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."