committed by an inadmissible alien, 
     require mandatory detention.

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Iowa.
  Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I ask to speak in morning business for 2 
or 3 minutes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.


                        National Pharmacists Day

  Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, on Sunday, January 12, it was National 
Pharmacists Day. I think it is quite appropriate that we pay attention 
and give reward to the work that pharmacists do.
  I would like to extend a warm thank-you to Iowa pharmacists for their 
dedication and for their service.
  While we commonly know a pharmacist as someone who fills our 
prescription needs and educates us about medications, a pharmacist is 
typically the most accessible healthcare provider, and that is 
especially true for rural America. Do you know what? Nearly 90 percent 
of the U.S. population lives within 5 miles of a pharmacy.
  For several Congresses, I have been leading a bipartisan effort that 
is called the Pharmacy and Medically Underserved Areas Enhancement Act. 
This bill encourages pharmacists--only where they are licensed and 
trained to do this--to offer healthcare services under Medicare, such 
as health and wellness screenings, immunizations, and diabetes 
management. This is necessary because, for many seniors in rural areas, 
it is simply easier to get to a pharmacist than it is to get to their 
nearest doctor.
  I also know that it is vital to protect rural pharmacists from greedy 
pharmacy benefit managers who have placed unfair pressures on 
pharmacies in recent years. In fact, I hear from a lot of Iowa 
pharmacists that if we don't do something about pharmacy benefit 
managers, we are going to continue to lose pharmacies in the small 
communities of rural America and particularly Iowa.
  So, since 2018, I and about 65 or 70 of my colleagues have been 
trying to hold PBMs accountable and do that through legislation--about 
three different pieces of legislation--so that we can lower 
prescription drug prices and, in turn, keep our rural pharmacies in 
business. We want to do this through transparency because nobody knows 
what PBMs do. It is an opaque operation; yet they make up our 
formularies. Do they help big pharmaceutical companies or do they help 
the consumer? We don't know, and we need to do that. So I hope this 
Congress will move on some legislation to make what PBMs do transparent 
because with transparency comes accountability.
  I am going to keep fighting for our pharmacists and our consumers.
  I yield the floor.


                   Recognition of the Majority Leader

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader is recognized.

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