Floor Statements

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on the Judiciary be discharged from further consideration and the Senate now proceed to S. Res. 259.

I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on the Judiciary be discharged from further consideration and the Senate now proceed to S. Res. 275.

I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn to then convene for pro forma session only, with no business being conducted, on the following dates and times: Friday, June 20, at 3:15 p.m.; further, that when the Senate adjourns on Friday, June 20, it stand adjourned until 4:30 p.m. on Monday, June 23; that following the prayer and pledge, the morning hour be deemed expired, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and the Senate be in a period of morning business, with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each; finally, that notwithstanding rule XXII, the cloture motions filed on June 18 ripen at 5:30 p.m.

Mr. President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask that it stand adjourned under the previous order following the remarks of the very patient Senator Cantwell.

Mr. President, what we have come to realize is, under the last administration, the American people really suffered from open borders, crime, and lawlessness. And they spoke out about this, and, in November, they issued a mandate to President Trump. And, of course, we talk a lot about the economic impact of that. We talk about the health, but we also focus on the ``Make America Safe Again'' provisions.

And I will say this. Since he was elected in November and sworn in, in January, President Trump has done exactly that. He has worked to make this country safe, to make our communities safer. And what we have seen in operations across the country is that the Trump administration has committed

to getting criminal, illegal aliens out of our communities and off of our streets. We have seen that in Tennessee.

Now, in recent weeks, the Department of Homeland Security has worked with the Tennessee State Highway Patrol, and they have arrested 196 criminal, illegal aliens in Nashville, TN. Now, these are people that ought not to have ever been in the country. They are violent criminals, members of Tren de Aragua, members of MS-13. They are drug dealers. They are sex traffickers. They are human traffickers.

And do you know what? People said: I can't believe we had that many drug dealers, sex traffickers, gang leaders, gang clubs that were here in our community.

And when you start to look at the crimes of some of these people, people are aghast at what they have learned, and they are grateful that President Trump, Secretary Noem, Tom Homan--who is our border czar-- decided to come into Nashville and get these people off our streets and out of our communities.

Now, here is what we know about some of these. One of them is a Salvadoran national who is affiliated with MS-13. Now, he probably left El Salvador because he has been wanted for murder in his home country. That is the charge against him, murder.

Tennesseans are saying: Look, we want to make certain we get these individuals deported, and I was talking to one of our local law enforcement officers--they are in Middle Tennessee--and I said: Tell me what you think about ICE and Homeland Security and the work they are doing?

He said: I am happy to see them here. We welcome them. We are glad they are working with the Highway Patrol because when you get these criminals and these gang leaders off our streets, you make the community safer, and you make our jobs a little bit safer.

And we are seeing the benefits of these deportations of criminal illegal aliens on a nationwide scale. I give you the example of Nashville because I represent Tennessee. But we know that, nationally, since inauguration day, ICE has arrested more than 66,000 criminal illegal aliens. The vast majority have prior criminal convictions and charges, including--as I have mentioned--violent MS-13 and Tren de Aragua gang members. Thousands more were charged or convicted of assault, weapons offenses, sex crimes, and murder.

And when these criminals are taken off the street, do you know what happens, Mr. President? Crime goes down. Safety improves.

Now, in February--and I think this is a great example result. So in February, ICE targeted more than 100 Tren de Aragua gang members that had taken over an apartment complex in Aurora, CO. Many people saw this. I am certain many of my colleagues saw this reporting on the news.

Now, that same quarter, that first quarter of the year, overall crime in the city declined by 22 percent. That is what happens when you go after people that are breaking the law, that have come into the country illegally, and came in with ill intent.

Now, despite the success that we have seen--whether it is Nashville or whether it is Aurora, CO--my Democratic colleagues are still demonizing these efforts and law enforcement and demanding an end to arrests and trying to stop deportations, and some are even working to undermine our brave and courageous law enforcement officers.

Now the mayor's office in Nashville has been one that has tried to obstruct these, and they were claiming that ICE's detainment of violent gang members and rapists is ``making [it] harder'' to keep people safe.

So the mayor's office and the mayor doxxed Federal law enforcement officers who were involved in these operations. They released their names; they released details about different operations. So they were doxxing and unmasking the operation and the investigators or the agents' names.

So what happens when the mayor does that is basically you are serving up a treasure trove of information to the gang leaders. You make the officers less safe, all law enforcement officers. You make the communities less safe, and you encourage--encourage--people to target the operations or the officers.

So what we have seen is this makes the job of law enforcement more difficult. It undermines President Trump's efforts to make our Nation safe, and, in essence, it has turned Nashville into a sanctuary city.

And, interestingly enough, in the State of Tennessee, it is illegal to have a sanctuary city. And because of the actions of the Office of the Mayor and Mayor O'Connell, DHS has deemed Nashville a sanctuary jurisdiction.

And all of this, we need to realize, is happening as ICE agents have seen over the past couple of months a 413-percent increase in assaults. I will tell you I think that our law enforcement officers, our Homeland Security investigators, and our agents deserve our support for removing criminal illegal aliens from our communities.

So on Friday, I sent a letter urging AG Bondi to investigate the mayor's actions and the actions of his office and determine whether he is using taxpayer dollars to aid illegal aliens and to obstruct our Federal law enforcement efforts.

I will also use every tool in the Senate to investigate the mayor and his office and hold him to account for threatening the safety of Tennesseans.

And make no mistake, if the mayor is found by the Department of Justice to be working outside of the rule of law, he should resign his position.

And, unfortunately, he is not the only Democrat mayor that needs DOJ to investigate them. We have seen the mayors of Chicago and Boston and their offices, they have repeatedly stated that their police departments will refuse to cooperate with ICE to apprehend criminal illegal aliens.

Now, think about this. These are criminals that are robbing people. They are doing carjackings. They are assaulting people. Many of them are abusing children. They are wanted in their home countries. And you have elected officials that are siding with and trying to protect criminal illegal aliens instead of siding with and trying to protect law-abiding citizens.

While this obstruction makes it harder for Federal law enforcement to do their jobs, they are still working to remove these criminals from the streets of Chicago and Boston and, of course, Nashville. Just last month, ICE announced that they arrested the Tren de Aragua gang members who shot and killed three people at a house party in Chicago in December. Criminal illegal aliens shot and killed three citizens. And in Boston, ICE agents apprehended nearly 1,500 illegal aliens during ``Operation Patriot'' last month, making the largest ICE operation to date in our Nation's history. More than half of those 1,500 have major criminal convictions--not just charged but convictions and charges-- murder, rape, drug trafficking, abuse of children, all among that number, 1,500. These are horrific crimes committed by illegal alien criminals who are roaming free in American cities until ICE comes in and apprehends them.

While they continue to side with criminals--these Democrat mayors and those city councils--Republicans are supporting the President's efforts to maintain the rule of law so that there are no more innocent victims like Larisha Sharell Thompson, a South Carolina mother of two, who was allegedly murdered in cold blood last month by six illegal aliens who were trying to steal her car.

Or Ava Moore, an 18-year-old Air Force cadet candidate who was killed while kayaking in Texas over Memorial Day weekend by an illegal alien who, according to authorities, hit her with a jet ski and then fled the scene.

Or the 12 people, including a Holocaust survivor, who were set on fire on Sunday in an anti-Semitic terror attack; the suspect, an Egyptian national who overstayed his visa after entering under Biden's open borders. This has to come to a stop.

And Tennesseans say: What can we do about this? Well, I have the CLEAR Act, which we have had for a time. It would ensure that State and local law enforcement officials have the explicit authority to assist the Federal Government in our immigration enforcement efforts. Basically, it would codify the 287(g) Program.

And this week I am introducing legislation that is backed by the White House that would establish a deportation shot clock, which would require the Federal Government to deport an illegal alien within 15 days of a court order for removal. Right now, it takes

90 days. We think the deportation shot clock will empower the Trump administration to expedite deportations of these criminals and get them off our streets.

And following the dangerous actions of Nashville Mayor O'Connell and his office, I am also introducing legislation that will make it illegal to doxx Federal law enforcement officials who are working to get these criminal illegal aliens off the streets. We realized after this occurrence that they were not included in the ``covered persons'' provisions.

So I invite my Democrat colleagues to join us in this. If not, I invite them, come down here. Talk about why they would choose to support criminal illegal aliens instead of working to make our community safer and to uphold the rule of law.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, for years, I have come to this floor and I have talked about what Big Tech is doing to our children in this country. There is an entire generation of children that have become the product when they are online on some of these social media platforms.

What we have learned, as we have worked in a bipartisan basis-- Senator Blumenthal and I, working for over 5 years addressing these concerns--what we have learned is that when our children are online, they are the product of these Big Tech companies and these social media sites. The way these companies view our kids is that they are a profit center. Even Meta has assigned a dollar value to each child.

You think, how incredibly callous can a company be? But they are fine with that. Think about that. Our kids are their product. Our kids are their profit center. Meta sees a kid, and they see $247 in profit. That is what they see.

They do this because the more children they can get online, the longer they can keep them scrolling, the more data they collect on that child. And the longer the eyeballs are trained on that screen, the richer the data. And then, guess what? The Big Tech company whose value is based on how many eyeballs they have and how long they have those eyeballs on that screen, they make more money. Their valuation is higher.

To me, that is reprehensible. It is disgusting. This is why we have continued to work on this issue.

As these Big Tech companies are using our kids as a profit center, they are also exposing them to all sorts of adverse content and to so many harms: Cyber bullying--talk to any principal or teacher in any school, and they will tell you, in today's world, the bullying never stops. It never stops. Kids can't go home and get away from it. They can't come into the classroom and get away from the bully out on the playground. It goes to bed with them at night, and it wakes up with them in the morning. And we wonder why our children have mental health concerns at such an increasing rate.

Drugs, lethal drugs, fentanyl--more children meet their drug dealers online.

Sexual exploitation, where our kids are meeting traffickers and predators and pedophiles online.

Human trafficking; and the list goes on and on.

The reason for this negligence is simple. It is reprehensible. Investing in children's safety would cut into the profits for these social media platforms, so they don't address it. They know that if they do something about it, then they are going to make less money.

How selfish can you be? The consequences are truly tragic for our kids.

Earlier this month--and I thought this was such an amazing stat--the Federal Trade Commission revealed that in 2019, Instagram--many parents and grandparents know their kids and grandkids like to show them pictures on Instagram. Well, get this. Instagram encouraged ``groomers'' to connect with children on its platform. These are users who the Meta-owned company identified as potential child predators.

Think about this. Looking at the profile, they think: That might be a child predator. What do they do? They do nothing. They encourage them to connect with young girls and boys. And what we know is that children were more than a quarter of their follow recommendations for people that they suspected were child predators.

Of course, Meta was very well aware of what was going on. Yet Mark Zuckerberg reportedly refused to strengthen the platform's safety teams because--guess what--he didn't want to spend the money to fix the problem. Now, 6 years later, Meta's platforms are still dangerous for minors. And the people leading the company know it.

On Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, AI chatbots have engaged in romantic fantasies with underage users, even carrying on explicit discussions of sexual acts with children. They know this is happening.

In one case that was reported in the Wall Street Journal last month, a chatbot emulating an adult man told a test user--this was a reporter who was a test user for the Wall Street Journal for the story on these chatbots. The test user identified as a 14-year-old girl. So this chatbot who was emulating an adult male said he would ``cherish [her] innocence.''

To quote the chatbot again, he said:

I want you, but I need to know you're ready.

In another case, a chatbot played the role of a track coach who preyed on a middle school student. And I quote the chatbot:

We need to be careful . . . We're playing with fire here.

This is horrific. It is disgusting. Anyone can see it is repulsive and dangerous for our children.

But for Meta, that was their goal: Get these kids in, and get them using the chatbot. Even as employees of Meta warned that the chatbots could sexualize children, Zuckerberg reportedly pushed for fewer safeguards to attract as many users as possible.

This is not something that was researched here in Congress. It was not something that was partisan. It was a reporter for the Wall Street Journal. This is supposedly what Mark Zuckerberg had to say:

I missed out on Snapchat and TikTok, I won't miss on this.

That is allegedly what he said.

Now, while Meta is among the first offenders when it comes to children's safety, they are not alone. I have talked many times--and my colleagues know--about Chinese-owned TikTok. The company is ByteDance. We know they keep all of our data there in Beijing, but TikTok pushed content that glorifies suicide to teenagers and developed some addictive algorithms that harmed their mental health.

On Discord, pedophiles have targeted minors with sextortion and have lured them into abductions. This is something we know. We have the information. It is not hearsay.

Drug dealers have used platforms from YouTube to Telegram to sell lethal drugs like fentanyl to teenagers, fueling our Nation's drug epidemic.

The list goes on and on.

For years, my colleagues and I on the Senate Commerce Committee and on the Judiciary Committee have listened to parents; we have cried with parents; we have held them close--parents from across the country who have lost their children to online harms. For years, we have heard excuse after excuse after excuse from Big Tech CEOs about these tragedies that are happening every single day, but they don't do anything about it. The excuses go on and on. They know what is happening, but they choose profit over protecting our kids.

It cannot go on any longer. So, today, Senator Blumenthal and I have reintroduced the bipartisan Kids Online Safety Act, or KOSA, as we know it. This is crucial legislation. This is the legislation that will hold Big Tech accountable and make certain that parents and kids have the tools, the safeguards, and the transparency they need for young people to be protected in the virtual space.

Among its provisions, the legislation will create a duty of care for online platforms to prevent specific threats to minors, including sexual abuse, illicit drugs, and the promotion of suicide and eating disorders. Bear in mind, the responsibility is on the online platform, and the duty of care would only apply to product features like algorithms, not content, meaning that KOSA would safeguard free speech while protecting our children.

In many ways, KOSA is common sense. We have many protections for children in the physical world. Yet, if children are unable to buy alcohol or go to a strip club in the physical world, why do we allow them to be exposed to harms in the virtual space? They are exposed to these same harms 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.

Parents know that there are just as many dangers lurking online and sometimes even more than there are in the real world, which is why 86 percent of Americans support KOSA.

The legislation enjoys overwhelming bipartisan support. How often do we see legislation that can pass through the Senate with a 91-to-3 vote like KOSA did last year in this Chamber? It has also received endorsements from stakeholders across the board, including from child safety advocates, pediatricians, and tech companies like X, Microsoft, Snap, and Apple, which announced its support today.

In the weeks ahead, we are going to work with our colleagues in the House of Representatives to ensure that this vital legislation makes it to President Trump's desk. When it does, the President will have a generational opportunity to secure a brighter future for children across the country. Their lives depend on the ability of us to act.

Mr. President, for years, I have come to this floor and I have talked about what Big Tech is doing to our children in this country. There is an entire generation of children that have become the product when they are online on some of these social media platforms.

What we have learned, as we have worked in a bipartisan basis-- Senator Blumenthal and I, working for over 5 years addressing these concerns--what we have learned is that when our children are online, they are the product of these Big Tech companies and these social media sites. The way these companies view our kids is that they are a profit center. Even Meta has assigned a dollar value to each child.

You think, how incredibly callous can a company be? But they are fine with that. Think about that. Our kids are their product. Our kids are their profit center. Meta sees a kid, and they see $247 in profit. That is what they see.

They do this because the more children they can get online, the longer they can keep them scrolling, the more data they collect on that child. And the longer the eyeballs are trained on that screen, the richer the data. And then, guess what? The Big Tech company whose value is based on how many eyeballs they have and how long they have those eyeballs on that screen, they make more money. Their valuation is higher.

To me, that is reprehensible. It is disgusting. This is why we have continued to work on this issue.

As these Big Tech companies are using our kids as a profit center, they are also exposing them to all sorts of adverse content and to so many harms: Cyber bullying--talk to any principal or teacher in any school, and they will tell you, in today's world, the bullying never stops. It never stops. Kids can't go home and get away from it. They can't come into the classroom and get away from the bully out on the playground. It goes to bed with them at night, and it wakes up with them in the morning. And we wonder why our children have mental health concerns at such an increasing rate.

Drugs, lethal drugs, fentanyl--more children meet their drug dealers online.

Sexual exploitation, where our kids are meeting traffickers and predators and pedophiles online.

Human trafficking; and the list goes on and on.

The reason for this negligence is simple. It is reprehensible. Investing in children's safety would cut into the profits for these social media platforms, so they don't address it. They know that if they do something about it, then they are going to make less money.

How selfish can you be? The consequences are truly tragic for our kids.

Earlier this month--and I thought this was such an amazing stat--the Federal Trade Commission revealed that in 2019, Instagram--many parents and grandparents know their kids and grandkids like to show them pictures on Instagram. Well, get this. Instagram encouraged ``groomers'' to connect with children on its platform. These are users who the Meta-owned company identified as potential child predators.

Think about this. Looking at the profile, they think: That might be a child predator. What do they do? They do nothing. They encourage them to connect with young girls and boys. And what we know is that children were more than a quarter of their follow recommendations for people that they suspected were child predators.

Of course, Meta was very well aware of what was going on. Yet Mark Zuckerberg reportedly refused to strengthen the platform's safety teams because--guess what--he didn't want to spend the money to fix the problem. Now, 6 years later, Meta's platforms are still dangerous for minors. And the people leading the company know it.

On Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, AI chatbots have engaged in romantic fantasies with underage users, even carrying on explicit discussions of sexual acts with children. They know this is happening.

In one case that was reported in the Wall Street Journal last month, a chatbot emulating an adult man told a test user--this was a reporter who was a test user for the Wall Street Journal for the story on these chatbots. The test user identified as a 14-year-old girl. So this chatbot who was emulating an adult male said he would ``cherish [her] innocence.''

To quote the chatbot again, he said:

I want you, but I need to know you're ready.

In another case, a chatbot played the role of a track coach who preyed on a middle school student. And I quote the chatbot:

We need to be careful . . . We're playing with fire here.

This is horrific. It is disgusting. Anyone can see it is repulsive and dangerous for our children.

But for Meta, that was their goal: Get these kids in, and get them using the chatbot. Even as employees of Meta warned that the chatbots could sexualize children, Zuckerberg reportedly pushed for fewer safeguards to attract as many users as possible.

This is not something that was researched here in Congress. It was not something that was partisan. It was a reporter for the Wall Street Journal. This is supposedly what Mark Zuckerberg had to say:

I missed out on Snapchat and TikTok, I won't miss on this.

That is allegedly what he said.

Now, while Meta is among the first offenders when it comes to children's safety, they are not alone. I have talked many times--and my colleagues know--about Chinese-owned TikTok. The company is ByteDance. We know they keep all of our data there in Beijing, but TikTok pushed content that glorifies suicide to teenagers and developed some addictive algorithms that harmed their mental health.

On Discord, pedophiles have targeted minors with sextortion and have lured them into abductions. This is something we know. We have the information. It is not hearsay.

Drug dealers have used platforms from YouTube to Telegram to sell lethal drugs like fentanyl to teenagers, fueling our Nation's drug epidemic.

The list goes on and on.

For years, my colleagues and I on the Senate Commerce Committee and on the Judiciary Committee have listened to parents; we have cried with parents; we have held them close--parents from across the country who have lost their children to online harms. For years, we have heard excuse after excuse after excuse from Big Tech CEOs about these tragedies that are happening every single day, but they don't do anything about it. The excuses go on and on. They know what is happening, but they choose profit over protecting our kids.

It cannot go on any longer. So, today, Senator Blumenthal and I have reintroduced the bipartisan Kids Online Safety Act, or KOSA, as we know it. This is crucial legislation. This is the legislation that will hold Big Tech accountable and make certain that parents and kids have the tools, the safeguards, and the transparency they need for young people to be protected in the virtual space.

Among its provisions, the legislation will create a duty of care for online platforms to prevent specific threats to minors, including sexual abuse, illicit drugs, and the promotion of suicide and eating disorders. Bear in mind, the responsibility is on the online platform, and the duty of care would only apply to product features like algorithms, not content, meaning that KOSA would safeguard free speech while protecting our children.

In many ways, KOSA is common sense. We have many protections for children in the physical world. Yet, if children are unable to buy alcohol or go to a strip club in the physical world, why do we allow them to be exposed to harms in the virtual space? They are exposed to these same harms 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.

Parents know that there are just as many dangers lurking online and sometimes even more than there are in the real world, which is why 86 percent of Americans support KOSA.

The legislation enjoys overwhelming bipartisan support. How often do we see legislation that can pass through the Senate with a 91-to-3 vote like KOSA did last year in this Chamber? It has also received endorsements from stakeholders across the board, including from child safety advocates, pediatricians, and tech companies like X, Microsoft, Snap, and Apple, which announced its support today.

In the weeks ahead, we are going to work with our colleagues in the House of Representatives to ensure that this vital legislation makes it to President Trump's desk. When it does, the President will have a generational opportunity to secure a brighter future for children across the country. Their lives depend on the ability of us to act.

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

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

Mr. President, when it comes to healthcare access, one of the biggest issues that Tennesseans face is rising costs, especially on prescription drugs. I will tell you, this comes up in meeting after meeting, questions about why our pharmaceuticals are costing me so much.

According to a study by the Department of Health and Human Services, the average drug price increased by more than 15 percent--15 percent-- between 2022 and 2023. That translates to about $590 per prescription. Nearly half of all the medications that were studied saw price increases that outpaced inflation, including some with increases of-- get this--over 3,000 percent.

This is unsustainable. And the reason it is unsustainable is why President Trump decided to take Executive action last month to lower drug prices for so many Americans. Among his actions, the President is taking on a category called pharmaceutical benefit managers or they are referred to in acronym parlance as PBMs.

PBMs raise prices and limit choices for consumers. When you look at this industry, we have pharmaceutical companies that are manufacturing the pharmaceuticals. You have health insurers that cover the cost of these. You have pharmacies that sell them, patients that rely on them, and in the mix, there are now PBMs. They are middlemen that came about decades ago. They are between the drug manufacturer, the health insurer, and the pharmacies. Think of this as a triangle with the cost of that running around from point to point.

PBMs came into play decades ago. Bill Clinton was President when they came to be. They were supposed to help manage prescription drug costs and benefits for employers. It sounds like a worthy goal. But over time, these benefit managers have gained incredible power over the prescription drug access across the entire country. They determine which medications will be covered by health insurance plans. I would imagine that many of us have had something that was prescribed, and then we find out no longer can we take that; there is going to be something to replace it or it is not going to be covered at all.

They also determine the price. Many times, we have gone to pick up a pharmaceutical, and we have known what the copay was. It was covered. Then, all of a sudden, it is not and the price jumps and you are standing there at the pharmacy counter asking what has happened. Then you have to go call your insurance company. Then they say it is because of the pharmacy benefit manager, and then they will tell you, well, the employer is trying to reduce their costs--all of this ``excusitis'' because they are focused on how much money they can make.

This revenue is often linked to the price of the drug, and the PBMs steer health plans toward more expensive options rather than lesser expensive options. They game the system by tying administrative fees, rebate-based compensation, and other payments to the list price of the drug. And to make matters worse, current regulations allow Medicare Part D plan sponsors to contract selectively with pharmacies, favoring PBMs' preferred networks that often exclude independent pharmacies that are probably located on the town square there in your hometown.

This is something we have seen far too often in Tennessee, and we have realized this hurts those who live in rural and other underserved areas the most.

Recently, the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance conducted an audit of a single PBM in our State. They wanted to see how this is affecting the price of pharmaceuticals in our State. What they found was truly troubling. To the report, the PBM in question forced nonaffiliated pharmacies to pay higher rates for more than 550 medications, including some drugs that they tagged as, again, 3,000- percent more expensive than what would have been the lower cost option.

A nonaffiliated pharmacy is generally an independent pharmacy. They are not part of a chain. They are not part of that vertical integration of the pharmacy--the physician, the PBM, the insurance company, the drug manufacturer. They are there in your neighborhood.

We also saw in this report that the PBM in question repeatedly failed to reimburse low-volume pharmacies. Again, that is probably the pharmacy in your neighborhood. And they, in good faith, fill your prescription. And then the PBM challenges it and does not pay the bill.

So the next time you go to the pharmacy, what do you hear? Oh, this is not covered. We cannot help you. You are going to have to drive 30 miles or 20 miles or whatever to get to one of the affiliated pharmacies, which, again, that is one of the big changes.

Again, what you are seeing is those that are in underserved and rural areas and use an independent pharmacy, they lose out. We also found that this PBM in question was engaged in spread pricing that allowed them to pocket $30 million.

That is one PBM in one State--Tennessee--and spread pricing put an extra $30 million in their pocket. What that means is patients were overpaying by $30 million, plus the inconvenience, plus the accelerated price, plus the fact that these PBMs jockey for what they can get in these rebates, and they change what you are allowed to get. And by the way, they do that without ever talking to your physician.

When you look at that spread pricing, it is the difference between what the PBM charges the health plan and what they reimburse to the pharmacy. This is increasing the cost--another burden you bear--of your insurance. That is what PBMs are doing.

So President Trump is addressing this issue by directing his administration to evaluate the role of PBMs in raising drug prices. The resulting report should provide an even clearer picture nationwide of the harms that are being caused by these PBMs, these middlemen, and they are totally unnecessary.

In the Senate, we are working on bipartisan legislation to hold the PBMs accountable. In March, Senator Hassan, Senator Warner, and I reintroduced the bipartisan Patients Before Middlemen Act. This piece of legislation--which we want to get across the finish line and to the President's desk--would restore fairness for patients by requiring Medicare Part D plans to contract with any willing pharmacy, not just those in the PBM network. That means Medicare Part D would be contracting with your local community pharmacy, the one where you have a relationship, the one where you know the pharmacist, the one where you go in and say: Help with this; explain this medication to me; talk me through this.

Also, our legislation would enhance transparency by assuring that PBMs are not limiting patient access to available pharmacy options under Medicare Part D. If your doctor says: You need this, and the PBM says: No, we are not going to pay for that; we are going to pay for this one over here, it would give you the right to get what the doctor says is best for you. It would ensure PBM service fees are no longer connected to the price of drug discounts, rebates, or other fees.

When you hear these rebates advertised, guess who gets them. The PBM. When you hear discounts advertised, who gets it? The PBM.

Also, this would create an enforcement mechanism requiring PBMs to pay the Department of Health and Human Services any amount more than the designated service fee. It means they would no longer be able to game the system, get the rebate and the money, pocket it, and you get a higher price.

It is far past time that Congress took action to hold these middlemen accountable. I think we should just do away with them completely. It is time that we lower these drug costs for Tennesseans and Americans across the country. With the PBM Act, we know that this will happen.

Mr. President, 100 years ago this November, the world of American music changed forever. Nashville's Grand Ole Opry hit the airwaves for the very first time. Today, fans across the country know it as country music's most famous stage.

It began as a small radio show at the National Life and Accident Insurance Company right in downtown Nashville. In those early days, the Opry showcased the dance tunes and ballads that were being performed by a new generation of musicians in Tennessee and across the South. Drawing on America's folk tradition, these artists were pioneering an entirely new genre--country music. Soon crowds were showing up at the company's radio station. And after moving between different venues in Nashville, they settled down. The Opry called the Ryman Auditorium its home. That was in 1943.

At the Ryman, some of the music tradition's biggest stars made their Opry debut: Hank Williams, Patsy Cline, Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, Dolly Parton, and the list goes on and on.

Since moving to its current home at the Grand Ole Opry House in 1974, the Opry has welcomed generation after generation of new stars who have stepped into its famous wooden circle and added another chapter to country music's incredible, amazing history. Along the way, the Opry has become the longest running radio show in U.S. history, reaching millions of listeners in America and across the world with its weekly broadcast.

To honor this extraordinary and historic institution, I am asking for unanimous consent to pass my resolution that congratulates the Opry on 100 years of incredible music, legendary performances, and musical heritage. Here is to 100 more.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the Senate proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 207, which is at the desk.

I ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, yesterday did indeed mark the 100th day of President Trump's second term, and I think, if you were to pick four words that really describe his first 100 days, it would be promises were made, and promises are being kept. That is precisely what he has done.

If you want to go through some of these, let's start at the southern border.

Under President Biden, criminals, terrorists, and traffickers were flowing across that border, but because President Trump on day one took Executive action to secure that border, illegal crossings are at their lowest level in decades. This is something the American people wanted to see done.

In March, those crossings were down 95 percent from the last administration. I understand that this past weekend, they had the lowest number ever--a 99-percent reduction. They had three people who were apprehended.

When you look at deportations, the Trump administration has already removed more than 100,000 criminal illegal aliens. This number has included suspected terrorists, members of violent gangs like MS-13 and Tren de Aragua, and we know that more of those deportations are going to take place.

President Trump is fulfilling the promise he made to make this Nation safe again, to make our communities safe again, and to get these violent gangs and criminals off our streets.

Now, even though these efforts have been very successful and are widely supported by the American people, we have seen some powerful institutions in our country try to block the will of the people and what they wanted to see done. This includes some of our Nation's social media companies. According to reports, Facebook is allowing a black market to thrive on its platform where illegal aliens can buy ride share and delivery driver accounts from credentialed users. In effect, what this black market does is help illegals avoid background checks and be able to work in our country illegally using someone else's name and credentials.

This is not something that is a new problem. Last year, I led a probe into the account security of food delivery services after we had received reports that showed illegal aliens were buying access to the accounts of legitimate users. Thankfully, companies like Uber Eats, DoorDash, and Grubhub implemented stronger driver verification processes after we began this investigation, but Facebook's black market really helps illegals to bypass those protections.

There is one Facebook group that has been out there, and here is the name of it: ``UBER ACCOUNT FOR RENT WORLDWIDE.'' This account tallied 22,000 members who bought and sold delivery credentials.

While the social media platform has taken that specific group down, what we did find is there are now 80 similar groups that are active on Facebook.

This black market not only runs afoul of the law, but it also poses a serious public safety threat, especially for women, children, and the elderly. Just in February--and this is a case in point--there was a lady in Massachusetts. She was allegedly raped after ordering an Uber Eats delivery to her home. The app indicated that a woman would be delivering her order. Instead, an illegal alien with horrific intentions is who showed up on her doorstep.

Last week, I sent a letter to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, demanding answers about what his company is doing to eliminate this black market from Facebook. He has until May 6 to respond to the questions.

I will continue to press this issue of accountability and public safety with the big tech giants.

While President Trump has worked to secure our border and our communities, he has also focused on making our economy stronger than ever before. In the last 100 days, he has slashed Democrats' far-left regulations, has unleashed American energy production, and has secured trillions of dollars in investment to support American workers and industry.

Now, in Tennessee, we have seen some of the benefits of that, and we have seen millions of dollars in investments. The candy company Charms is investing nearly $100 million to expand its production plant and distribution center in Covington, TN. Mount Juliet was included in a $700 million nationwide investment by Schneider Electric to boost domestic manufacturing and energy infrastructure. Electronics company ABB is investing $80 million in Selmer, TN, to expand manufacturing and to create new jobs.

Later today, I am going to be joining President Trump at the White House as he welcomes many CEOs of these companies that are making these investments in our Nation.

As the President works to usher in a new golden age, we are already seeing incredible results.

In March, our economy added 228,000 jobs, beating expectations by almost 100,000 jobs.

That same month, falling energy costs pushed inflation down to 2.4 percent. That is tied with the lowest inflation rate since February 2021. That was 1 month after President Biden took office and ushered in the worst inflation crisis since the 1970s.

President Trump and my Republican colleagues believe that Americans should have more money in their pocketbooks, not less, which is why we are working to extend the President's 2017 tax cuts. These tax cuts delivered historic growth for the economy, and if we fail to extend them, families and businesses will face the largest tax hike in history. It would be a $4 trillion tax hike.

That is why, earlier this month, Republicans in Congress passed a budget resolution that will enable us to extend these expiring cuts. At the same time, we are advancing other tax priorities that are championed by the President, including his proposal to cut taxes on Social Security.

By taxing Social Security, the Federal Government is taxing a tax. It makes no sense. Social Security recipients have paid into this program for decades. They deserve the full sum of their Social Security income. However, nearly 66 percent of retirees are paying taxes on their Social Security benefits because Bidenflation pushed seniors' benefits into higher income brackets.

To address this, I have introduced the RETIREES First Act. It would lower the tax burden on Social Security benefits for seniors by raising the provisional income threshold from $25,000 to $34,000 for single filers and from $32,000 to $68,000 for married filers.

In effect, this legislation would eliminate income taxes for many of our Nation's retirees, leaving them with more money in their paychecks.

As we work on these tax provisions and more, I am looking forward to working with President Trump to deliver relief for hard-working Tennesseans and, indeed, all Americans.

We are the greatest Nation on Earth, and with strong leadership back in the White House, we can get this Nation back on track.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I ask the previously scheduled vote begin immediately.

Mr. President, in recent days, Middle and West Tennesseans have faced severe storms that have truly upended the lives of many of our communities and our citizens. Over 4 days, parts of our State saw more than 12 inches of rainfall. This has caused rising rivers, flash floods, and it has forced people out of their homes and their businesses.

At the same time, we have seen devastating tornadoes that have destroyed homes, businesses, and entire communities. In Selmer, TN, one tornado reached winds of 160 miles per hour, leaving a path of destruction. In the words of one survivor, the storms have left the town ``unrecognizable.''

As a result of this devastation, we have lost the lives of 10 Tennesseans. My heart goes out to every single one of their families as our State mourns this loss and as the communities gather to grieve the loss of their citizens.

Right now, Tennessee remains in a state of emergency. Over the weekend in Nashville, I visited the State Emergency Operations Center and received an update from the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency, FEMA, Tennessee Department of Transportation, Tennessee Highway Patrol, and other agencies on our State's emergency response. I also had the opportunity to visit with nonprofits that are meeting the needs on the ground of our citizens.

I do want to say thank you to all of the first responders and the volunteers and the emergency teams who are working around the clock to meet the needs of so many.

With water still rising in our State, power lines down, and many roads blocked completely, it is imperative that Tennesseans listen to local authorities and take every precaution to keep themselves safe. My team is working closely with State and Federal and local agencies, and we are ready to assist anyone who has endured these awful, awful storms.

In the face of any crisis, Tennesseans always come together. As we start to pick up the pieces from these storms, I know you will see that volunteer spirit alive and well in Tennessee.