Senator McCaskill: (4:47 p.m.)

• Spoke on drug prices.
  • "That's a big deal for me. I'm thrilled that the president of the United States tweeted this afternoon that he supports this legislation. It shows you that not all is lost in this town. Every once in a while, we can get together - I see my friend, Senator Barrasso over there, he's a cosponsor on this bill. Senator Kennedy. It is really exciting to me when we have one of these moments where the administration agrees, Secretary Azar agrees, Republicans agree, Democrats agree. If we could do this more often, maybe the people in this country would renew their faith in us as a body. So I am thrilled that we're going to have a chance to get this done."

Senator Barrasso: (4:56 p.m.)

• Spoke on drug prices.
  • "I just visited with Senator Collins who knows, as so many members of this body that I practiced medicine for a long time before coming to the United States Senate. Took care of a lot of Wyoming families as a practicing physician. As a doctor, I often prescribed medication to help my patients fight their disease, improve their equal of life. I know the importance of prescription medication. I also know the importance pharmacists play in the lives of their patients as well, because the same patient that I'm taking care of, the pharmacist is also caring for and in so many ways, the pharmacist has to be able to speak freely to their patients about information about the medication. "

Senator Cantwell: (5:03 p.m.)

• Spoke on opioid legislation.
  • "It reauthorizes the high intensity drug trafficking area program which uses federal resources to help local law enforcement crack down on illicit drug rings. We need to help our law enforcement who are dealing with this problem every single day have the tools to do this job and the fact that it reauthorizes this program on a high intensity drug trafficking areas is just the kind of tool that they need. It also makes permanent the ability for doctors to treat up to 275,000 patients with the kind of treatment that is necessary for them which also helps us get to people faster and get them into a recovery situation faster."

Senator Alexander: (5:14 p.m.)

• Spoke on opioid legislation.
  • "Because within a few minutes, we are about to vote in the senate on legislation that Senator McConnell, the majority leader, has called landmark legislation. This legislation that 72 of the 100 members of this body have made a contribution to. They're not just cosponsoring it. They have a piece of this bill. This legislation has come through five different committees of the Senate, and we've been working ton for several - on it for several months. The reason it's on the front page of the newspapers in Tennessee and the newspapers in Kansas and the newspapers in Wyoming and the newspapers in Maine is because opioids is our most serious public health epidemic, and the opioid crisis response act that we'll be voting on in a few minutes is the senate's response to that."

Senator Blumenthal: (5:25 p.m.)

• Spoke on opioid legislation.
  • "This provision is a step in the right direction. I'm very proud of a bill that I've led with Senators Grassley and Brown to enhance transparency and opioid prescribing. This bill requires drug companies to allow prescribers to ensure that they are not no being inappropriately influenced by these manufacturers. It is already required for doctors. It ought to be required for everyone who may be involved in prescribing these powerful medicines. The bill will also fight back against deadly drug trafficking when it involves use of the postal system. Just a few weeks ago in new Haven, there was a mass overdose caused by trafficked synthetic drugs, more than 100 people overdosed on K-2, brought into this country from China and Mexico through the mails."

Senator Manchin: (5:30 p.m.)

• Spoke on opioid legislation.
  • "First of all, I want to thank my good friend from Tennessee, Senator Lamar Alexander, for shepherding this through and washing working in a bipartisan way. It is the most important piece of legislation. Also to all the colleagues. This is a way - this is the way legislation should work. It is something that was worked on for a long time. Senator Blumenthal from Connecticut, everyone who worked so hard on behalf of the American people are drowning under the weight of prescription drug epidemic. My state of West Virginia has been hit the hardest. More than 1,000 died of drug overdoses in 2017. This is a record number of oil spill related deaths - opioid related deaths in 2016 which was a record that year as well."

Senator Lee: (5:36 p.m.)

• Spoke on drug prices.
  • "I applaud them and we ought to leave space for them to do that very thing. Some have suggested that this state action and increased attention to the cost of prescription drugs has more or less solved this problem and greatly limited the use of gag clauses already. Bear in mind the study that I previously referenced looked at practices from five years ago. The states were more directly involved because they had more directly witnessed this problem and they were able to nimbly and quite capably address it. However, even if gag clauses are still in use, where they are, we must recognize that it's not always the role of the federal government to regulate everything."

Senator Hassan: (3:20 p.m.)

• Spoke on opioid legislation.
  • "I spoke this morning with this group of grandparents, two of whom have been raising their grandson for nearly nine years now, one of whom has seen her grandchild returned - two grandchildren returned to their parents after their parents recovered from their addiction but in one case the grandparent who's grandchildren have gone back to his parents at age 57 starting life completely anew. She had given up her job, gone through her entire retirement savings to keep her children safe while their parents battled their addiction. Another set of grandparents who, again, have given up everything to keep their grandson safe are scared of going to court to get permanent custody and adopt their grandchild because they are concerned that the child's father will reappear and contest the custody and the cost of that custody battle will mean that they have no money left to care for their grandchild."

Senator McConnell: (3:32 p.m.)

• Spoke on Hurricane Florence.
  • "We stand ready to ensure that communities in the storm's path have the resources they need to recover and rebuild. Once that time comes. For now, we stand in solidarity with the Americans who are battling this storm and with first responders who bravely risk their own safety to care for their communities."
• Spoke on opioid legislation.
  • "That's exactly what this landmark legislation is. It combines work from five committees and input from more than 70 senators. First, this legislation will help cut off the opioid crisis at its roots. It will stop more drugs at the border, improve interstate monitoring, and encourage reform of prescription dosing. It will encourage recovery through more resources for state and local responders, better access to care for patients, and more support for the families and caregivers of those affected, and this legislation looks to the future by surrounding long-term medical research and economic solutions to get our country past this vicious cycle."
• Spoke on the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to be an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court.
  • "In the Senate, and around the country, almost everyone who went into this process with an open mind who was prepared to give Judge Kavanaugh a fair hearing has come away impressed, but now, now an accusation of 36-year-old misconduct dating back to high school has been brought forward at the last minute in an irregular manner. It is an accusation which Judge Kavanaugh has completely and unequivocally denied. This is what he said. This is a completely false allegation. I have never done anything like what the accuser describes to her or to anyone. It is an accusation which the ranking member of the committee of jurisdiction has known about for at least six weeks."

Senator Daines: (3:45 p.m.)

• Spoke on opioid legislation.
  • "In Montana, opioid overdoses have claimed the lives of 700 people since 2000. And from 2013 to 2014, 42% of all drug-related deaths were caused by opioids, with easier access and a larger supply on the street, we are finding opioids in the hands of more and more people. It's tearing families apart. It's devastating our communities. We must focus on combating the opioid crisis, we must also continue to address a related but separate epidemic that is wreaking havoc in Montana and many other states, and that is the methamphetamine epidemic."

Senator Cardin: (3:49 p.m.)

• Spoke on opioid legislation.
  • "Mr. President, shortly we're going to have an opportunity to vote on the Opioid Crisis Response Act of 2018 which I strongly support, but I want to share with my colleagues a roundtable discussion I held in Baltimore just a few hours ago. I met in the area of Cherry Hill, I met with leading experts in regards to the opioid crisis. We had the leadership from Baltimore city, Baltimore County, Anne Arundel County, representatives from the state, and a lot of different other organizations. It started with Dr. Jason Lotter who is president of bay mark giving us a tour of the new facility that he opened up in Cherry Hill. This is a wonderful new facility for opioid addiction."

Today -

• The Senate will convene at 2:00 p.m.
• Following leader remarks and notwithstanding the orders of September 6, the Senate will proceed to the consideration of H.R. 6, the opioids bill, with the debate time on that bill running concurrently with the debate time on S. 2554, the Patient Right to Know Drug Prices Act.
• The debate time on both bills will expire at 5:30 p.m. with all other provisions of the orders of September 6 remaining in effect.
• Note: at 5:30 p.m. the Senate will VOTE on the following:
  • Adoption of Lee Amendment #4011 to S. 2554, the Patient Right to Know Drug Prices Act.
  • Passage of S. 2554, the Patient Right to Know Drug Prices Act, as amended, if amended.
  • Passage of H.R. 6, the opioids bill, as amended.

Senator Hatch: (2:03 p.m.)

• Spoke on Constitution Day.
  • "The framers of the Constitution recognized that the government derives its power from the people themselves. The government overturned the prevailing wisdom, or should I say the Constitution overturned the prevailing wisdom that men are made for governments declaring instead that governments are made for men. These principles and our nation's dedication to them are core to our American ethics. Today they set our country apart as a symbol of freedom and prosperity across the globe. The constitution is the culmination of centuries of human progress."
• Spoke on tariffs.
  • "A miscellaneous tariff bill has not been enacted since 2010, and our businesses and manufacturers have been forced to wait too long for congress to act. I am pleased that we were finally able to end that wait. I am also pleased to report that this is the first miscellaneous tariff bill, to have been enacted under the new process set out in the American Manufacturing Competitiveness Act of 2016. This new process was crafted to provide a robust consultation with both house and senate rules that would be transparent and open to all."
• Spoke on opioid legislation.
  • "This isn't the first time that I've been talking about the opioid epidemic, and, unfortunately, it likely won't be my last, but I am happy to say that today's remarks will highlight some very good news. As part of a coordinated effort with four other committees, the Senate Finance Committee's package will be voted on tonight as part of the Opioid Crisis Response Act. But before I get to what is in that bill, I want to give some details of the unfortunate reality our country is facing. Last year more than 72,000 Americans died from a drug overdose. The majority of these overdoses involved prescription opioids, or illicit opioids like heroin or fentanyl."