[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 76 (Wednesday, May 7, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2789-S2793]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
LEGISLATIVE SESSION
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PROVIDING FOR CONGRESSIONAL DISAPPROVAL UNDER CHAPTER 8 OF TITLE 5,
UNITED STATES CODE, OF THE RULE SUBMITTED BY THE OFFICE OF THE
COMPTROLLER OF THE CURRENCY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY RELATING
TO THE REVIEW OF APPLICATIONS UNDER THE BANK MERGER ACT--Resumed
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the Senate will
resume consideration of S.J. Res. 13, which the clerk will report.
The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:
A joint resolution (S.J. Res. 13) providing for
congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United
States Code, of the rule submitted by the Office of the
Comptroller of the Currency of the Department of the Treasury
relating to the review of applications under the Bank Merger
Act.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Iowa.
Jefferson, Iowa
Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, over the last 2 weeks, during the Senate
recess, I continued my annual 99 county meetings across Iowa.
My travels brought me to the Western Iowa community of Jefferson, in
Greene County, for a Q&A. I often say Iowans don't brag enough, and
Jefferson has got something to brag about, so I want to take this
opportunity to brag about the people of Jefferson, IA.
Jefferson is about an hour northwest of Des Moines, our capital city.
This community is home to the 168-foot Bell Tower, located in an iconic
town square. These hard-working Iowans went to bat for their community
and came out on top. In other words, it is like baseball--they hit a
home run.
Jefferson recently was presented with the 2025 Great American Main
Street Award at a national conference in Pennsylvania. Winners are
recognized for excellence in commercial district revitalization and
historic preservation efforts. Jefferson exemplifies how ``small
communities can overcome economic challenges through ingenuity and
collective effort.''
As a product of smalltown Iowa, I am aware of obstacles facing rural
communities. So I applaud everyone involved in the program named
``Jefferson Matters'' for your teamwork, your resilience, and your can-
do attitude.
Jefferson is a shining example to communities across Iowa and all
America.
I yield the floor.
Recognition of the Majority Leader
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader is recognized.
Budget Reconciliation
Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, one of Republicans' biggest priorities this
year is extending the tax relief we passed in 2017 and preventing a
massive tax hike on hard-working Americans.
We took a big step forward before Easter with the passage of a budget
resolution necessary for a final bill, and we are rapidly moving toward
final bill text. Senate Republicans held hours of great discussions
today to hammer out a number of details.
The issue before us is simple: If we don't act, Americans making less
than $400,000 will face a $2.6 trillion tax hike next year--$2.6
trillion. Small businesses will face a $600 billion tax hike.
Republicans do not intend to let that happen.
We are going to extend the tax relief we passed during President
Trump's first administration, starting with the lower individual rates
that put more money in Americans' pockets and eased the burden on small
businesses. I say ``extend,'' but in fact, we intend to make that tax
relief permanent. Hard-working Americans should not have to worry about
tax hikes every few years, and small businesses need tax certainty for
long-term planning. So we
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are committed to not only extending the lower individual rates we
passed in 2017 but to making them permanent.
We are also committed to making other small business tax relief from
the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act permanent, like bonus depreciation and the
section No. 199A deduction. The National Federation of Independent
Business reports that making the small business section No. 199A
deduction permanent would result in the creation of an additional 1.2
million jobs annually, with that number climbing as the law goes on.
And the Tax Foundation reports that long-run GDP would increase by a
substantial 1.1 percent. That means more jobs and more opportunities
for American workers. It also means an increase in Federal revenues--
but an increase in Federal revenues the right way, by growing and
expanding the economy, not raising taxes.
Ensuring permanent tax relief for hard-working Americans and small
businesses would be a substantial part of the final bill, but that is
not all that would be included. We will also be focusing on some of the
other challenges our country has faced over the past 4 years: a
dangerous border crisis, deficiencies in our military readiness, and
Biden administration policies that threat to weaken our already shaky
electric grid and jeopardize our Nation's energy supply.
President Trump has already made tremendous progress on securing the
border and deporting criminals here illegally, but we need to dedicate
additional resources to border security to secure those gains for the
long term. So the final bill that we pass will include a
transformational investment in securing our borders, including things
like additional detention space, more Border Patrol and Immigration and
Customs Enforcement agents, and additional barriers and technology.
We will also make a transformational investment in our military
readiness to address deficiencies and ensure that we are equipped to
detour and defeat any threat.
And we will implement policies to unleash American energy production
to ensure a secure, stable, and affordable energy supply for the long
term.
Finally, we will take a hard look at how we spend taxpayer dollars
and implement savings measures to put our country on a more fiscally
sustainable path.
It is going to be a great bill, and it is going to help produce a
stronger and a more secure America.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Iowa.
Economy
Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, over the Easter break, I continued my
annual 99 county meetings. And, as always, Iowans set the agenda.
At my open town meetings, I had big turnouts. People shared strong
views about tariffs, deportations, and the Department of Government
Efficiency. At nearly every one of those Q&A's, Iowans also raised
concerns about the Federal deficit and the $36 trillion debt hanging
over our heads.
I am sharing this feedback with my colleagues here because that is
what representative government is all about.
It seems like, no matter which issues put a burr under their saddle,
my constituents are hungry for the same thing. So, simply, they would
like to have some certainty of policy coming out of Congress and some
predictability. Such predictability is very essential for our country
to move forward economically.
Some people see Washington in chaos. These feelings of uncertainty
keep Americans up at night. Workers are worried about their retirement
savings when they watch the stock market seesaw. Farmers are wondering
if they will have a market to export their grain. Small businesses are
worried that rising import costs will drive them into the red or force
them to jack up prices on their customers. And everybody is concerned
that come January 1, 2026, they could be subject to the largest tax
hike in U.S. history. And that is without even a vote of Congress.
I have long been an open book regarding my concerns about tariffs. I
consider myself what, around this town, we call free and fair traders,
negotiating tariffs down.
That said, the President has another approach. President Trump has
raised valid concerns about some of our existing trading relationships,
especially with China. That is why I am willing to take a wait-and-see
approach as Trump's trading partners come to the negotiating table.
I hope his policies will ultimately result in free and fairer trade.
If they do, he will be much more successful than my approach over the
last 50 years. If he is successful, I will be the first one to say:
Praise the Lord.
But in the meantime, it is clear the on-again, off-again tariffs are
driving uncertainty, and that uncertainty is the same that is
reverberating across our economy.
There is no better example than when the market for U.S. treasuries
went haywire at the beginning of April as a result of some of this
tariff talk. Foreign investors got skittish and actually dumped U.S.
treasuries. That caused interest rates to spike on the 10- and 30-year
bonds. That should have set off the alarm bells here in Congress.
American taxpayers are on the hook for a $36 trillion national debt.
Americans are already paying $1 trillion a year in interest payments--
about three times what they were before interest rates and inflation
hit us after the last 4 years. This trillion dollars is more than we
spend annually on national defense, and, in the end, we don't have
anything to show for all that interest.
Don't forget, those costs rise when interest rates rise. If we pay
more servicing on our debt, there is less money for everything else
that the Federal Government does to help the American people.
Given the size of our national debt, even slightly higher than
expected interest rates mean trillions more spent servicing our debt
over the next decade.
Worse yet, if our bondholders were to lose confidence in our ability
to budget or govern responsibly, soaring debt payments could trigger a
return of sky-high inflation or even end America in a fiscal crisis.
In 2023, the credit rating agency Fitch downgraded the U.S. credit
rating, noting the size of our national debt and ``the erosion of
governance.'' Those words, ``the erosion of governance'' are from the
Fitch report.
More than ever, Congress must step up--step up its game--to provide
stability in the form of good governance and fiscal restraint. This
means we must work to deliver on essential congressional functions
without the last-minute brinksmanship that has become a norm when
either we don't appropriate for next year and government should shut
down or, like I am going to talk about, with the national debt and the
debt ceiling coming, if we don't handle that issue, we can possibly
shut down the government.
Along the lines of what I am talking about, I would like to delineate
three must-do items on our agenda that need to be completed before
October 1 of this year.
First, we must pass a tax and spending package to avert massive tax
hikes on the American people. That must include resources for the
administration to secure our borders and beef up our depleted military.
Second, we must guarantee that we will always pay our debts. This
means we must raise the debt ceiling well in advance of the Treasury
running out of money to pay the bills.
Currently, we are expected to hit the debt ceiling mid-summer to
early fall. So common sense tells me we should avoid the chaos in the
bond market, which could cause our debt payments to skyrocket. We must
lift the debt ceiling with plenty of room to spare. Why wait to the
midnight hour of government shutting down? That is too often the
practice around here in the U.S. Senate.
Finally, we must fund the government to avoid the threat of that
government shutdown. Our rinse-and-repeat shutdown stare-downs have
become an unnecessary recurring source of heartburn for our
constituents and deliver unnecessary uncertainty for the economy. We
can surely do better.
Completing our must-do list on time and drama free begins with
passing the tax and spending package in a timely and fiscally
responsible fashion.
I know what it takes to grease the wheels and enact historic tax cuts
using the budget reconciliation process. It is a four-letter acronym,
KISS, K-I-S-S. In other words, keep it simple, Senators.
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The 2017 Trump reform was a historic achievement. We cut taxes across
the board. We did so by simplifying the Tax Code and trimming back the
special deductions and credits. As a result, most taxpayers paid less
tax simply by claiming the increased standard deduction that was in
that 2017 law. They were able, then, to avoid the headache of spending
hours sifting through receipts and IRS forms.
We now have the chance to make these tax cuts and reforms permanent.
This alone would take the weight of a $4 trillion tax hike off the
chest of the economy. That would provide much needed certainty to
families and businesses.
So we must keep our eye on the ball. Let's avoid the laundry list of
costly new items that we can't afford and that, at the same time,
complicate the Tax Code and, at the same time, risk causing progress on
the reconciliation package to come to a screeching halt.
We are coming off of an unprecedented peacetime spending binge, and
it is time to pay the piper. The fact is, the Federal Government is
broke. We are currently running $2 trillion annual deficits, and in
just 3 years, our national debt is set to eclipse the World War II-era
record relative to the size of the U.S. economy.
Let's get in the habit of paying for all new policies so we don't
continuously keep digging ourselves into an ever-larger fiscal hole.
Let's stick to common sense. When you find yourself stuck in a hole,
stop digging. Start climbing. This would require Senators, Congressmen
and Congresswomen, and President Trump to set priorities and be willing
to make tradeoffs.
Let's move forward with consensus spending reductions. Let's pull
back expensive Biden-era regulations that supercharged mandatory
spending programs. And, at the same time, who is going to argue with
eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse?
Relative to new tax-and-spending policies, the overall package must
result in significant deficit reduction, but we can't let the perfect
be the enemy of the good. We didn't get into our fiscal situation, the
present situation, overnight, and we are not going to solve it in this
single bill either.
Polling repeatedly shows Americans hold Congress in low regard. I
have said this before, but it bears repeating. At my county meetings,
someone will yell at the back of the room ``Grassley''--referring to
me--``why can't you do something about the deficit?''
We can begin to restore the public's confidence in Congress by doing
our jobs, getting our work done on time, and--egads--stop digging a
deeper fiscal hole.
I yield the floor.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. CRUZ. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for
the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Remembering Diana Denman
Mr. CRUZ. Mr. President, I rise today with both sorrow and gratitude
in my heart to honor and celebrate the life of an extraordinary woman,
the Honorable Diana Denman.
Diana has rightly been described as the ``Godmother of the Texas
Republican Party.'' She was a fierce warrior for freedom, but she was
also a radiant spirit, a source of wisdom and kindness, and the
embodiment of grace, conviction, and truth. Diana was a patriotic
American. She loved this country. She was a true daughter of Texas and
a very dear and cherished friend.
Diana was born in Abilene, TX. Her grandfather, Jefferson Davis
Sandefer, Sr., led Hardin-Simmons University for decades, and Diana
often said she inherited her lifelong passion for service and
scholarship from his example.
But Diana's journey took her far beyond Texas. She left Abilene for
Washington to study at George Washington University, from which she
graduated with a degree in journalism. From there, she traveled to
Hollywood to be an actress. She worked with legends like Cecil B.
DeMille as well as a young actor named Ronald Reagan. Ever quick with a
smile and a story, Diana used to say that the very first vote she ever
cast for Reagan was for president--of the Screen Actors Guild.
That vote was the start of a lifelong commitment to conservatism.
From Reagan's 1976 campaign to his election and through the Presidency,
Diana stood shoulder to shoulder with the movement for freedom and
optimism that defined the era and which we so badly need today. She
later served in the Reagan administration in roles ranging from the
Peace Corps to the National Museum Services Board. She did not see that
as a break in the work she had been passionately doing.
She brought to Washington the same conviction as President Reagan,
the same impulse that had brought both to Hollywood--that politics
requires persuasion, that it requires winning hearts and winning minds,
that we need to tell stories, that we need to bridge the gaps between
generations, between communities, between ideologies.
Diana knew exactly what and why she was doing. When she was nominated
by President Reagan in 1986 to be a member of the National Museum
Services Board, her bio read:
Since 1983, Mrs. Denman has been vice chairman of the
Republican Party of Texas. She owns and operates a ranch in
San Antonio, TX, and was formerly an actress in Los Angeles,
CA.
By her side throughout her remarkable journey was her beloved husband
Leroy, who was the chief lawyer for the storied King Ranch for more
than 50 years. Plenty more offers came to Diana for prestigious
diplomatic appointments, and yet Diana turned them down because she
would not be separated from him.
I came to know Diana through politics, but she became family. I would
not be standing here today were it not for her faith in me. She was
among my earliest and strongest supporters when I first ran for Senate
in 2012, and in 2016, Diana was a Presidential delegate for me. You
could not ask for a fiercer fighter. Despite her diminutive stature,
she could carry a knife crawling under barbed wire.
Diana's devotion to others extended especially to our men and women
in uniform. Her home became a refuge for young servicemembers far away
from their families. She visited bases. She met with veterans. She wove
their struggles and triumphs into the fabric of her life's mission.
Even into her nineties, Diana remained undaunted. She sent emails,
she hosted gatherings, she mentored young conservatives, and she
dreamed bigger dreams for Texas and for America. Her energy defied her
years, and her vision never dipped.
Her consistent friendship and endless hospitality meant the world to
me and my family. Diana was dear friends with my father and dear
friends with my wife Heidi, and Diana loved our daughters Caroline and
Catherine. When we were in San Antonio, Diana invited us over. When she
came to Houston, she always stopped by. When I was up here in
Washington, Diana would always call, would always text, would always
provide a word of encouragement, a word of hope, and a word of wisdom.
And she always had a word of wisdom.
Diana was proper. She was elegant. She was old-school. One time, when
she was hosting a dinner for me at her home, I had the temerity at the
dining room table to remove my jacket. I will say, Diana braided me for
10 minutes after the dinner at lacking the good graces to know that a
good gentleman should keep his jacket on during dinner.
Through and thanks to her tireless work, Diana changed how
Republicans approached politics across the country, and she always led
with humility and courage and grace. She cared passionately for foreign
policy, for defending America, and for America being the leading voice
for freedom in the world--America being a shining city on a hill.
Diana was many things. She was a journalist. She was an actress. She
was a leader. She was a mentor. She was a philanthropist. And at her
core, she was loyal--fiercely loyal--to those she held dear.
And now, Diana has been laid to rest in the soil of Abilene where her
story began and from where she became part of Texas's story. Diana
loved Texas with all her heart. Diana loved America with all her heart,
and she loved freedom with all her heart.
I loved Diana. My entire family did. May God bless Diana Denman, and
may
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He continue to bless the great State of Texas that she loved so dearly
and the United States of America that Diana was so instrumental in
shaping.
I yield the floor.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order
for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Schmitt). Without objection, it is so
ordered.
Pharmacy Benefit Managers
Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. President, when it comes to healthcare access,
one of the biggest issues that Tennesseans face is rising costs,
especially on prescription drugs. I will tell you, this comes up in
meeting after meeting, questions about why our pharmaceuticals are
costing me so much.
According to a study by the Department of Health and Human Services,
the average drug price increased by more than 15 percent--15 percent--
between 2022 and 2023. That translates to about $590 per prescription.
Nearly half of all the medications that were studied saw price
increases that outpaced inflation, including some with increases of--
get this--over 3,000 percent.
This is unsustainable. And the reason it is unsustainable is why
President Trump decided to take Executive action last month to lower
drug prices for so many Americans. Among his actions, the President is
taking on a category called pharmaceutical benefit managers or they are
referred to in acronym parlance as PBMs.
PBMs raise prices and limit choices for consumers. When you look at
this industry, we have pharmaceutical companies that are manufacturing
the pharmaceuticals. You have health insurers that cover the cost of
these. You have pharmacies that sell them, patients that rely on them,
and in the mix, there are now PBMs. They are middlemen that came about
decades ago. They are between the drug manufacturer, the health
insurer, and the pharmacies. Think of this as a triangle with the cost
of that running around from point to point.
PBMs came into play decades ago. Bill Clinton was President when they
came to be. They were supposed to help manage prescription drug costs
and benefits for employers. It sounds like a worthy goal. But over
time, these benefit managers have gained incredible power over the
prescription drug access across the entire country. They determine
which medications will be covered by health insurance plans. I would
imagine that many of us have had something that was prescribed, and
then we find out no longer can we take that; there is going to be
something to replace it or it is not going to be covered at all.
They also determine the price. Many times, we have gone to pick up a
pharmaceutical, and we have known what the copay was. It was covered.
Then, all of a sudden, it is not and the price jumps and you are
standing there at the pharmacy counter asking what has happened. Then
you have to go call your insurance company. Then they say it is because
of the pharmacy benefit manager, and then they will tell you, well, the
employer is trying to reduce their costs--all of this ``excusitis''
because they are focused on how much money they can make.
This revenue is often linked to the price of the drug, and the PBMs
steer health plans toward more expensive options rather than lesser
expensive options. They game the system by tying administrative fees,
rebate-based compensation, and other payments to the list price of the
drug. And to make matters worse, current regulations allow Medicare
Part D plan sponsors to contract selectively with pharmacies, favoring
PBMs' preferred networks that often exclude independent pharmacies that
are probably located on the town square there in your hometown.
This is something we have seen far too often in Tennessee, and we
have realized this hurts those who live in rural and other underserved
areas the most.
Recently, the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance
conducted an audit of a single PBM in our State. They wanted to see how
this is affecting the price of pharmaceuticals in our State. What they
found was truly troubling. To the report, the PBM in question forced
nonaffiliated pharmacies to pay higher rates for more than 550
medications, including some drugs that they tagged as, again, 3,000-
percent more expensive than what would have been the lower cost option.
A nonaffiliated pharmacy is generally an independent pharmacy. They
are not part of a chain. They are not part of that vertical integration
of the pharmacy--the physician, the PBM, the insurance company, the
drug manufacturer. They are there in your neighborhood.
We also saw in this report that the PBM in question repeatedly failed
to reimburse low-volume pharmacies. Again, that is probably the
pharmacy in your neighborhood. And they, in good faith, fill your
prescription. And then the PBM challenges it and does not pay the bill.
So the next time you go to the pharmacy, what do you hear? Oh, this
is not covered. We cannot help you. You are going to have to drive 30
miles or 20 miles or whatever to get to one of the affiliated
pharmacies, which, again, that is one of the big changes.
Again, what you are seeing is those that are in underserved and rural
areas and use an independent pharmacy, they lose out. We also found
that this PBM in question was engaged in spread pricing that allowed
them to pocket $30 million.
That is one PBM in one State--Tennessee--and spread pricing put an
extra $30 million in their pocket. What that means is patients were
overpaying by $30 million, plus the inconvenience, plus the accelerated
price, plus the fact that these PBMs jockey for what they can get in
these rebates, and they change what you are allowed to get. And by the
way, they do that without ever talking to your physician.
When you look at that spread pricing, it is the difference between
what the PBM charges the health plan and what they reimburse to the
pharmacy. This is increasing the cost--another burden you bear--of your
insurance. That is what PBMs are doing.
So President Trump is addressing this issue by directing his
administration to evaluate the role of PBMs in raising drug prices. The
resulting report should provide an even clearer picture nationwide of
the harms that are being caused by these PBMs, these middlemen, and
they are totally unnecessary.
In the Senate, we are working on bipartisan legislation to hold the
PBMs accountable. In March, Senator Hassan, Senator Warner, and I
reintroduced the bipartisan Patients Before Middlemen Act. This piece
of legislation--which we want to get across the finish line and to the
President's desk--would restore fairness for patients by requiring
Medicare Part D plans to contract with any willing pharmacy, not just
those in the PBM network. That means Medicare Part D would be
contracting with your local community pharmacy, the one where you have
a relationship, the one where you know the pharmacist, the one where
you go in and say: Help with this; explain this medication to me; talk
me through this.
Also, our legislation would enhance transparency by assuring that
PBMs are not limiting patient access to available pharmacy options
under Medicare Part D. If your doctor says: You need this, and the PBM
says: No, we are not going to pay for that; we are going to pay for
this one over here, it would give you the right to get what the doctor
says is best for you. It would ensure PBM service fees are no longer
connected to the price of drug discounts, rebates, or other fees.
When you hear these rebates advertised, guess who gets them. The PBM.
When you hear discounts advertised, who gets it? The PBM.
Also, this would create an enforcement mechanism requiring PBMs to
pay the Department of Health and Human Services any amount more than
the designated service fee. It means they would no longer be able to
game the system, get the rebate and the money, pocket it, and you get a
higher price.
It is far past time that Congress took action to hold these middlemen
accountable. I think we should just do away with them completely. It is
time that we lower these drug costs for Tennesseans and Americans
across the country. With the PBM Act, we know that this will happen.
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