Why pay more to wait longer for worse care . Instead lets give patients the care that they need from a doctor they choose at lower costs. Mr. President , that is our goal. That is our objective. And that is what we are going to accomplish. Thank you, mr. President. I yield the floor. Mr. Durbin mr. President. The presiding officer the democratic whip. Mr. Durbin i ask consent the quorum call be suspended. The presiding officer were not in a quorum call. Mr. Durbin thank you, mr. President. I ask consent to be recognized as if in morning business. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Durbin just a few minutes ago, i had a visit to my office of four young people from the state of illinois. They were of a variety of different ages, from 10 years of age to the age of 17. They all came because they had a similar life experience, and they wanted to share it with me. Each one of them have been diagnosed with type one diabetes. And little owen, 10yearold owen from deerfield, told a story. The cutest little kid. Great reader. Read me a presentation which he put together. And the young women who were with him all talked about how their lives changed when they learned at the age of 7 or 8 that they had type 1 diabetes. And for each one of them from that point forward, insulin became the lifeline. They had to have access to insulin and they had to have it sometimes many times a day, in the middle of the night, and reached a point where through technology they had continuous Glucose Monitoring devices and pumps that were keeping them alive. But every minute of every day was a test to them as to whether or not they were going to get sick and need help. It was a great presentation by these young people whose lives were transformed, and the parents who were hanging on every word as they told me their life stories. And they brought up two points which i want to share on the floor this morning. The first is the importance of medical research. As one young woman said she is about 17 now she has lived with this for eight or nine years, and she said she is a twin, and her brother told her when she was diagnosed that he hated the thought that as an old woman she would still be worried about her insulin every single day. And she said i told my brother were going to find a cure before im an old woman. Well, i certainly hope that that young girl is right, but she is only right ifaway do our part here on the floor of the United States senate and not just give speeches. What we have to do is appropriate money to the National Institutes of health. Its the premier medical Research Agency in the world. And we have had good luck in the last four years. I want to salute two of my republican colleagues and one of my democratic colleagues for their special efforts. For the last four years, senator roy blunt, republican of missouri, senator lamar alexander, republican of tennessee, and senator patty murray, democrat of washington, joined forces i have been part of that team, too to encourage an increase in medical Research Funding every single year, and weve done it. The increase that dr. Collins and n. F. C. Central asked for and n. H. S. Asked for was 5 growth over a year. 5 inflation. Do you know what we have done in four years . The amount at n. I. H. Has gone from 30 billion to 39 billion. Dramatic, 30 increase in n. I. H. Research funding. And were going to have a tough time with this coming budget, as we have in the past, but i hope that we really reach a bottom line as democrats and republicans that we are committed to 5 real growth in medical research every single year. So that we could answer these young people who come in dealing with diabetes, those who are suffering from cancer, heart disease, alzheimers, parkinsons, the business goes on and on, that we are doing our part here in the senate, that despite all the political battles and differences, there are things that bring us together, and that should be one. The second thing they raised, point they raised, one of the young girls there, morgan of jerseyville, started telling me the story about the cost of insulin, the cost of insulin. And as she was telling the story and the sacrifices being made by her family to keep her alive, she broke down crying. What she was telling me was her personal experience, her Family Experience was something that every family with diabetes knows. The cost of insulin charged by the pharmaceutical companies has gone up dramatically, without justification, without justification over the last 20 years. In 1999, one of the major insulin drugs called humalog made by eli lilly was selling for 21 a vial. Thats 20 years ago. 1999, 21 a vial. The price today, 329 a vial. What has caused this dramatic increase . There is nothing thats happened with this drug. Its the same drug. And, i might add, eli lilly of indianapolis, indiana, is selling this same insulin product, humalog, in canada for 39. 329 in the United States, 39 in canada. And these families told me they were lucky to have Health Insurance that covered Prescription Drugs sounds good except that they each had large copays. 8,000 a year. And what it meant was that for this young girl, this beautiful little girl who was in my office with juvenile diabetes, they would spend 8,000 a year at the beginning, the first three months of the year for her three months of insulin before the Health Insurance kicked in and started paying for it. And of course there are families that arent so lucky. They dont have Health Insurance to pay for their drugs. So what are we going to do about it . It happens to be something the United States senate is supposed to take up. Were supposed to debate these things and decide the policy for this country. Well see. Very soon well have a chance. The bills coming out of the health committee, health, education, labor, pensions committee, and well have a chance to amend it on the floor to deal with the cost of Prescription Drugs. I will have an amendment ready. If my colleagues want to join mn the cost of insulin, and well have a chance, if senator mcconnell, the republican leader, will allow us. Its his decision, well have a chance to decide whether these kids and their families are going to get ripped off by these pharmaceutical companies for years to come. It isnt just insulin. Its so many other products. Its time for us to stand up for these families and their kids, to put the money into medical research, and to tell pharma once and for all enough is enough. Insulin was discovered almost a hundred years ago. What youre doing in terms of increasing the cost of it for these families is unacceptable and unconscionable. Mr. President , id like to have consent to speak in a separate part of the record for my next statement. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Durbin thank you, mr. President. For the last two and a half years of this administration, we have seen incredible situation when it comes to immigration and our border. We have seen unfortunately some of the saddest and most heartbreaking scenes involving children at the border of the United States with mexico. The pattern started with the president s announcement shortly after he was sworn in that he was imposing a travel ban on muslim countries. That created chaos at our airports and continues to separate thousands of American Families. Then the president stepped up and repealed daca, the executive Order Program created by president obama which allowed almost 800,000 young immigrants to stay in this country without fear of deportation. And to make a life in the only country many of them had ever known. Then the president announced the termination of the temporary protected status program, a program which we offer and have throughout our history, modern history, for those who are facing oppression or Natural Disaster in their countries. President trump announced he was going to terminate it affecting the lives of 300,000 immigrants. Then came the disastrous separation of thousands of families at the border. 2,880 infants, toddler, and children separated from their parents by the government of the United States. This zero tolerance policy finally was reversed by President Trump after the public outcry against it. Then what followed was the longest Government Shutdown in history over the president s demand that he was going to build a border wall even at the cost of shutting down the government of the United States for five weeks. But followed with the tragic deaths of six children apprehended at the border and 24 people in detention facilities of the United States. The president then announced that he was going to block all assistance to the northern triangle countries el salvador, guatemala, and honduras, the source of most of the immigrants that come to our border and that he would shut down avenues for legal migration, driving even more refugees to our border. Now on President Trumps watch we have an unprecedented humanitarian crisis. We have seen that crisis exemplified by the horrifying image of Oscar AlbertoMartinez Ramirez and his 23monthold daughter valeria who fled el salvador and drowned as they tried to cross the rio grande two weeks ago. Weve seen this crisis play out in the overcrowded and inhumane conditions at Detention Centers at the border. In april i visited el paso, texas. What i saw on the Border Patrols overcrowded facilities was heartbreaking. In may i led 24 senators in calling for the International Committee of the red cross and the Inspector General of the department of Homeland Security to investigate our Border Control facilities. Mr. President , i never dreamed that i would be asking the International Red cross to investigate detention facilities in the United States. They do that, but usually youre asking them to look into some third world country where inhumane conditions are being alleged. After being in el paso and after seeing whats going on at our border, i join with 23 other senators asking the International Red cross to investigate the United States detention facilities. Later that same month, the Inspector General of the department of Homeland Security released a report detailing the inhumane and dangerous overcrowding of migrants at the el paso port of entry. The Inspector Generals office found the overcrowding was, quote, an immediate risk to the health and safety of detainees and d. H. S. Employees. One week ago the Inspector Generals Office Issued another scathing report this time about multiple Border Patrol facilities in the rio grande valley. The Inspector Generals office asked the department of Homeland Security to take immediate steps to alleviate dangerous overcrowding and poe longed detention, and they stated, quote, we are concerned that overcrowding and prolonged detention represent an immediate risk to the health and safety of d. H. S. Agents and officers and to those detained. Congress recently passed legislation two weeks ago which included 793 million in funding to alleviate overvowedding at the c. V. P. Facilities and other funding to provide food, supply, medical care to migrants. The bill also includes critical funding for the office of Refugee Resettlement to care for migrant children. We must now make sure that this money is spent effectively by the Trump Administration. We gave them over 400 million in february and they came back to us within 90 days and said were out of money. I would like to know how theyre spending this money and i want to make sure its being spent where its needed. There is a gaping leadership vacuum at the trump Administrations Department of Homeland Security. Think of this. In to and a half years in two and a half years, there have already been four different people serving as head of that department. Every position in the department of Homeland Security with responsibility for immigration or Border Security is now being held by a temporary appointee and the white house refuses to even submit nominations to fill these positions. Two weeks ago i met with mark morgan, one of these temporary appointees. In may President Trump named him acting director of u. S. Immigration, customs enforcement. Mr. Morgan was asked at that time to carry out the mass arrests and mass deportations of millions of immigrants that the president had threatened by his infamous tweets. Shortly before i met with mr. Morgan to ask him about the mass arrest and mass deportations, there was a change. They took they named him as acting director of u. S. Customs and border protection. We went from internal enforcement to border enforcement. So now hes in charge of solving the humanitarian crisis that President Trump has created at our border. The Trump Administration can shuffle the deck chairs on this titanic, but we must acknowledge the obvious. President trumps immigration and Border Security policies have failed. Tough talk isnt enough. We need to do better. This morning i had dr. Goza, she is the president of the American Academy of pediatrics. She came to give me a report about her visit to several border facilities thats been well documented and reported in the press. It was hard for her, she said, to see these things as a doctor for children and realize they were happening in the United States. Yes, children are being held in caged facilities with wire fences and tires around them. Some of them very young children. She told me as a pediatrician those things have an impact on a child, how that child looks at the world, how that child looks at himself. She said she took a lot of notes as she went through these facilities but it wasnt until she got on the airplane on the way home and read through them, she said, then i started crying. Im supposed to be a professional who can take this, but i couldnt imagine what we were doing to these children at the border. And there arent just enough medical professionals there, not nearly enough. The United States is better than that. We can do better than that. We can have a secure border and respect our International Obligations to provide a safe haven to those who are fleeing persecution as weve done on a bipartisan basis, democrats and republicans, for decades. I stand ready and i believe my party stands ready to work with republicans on smart, effective, and Humane Solutions to the crisis at our border. I would suggest the following be included. Crack down on traffickers that are exploiting immigrants. Thats unacceptable. Assistance to stabilize the northern triangle countries. Thats long overdue. Incountry processing and thirdcountry resettlement so migrants can seek safe haven under our laws without making the dangerous and expensive trek to our border. Eliminate the Immigration Court backlog so that asylum claims can be processed more quickly. Mr. President , you know we authorized a hundred more Immigration Court judges in this administration and this administration cant find people to fill them. They want more judges. Theyve got theyve been unable to do it. We need to make sure the children of families are treated humanely when theyre in the custody of the United States government. Eventually the history of this period will be written and there will be accountability, not just for the officials in government but for all of us, those of us in the senate and the house and those in journalism, other places. Were going to have to answer for the way that these people have been treated. Whether or not they qualify for legal status in the United States, i hope we can hold our heads up high and say at least from this point in forward were going to show them that we are a hugh pain and caring people. No matter where you come from, no matter how poor you may be, we will care take care the children are treated in a merciful way and a compassionate way, that the adults are given appropriate opportunities to exercise whatever rights they have under the laws of our country, and that at the end of the day we can hold our heads high that weve done this consistent with the values of the United States of america. We havent seen that yet. Its time for the president to acknowledge that the get tough, bizarre teets just arent enough. Weve got to have a policy that makes sense to bring stability to our border. Mr. President , i yield the floor. Ms. Ernst mr