Floor Statements

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to a period of morning business with Senators allowed to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the Banking Committee be discharged from further consideration of S. 2367.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the bill be read a third time and passed; the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate; and any statements related to the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of H.R. 4097.

Mr. President, I further ask that the bill be read three times and passed, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate, and that any statements be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 9:30 a.m. tomorrow morning; that following the prayer and the pledge, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the morning hour be deemed to have expired, and the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day; that the Senate resume consideration of S. 3187, the FDA user fees legislation, under the previous order.

Before the Chair rules, we will have up to 13 rollcall votes tomorrow. Under the order, they will start at 2 p.m. There is no reason we could not start the votes earlier. If we come in at 9:30, we can start them early, as soon as debate stops. We cannot have any votes during the couple of meetings Senators have to attend from 1 to 2 o'clock. But we should dispose of some of these amendments. Thirteen votes on amendments will take a long time tomorrow. I hope that everybody will try to move these up and that we can vote sooner.

The Chair can rule now.

Mr. President, repeating, there will be up to 13 rollcall votes tomorrow starting at 2 p.m. The purpose is to complete action on the FDA user fees bill and to consider the student loan interest hike legislation.

Mr. President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask unanimous consent that it adjourn under the previous order.

I move to proceed to Calendar No. 400, S. 3187.

Madam President, we are now on the motion to proceed to the FDA user fees bill. The majority will control the first half hour today, Republicans the final half hour. We will recess from 12:30 to 2:15 today, to allow for our weekly caucus meetings. At 2:15 the motion to proceed to the FDA legislation will be adopted and the Harkin-Enzi substitute will be agreed to.

Madam President, there are 12 million people in the United States who face a cancer diagnosis today. Many have fought back against this terrible disease and won. Others are still fighting. Each one of them knows how difficult a cancer diagnosis can be. But imagine coming to terms with your diagnosis only to find out the lifesaving drug you need to survive is in short supply or is simply not available. I wish this were make-believe but it is not; it is real America. That is the situation faced by many Americans battling cancer and other life- threatening illnesses.

Through 20 weeks of chemotherapy, my wife Landra and I lived with the fear that the medicine she needed every Monday morning wouldn't be there because there were shortages. But fortunately for us the drug was always accessible. Many Americans have not been so fortunate. One Nevadan fighting bladder cancer was near the end of treatment when the medicine he was taking suddenly ran short. Only time will tell whether the alternative treatment he received was enough to save his life.

Another Nevada woman with bowel cancer was forced to choose a less effective chemotherapy treatment because the best drug on the market, one that cures bowel cancer in 75 percent of the cases, was not available. Only time will tell whether that second-choice medicine was effective.

Yet another Nevada man was relying on two cancer drugs to keep him alive longer and give him a greater quality of life, but one drug was in short supply. Since the drugs only work when taken together, doctors have only been able to treat him intermittently. That is not good. So only time will tell how many days or weeks or months or years he lost because he couldn't get the drug he needed.

Every day these stories play out in hospitals across our country. Every day, Americans experience shortages of lifesaving FDA-approved drugs and treatments. These shortages literally put Americans at risk. As the number of shortages increases each year, more patients are forced to wait for treatment, and worry. In the last 6 years, drug shortages have quadrupled. Last year the FDA reported shortages of 231 drugs, including many chemotherapy medicines. That is 231 drugs. How many tens of thousands of people did that affect? Public pressure has prompted some drugmakers to voluntarily notify the FDA of impending

shortages. But Congress must step in to improve communication among drugmakers, the FDA, and doctors--doctors who have to break the terrible news that lifesaving medicines are not available.

Voluntary cooperation between the drugmakers and the FDA prevented almost 200 drug shortages last year, but establishing effective lines of communication could further reduce the number of shortages and save patients' lives.

I am pleased that the spirit of bipartisanship begun by my colleagues Senator Harkin and Senator Enzi continued yesterday. I look forward to an orderly amendment process and I am optimistic the Senate will move this legislation without unnecessary delays. I hope I am not disappointed.

Each year more than 1.5 million Americans are diagnosed with some form of cancer. It is up to us to ensure that not one of them waits or wonders if the medicine he or she needs to stay alive will be there when the need arises.

Recognition of the Minority Leader

Mr. President, reserving the right to object, first of all, I want to express my appreciation to the Senator from Louisiana and the Senator from Alabama for their courtesy. They are going to talk a lot longer on this matter. They recognized there was a good chance I would object to their request. They have agreed to allow me to say a few words before they finish what they have to say on the Senate floor. I appreciate their courtesy very much because I do have some other things I need to work on.

Mr. President, the Vitter-Sessions legislation literally takes a sledgehammer to a problem that deserves some very fine tuning and a scalpel. There are news reports that have suggested that some have claimed the child tax credit for children who actually live outside the United States.

The Tax Code is very clear that the child tax credit is not available for children living outside the United States. It is very clear. If, in fact, someone is doing that, then those filers and tax preparers are committing a fraud on the people of this country. If they are doing that and there is a loophole that is existing, we need to close that loophole.

Chairman Baucus has already had his staff work with the IRS to determine if its procedures are strong enough to stop such fraud. We believe they are, but if they are not then it is up to Congress to plug any loopholes that may exist. However, the Vitter-Sessions legislation eliminates the child tax credit for filers who are fully complying with the law. That is not a good result. In fact, the legislation that is proposed fails to address the issue of the child tax credit being claimed for children not living in the United States, so the problem is not solved by this legislation. The legislation goes well beyond what is necessary to stop fraud in the Child Tax Credit Program, and therefore I object to the consent request.

Mr. President, without fully debating the subject--and others know more about it than I do, but what I do know is that we want to make sure any children who are here and who are American citizens and entitled to this get the benefits.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate remain on the motion to proceed to S. 3187 until 4 p.m. today and that all other provisions under the previous order remain in effect at that time.

Mr. President, if my friend would complete his remarks.

Following the remarks of the Senator from Rhode Island, we will go into a quorum call.

I ask unanimous consent that immediately following the statement of my friend, the Senator from Rhode Island, a quorum call will be initiated, and then I will be recognized for such time as we decide to come out of the quorum call.

I see people shaking their heads. Here is the deal. Senator Reed is going to talk and put us into a quorum call, and when we come out of that, I will be recognized. I ask unanimous consent to that effect.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that execution of the previous order with respect to S. 3187 occur at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, May 24, and that all other provisions under the previous order remain in effect at that time.

Madam President, as I sit here this afternoon, I hope I am not disappointed, and I hope the Senate is not disappointed in not being able to finish this FDA bill. We are on the bill. I hope we can work out some finite list of amendments. That would be the best thing to do for this bill.

So I just say to everyone, I hope we can do that. I do not want to have to come here tomorrow and file cloture on the bill. But that is the choice I will have. Or I can do this: Maybe what I might do is move to reconsider the student loan legislation. I have the ability to do that at any time. So I might do that. We need to get this done.

Today is Tuesday. I just think it is unfortunate. There is an event tomorrow night that we cannot get out of. It has been longstanding for the Senate and their spouses. So we do not have a lot of time.

So tomorrow morning, if we do not have something worked out, I think we will have to do some other things and recognize that all the happy talk on this bill may not come to be.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that Tiffany Griffin, a fellow in the office of Senator Bingaman, be granted the privilege of the floor during consideration of S. 3187, the Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act.

Mr. President, I now move to Calendar No. 400, S. 3187.

Mr. President, we are now on the motion to proceed to the FDA user fees bill. At 4:30 the Senate will proceed to executive session to consider the nomination of Paul Watford to be U.S. Circuit Judge for the Ninth Circuit. At 5:30 there will be a cloture vote on the Watford nomination. If we are able to confirm his nomination, we should expect a second vote on the motion to proceed to the FDA user fees legislation.

Obstructionism Repeated

Mr. President, this week the Senate must complete work on legislation that will enact crucial reforms that will prevent drug shortages and bring lifesaving medicines to market more quickly. Senators Harkin and Enzi, a Democrat and a Republican, worked very hard to bring this legislation to the floor. I am cautiously optimistic that the spirit of bipartisanship will continue because Democrats cannot pass this legislation without the cooperation of our Republican colleagues. I certainly hope they will allow us to advance this bill this evening without additional delay caused by another filibuster. I would like Senators from both parties to be free to offer relevant amendments to improve a worthy bill, but before we can get to work on this legislation in earnest, I urge my Republican colleagues to stop their filibuster. Americans living with cancer and other life-threatening illnesses are watching closely to see whether the Senate is capable of moving to quick action to ease shortages of crucial medicines or whether we will once more be paralyzed by Republican obstructionism.

Americans have seen that obstruction time and time again this Congress. They are frustrated with the slow pace of Senate action to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act, Iran sanctions, and on legislation to stop interest rates from doubling on student loans. Earlier this month Republicans blocked an attempt to keep higher education affordable for 7 million students. But Democrats have not given up. I hope our Republican colleagues will come to their senses and allow us to prevent this crisis that affects 7 million young men and women before it is too late.

Republican obstruction and infighting has also stalled critical new sanctions on Iran. For 2 months Democrats have worked to resolve Republican objections to this bipartisan measure which passed out of the Banking Committee unanimously. The stakes couldn't be higher. Sanctions are a key tool to stopping Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, threatening Israel, and jeopardizing U.S. national security. We cannot afford more delays to putting stronger sanctions in place. I hope my Republican colleagues will see

how important it is to advance these important measures and prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

Republicans have also needlessly blocked progress on reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act. This helps law enforcement effectively combat and prosecute domestic crimes against women. Although both Chambers have passed a version of this legislation, House Republicans have refused to go to conference with the Senate. Their excuse--a hypertechnical budget issue called a blue slip--isn't much of a figleaf to hide their blatant obstruction. The truth is that they are looking for any excuse to stall or kill this worthy legislation, but American women have not been fooled. If Republicans really want to give police the tools they need to prosecute domestic abusers, they will drop this facade. If Republicans really care about protecting women and families, they will abandon these hypertechnical objections and join us in conference.

There are differences between the House and Senate bills that could be worked out easily. American women and families are counting on our action. But in this Congress it seems the Republicans are more interested in inaction than action; they are more interested in blocking worthy legislation for partisan gain than in working together. Their infighting and partisan games have stopped reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, Iran sanctions, and the student loan fix-- stopped them right in their tracks. These are just a few of their ways of stopping legislation, a few important measures they have stopped over the past few weeks. But the FDA bill, which will prevent drug shortages and make lifesaving medicines available more quickly, must not become another victim of this partisanship. I hope Republicans seize this opportunity to be cooperative rather than be combative.

Mr. President, would you announce the business of the day?

Reservation of Leader Time

Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the cloture votes which were scheduled this afternoon on Watford be vitiated, all of the provisions of that order remain in effect.

Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the cloture vote on the motion to proceed to Calendar No. 400, S. 3187, the Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act, be vitiated; that at 2:15 tomorrow, Tuesday, May 22, the motion to proceed be agreed to; that the Harkin-Enzi substitute amendment, which is at the desk, be agreed to, and the bill, as amended by the Harkin-Enzi substitute, be considered original text for the purposes of further amendment, and that the majority leader be recognized at that time.

Mr. President, based on this, we will have a vote that should start in 5 minutes, which will be the only vote of the day.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. President, I yield back all time and ask unanimous consent that the vote start now.

Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Foreign Relations Committee be discharged from further consideration of H.R. 1905, the Iran Threat Reduction Act, and that the Senate proceed to its consideration; that the Johnson of South Dakota-Shelby substitute amendment, which is at the desk and is the text of Calendar No. 320, S. 2101, the Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Human Rights Act, as reported by the Banking Committee, be considered; that a Johnson of South Dakota-Shelby amendment, which is at the desk, be agreed to; that the substitute amendment, as amended, be agreed to; that the bill, as amended, be read a third time and the Senate proceed to a vote on passage of the bill, as amended.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table and that any statements related to this matter be printed in the Record in the appropriate place as if read.

Madam President, before we leave here this evening, I must mention the good work done by the Banking Committee. Senator Johnson of South Dakota has been stalwart in this issue. He and Senator Shelby worked together. It has been very heartwarming.

I appreciate Senator Menendez, who has been a loud voice in making sure we do something on this legislation about which he feels so strongly.

The most important thing for me is Iranians need to know we mean business, particularly with the next round of international negotiations taking place the day after tomorrow.

I am glad we resolved our differences and everyone realizes how important it is to advance these measures to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. They should be aware that there is still more we can do. I am very happy with what we have done at this time.

Madam President, I rise today to recognize the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department's Hispanic American Resource Team's (H.A.R.T.) 10th Academy for their efforts to combat crimes against Hispanic-Americans, while building good will and trust between the city's police department and the Hispanic community.

For more than a decade, H.A.R.T. has fulfilled and exceeded its mission, ``to build and maintain positive relationships between the Hispanic community and the police through compassion and innovative thinking.'' At its core, the H.A.R.T. program trains and places talented officers who are fluent in English and Spanish to work directly with Spanish-dominant community members. It is through language ability, cultural competence, and dedication that H.A.R.T maintains public safety for the broader community regardless of language capability or immigration status.

A centerpiece of the educational services H.A.R.T. provides is the Hispanic Citizens Academy which offers an intensive 12-week training program in Spanish to non-English speaking community members to impart knowledge on how to navigate through routine law enforcement protocols, including knowing their legal rights and how to contact the police in case of an emergency. The Hispanic Citizens Academy helps strengthen the partnership between the Hispanic immigrant community and the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. In fact, the National League of Cities recognized Las Vegas and the H.A.R.T. program as one of the top 17 U.S. police departments for good practices in a June 2011 report. H.A.R.T.'s work serves as a model for other police departments across the Nation to ensure public safety in immigrant communities by keeping them informed and engaged.

On May 23, 2012, H.A.R.T. will be celebrating the graduation of individuals serving in the 10th Hispanic Citizens Academy, a stage shared by more than 500 alumni of the program. I am a proud supporter of the H.A.R.T. program, and I applaud the leadership and dedication law enforcement officers have demonstrated to the growing Hispanic population of my home State of Nevada. I ask my colleagues to please join me in congratulating the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department and its H.A.RT initiative as they celebrate the 10th Hispanic Citizens Academy. I wish H.A.R.T. continued success in their future endeavors.

Mr. President, I now move to proceed to Calendar No. 400.

Mr. President, we are now on the motion to proceed to FDA user-fees legislation.

I ask unanimous consent that following my remarks and those of the Republican leader, the time until 10:30 a.m. be equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees, with the Republicans controlling the first half and the majority controlling the final half.

Mr. President, at 10:30 a.m. today the Senate will proceed to executive session to consider the Stein and Powell nominations, both nominees to the Board of Governors at the Federal Reserve system. At noon, there will be two votes on the confirmation of their nominations. At this stage, there likely will be no more votes after that, but we will keep everyone advised as to what is going to happen.

Mr. President, when someone we love gets sick, the only thing on your mind is how to help them get well, how to get them the care they need.

But before every miracle drug or innovative new device comes to market, there is a rigorous approval process to make sure that device or that medicine is going to be safe. To get lifesaving drugs and devices to the patients who need them as quickly and efficiently as possible, Congress must give the Food and Drug Administration the tools it needs to review and approve these products. Today the Senate will begin consideration of legislation which gives FDA the resources to ensure medical devices, drugs, and treatments are safe and effective.

I applaud the work of my colleagues Senator Harkin and Senator Enzi to bring this legislation to the floor. These two fine Senators have different political philosophies on things generally, but they work well on this committee and I am very proud of each of them. I consider them both friends. And bringing this bill to the floor in the manner they did is indicative of the work that needs to be done around here more often. So I hope to see the strong bipartisan effort these two Senators began continue as the Senate considers this important legislation.

The Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act authorizes the FDA to charge manufacturers of new medical devices user fees. These fees are used to ensure their products are reviewed quickly and thoroughly before they are approved. But this legislation does more than maintain the status quo; it also enacts crucial reforms that will prevent drug shortages

and bring the lifesaving medicines to market more quickly, it will save high-tech jobs in the medical field, make new treatments available to patients quickly, and preserve America's role as a global leader in biomedical innovation.

The legislation will expedite the processes of approving new drugs and medical devices--including many designed for children--while ensuring these products are safe for consumers. It will help spur the innovations that bring the next groundbreaking cancer or Parkinson's drug to market.

The bill will hold foreign manufacturers who sell drugs in the United States to the same high standards met by American companies. This is extremely important because of all the misleading attempts by these manufacturers to sell them on the Internet.

It will help prevent drug shortages by opening the lines of communication between manufacturers and the FDA. The Senator from Minnesota, Senator Klobuchar, and the junior Senator from Pennsylvania, Senator Casey, have been leaders in this drug shortage issue, and I applaud them. They are doing this to safeguard Americans' health. Every day hospitals across the country experience shortages of lifesaving FDA-approved drugs and treatments.

As most Senators know, my wife has been ill with cancer and she had 20 weeks of chemotherapy. Every week, we were worried that the drugs wouldn't be there on that Monday morning at noon when she got those treatments. Fortunately for us, they were. But that isn't the way it is with everyone around the country. People who need these lifesaving medications have found those medicines not available, and we have to do everything we can to stop that.

These shortages threaten public health and prevent patients from getting the care they need. The shortage of one drug used to treat a rare form of childhood leukemia--a drug that is an effective cure in 90 percent of those cases--has literally put young lives at risk by not having those drugs. And when I say a 90-percent cure rate, it is amazing. One of my high school buddies had a son who was playing Little League baseball. Running around the bases, he couldn't do it. This was a macho family with all these tough boys in the family, and they were concerned that he was not being as aggressive as he should be. He had leukemia, and this boy died. There was nothing they could do for him. He died. Now 90 percent of these cases are cured.

I have spoken on the floor before--others have--there is one form of leukemia that has been almost stopped in its tracks by the scientists discovering a bush called periwinkle, and they use the products from that little weed to cure cancer.

We need to do everything we can to make sure these lifesaving drugs are available. No mother or father should have to watch a child suffer as he waits for a lifesaving medicine. But as the number of drug shortages increases each year, more parents wait and worry; more husbands and wives and daughters and sons wait and worry.

In 2005, the FDA reported shortages of 55 medications. Last year, the number jumped to 231, including the leukemia drug I mentioned and some chemotherapy medicines. These shortages are caused by a variety of factors: problems with factories, limited manufacturing capacity, or lack of raw materials.

Another thing we have learned is the manufacturers of these products want to be able to sell everything. They don't want to waste valuable money on storing medicines. One of the big businesses that used to be in America is warehouses storing things. In Reno, NV, we were a big warehouse storage area because we had no tax on storage. But anymore, there is not as much being stored because manufacturers determined that is a waste of money. That is one of the things that happened with these pharmaceuticals.

Some, though, are caused by a lack of financial incentive--or profit motive is what it is. There is nothing wrong with that, but companies simply don't manufacture enough because they don't make enough money.

Public awareness and pressure have prompted drugmakers to voluntarily notify the FDA of any impending shortages, preventing almost 200 more shortages last year than I just talked about. But Congress can, and must, do more to improve communication with drugmakers, the FDA, and hospitals providing this crucial care.

Passing this legislation without delay will be a leap forward in that process. That is why last night I said--and I say today--I hope we don't have to file cloture on a motion to proceed to this lifesaving legislation. Let's get on this legislation. If we have to vote on cloture on this Monday, then we can't get on this until Wednesday and start legislating. How foolish.

We will have amendments. I have had a number of Republican Senators come to me and say, We want to be able to offer amendments, relevant amendments. Good. Let's do it. If someone has a problem with this bill, don't stop us from going to it; offer an amendment. If it is a worthy cause, we will vote with him or her and get rid of what is in that legislation. But don't hold up the legislation.

I would hope my Republican colleagues talk to one of the Senators who is holding us up and say, Don't do that; it is making us, the Republicans, look bad. And it does.

I hope we can get on this legislation and work to make the health care delivery system in America more effective and efficient.

Would the Chair announce the business of the day.