That should be the basic ingredients of tax reform. First it should be fair to taxpayers of this country. The tax bill enacted two years ago was certainly not fair. It failed in that test. As i pointed out, who benefited . Well, large corporations benefited dramatically by this bill, but they said look, well pass it on to the workers. But did they pass it on to the workers . In 2018, 1. 1 trillion were used to repurchase stock to make the wealthiest even wealthier and did not go to the benefit of the workers. It benefited the greatest on the personal income tax side to the highest income taxpayers. They are the ones who benefited the most. It was not fair to middleclass taxpayers. Secondly, a tax reform bill should be fiscally responsible. After all, we have taxes in order to raise revenue, in order to pay for services so we dont borrow from the future for our children and grandchildren to pay for what were doing today. The administration said that this would be a fiscally responsible bill, so now the verdicts back. 2 trillion added to the national deficit. 2 trillion. It certainly has failed on fiscal responsibility. Corporate taxes have gone down 40 , so weve given a break to corporations at the expense of our deficit. And whos picking up the bill . Middleincome taxpayers. The tax code should be efficient and it should try to make it as simple as possible. No one can argue that the 2017 tax bill has simplified the tax code or has made it more efficient. To the contrary, were now told were going to need a technical corrections because of mistakes that were included in it. I can tell you in talking to many individuals who had plan based upon the tax code that theres so much more uncertainty in the tax code than there was prior to the passage of the 2017 tax bill. Whos going to pick up the tab . Middleincome taxpayers. Let me just give you some examples. The 2017 bill included a limitation on state and local tax deductions. Well, mr. President , let me talk a little bit about the taxpayers of maryland. Almost 50 of maryland taxpayers use the itemized deduction and took the advantage of taking off of their federal taxes what they have paid in state and local taxes, so we dont have a tax on a tax. As a result of the limitations imposed in the 2017, these taxpayers now are no longer able to take the form out or state and local tax deductions. In fact, because of the full changes, maryland, where we had almost 50 taking advantage of itemized deductions, that number is about down to 25 . We lost about half of the filers who cant take any of these deductions today. This is an affront on federalism but it also hurts middleincome taxpayers and is fill philosophically wrong to have a tax on a tax. The verdict is in with maryland taxpayers. The average refunds are down 6 . Refunds are what middleincome taxpayers depend upon, and thats down in our state. It is, has also affected the ability of state and local governments to provide essential services that are important for all citizens but are very much dependent by middleincome families, whether its support for public education, public safety, et cetera. All those are now being stressed because of the restrictions on state and local tax deductions. Let me also talk about middleincome taxpayers, they dont benefit from the Corporate Tax cuts. I already pointed that out. But they were made permanent. The individual tax changes were temporary in nature. Again hurting middleincome families. Lastly, let me point out it was advertised by this administration that it would strengthen our economy. When you take a look at the first six quarters since the passage of the 2017 tax bill, wealthy families and corporations, the god god the Gross Domestic Product has grown far less than predicted. Theres actually been a slight decline, and we havent seen a boost to the economy. Mr. President , there is a better way to do this. This bill ignores Small Businesses. I have the opportunity to be Ranking Member on the Small Business and entrepreneur committee, and weve had many discussions with Small Business leaders who tell us this tax bill actually hurt them, didnt help them, because they dont pay the c rate. They pay the individual rate. And the pass throughs that were put in here dont benefit small companies. So where were talking about helping the driver of our economy, Small Businesses, the tax giveaway two years ago made it even more difficult. A better way is to work in a true bipartisan fashion, engage all members of the congress on both sides of the aisle, and let us truly change our tax code so that middleincome families benefit, that we dont burden future taxpayers by irresponsible changes that are not fully funded, and that we do it in a way in which it will help the growth of our economy. Thats what we should be doing. Missed opportunity two years ago. Its moving the nation in the wrong direction. With that, mr. President , i would suggest the absence of a quorum. The presiding officer the clerk will call the roll. Quorum call quorum call a senator mr. President . The presiding officer the senator from montana. Mr. Tester are we in a quorum call . I ask that the quorum call be vitiated. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Tester i rise today because too many of our veterans feel they have run out of options when this comes to the scars of war. Niece are folks who have served in defense of our freedoms, who often suffer tremendous invisible wounds of war. I cant tell you the number of times ive heard from men and women in uniform in montana and across this country who feel helpless, they feel as though theyve been abandoned by their own country. And the facts tell us that were not doing enough here in this body to help. The reality is that our country loses as many as 20 active duty or veteran Service Members each and every day due to suicide. Regardless of political party, we can all agree that one life lost to suicide is too many. That is why as Ranking Member of the Senate VeteransAffairs Committee ive been working with my colleagues across the aisle, colleagues like senator sullivan, to make sure that our vents have access to the health and care they need. The bill were going to consider shortly, our support for Suicide Prevention act ensures that he would take a comprehensive approach to veterans care. This bill starts biic and addressing staffing needs for v. A. Employees and professionals who are our nations first line of defense when this comes to combating veteran suicide. It is clear that weve got much more to do to prevent the National Health epidemic, and it starts with understanding the scope of the problem. If we dont have the tools in place to take care of these folks when they return home, then we should think twice before we send them in the first place. I would urge the senate to vote for this bill when it comes up, to get it passed out of this body quickly so the president can quickly sign it into law. It is not something to solve our suicide problems among our veterans by itself, but it is certainly one of the tools in the toolbox that can help, that can help folks when they need help. To ensure that no veteran slips through the cracks. With that, mr. President , i yield the floor and i want to thank the senator from alaska for everything hes done to make sure that this bill becomes a reality. Mr. Sullivan mr. President . The presiding officer the senator from alaska. Mr. Sullivan i want to thank my friend from the great state of montana, senator tester. This is actually a bill that he and i have cosponsored out of the Veterans Affairs committee, and its the companion bill that were going to be bringing over from the house to vote on here in a couple minutes to hopefully get this on the president s desk very soon, to get him to sign it. You know, theres a lot of legislation that focuses on these kind of issues, how do we address this growing problem of suicide in our country but particularly, mr. President , the real tragedy all suicides are tragic, but theres very high numbers of suicides that impact our veterans. My state, the great state of alaska, has more vets per cap that than any state in the country. Were proud of that patriotic passage of the tragically, though, sadly we also have some of the highest suicide rates in america. And so since ive come to this body, have the privilege to serve my fellly alaskans, focusing on suicide has been a very, very important issue for me. Its a very important issue for my constituents. Its a very important issue for america. As a matter of fact, the first bill i cosponsored as a u. S. Senator was called the clay hunt Suicide Prevention act, which was named after a young marine who had a number of deployments and, unfortunately, when he was seeking help couldnt really get it and, unfortunately, this young, brave hero took his own life. So this should be a priority for the senate, and we have been prioritizing the veterans and the members of the military who are in crisis when we draft legislation that tries to address these challenges. But what were doing today, mr. President , is also important, and this bill actually focuses on the people who help our veterans. These are Suicide Prevention coordinators. Theyre specifically trained, specially trained employees at v. A. Medical centers who identify and connect highrisk veterans with the care they need. Across the nation, these v. A. Professionals conduct outreach, promote awareness, disseminate Suicide Prevention best practices. They are literally on the front lines. But, as you can imagine, this isnt an easy job. This is a hard job. And there are reports that many of these prevention coordinators throughout the v. A. System are overworked and unable to keep up with their many responsibilities. So what we are focused on here, mr. President , is that we want to make sure that the people who are helping our veterans are also taken care of, adequately resourced, so they can do the best job in terms of helping our veterans. The v. A. Must have skilled and resourced workforce available, trained to recognize the warning signs of a veteran in crisis and then be able to work with that veteran, hopefully successfully connect them with lifesaving resources before its too late. So that is what the support for Suicide Prevention coordinators act requires. Thats what senator tester and i worked together on to bring this out of the v. A. Committee. And hopefully if we get that right, then it has a positive impact on lessening this high rate of suicide among our veterans. Senator tester mentioned what was in this, but its not just additional resources, but its also a comprehensive study by the g. A. O. To make sure that our coordinators are resourced, have a strategy to make sure they can do their jobs most effectively to impact our veterans. So its an overall look at the v. A. System of preventing veteran suicide with a focus on these frontline coordinators who do really, really important work, theyre not always recognized. For those who are doing that work, i commend you, the senate commends you. And i think were going to have an overwhelming vote here in a couple minutes that will make sure your ability to do this really, really important job for our veterans, for our nation, that youre going to be able to do it better. So, mr. President , i applaud the leadership on both sides of the aisle for bringing this bill to the floor. And i encourage my colleagues to vote in favor of this legislation. Lets get it on the president s desk for his signature soon and we can take another step, another step to make sure that we are taking care of our veterans and trying to address this horribly tragic situation where far too many veterans in america are taking their own lives. I yield the floor. Mr. President . The presiding officer the senator from alaska. Sul i ask unanimous consent that jeffrey catalyst, a navy fellow in senator cruzs office, be granted floor privileges for the remainder of the congress. The presiding officer without objection. The presiding officer under the previous order, the senate will proceed to legislative session to consider h. R. 2333 which the clerk will report. The clerk h. R. 2333, an act to direct the comptroller general of the United States to conduct an assessment of the responsibility, workload, and vacancy rates of the department of Veterans AffairsSuicide Prevention coordinators, and for other purposes. The presiding officer under the previous order, the bill is considered read a third time and the question is on passage of the bill. Is there a sufficient second . There appears to be. The clerk will call the roll. Vote test test test vote vote the presiding officer have all senators voted . Any senator wish to change their vote . In this vote the yeas are 94, the nays are zero. The bill is passed. Under the previous order, the senate will proceed to executive to resume consideration of the vandyke nomination. Mr. Cornyn mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from texas. Mr. Cornyn mr. President , as all america knows, climbing Health Care Costs continue to keep the American People up at night. A Kaiser Foundation poll in september found that the Number One Health concern of the American People is Prescription Drug pricing, a whopping 70 of those polled think that lowering Prescription Drug costs should be a top priority a top priority for congress. Making it the number one item on our todo list. But our friend and colleague from new york, the minority leader, objected last time i offered unanimous consent to take up and pass a bill, which ill describe here momentarily and i hope given the intervening time and reflection he will not do so today and we can get this bill passed and address this top priority of the American People. The good news is republicans and democrats both agree we need to do something about it. I have the honor of serving on both the finance and judiciary committees where weve been looking into this problem and some of the potential solutions. There are pharmaceutical c. E. O. s who earn big bonuses as sales go up. And im not opposed to them receiving compensation, but pharmacy benefit managers who negotiate backdoor rebates and that drives up costs and thats a problem because of lack of transparency. And what i find very concerning is anticompetitive behavior when it comes to patents by drug manufacturers. There are two practices in particular, legislation i intend to offer in a unanimous consent to address. One is product copying, which happens when a Company Develops reformulation of a company that is about to lose exclusivity. One way to protect the investment and intellectual property of american innovators is to give them exclusivity over the ability to license that intellectual property over the drugs. That encourages people to make those investments and in turn benefits the American People and the world literally by creating new lifesaving drugs, and thats a good thing, but there is a period of exclusivity and after that expires, after that goes away, it opens that particular formulation up to generic competition, meaning the price will almost certainly be much lower and more affordable by the American People. But this issue of product topping is a real is gamesmanship as you can as i will explain. First of all, before the drug loses exclusivity, the manufacturer pulls the drug off the market. This is done not because the new formula is more effective, but it will block generic competitors. The second issue is patent thickening which occurs when pharmaceuticals use patents with identical claims that make it nearly impossible for competitors to enter the market. This is nothing more and nothing less than abuse of our patent system and it is coming at a high cost for patients who rely on affordable drugs. Earlier this year i introduced a bill with our friend and colleague from connecticut, senator blumenthal, who happens to be a democrat who address these anticompetitive behavior. Our bill is called the affordable prescription for patients act and it streamlines the litigation process by limiting the number of patent these companies can use in court. So companies are spending less time in the courtroom and more time innovating more more lifesaving drugs by opening up these drugs and lowering more affordable prices for consumers. This does not stifle innovation. It doesnt limit patients rights and it doesnt cost taxpayers a dime. In fact the Congressional Budget Office estimates it would lower lower federal spending by more than a half billion dollars over ten years. And this is just savings to the federal government for medicare and medicaid. Undoubtedly it would show significant savings for consumers with private Health Insurance as well. Im sure it comes as no surprise then that this legislation passed unanimously out of the judiciary committee. Not a single senator opposed it. But that happened in june. This is december and theres been no Movement Since then. Weve tried to be patient because we know there are other bills coming from the health, education, labor and pension committee, there is a bill coming out of the finance committee, on which the presiding officer and i sit, and my hope would have been to make progress on a larger package, but here we are at the end of the year and there has been no moaft and i think we have been patient, you but there comes a time when patience ceases to be a virtue, particularly when it is something that will benefit the American People. Theres no concerns about the policies laid out in the bill as you can see by some of the comments reflected in this chart. Again, my colleague our colleague the democrat from connecticut, senator blumenthal said this will end abuses in the abuses of patent. Senator durbin, who is the dem