And have mercy upon our nation. May our lawmakers work to do your will, remembering that you have set apart the godly for yourself. Provide our senators a refuge in you, enabling them to shout for joy, blessed by your righteousness and favor. Continue to supply their needs, teaching them how to abound and abase. Lord, keep us all from slipping, presenting us one day before your throne with great joy. We pray in your majestic name. Amen. The president pro tempore please join me in the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of america, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Mr. Grassley madam president . The presiding officer the senator from iowa. Mr. Grassley july 20 marks the 50 years since Neil Armstrong took one small step for man and for the first time in Human History walked on the moon. The Apollo Missions should be remembered for generations to come as a triumph for innovation, for hard work, and for the american spirit. As we commemorate the mission to the moon that captured the world 50 years ago, we should look with anticipation to the next giant leap for mankind. And thus work to ensure that the United States remains at the forefront of innovation and technology. I yield the floor. Mr. Mcconnell madam president . The presiding officer the majority leader. Mr. Mcconnell Economic Data continued to confirm what weve been hearing from American Workers and job creators for two years now. This is a pro worker, profamily, proopportunity economic moment. Hardly a day goes by without new headlines highlighting the new prosperity in communities the last administrations policies overlooked and the red hot market for American Workers. Since january 2017, republican policies have focused on letting the American People control more of their own money and letting american businesses create jobs more easily. So what are the results . On our watch unemployment has fallen to near 50year lows and stayed there. Underemployment has fallen too. Wages are growing. Month after month weve had more job openings nationwide than americans looking for work. Specifically there are currently about 1. 6 million more job openings than americans looking for work, the widest margin ever recorded. Now these arent washington accomplishments. Theyre the American Peoples accomplishments but Public Policy can certainly change the conditions. Government can either create the conditions that will help lead to success or to stagnation. For example, bad Public Policies under the Obama Administration helped explain why the insufficient and unfair economic recovery left so many places behind. High taxes, heavy regulation, a hostile climate for business. These things all add up. They took a real toll in many places. Take my home state of kentucky, for example, kentucky is proud of our diverse economy. Were proud of our Great Health Care and aviation sectors. Were proud that were a tourist destination. It turns out bourbon and horse races are a winning combination and we also take huge pride in the kinds of industries that liberal policies tend to either forget about or actively work against. Im talking about manufacturing and agriculture and mining and coalfired electricity, the things that keep the lights on in americas heartland. We could not be prouder of the huge role these sectors play in our commonwealth. So its not surprising that leftwing policies dreamt up in places like new york and San Francisco for places like new york and San Francisco were not too kind to kentucky. Growth that was should slow, jobs hard to come from. Socalled experts said it was just the new normal. But we knew better. We knew kentucky could get back on track if we could only get a fair shot and fewer hurdles from washington. We needed the government to stop greating creating headwinds and maybe create a few tailwinds and thats exactly what happened over the last two yaf nears. Since january 2017 republicans in the congress have partnered with the Trump Administration to get our nations opportunity economy going and growing again for everyone. We passed the First Comprehensive overhaul of the federal tax code in more than a generation. We cut regulations that had reduced liberty and stifled our competitiveness. We helped American Workers and entrepreneurs hang up a bright, neon sign saying open for business. And no surprise here, working americans have taken the ball and they have run with it. Ive already read the national statistics. Im even prouder about this. Instead of being left behind, kentucky is help leading the charge. The states Unemployment Rate has hit and sustained its lowest level on record. Again thats record breaking low unemployment. Last year Governor Bevin helped kentucky welcome more than 5. 3 billion dollars of planned Business Investment and this new growth isnt just concentrated in urban areas. Rural communities in the bluegrass are seeing more jobs, investment, and expansion as well. But of course it takes more than two years to unwind the mistakes of the past. Parts of kentucky are still struggling from the effects of liberal policies. And this republican senate, the administration, and leaders are laser focused on continuing to invest in and fight for recovery. In many communities, particularly in rural kentucky, the lingering pain has been hard to shake. The damage to the coal industry, the devastation caused by opioid and substance abuse. So more work is certainly needed and im honored to lead the charge in washington to help kentuckians confront these challenges through programs like the Appalachian Regional Commission and the pilot program. Were investing hundreds of millions of dollars in struggling areas and out of work americans. In Eastern Kentucky congressman hall rogers and i have partnered to secure resources from everything to skills training to Water Infrastructure improvements. Ive helped secure tens of millions of dollars to aid the retraining efforts of Eastern Kentucky concentrated Employment Program and job creating programs like the kentucky Highlands Community development corporation. Weve also secured grants to bolster good jobs, support the environment to attract tourism and promote healthy lifestyles. These are just a few examples from just one state, madam president. There are stories like this all over our country. While the Previous Administration left these men and women behind, republicans recognize their skills and their drive. Were investing in their futures. Now on a related matter, speaking of Economic Growth and development, the senate will soon turn our attention to a number of bilateral tax treaties with important u. S. Trading partners. We have these kinds of agreements in place to reduce tax evasion, tax avoidance, and unfair double taxation of u. S. Citizens and businesses who conduct business overseas. The four will consider this week are agreements with spain, switzerland, japan, and luxembourg. The u. S. Government in each of these foreign governments have painstakingly negotiated updates to existing agreements about how certain kinds of commerce will be taxed and which country will tax them. In short Senate Ratification of these protocols would mean less confusion, more certainty, and often fewer taxes for u. S. Job creators and by the way, a simpler rule book for overseas investors who want to invest their money here. Fairer treatment for our own american job creators and more enticement for Foreign Investment to head to our country. Thats what we would call a winwin. Were talking about a serious Economic Impact in addition to the four countries were tackling this week, there are three more nations with tax treaties pending which i know the administration has continued to work on with the Foreign Relations and finance committees to finalize work on these remaining agreements. Combined these seven Foreign Countries invest more than 1. 2 trillion in the United States. More than a trillion dollars in Foreign Investment and by some estimates hundreds of thousands of u. S. Jobs are tied up directly or indirectly in trade with these countries. These trading relationships touch all 50 states. Every one of my colleagues is familiar with communities that benefit from Foreign Investment. For my part that includes thousands of workers in kentucky. One major manufacturer with ties to spain employs 1,500 people in my state. It accounts for more than a third of all the stains will steel produced in the United States every year. Over the three decades its operated in caroll county, the surrounding communities that benefited for more than 60 million in tax revenue. Thats just one of many job creators in my home state and its far from the only one with a serious interest in seeing these measures get across the finish line. From consumer goods makers to industrial suppliers, kentucky continues to welcome job creating investment from around the world. I think practically every american is familiar with hot pockets, a culinary staple of busy family workers and College Students everywhere but not everyone knows that as of several years ago, every single hot pocket is cooked in mount sterling, kentucky. The facility employs more than 1,000 kentuckians. The Parent Company is nestle based in switzerland so theyre not only hardworking kentuckians but also lots of hungry consumers across the country who can understand why we need to keep our International Trade insync. Passing these agreements will help every state keep up the economic momentum. It will reenforce the International Trade that is so essential to our economic success and help stave off further trade disruptions. So i would urge all of our colleagues to join me in voting for these this week. The presiding officer under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. Morning business is closed. Under the previous order, the senate will proceed to executive session and resume consideration of the following nomination which the clerk will report. The clerk nomination, the judiciary, Peter Joseph Phipps of pennsylvania to be United States circuit judge for the Third Circuit. Mr. Durbin madam president . The presiding officer the senator from illinois. Mr. Durbin madam president , i listened as the republican leader came to the floor i listened as the republican leader came to the floor and announced the business of the United States senate for this week. Highlight of the business will be tax treaties. Tax treaties with spain and switzerland and japan and luxembourg. According to the republican leader, these are critical to Economic Development in the United States. I dont question their importance but i will tell you that routinely these are down by voice vote. We dont spend the time in the senate to come to the floor and talk about our relationship with luxembourg. When you look at the issues that most American Families expect us to address, i would say the tax treaty with luxembourg would be low on the list. What might be high on the list and should be considered in the senate this week is the number one concern of families across america. Democrats and republicans, the highest concern, the number one issue which asked about the economy of the United States is the cost of Prescription Drugs. The United States senate has the authority to do something about the cost of Prescription Drugs. We wont be doing it this week. Well be dealing with a tax treaty with luxembourg. What kind of issues when it comes to the cost of Prescription Drugs might be important . Well, lets start with one that ive started focusing on back home. Did you know that there are 30 million americans who suffer from diabetes, type 1, type 2 diabetes some did you know that 6. 5 million americans use insulin every single day to stay alive . Four of them were in my office last week from illinois. They were between the ages of 10 and 17. Talk about amazing young people, three young women and a young boy talked about their lives, what had happened to them since it was discovered that they had this juvenile diabetes. Their lives have been changed a lot. Each one of them was hooked up to a c. G. M. , i believe is the proper term, a continuous glucose monitor that measures whether or not they need additional insulin which was pumped in another device on their arm, and they talked about how this was a commitment around the clock to make sure that their insulin levels were appropriate. One little girl talked about what it meant to her family for her to be a type one diabetic. This beautiful young lady started talking about it, and then she got to the point where she said its changed our family. My diabetes has changed our family. And then she started crying because she said we cant do things in our family that others do. We cant take the same vacations that my cousins take. We cant rent that house out on the lake because of the cost of my drugs, the cost of my insulin. I turned to her mother, and i said so tell me, what does it come down to . Her mom said were lucky, we have Health Insurance. Our Health Insurance covers Prescription Drugs. However, there is an 8,000 copay. So we start each year buying the insulin for our daughter until we have spent 8,000 out of our savings. Then the Health Insurance kicks in. Usually its about three months. So she is paying or she is being charged about 3,000 a month for insulin. Well, lets look into this for a minute as we consider why the United States senate thinks a tax treaty with luxembourg is more important than this issue. Lets look into the fact that insulin was discovered almost 100 years ago in canada, and that the researchers who discovered it came to the United States and said we have the patent rights to this lifesaving drug for diabetics. We never want to see anybody make a profit at the expense of this lifesaving drug, and so the canadian researchers surrendered their patent rights to insulin for a dollar. Gave it up. I might recall that when it came to the vaccine for polio, he said the same thing. He said no one should make a profit op the drug that eliminated polio. These two canadian researchers felt the same about insulin. What happened then . Insulin was produced in the earliest stages, in a rather crude way but an effective way to save the lives of people with diabetes. Over the years that process has improved. There is no question about that. Today there are three Major Pharmaceutical Companies that make Insulin Products for the United States eli lilly of indianapolis, indiana, is one of them. I know a little bit about the eli lilly product. Its called humalog. Humalog was introduced in the American Market in 1999. An insulin product. And the charge was about 20 to 30 for a dosage a vial, i should say, which is used as a dosage for those with type one diabetes, type two diabetes. About 31. So here we are 20 years later. How much is that same vial . 329. Remember, this was a drug discovered almost 100 years ago. Remember those who could have capitalized and made a fortune off of it surrendered their patent rights. How did we reach this point where this drug in 20 years is ten times more than it cost when it was introduced . Its the same drug from the same company. Why has it gone up so much in price . Because they can do it. Because these pharmaceutical companies have the power to raise their prices, and people like that little girl in my office from jerseyville, illinois, who broke down in tears cant control how much that price will be. And they need this to survive. So now you must ask yourself what are other Companies Paying for exactly the same drug made by the same American Pharmaceutical Company eli lilly . We dont have to go very far to find out. All we go to is canada. Canada. The 329 humalog vial in canada costs 39. Why . Exactly the same drug is a fraction of the cost in canada, because the canadian government stands up for the people of that country and says you cannot gouge, you c