Vote vote the presiding officer are there any senators in the chamber wishing to vote or change their vote . If not, the yeas are 86, the nays are 2. The nomination is confirmed. Mr. Mcconnell mr. President . The presiding officer the majority leader. Mr. Mcconnell i ask unanimous consent the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table and the the president be immediately notified of the senates action with respect to the nominations confirmed during todays session of the senate. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Mcconnell i move to proceed to legislative session. The presiding officer the question is on the motion. All those in favor, say aye. Those opposed, say no. The ayes appear to have it. The ayes do have it. The motion is agreed to. Mr. Mcconnell i move to proceed to executive session to consider calendar number 387. The presiding officer question is on the motion. All those in favor, say aye. Those opposed, say no. The ayes appear to have it. The ayes do have it. The motion is agreed to. The clerk will report the nomination. The clerk nomination, department of homeland security, chad f. Wolf of virginia to be under secretary for strategy, policy, and plans. Mr. Mcconnell i send a cloture motion to the desk. The presiding officer the clerk will report the cloture. The clerk cloture motion we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the nomination of chad wolf of virginia to be under secretary for strategy, policy, and plans, department of homeland security, signed by 17 senatorsals follows mr. Mcconnell i ask unanimous consent that the reading of the names be waived. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Mcconnell i of mo to proceed to legislative session. The presiding officer question is on the motion. All those in favor, say aye. Those opposed, say no. The ayes appear to have it. The ayes do have it. The motion is agreed to. Mr. Mcconnell i ask consent that it be in order to move to proceed to calendar number 486. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Mcconnell i move to proceed to executive session to consider calendar number 486. The presiding officer question is on the motion. All those in favor, say aye. Those opposed, say no. The ayes appear to have it. The ayes do have it. The motion is agreed to. The clerk will report the nomination. The clerk nomination, the. Steven j. Menashi of new york to be United States circuit judge for the Second Circuit. Mr. Mcconnell i send a cloture motion to the desk. The presiding officer the clerk will report the cloture. The clerk cloture motion we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the nomination much steven j. Menashi of new york to be United States circuit judge for the Second Circuit signed by 17 senatorsals follows mr. Mcconnell i ask consent the reading of the names waived. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Mcconnell i ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum calls for the cloture motion be waived. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Mcconnell i ask consent that notwithstanding rule 22, the cloture motions ripen at 5 30 p. M. On tuesday, november 12. The presiding officer without objection. The senator for ohio. Mr. Portman mr. President , id like to take this opportunity to talk about something positive thats happening back home in ohio with the help of the u. S. Army corps of engineers. The army corps is involved with some civicminded Community Volunteers in something that will help us to preserve our history in ohio. It wouldnt be happening but for the vision of the head of the army corps, mr. R. D. James, the assistant secretary of the army for civil works. It is a goodnews project regarding the preservation of an important piece of history in the Northwest Territories in my home state of ohio. It is called the barker house. It is an historic home dates back almost 200 years when it was built by the owners father who was a revolutionary war father. It is a number of Historic Homes of his were built along the ohio river and this is one still left standing. Joseph colonel barker senior h. Sr. Was his name. He is one of our most famous early pioneers in ohio. It was listed on the list of National Historic places for its significance. The houses he built played an Important Role in a new awardwinning book that i would recommend to you by that great historian David Mccullough called the pioneers and it tells the story of the Northwest Territories and the founding of ohio in wake of the reflation nature war. His stately homes were an anomaly out on the frontier. His own home was described in the book as, and i quote, a large brick house in the federal style with a handsome front door flanked by recessed side windows and and elliptical fan overhead. The whole house was painted white and soon became a distinguished house of hospitality. End quote. This also describes the Historic House were trigg to preserve. These houses stood in sharp contrast to the log cabins on the rugged landscape. The barker house is currently owned by the u. S. Army corps of engineers. Its owned by them because its right i right next to the willow dam on the river. Today the house is Still Standing. It is vacant, in bad shape, and its unsafe to enter, but it is safable. I visited this Historic House back in september of 2008. I learn then that the core was proposing to demolish the barker house. They then considered a proposal to try notify it brick by bic to a new location off of army corps land. Neither made sense. Thats when i met jack hayesly, who has led a group along with others, a local barker house friends group, who said theyd beological to raise the money to theyd be willing to raise the money to restore this home overlooking the oat owe river. They wanted to be sure it would be accessible to visits and could be made into a museum. I immediately called the secretary, mr. Aade james of the army corps and asked if he would consider the decision demolish the home. After hearing the story of the house and the tee tails of the local groups l. A. N. Plan to reserve it, mr. James agreed to reverse the corps decision and to work with us on preserving the home. He deserved great credit for that. Congressman bill johnson, who represents the area, who is also been an excellent partner in pursuing these sensible solutions. Right now we are working on developing legislation that i hope to introduce soon to convey the house and the surrounding land to the friends group. Weve made a lot of progress so far. Just last week the corps completed drawings of the specific parcel to be conveyed, which also includes the creation of an access road so the house can be visited and enjoyed by the public. And we appreciate the Ohio Department of transportation and director Jack Marchbanks for working with us on that. The road access issue was critical, and odot was very helpful. Also the oat owe state Preservation Office has jumped in and played a constructive role. This is an example of a true publicprivate partnership, again, made possible by secretary james. So again id like to thank him, thank the army corps, thank his team. Id like to thank the barker house friends group, the ohio historic Preservation Office, odot, all of whom are partnering together with us to ensure that this Historic Place is Still Standing so it can tell the story for generations to come. Id like to ask that my remaining remarks appear in a separate part of the congressional record. The presiding officer without objection u. Mr. Portman im here on the Senate Floor Today to talk about the opportunity we have here in congress to make substantial relieves to address an issue that keeps a lot of americans up at night, and thats whether theyre going to have enough money in their retirement. I chair the finance subcommittee that handles retirement and pension issues, and ive worked to pass Bipartisan Legislation with thencongressman ben cardin, now senator ben cardin over the years. That legislation has helped let people save more in their i. R. A. s, 401 k s, other Retirement Plans, but we still have a long way to go. In fact, according to a recent study, twothirds of americans believe theyll outlive their Retirement Savings. And people are right to be worried. Right now way too many workers dont have access to a private Retirement Plan at all, and too Many Americans who do have a plan are not saving enough. Less than half of the employees at businesses with less than 50 workers even have access to a plan p. And only 34 of them participate. Thats where the major problem is. These are workers that mom and pop shops, small manufacturers, cantless other employers who make up the backbone of our economy. We can and should do more to make sure these Small Business employees are set up for retirement, where they can find peace of mind in their retirement. Whats more, only 22 of parttime workers today have access to a plan. Only 22 . More americans can have access to a Retirement Plan just by making some simple changes in law. A lot of americans who do have a plan again havent saved enough, so theyreatic are of having their savings be inadequate for their increasing lifespans, as people are living longer, this is a bigger problem. Social security is absolutely essential. Its great that that safety net is there. Its necessary to cushion the retirement incomes of americans, but the average payout of Social Security is 1,400 a month. Try living on that. It is tough. A lot of people have a hard time with that, so they need this extra Retirement Savings. This lack of adequate Retirement Savings is made worse by the fact that we have more and more baby boomers who are retiring. So we have a bigger group in this category. And people are living longer, which is a good thing. But it creates an additional challenge with regard to Retirement Savings for all these reasons, we need to overhaul the laws governing the prime recivility system to help people get access to workplace savings plans, encourage savings to help our economy overall and make sure people dont outlive their savings in their retirement. The good news is that we have that package right before us right now here in the u. S. Senate. It would go a long way toward making these changes. Its called the secure act and its already passed the house of representatives five and a half months ago by an overwhelming bipartisan vote of 4173. Thats right, 4173. That never happens around here. So this is totally bipartisan. Its one of these issues where we would have an opportunity to pass it and then send it directly to the president for his signature, and he has said he would sign it. Were so divided on so many issues here in washington today, but this is one where we have a rare chance for a truly bipartisan solution to a problem thats affecting people in every single state represented in this body. Today what was called a live u. C. Was tried. It was aaron attempt to an attempt to get a vote on the secure act, this legislation im talking about, with five amendments on each side. I support that, and i supported my colleagues today who came forward to offer that. The amendments that they outlined as our five republican amendments all make sense to me, and then the democrats said you should offer five amendments also. You will pick them. Unfortunately it was objected to by the other side, and that didnt surprise me because for the past five and a half months some of us have been trying to get this legislation done, and there have been concerns on both sides of the aisle. But were at a point now where we know, having raised this live u. C. , that we continue to have this stalemate. And after five and a half months, i think its time for us to move forward on these reforms. I like the amendments, again, that were proposed today. As an example, i agree that allowing 529 plans to be used for homeschooling expenses make sense and its a reform that congress should take up. But this underlying bill that almost every republican in the house supported even without this provision is one we also ought to pick up. So as difficult as it is for us to give up on amendments on both sides, if that cant be done because it gets blocked, then lets go ahead and move the underlying legislation, the secure act. Its a worthwhile piece of legislation. It helps in a category where we need the help badly and thats Small Businesses. They have an easier time setting up Retirement Plans under the secure act because the bill increases the tax credit for Small Businesses. In general you get 500 for starting a Retirement Plan. That would be raised to 5,000, a tenfold increases. Small businesses are the major gap where Retirement Plans are found say that would be a significant incentive for them to set up a Retirement Plan. Second it provides an annual tax credit to Small Businesses that introduce automatic enrollment features into their plan so Small Business employees would have to opt out of saving for retirement as opposed to opting in. These auto enrollment features are fantastic. The average participation of a 401 k in a midsized business is about 75 of the employees. If its auto enrollment where you are automatically enrolled unless you opt out, its about 95 . This makes a lot of sense to me and thats an innovative change in this legislation. Third is streamlines regulations. Small Business Owners that have a lot on their plates can have an easier time focusing on riermt for their employees retirement for their employees. Perhaps most importantly to me, the bill allows Small Businesses to participate in open multiple employer defined Contribution Plans. These are plans that allow business, some of the Small Businesses we talked about earlier, to come together to work out joint plans for their employees. That becomes much more effective for Small Businesses because they can share the administrative costs, share some of the liability expenses. It has a lot of benefits for small employers and will result in more people i represent getting a Retirement Plan. In all, the joint committee on taxation estimates that this reform alone would lead to 700,000 new retirement accounts for Small Business workers who need access. In my experience, that security really works. I grew up in a small family business. My dad started his own business when he had five employees. My mom was the bookkeeper and he said were going to set up a Retirement Plan. It was called a Profit Sharing plan. They had no profit the first few years so it was a little awkward. When they finally started making money, everybody had a stake, everybody got a little bit in their retirement nest egg. When 401 k s came in, they started a 401 k as well. Ive met people as well who have turned a wrench in their careers as a lift truck technician, lift Truck Mechanic who have a Retirement Savings plan because of that. A nice nest egg, 500,000, 600,000 they were able to accumulate. I know this works. I know Small Businesses have the opportunity to do more for their workers if we help them more here in washington. Im committed to trying to get this done. Another important part of the secure act has to do with Older Americans. It says that we should raise the age limit that forces older American Workers to start depleting and paying taxes on their Retirement Savings. Currently at 70 1 2, 70 years old and and a half you have to start taking money out of your Retirement Plan. You have to whether youre working or not. And many people are still working. My dad was still working at 70 1 2. It drove him crazy he had to start taking the money out. He wanted to keep building it out. We say lets expand that in this legislation to age 72. As important the bill lifts the current prohibition on i. R. A. Contributions by people over 70 1 2, meaning people can make the choice that they want to keep investing in their retirements for as long as they see fit. Somebody who makes it to 70 1 2 is likely to live into his or her 90s. Theres a lot of time in retirement where you need to have that funding. That kind of flexibility is how we allow people to manage their own Retirement Savings. The secure act is good for Small Businesses, good for Older Americans but reforms dont end there. It has a number of other good provisions. One is particularly urgent. It it reforms the pension nondiscrimination laws that i will authored alongside my friend ben cardin. Our legislation is very simple. It says weve got a glitch in current law. We introduced it as separate legislation earlier this year, but its now been made part of the secure act. Its a critical piece of legislation that passed, because if it doesnt pass and pass soon like by the end of this year, 400,000plus americans are going to have their benefits frozen in their defined benefit plans. 400,000 people through no fault of their own. In recent years as Many Companies transitioned from the traditional defined benefit plans to a defined Contribution Plan like a 401 k , some of them elected to grandfather existing employees by closing down their traditional plans but allowing those who were there to continue to have the benefits. Unfortunately whats happened is that as they build up seniority, one of the rules in our current testing under 401 k and Profit Sharing plans and defined benefit plans has come into effect. And inadvertently it has resulted in these plans not being able to continue to accrue benefits. So it wasnt meant to work that way, but it has for a lot of these people who are in these plans. So as a result, again, 400,000 Older Workers are at risk of losing their benefits through no fault of their own. Tens of thousands of other workers have already been affected by these flawed rules. Weve got to fix this. We tried to pass this legislation unanimously early this fall. It has no objection on the republican side or the democrat side, by the way, this provision, and yet we were not able to get it done because some would like to make it remain as part of the secure act to be sure the secure act gets passed. Well, the way to do this is lets pass the whole thing. As i said, the secure act makes sense. This particular provision is urgent. Lets not wait. Lets do it now so we can help those 400,000 americans, again, representing states all over the United States that are represented here in this chamber. So lets pass secure act. Its a bill that does a lot to put us on the right path. Does it do everything . No. Senator cardin and i introduced a more comprehensive bill called the Retirement Security and savings act. We go further in a lot of regards. Thats a bill that will require more hearings and a markup and more consideration. In the meantime lets do what we can. Lets provide for certainty, more flexibility and more Retirement Savings. Im hopeful we can pass this broader legislation soon with senator cardin, but in the meantime lets take advantage of the chance right here in front of us. Lets be sure we boost the Retirement Security of the American People through the secure act. I hope my colleagues will all join me in this and we can pass this legislation as the house did on a strong bipartisan basis and get it to the president for his signature. Mr. President , i yield back my time. A senator mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from oregon. The presiding officer the canadian historian mike blitz wrote in his book the discovery of insulin that with insulin diabetes was rolled way and dpbt became the quality of life, not the speed of death. Mr. Merkley for thousands of years human beings battled diabetes. When the pancreas stops producing insulin, all kinds of bad things happen. Heart attacks, stroke, blindness, kidney failure, foot disease, foot amputations, small blood vessels throughout the body being impacted by that high blood sugar, in some cases within months individuals waste away, fall into diabetic comas and die. But all that changed about a century ago thanks to the work of four canadian scientists, frederick banty, charles best, j. B. Collu pp and charles macleom. These four men discovered how to extract, develop and refine pure insulin that could be injected into the human body and it changed the world. 30 million americans, almost 10 , 9. 4 of the American Population live with type 1 or type 2 diabetes today, and of those 30 million, 7. 4 million depend on insulin for their survival. But a quarter of the people who depend on insulin for their survival had to ration their insulin in the past year because of the extraordinary overthemoon cost of this drug that was developed a century ago and rationing the drug and, therefore, producing episodes or enduring levels of high blood sugar has Extensive Health consequences. It does a lot of damage. Diabetic americans are being gouged by the Drug Companies, and it needs to stop. Today im introducing in partnership with senator durbin the end price gouging for insulin act to end this egregious practice. I want to ensure that every single one of those 7. 4 million americans who need insulin to survive can afford it. I want to ensure that not a Single Person has to ration their insulin. Well, i can tell you that that vision of every person having affordable insulin, thats what the four scientists who invented it nearly 100 years ago, thats what they envisioned. They didnt ask for great wealth from their work. They did receive recognition, the nobel prize went to two of them for their role in this. They certainly werent asking for huge payouts or high price. You know what they did . For the health of humanity, they sold their patent to the university of toronto for 3 to make insulin available to the world. All they cared about was saving lives. They wanted everyone who needed it to have it. But what do we see today . Almost a century later the price of insulin going higher and higher and higher with the extensive greed of the companies that produce it. Over the last decade the Companies Selling the four most popular types of insulin have tripled the price of their product, essentially the same product. Theyve tripled the price. Novell nordisk has two of these drugs. Sonafi has one. Eli lilly has another. And they all tripled the price. In 2012 the average price of insulin was about 234 a month. By 2016 it was 450 a month. And now weve just seen it continue to rise since 2016. They have some explanations. There are some who say, well, its due to their vast input to research and development. Remember these are drugs invented a century ago. Sure theres slight variations, yes, but the money is going largely to profit. And theyll say, well, the price is higher because more people need it. Well, more people buying it means more efficiencies, means the price should drop. A Nonprofit Health Care Cost Institute looked at the rising cost of insulin and said the excuses given by the Drug Companies just straight out arent true, quote, its not that individuals are using more insulin or new products are particularly innovative or provide immense benefits. The use is pretty flat said ms. Fogelstein, one of the authors, and price changes are occurring on older and newer products. The reason that prices are going up, the companies are charging more is because they can. Because we dont negotiate the price of drugs in america, by law, for medicare. And these companies have some tricks up their sleeve. One is that when the generic competition gets all lined up, they proceed to pay the Generic Companies not to produce the generic drug, resulting in sustaining the price gouging in america. I think this practice is pay to delay, i think its a horrific predatory practice. Its a noncompetitive practice. It should be against the law. But were not doing our job to make it against the law apparently. One of the things they do is slight changes and so they produce a new patent on every tiny microscopic change, it is called the ever greening of patents so they can line up a vast array of lawyers and say, if you can produce a generic solution for insulin, we can go after you in every way. We have more lawyers than you do. Good luck. The answer is the extensive price gouging of americans. A quarter of those 7. 4 million americans who need insulin to treat diabetes are rationing their prescriptions. Sometimes that means straight out skipping the doses all together. Folks from oregon have written to me. People like richard from beaverton, oregon. He needs five different medications to get by, including insulin called homalog. He doesnt have the money to spare. He is 77 years old, blind, recently finished chemo treatments for bladder cancer, and he has continued to work odd jobs. He has been working to hold on to his house and try to pay for the prescriptions. Another constituent, ill call antonio, has type 1 diabetes and has a hard time affording the prescription. Antonio uses insulin samples he found in his truck which are about ten years old or rations out the insulin that he does to make it last until his monthly disability check comes in and he can afford to get a new refill on the prescription. This is a terrible strategy for managing an illness. Its led to hospital stays, diabetic keto acidosis and other diabetesrelated ailments. But from antonios perspective, what can he do . Because he cant afford the massive price increases these major Drug Companies have put on insulin. And that generic he would like to buy, those same companies are blocking it from coming to market. Theres also maria. Maria has sores on her feet because of her diabetes. Has been to the emergency room several times for foot infections. It turns out that her feet keep getting infected because shes foregoing her insulin to be able to afford basic necessities for her family, food, the cost of her housing, transportation, and it turns out marias insurance doesnt cover the 50 copay on diabetic shoes or her insulin or the injection medication needs that she takes to reduce her insulin needs all of which would have reduced the need for her to go to the emergency room. But her insurance covers the emergency room visits. Time and again, not being able to afford the medicine, thats where maria ends up. Another oregonian ill call philip living with type 2 diabetes, and he says he takes less insulin than his doctor has prescribed. Why . Because he isnt able to afford the prescription. But philip doesnt want his provider to know any of this because hes embarrassed about it. So his blood sugars are routinely at high levels doing a lot of damage to his body. Its led to diabeticrelated complications, severe kidney damage, visual impairment, pa peripheral vascular disease and heart disease. Think about this for a moment. The pharmaceutical companies are gouging him on the price, but its philip who has diabetes who feels embarrassed. Well, shouldnt it be the other way around . Shouldnt the companies be embarrassed with gouging americans . I think so. The drugmakers are profiting off of sick americans and predatory practices designed to keep competitors from coming to the market. These are american citizens being affected living in one of the wealthiest nations on the planet, the United States of america, and they cant afford a centuryold drug meant to be freely shared with the world. It doesnt have to be this way. The same kind of insulin that costs 373 here in the United States costs 47 in australia. Why . Because the Australian Government negotiates the price. Its past time that we stand up for the American People and put an end to the price gouging of americans. In france the drug is 47, lantis, in australia, 54. In germany, 61, in the united kingdom, 64, in canada, 67. In the United States of america, 373. That is six times the median price of the drug in these other developed nations. Why dont we insist that companies that get all kinds of benefits from being here in america, sell to americans at the median price or average price, either one, that they sell to the rest of the developed world . Why is it fair price for every other country and gouging for americans and americans pay the price . Those who have diabetes and cant afford that insulin and start rationing, start to see the devastating impacts on their body from the kidneys to the vision to the feet to the heart disease, and then theyend up in the hospital as and then they end up in the hospital as well. More costs to the United States health care system. Dont we care about the health of americans . Are we here to protect greed for these companies or the health of americans . So senator durbin and i have introduced a bill to say you cant charge more in america than the Reference Price in key developed countries around the world in canada, australia, japan, and then a group of eight of the largest european nations. You cant charge more than the median price in that group of nations. So it doesnt even have to be the lowest price in the world under this formulation. This is called a Reference Price bill. We essentially attach ourselves to the fair prices charged in the rest of the world. Now the drug company will say, well, we want to make more money so we can do more research. Well, raise your price on these other countries while youre dropping the price for the United States. Thats a Pretty Simple solution that ends the price gouging in the United States of america. And if the companies violate this Reference Price, well, then they pay a fine, ten times the difference between the Reference Price and the price they charge americans. And where does that money go . It goes to research and development of new drug products in our bill. So thats the vision. There is no reason that americans should be paying six times the median price of other developed countries six times. Not 6 , not 60 more, which would be outrageous. Six times the price charged other developed countries. It is way past time that we stand up for the American People, not the greed of the farm suit Cam Companies pharmaceutical companies. Its way past time that we stand up for sick americans like richard and antonio and maria and philip and millions more in every one of our states. Millions of americans forced to ration their insulin or skip doses all together because of corporate greed. Its way past time to end the price gouging of americans. Lets put this act on the floor and lets pass this act for our citizens across this great land. Thank you, mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from iowa. Ms. Ernst are we in a quorum call . The presiding officer we are not. Ms. Ernst mr. President , one of my Top Priorities has been to reauthorize and modernize the violence against women act. A survivor myself, i recognize that vawa provides the right resources to tackle headon Domestic Violence and sexual abuse in our communities. In iowa and throughout the United States. My good friend and colleague dianne feinstein, Ranking Member on the judiciary committee, agreed to work with me on this important topic. For months senator feinstein and i and our staffs have worked closely and in good faith with one another with the shared goal in mind. Weve met numerous times, held discussions, and negotiated in a way that has produced real progress. But just this week after months of work and mountains of effort toward a bipartisan bill, it all came to a screeching halt. Once again the democrats are putting politics ahead of people and have decided to move forward on the housepassed vawa bill. The house bill is a nonstarter and is chock full of partisan political talking points that take us further away from rather than closer to a bill we can get over the finish line. Mr. President , im all too aware of how this town works. Electionyear politics are in full swing. And the grim reality is democrats cannot afford to be seen giving republicans a win. The farleft agenda of the house has hijacked the process. It sounds petty and it sounds unbelievable, but, folks, thats the reality. You would think that supporting survivors and preventing abuse would be placed ahead of petty politics. I want to be clear. I remain hopeful that we can continue to work in a bipartisan way and get this law reauthorized. Soon i plan to respond with a goodfaith proposal of my own. This bill will support survivors and hold abusers accountability. Its also a bill that i believe can pass the senate and get the president s signature. I invite my colleagues across the aisle to join me in this very, very important effort. Thank you, mr. President. And i will yield the floor. A senator mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from michigan. A senator i move that the quorum call be vitiated. The presiding officer no, were not in a quorum call. Mr. Peters oh, youre not. The presiding officer the senator is recognized. Mr. Peters thank you, mr. President. I rise today to discuss an issue that i hear from families all across michigan, the rising costs of prescription drugs. Recently i held roundtables in several communities across michigan to hear directly from families, local health providers, and medical professionals about the increasing cost of prescription drugs. I want to share a few of those stories. I heard from diane in grand rapids whose son jarrod suffered a severe asthma attack that tragically resulted in his death. He was just 25 years old. Diane said her son had insurance, but it wasnt enough and he tried stretching out usage of his asthma medication to deal with every everrising costs. Diane shared how unimaginable her pain was to lose a child to a condition that should have been manageable with affordable lifesustaining medications. I heard from rachel whose children has type 1 diabetes. She was unable to avord the insurance so her family drove across the border into canada where she said they were able to purchase insulin for 71 per box compared to 600 for the exact same insulin in michigan. Rachel is rightfully angry that she needed to travel to another country simply to get her children the insulin that they neaded to stay alive. Sharon from detroit told me about the challenge of treating a rare disease while fighting triple negative breast cancer. She said that the insurance was going to charge her 5,000 for medication she could easily take at home, but it would completely cover it only if she went to the hospital. The last thing she wanted to do was trek to the hospital as she coped with the side effects of chemotherapy. And i heard from jeanette from burton who had nearly 500 per month copay for a prescription to treat Thyroid Cancer but without the help of a Charitable Group she could not afford the medication. While she didnt had the assistance, she had to go without the prescription. Unfortunately these are not isolated stories. These are not isolated individuals. Too many michiganians are dealing with rising drug costs. Between 2012 and 2018, prices for topselling brandname drugs in the United States has increased 68 , making critical medications out of reach for most families. The list price for 2017 for a oneyear supply of humara, the number one drug to treat arthritis was over 58,000. That is more than the median annual income for the people in the state of michigan. The price of insulin has spiked in recent years growing by 55 since 2014. It is simply outrageous and unacceptable. Guided by stories from michigan families and medical professionals, im working to examine and tackle the rising cost of prescription drugs. Earlier this week through my work at the Senate Homeland security and Government Affairs committee, i announced im conducting an investigation into the skyrocketing cost of prescription drugs. Im also investigating the growing shortages of critical medications affecting hospitals and patients throughout the country. Unaffordable prescription and hospital dmin strorror dminsed drugs have become a Public Health crisis for michigan and the rest of the country. Through my investigation, im working to, one, identify solutions to address increased drug costs, two, evaluate the effect of drug shortages, three, examine the security implications of drugs manufactured overseas primarily in china and india. This investigation builds on some of my previous efforts including my call for the food and Drug Administration to share information on the administrations effort to counter drug shortages and my bill advancing in the senate to Lower Health Care costs for seniors through Medicare Part b. For many people in michigan and across the country, being able to afford your medicine is a matter of life and death and we must take action. We must allow certainly for safe drug importation from canada, but let me be clear, going to canada is not a solution. You need to be able to afford affordable, quality safe prescription drugs in the United States. We must improve competition, end price gouging, increase price transparency, and hold Drug Companies accountable. We must enable medicare to negotiate drug prices for seniors. We must eliminate drug shortages to enhad sure that all patients can get the medication they need when they need it, and we must work to bring more affordable generic medications to the market. Families in michigan and across the country are counting on us. Families should never be forced to choose between paying their bills or getting the medication they need. But, sadly, that is the choice that too many families are facing today. Thank you, mr. President. I yield the floor
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