that c-span cities to work working with their cable affiliates and visiting cities across the country. >> live now to the bipartisan policy center here in washington or a panel discussion on porter because of debt crisis. should get underway in a moment. [inaudible conversations] ..

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good morning. my name is aaron klein in the director of financial regulatory reform initiative. i would like to welcome you here at the bipartisan policy center for our in-depth analysis of the upcoming super bowl -- [laughter] no, we are here to discuss an issue that's incredibly important to millions of americans opposed on the island in commonwealth of puerto rico and throughout america and it is a great privilege here we are committed to advancing the common conversation that involves compromise and i can think of no issue that is more complicated, important or in need of principled compromise than how to deal with problems going off in the finances in the commonwealth of puerto rico so that we try to do here is a simple and all-star panel of folks with very young. co- -- varying perspectives to

have this conversation. i think it's important for everybody here to understand the treasury department. they put out a thoughtful and detailed proposal on what to do. the speaker ryan committed at the house will come out with a proposal in the chamber sometime next month and as we will hear from the panelists there are some important deadlines that will require tough choices and actions necessary. with that as the backdrop let me introduce the panelists and then i will join them onstage to on stage to begin the conversation where we will eventually turn to the audience for questions. i'm going to start to the left the council for the secretary at the department of treasury and

on the domestic and international issues related to financial markets, regulatory reform, job creation and economic growth. i can tell you having served for four years in the obama administration role of counselor is key to providing insight and analysis ideas and solutions to the secretary. antonio has his bachelor's degree from yale and the business school where he was a scholar, a member of the council of foreign relations and a regular participant and leader in the public policy. thank you for being here today. sitting next to antonio for those of you like myself that grew up in the washington area you know tony because he was the mayor and as is the ceo of the city council. all of us know a great due to --

regular gratitude. in washington during the terms of mayor he restored the nation's capital finance and and perform to government agencies while lowering taxes and investing in infrastructure and human services. it sounds like a bipartisan group of outcomes. he served as a chief financial officer the chief financial officer of the district's financial control board you will be hearing more about from 1995 to 1998. he's a he is a graduate with a masters in public policy and jd from harvard. next to him is the cofounder, ceo and chief investment officer of the fundamental credit opportunities and has been a pioneer last three days leading innovation and invested in prioritizing trading, public-private financing, securitization. before that he had a career on wall street working on goldman

sachs. hector is from the island and from puerto rico in addition he earned his bs from the school of pennsylvania and before the transit to the university david is the professor of corporate law at the university of pennsylvania school of law and offers publications on books including the new financial deal understanding the dodd frank act and its unintended consequences. and the history of bankruptcy law in america a leading thinker frequently quoted in the press and as important to the contributions of public policy his distinguished in the classroom as well and has won several awards for outstanding teacher and the robert gordon award for excellence and

upper-level teaching so hopefully we will all learn something today. with that, it is my pleasure to join the panel and i thought we would kick it off with you. you are down on the island last week. you've been at the forefront for quite some time. set the table for us. what's going on and where do things stand in washington? >> thank you for organizing this event today and bringing greater attention to the crisis. very simply this is a question of 3.5 million americans. it's also a puerto rican crisis and one that started as an economic recession developed into a fiscal crisis and is today a liquidity crisis that

shows signs of becoming humanitarian. let me give you just a few elements. the commonwealth ran out of cash in june of this year. the only way they've been able to fund operations is to delay payments to suppliers to take the funds including workers compensation funds to borrow from the already depleted pension funds and not to send tax refunds. the revenue forecasts have already fallen short. these actions that are necessary to provide liquidity are forcing

the economy into a deeper recession and this is a fragile case. i should remind everyone that 58% of children today live in poverty more than 40% live in poverty. there is no room for error in this economy and i think that has changed in the months we have been traveling in washington is that there is a palpable sense of fear and expectation on the part of the fellow citizens in puerto rico that we collectively in the administration and congress to act as we have always acted when there's a crisis that affects

americans who choose to do what is necessary to stem the crisis and to protect people and allow the economy come to beat code to be covered to continue on a path towards growth so we are encouraged by the speaker's commitment to introduce legislation and there are positive discussions taking place on both sides of the aisle. there is a generally accepted recognition that this crisis needs to be addressed now and we look forward to working with both chambers of commerce in designing the appropriate response. >> so so there's an urgency there is an urgency and a mode of progress being made. there is an undeniable urgency and need for action and

immediately and there are promising discussions taking place in congress and a full-blown effort by the broad administration and this isn't just treasury. it comes from the white house and all agencies of government and the proof will be in the action we have to get gather and that has yet to happen. >> many folks may not render washington, d.c. faced a situation not at the humanitarian level that we are describing that the major, you've been part of a turnaround where you come into a situation that had a problem and you left the city that was booming. what can they do when they are facing this situation and what are the pros and cons of structures that enable them to

do that which was the dc control board? spinnaker there were a lot of experiences between washington, d.c. and philadelphia under its control of authority and i talked to both of them before i started here in dc but then the hardest job in cleveland with their issues there were a lot of similarities between them but i think the difference, right now you had a treasury secretary very able economic council able to focus on dc there was

political acrimony and you have a consensus between republicans and the clinton white house that we had to do something to be successful. i hope that is the case now. then the financial experience and expertise was valued so that's hard to deal with and people suffer going through the commotions. in fairness we did have a booming economy and to have real economic issues but with all that said i to be the there are some similarities. ideally there is always a hazard in any kind of a financial

crisis. if somebody builds their house on the shore in when a hurricane comes you don't open the aren't going to rescue you because you shouldn't be on the shore, no you take care of the problem and certainly the immediate issues here have to be taken care because people's lives are at risk. it has to be done us the context in proving the the system's unsettling for citizens and investors on which you can address the issues of a bad relationship in terms of programs and fiscal relationship and address the issues of the economic recovery in the context of greater accountability. >> what is the mechanism. you are a student and a graduate of the program of control.

what is the mechanism you've seen with others that have worked while? >> in puerto rico we have issues with the dominance and sometimes there are subjugation cases by the government. we don't have full representation. they take different ways to address but everybody recognizes this relationship in the federal government. my only point was while we are dealing with this law, we can reset the table to deal with our short-term, medium-term, longer-term issues in a way that is politically defensible. i worked under the authority of the control board and i was later elected mayor so when people say the end of the

democracy because people hate control boards, that isn't true. if you use the control board setting again with the right leadership on the ground -- i don't know where my voice is going. >> you use this opportunity to do good public education of where we are. explain to the people in puerto rico here we are. we are going to take the steps. some of them may be tough but i think all of us would agree we are taking these steps toward a better future. i think all of us would also agree this is the case in dc. you don't say we are going to take these steps and then when you're falling off a cliff. no, we are taking them to get to a better place and that is i think underestimated in the fiscal situations the role of leadership on the ground, the

role of good public education and have the ability to explain the financial situation in layman's terms and the two-year constituency is important. explaining the financial distress in layman's terms i don't even know the guy but i would highly recommend on the book is probably explains how you approach it. >> always have a pleasure to have the boss contemplating. guiding through the time in and all of the benefit i'm pretty biased on that one. there is a lot of conversations about tough choices. you have devised many bondholders on and off the island who were thinking deeply

about this what is the outcome that's the best way and what should we exclude that won't work? >> thank you for having us. i think one of the greatest challenges we face is there's a fair amount of confusion around the facts and a healthy dose of completion of what is the crisis. the challenges they face are on the social fund in the size and scope of the government. they haven't run it particularly great. but overnight something changed so we have to have some huge

response from the federal government to kind of set aside the rule of law to slice slicing off that can't be tied. puerto rico has been a not particularly good job collecting taxes in and the economy and hasn't done a good job of right citing the government. they need to know what businesses they are in and are not in. what is unique if by cutting 78 dmv's. it's not particularly self efficient and 60,000 plus others contend with this all day long and that is what it entails is making the decisions of the businesses who are in and been living in that context. and last we have near-term issues with respect to equitable treatment under the federal programs. it does have challenges with

respect to the federal programs when our view the most important thing is to separate fact from fiction grade it's a liquidity crisis when i go down to visit my family i don't see the rose on the streets we go down there and see hard-working citizens who are deeply proud of being part of the united states but they are facing a challenger rather liquidity crisis and concerns. we have to think about being very transparent. that's been a very big challenge you can say raise revenue almost 20% this year and miraculously they are out of cash and there's a lot of complexity but without the fact it's hard to separate the truth from fiction. what we know is not all expenses

are necessary and not all debt is subservience to the consequences so that's what drives the crisis to choose to pay for something instead of something else and the decision being made is that all expenses are senior to all debt and as a consequence to preserve all and consider restructuring. it's a very unhealthy narrative. i also look at this from the perspective of the participant of the most dangerous things we can do create risks for the municipal marketplace setting aside the rules and create solutions and the equilibrium of the three plants eventually in our marketplace that finances 70% of the infrastructure in the united states. we can't set aside to solve this

so it hinges on three points. there is the need for oversight and i think the experience on this is incredibly important and the efforts made can be a good control board. there has to be a package of whether the treatment that allow them to enjoy stimulus towards growth this has to be about the vision to the future and they have backed not all of it is the same or insolvent but we have to honor the obligations and the rule of law and service so we keep the people to function and then deal with the ones in my view we can come up with ideas but as a tool in the market place that exists and packaging

goes together in a framework seems an elegant way of solving the crisis so we can build a future. >> since we are all talking about personal connections i grew up here with my mother's leading maritime lawyer and she was the expert on the territory. on the notes i didn't know what it meant to the small child. that's true that make sense and you pointed out all the things that that municipalities and the commonwealth owned parts of the industry municipalities it's very hard for them to be the leaders. i will be the one that gets them sued. what kind of structure do you see and what is the role of the federal government in providing

that framework to make the tough choices that you describe needed to be made not just for the liquidity solvency today but importantly for the bright economic future we all aspire for. >> an independent cultural board for the purpose of arriving at the budget and keeping the expenses in check where they seem to be less than they should be and then of course this obligation of the growth initiatives whether it be that the programs are considering the privatization of assets. one of the things not just to puerto rico but in general they have to decide the businesses they are in. not every business should be. not every government should be in the park business. you have to understand what you should do and why it suits your

constituency. >> i want to bring you into the conversation because the rule of law, bankruptcy, these are things you are one of the world's experts on and you've done a lot of work in financial regulations where we've come to the particular questions on too big to fail and your work is the preference for bankruptcy and consistency. that's also common among many folks in the republican party. i am confused now the party is coalescing on the broad support here at but silent on questions about bankruptcy so why is bankruptcy so preferable and should it be preferable and to

start off for everybody in the room why he can't rico act like michigan when they put detroit in bankruptcy recently and what are the ramifications of that and where do you think the situation will end up? >> let me add my thanks to those on the panel this is a very important conversation may be the most important at this particular moment in time and it's a privilege to be part of it. why can't they use chapter nine or bankruptcy or something like bankruptcy? first is for the reasons that are not clear to anybody that i know. puerto rico was excluded in chapter nine. the term was defined for the

purpose of the federal bankruptcy law in a way that made porter rico in every state and put this under the bankruptcy law except filing of petitions. so that municipalities are not permitted to use bankruptcy the way all the states can authorize their municipalities to use bankruptcy. against that backdrop they said since we've been kicked out of chapter nine, we are in this very severe crisis and what we will do is put in place are owned restructuring law that will look a little bit like chapter nine. so puerto rico did this in 2014. they put in place the law known as the recovery act and it's been struck down by two federal courts, the trial court.

the striking down was upheld by the federal appellate court and the rationale was there's another provision in chapter nine but says the state cannot enact their own restructuring laws and what the court said is "a his "vision applies to puerto rico even though puerto rico does not have access to chapter nine that issue is now in the supreme court and they agreed to hear the case. it will be decided this term. my suspicion as i was telling my students in class, the track record is above zero but it's less than 50%.

my guess is they won't be decided until the summer and whatever happens will be too late to be a major part of the solution. it's possible that i'm wrong about that but the decision will come too late and i think they will win in the supreme court as crazy as that seems. i had a have a co-author of mine file a brief saying the supreme court should lower the court. back on the question of bankruptcy and why do republicans seem to be coalescing towards a control board check my first reaction is i hope that's not where republicans are coalescing. my sense is that was kind of an

opening bid that i would call a bailout and you might call a check but there has been hostility among republicans today bankruptcy restructuring option. why is that? it seems to me that that there's two factors that occur to me for why there has been hostility. one is that many creditors have been hopeful that it isn't necessary and that there is another way that would involve fixing some of the things doctor was talking about or a few checks from the government so there was the sense that maybe we don't need bankruptcy. why pull out the big west -- weapon when you don't need the big weapon.

i think it's shrunk the last few months and i don't think it is as widely held. in fact i think i heard almost all of us on the panel suggesting some sympathy for some kind of restructuring mechanism. the other reason they have been a bit leery of the bankruptcy alternative is that there is a concern that this is a slippery slope to bankruptcy for states that if puerto rico is allowed to file for bankruptcy particularly if it isn't just the municipality which is what chapter nine would provide the commonwealth itself the concern is the next thing you know, illinois. we will be talking about a bankruptcy approach that would pull in the illinois. if it seems to me to go back to where you started the questionnaire and that is the

same thinking that made republicans enthusiastic it also applies here as a fix to a disaster and it gives you a way to dissolve the disaster after it's happened and creates better incentives for the future if you know that the claims may be restructured and if they are not able to pay that will change the way you think about lending and i also think bankruptcy can have good effects on politics. bankruptcy doesn't usually affect politics but it would do things like cause you to think about whether you are funding the pensions properly or not. >> i don't think bankruptcy is a good thing if you leave the status quo in place or to use bankruptcy solely to the exclusion of everything else.

you don't look at the long-term issues that got you in this position in the first place. but you've got to rehabilitate the emergency room. >> i am not opposed to a control board but i've outlined for puerto rico would involve the control board and not chapter nine that he territorial restructuring. >> the treasury in the white house laid out a ten page plan i think many of you in the room have brought it and if you have and haven't i strongly urge that you do. it talks about fiscal oversight, restructuring of already and i can tell you from my experience puerto rico is treated at varying levels for fair debate for federal funding on a level

throughout a wide variety of programs particularly the treasury proposal would increase the share of the citizens despite being american citizens but are often not counted and getting the amount the same as they would particularly in healthcare saliva to start by commenting you on this. often it is needed to get a shot you hear the treasury and white house isn't providing leadership and this is an example where you are. but you are out there leaving enough space so what response have you gotten from democrats and republicans and other stakeholders on the plan? >> i will answer your question and leave a little space for a further comment.

first this is a crisis. there is no debate about that. even on the panel, you are hearing agreement that there should be restructuring of the debt and there may be disagreement as to which that is re- struck church but there's agreement there should be a debt restructuring and there should be appropriate oversight. there may be disagreements with constitutes appropriate oversight but we are all talking about that as well. >> but me tell you why we be leave all of the death needs to be data needs to be included in the mechanism and white the oversight should be respectful of the self-governance and we find both of those points are absolutely fundamental. number one, that is equivalent to the gnp. puerto rico has been shut out of traditional invisible bond

setting for two and a half years and able to enhance from hedge funds and 2014 and they yield to maturity was 8.5%. the lowest yield on the secondary market today is 11.5% supermarkets are telling us what we already know which is that it is unsustainable as a whole so therefore any solution that deals with resetting the liability of the commonwealth and establishing a path forward has to look at all of the debt. we do not say that it has to be treated with a broad brush equally so they would say that

it was backed by the full faith of the puerto rican constitution. if one is talking with a revenue bond holder, they would say the best is backed by the sales tax in the gas tax and would lean on whatever the revenues are. what we do say is there's 18 different issuers and more than 20 credit for classes and there's already a default on up to four of those issuers into the race to the court has already begun. the crisis will be exacerbated by the litigation which will make it harder to resolve the restructuring of the debt. we do not say that this needs to

constitute a new chapter of the code or data needs to be modeled on the existing chapter nine of the bankruptcy code. what we say to the contrary is a special legislative act is required for the territories consistent with article four and that is neither for the cities or the states. puerto rico is not a city or a state and what we say is that puerto rico today because of its status has a completely different relationship than the federal government than any city or state and this affects the funding, the rule of law, and we say that puerto rico deserves the tools that it needs to restructure its debt and it is

on congress recognizing the severity of the problem to agree in a bipartisan fashion on what those tools should be. it's emergency legislation to deal with an emergency situation. as to the rule of law i mentioned above $3.5 billion issuance in 2014. two remarks on that, there were no financial investment in place when that was made and we agreed other financials need to be produced in a timely manner and our proposal calls for is a part of the oversight authority real involvement in making sure that there is greater transparency and timely issuance of the reports. second, the 2014 issuance had as a risk factor, and i would

invite anybody to go back and look at this that the federal government may through legislation amend the rules of restructuring that govern the issuance of the $3.5 billion. it's a risk factor that is enumerated. market participants bought that risk factor and with no recent audited financials. this isn't easy. you said at the beginning this is one of the most complicated restructurings that any of us have seen. but we be believe the conversation needs to embrace all of the debt in puerto rico and there are different ways of dealing with the relative seniority of one or another creditor but without the backstop of the authority our biggest concern is the decade that i described which has been

a decade in the recession could become another lost decade as all of the liquidity crisis and cascading defaults unfold. so number one is a restructuring authority we introduced principles but we have flexibilities how the particulars are addressed. second, oversight. the mayor can explain what happened in washington and how it worked and it was a success. what worked in washington was tailored to the particular problems that may mayor solved here. there's a strong belief there is a strong belief that the oversight must accomplish two

things. he needs to leave the governance in place and that means to establish appropriate checks and balances such that the initial fiscal adjustment plan and the receipts as necessary and expenses reach the targets so that all the stakeholders and creditors and the people know with some visibility with but the revenues and expenses will be. there's no doubt thursday there is no doubt thursday mismanagement in puerto rico that extends back for many years and so in our judgment need to deal with for the restructuring authority and oversight and they simply won't address the realities that the debt is

unsustainable and there needs to be enhanced governance. >> the crisis that didn't involve mismanagement and bring in the panel to react to the planks laid out. and do take it you take it in a different direction? scenic the most important element of the restructuring here in the narrative we've heard from a lot. the premise of all that is supported to all expenses and all essential.

it's not only only the case but it flies in the face of the rule of law. the sustainability of the constitutionally protected that of the commonwealth. it is achievable with two times. the most important thing is that there is clear solvency across the capital stack and secondly we were the team is to revisit the rule of law as an unfortunate case where we have

evidence. i've seen this in my carrier whether it is a tax code. we have a jeopardy around this. they can't achieve access to the marketplace and the narrative being told by the leaders in the market the people who invest which i can't buy this deal because of the willingness to pay challenges tolerated in puerto rico and because the contemplation of extraordinary unprecedented regime and the government and it took nearly a 15-point or, it's extraordinary for them to have access to the

marketplace and yield the equivalent. we can bring this to the commonwealth and the marketplace but truth be told, it's insidious and it will create enormous marketplace because make no mistake this is a municipal events before the commonwealth needs to do something special outside the marketplace. what it means in the uncertainty into stability in the marketplace is important for us to achieve the basic services across the nation and third, the ability to implement under the already available tools that exist for everyone in the

commonwealth issuances. they are listed in the commonwealth and that makes them eligible. 75% is available under chapter nine and we can debate but at least if we don't have to invent something special there would be an armored thrust outside of puerto rico nearly 20 million of whom, the residents, citizens, individuals that invested in the commonwealth themselves. us back $20 billion is held on the island and he says 75%. do you want to respond? >> what i'm i am hearing is there is a preference for making

sure the debt is made whole and this is a preference which has a basis in the fact that debt was issued and protected in the full faith and credit of the commonwealth. the totality of 13 billion direct and 19 billion that is guaranteed of up to $7 billion of total debt. if you talk with someone who has a revenue bond, they are going to say if you deprive the claim on the revenues which have been attached, that will disrupt the revenue bond financing. there is no easy outcome for the commonwealth. we are talking about a crisis in

unprecedented terms in scale and complexity. our view, and again i want to reiterate we are not judging which class of creditors should be put ahead, and i would invite the professor to weigh in on this but there are varying opinions on how that should be done but what we are seeing is all of the creditors need to be part of the discussion and all of the creditors need to make their case in the discussion and if necessary because the enemy of the commonwealth is time. they need to be in front of the judge to make the determinations because again what worries us is the decade of the recession which we have now lived through and the american people have

lived through could become a case claiming one thing. the creditors that have been part of the last claimant with no mechanism at all to the super majority agreements. it could unfold longer in the elements that have taken longer so the belief that it all has to be part of the discussion that is dramatically too high in puerto rico. we've expressed flexibility held the specifics are crafted and we are encouraged everyone is agreeing that it's needed however let's go back to where

you started. this is a human crisis. there's nothing political about saying that. >> one statistic we haven't come up to commit to and a half% are leaving the island annually. in the year leading up to october 31 there were 90,000 departures from the island. why are 90,000 who have pride in their island's and in their countries. if you look at the migrants number one, they are working when they arrive at its florida, their it's florida, texas, new york, pennsylvania across the country they are a disproportionate working age and led by families in 1865 and

bringing the under five population on the island popping. just think about it. it's safe of economic security and access to healthcare on the island. there are families that would rather stay in the same place and number one, the current year tax revenues and number two comprises the sources of the tax revenues which it needs over the long run. this is the largest wave of migration that has occurred since the 1950s. it is and how yearly due to

economic security and inability to find good paying jobs. to think that its control over this economy with its unsustainable debt and has nothing to do with restructuring the debt is totally unrealistic. >> they have migration that feels a little bit like déjà vu all over again. it is more difficult situation but before jumping back to that the rule of law coming up i want the professor to weigh in.

you wrote in a publication congress should grant the municipal entities to make sure that any control has the authority if needed. i want to see if the fellow panelists will disagree or agree with that as a package deal i want to get a reaction to what was said about how you change the spiral into the core issue about the long-term health. is that still your position in the times? >> my position is equal to a little bit so i think the two-part approach is necessary for the restructuring plus some kind of a fiscal control board. i think the restructuring needs

to be available for puerto rico as well as its municipalities. too much of the data is either directly owned or indirect so puerto rico itself has to be part of the process. on the rule of law -- >> if you did that would've had a ramification more broadly? >> it would have much less of a ramification then the market claims it would have. the claim that if we make bankruptcy or something like bankruptcy available in its municipalities, the municipal bond market would collapse and is based on the assumption that municipal bond market can't tell the difference in good grace and bad and the contagion effects i

think our likely to be limited. >> now you are on the degrees of magnitude. it could be 10 degrees across the market at a cost $3.7 trillion across everybody's municipal borrowing throughout, and i understand your point that i but i remember the financial basis where investors thought that it was highly liquid and they found out it wasn't and the crisis thought it was good and it wasn't and i remember when california was issued in the script and that wasn't that long ago. ..

that's not our comparison. our comparison set is puerto rico in the situation it's in now where it's already not paying debt, as compared to a rule of law oriented structure for restructuring that ideally will be clear about who gets what and consistent with market expectations. i think i could improve the markets rather than -- >> let me reinforce what the

professor just a. it's important that i will market piece of this. just the market piece of this. the comparison is between an orderly restructuring authority tailored to the territories which resolves this crisis in a defined period of time with a disorderly default across 18 different issuers that gets litigated, and our judgment, for as long as a decade. we are not taking between a clean case and a disorderly case. we are picking between a disorderly case and and organized one. and the second point i would make about this is when we talk and we talk to creditors all of the time. some of them are in this room, and we talk to creditors in puerto rico and we talk to traditional municipal bond investors. traditional municipal bond investors tell us consistently,

consistently that the best thing that can happen in puerto rico is for this crisis to be resolved and as quickly as possible. the greatest concern that municipal bond investors has is that this becomes a protracted, litigious case that unfold over years. they want us to find a mechanism to put it behind us. it's the traditional bond investors, the municipal bond investors which puerto rico lost access to a half years ago. and it's those same investors who need to start coming back to the islander our proposal in our judgment will make that happen sooner than a disorderly default. >> i been doing this for about 30 years, so the university of traditional metrics is pretty well known. i pulled two dozen of them prior to the hearings for the bill on

chapter nine. uniformly -- a viable framework to implement a structured. the handful of traditional investors who are fearful of the protracted litigation our concert and our interest in puerto rico. the vast majority of investors are concerned about the outcomes in puerto rico and less they create a change in a framework under which they will invest. that is meaningful. we have a framework and the united states for general obligation debt especially. this is the one that's probably the most relevant. there are others but we have some general obligation as much of this table. enjoyed decades of access acting assistant. they approached the state. you characterize the state. their debt is compared to other states. interval is measured the same way. we were going to change the framework we introduced this

seditious, this scary notion that we're going to change the framework for the general obligation debt which is the primary source of infrastructure financing. and to do so is disruptive, will create harm and may not manifest itself in a complete destruction in the marketplace but it will create significant meaningful cost to the borrowing for municipal issuers. and importantly and. the marketplace for individual investors to individual investors make of three quarters of the municipal bond place. they don't really know everything about what they're investigating. they don't understand all the paths which something is about to when things go down come often they still independent and the run for the door. it's a one way long all the marketplace. it's a technical friend of the markopolos. municipal markopolos is a very, very, very clumsily structured, very retail i could markopolos upon which we rest staggering

amounts of important infrastructure. we should be very for thoughtful and very careful about disrupting the. i think it's awful cabala apostasy will not create, not jumped the shark by introducing the idea of them very general obligation debt. this morning the paper of record on puerto rico came out with an editorial demanding for the benefit and integrity not only of the constitution of puerto rico but for the ability to borrow in the future and for the integrity of investors who invest in the islands, to protect an act under the constitution. this is a widespread understanding notion at i don't think, i think it's very dangerous to dismiss in without appreciating how much the marketplace is based on. unfortunately, a faith oriented investing and the willingness to pay, not the ability, the willingness to pay under the rule of law. >> you've heard all sides and you've lifted. where do you come out?

>> -- you have lived it. >> i think we have comprehensively talked about that debt issues and issues of presented by the to and like i say, patients in the emergency room, you deal with the emergency. my experience, the issue that could into that emergency and the steps you got to take teachout of it. the public's fear, people invest and they live in a city like d.c. or the live on the island of puerto rico because i have freedom to achieve and realize my opportunities. i believe i'm going to be treated fairly. something often overlooked but really is i think key and central. i overlooke overlook in school. i thought it was boring but coming into public service it's

essential, and notion of the settled expectations. everything we do, and this is why you want to be a hard teacher in november. i think we've got to recognize the sovereignty, the self-governance of the people in puerto rico. i think that is important but i think we are at a point we've got to get control out and reach that, reset the management of the situation. what i fear is that we deal with these debt issues, and that being too polite or being too deferential, respecting too much the status quo, we don't get at the longer-term issues. and they include the relationship with the federal government that created the migration, created the lack of settled expectations in the first place. i would just put it like that. i think it's very important to do that. >> i'm going to turn to

questions from the audience. i think i see burt. no stranger to restructuring of entities. usually we're having this conversation about banks. >> thank you very much. i want to touch on something i haven't heard any conversation about at all, it is based on the premise some have suggested, that is the recruit is america's greece. one of the key aspects of dealing with the economic problems in greece has been used insistence on a substantial restructuring of the real economy. i haven't heard one word on that today. there was an article to his ago

about the management if you will, just incredible. it goes beyond that. my question is as part of the restructuring of puerto rico, to what extent there needs to be insistence our restructuring of various economic institutions government owned and controlled once in puerto rico, or i is tht something that is crucial to the future and only debt restructuring dealt with? >> we have a relationship with the federal government. one of the things we did in d.c. was after we achieved expectations, build confidence, we are able to go to the congress and move our medicaid from 50/50 to 70-30. i think with the right relationship of the federal government are not an expert of international finance but unlike greece, the federal system would be able to work effectively to of puerto rico where in now it

does and i think it is important. >> go is america. puerto rico -- puerto rico is america. puerto rico simply a part of the united states of american with a large population of citizens who went economic distress. what you touch on is correct or our whole debate has been about restructuring and has been about oversight thus far this morning. i'm encouraged by the fact the debate is basically about which creditor class gets which protection, as opposed to all of this debt is table. covers of presents -- that represents significant progress from several months ago. but beyond repay the debt there is a whole set of initiatives that is critical to the economy needs greater investment. we have proposed an earned

income tax credit as part of our four-point plan. arron aspe to discredit. we didn't get past the first two earlier about an earned income tax credit is one tool but it's a bipartisan pool but it's worked well for republicans and democrats. it has a triple effect in puerto rico. number one, it puts money in the pockets of families that need it. number two, it's a strong incentive to join the workforce. and provides a financial return to join the official workforce. number three, it builds revenues over the long run. we have suggested that the gross inequities of puerto ricans and health care system need to be remedied. we have suggested the medicaid match needs to be increased your this is a keeper of our platform. nobody mentioned it but some of the outmigration is due to

health care. there are more than one doctor each day trained at the university of puerto rico leaving the island in order to practice medicine on the mainland. and this is been going on for two years. greater certainty about medicaid would have both health care and economic benefits. as to your broader question, there is no doubt a role for the private sector to play. no doubt. there is very high interest in investment into puerto rico on the part of alternative energy providers. there is interest in investments in infrastructure. none of that can happen with a level of uncertainty and crisis the economy is fully subject to. and so let's be clear. number one, stop the crisis, get to the other end of the crisis, reset the debt sets of economy can it in such an economy, the

government can also making the investment in its own economy. it allows private capital to come into puerto rico. there is an interest in private capital to invest. the federal government has a role to play in health care, inappropriate incentives the puerto rican government has able to play, and private industry does as well. so we are talking about steaming the near-term crisis, but what we really need to do is put puerto rico back on a path towards growth such that not only do the puerto ricans seeking opportunity on the mainland stop leaving en masse for opportunity, but that perhaps some of those families return. there is an interest in returning to puerto rico. the job is immense. we have emphasized oversight with restructuring because it's needed now.

there is more that is needed over time. >> in addition to staving out the immediate near-term crisis, we have got a vision towards the future of puerto rico that includes improved the energy infrastructure. that includes making it a welcome requirement for business and investment advisor staggering amount of global investment commitments interest in approaching puerto rico. they want to wade into the choppy waters. i think the environment for such that there's a lot of people are very interested in being a part of the solution, myself a lots of other creditors, federal government, leadership, private entrepreneurial, business the leaders on the on all want to be part of the solution because they want to make a bet on puerto rico. it enjoys tremendous natural

resources advantages. it's a fertile platform for growth. we can set a good tone for the future by navigating this cris crisis. >> just a question on timing. how quickly does washington need to act before becomes too late, before things really spiral out of control? and is that view of a deadline shared on capitol hill? what's the consensus for action? >> i think aaron said in his opening remarks. what's really changed between last year and this current work session in congress is that there is broad recognition that something has to happen now. speaker ryan has set a deadline of march 31 for a responsible

solution to to introduce on the house floor. he has held two hearings through the energy and natural resources committee, and he will be holding a third. there is constructive bipartisan discussion that's taking place in the senate. it is a leadership issue. it is a top issue for the administration as a whole, and we are encouraged by this broad recognition and the seriousness with which the discussions are now taking place. >> if it's super bowl sunday and there's a conversation about puerto rico, i think, the globe about baseball, it's there. are we looking at opening day we think you'll be legislation moving through? or will we have a solution before the all-star break? where are we? >> this needs to happen now. what you've heard from all of this panel and and some of the

statistics i have given. we are not talking about some possible future hypothetical problem. i mean, please. you asked at the beginning how was our trip with his secondary to the commonwealth. this is a problem today. the commonwealth is looking to us today to decide a comprehensive solution to resolve this crisis. this is recognized in congress. it is certainly recognized in the broader administration. it's our view that we will meet this deadline and that we will do everything in our powers to work with members on both sides of the aisle and both chambers to find a solution that comprehensively about puerto rico to navigate the crisis. it's now. >> i think another, i visited one of these educational research, whatever.

have to restructure. you can't go down to cuba and 21 lecture and go to the beach, and whole week of stuff, you know. i went down to. my alma mater adequate. i went down on a trip. the thing that struck me about cuba have been a less cuba havana it was a deng xiaoping, i don't know what the equivalent be. the place would just take off. it's breathtaking. i think what to do things for americans you've got to think about is not just the urgency that antonius talking about. just in terms of san juan and puerto rico out to be the star of the americas. if you're going to sit around in what you're going to be key opportunity because cuba is sitting there waiting to be open and become a huge, vibrant capital again. the opportunity to be seized in san juan to try, not necessary preempt it by keep moving. >> mayor, you're exactly right.

tourism, cuba is a giant threat. one of the major brands at the island of puerto rico originated on a different island. right there is some real competitive issues. hector, yet more experienced on the island then all of us combined. combined. >> we don't need a big industry. we need to make the ground fertile. but the market go where you can find the best opportunity. there are natural resources to draw from, especially in the strength of the education of the workforce in kind of the fact it is trying to rule of law in the caribbean. i think it's a strong place to start from public have to do is make the environment welcoming. you can't have a consistent fluidity. you can't have this fluid tax scheme that corporation have to deal with when they go down there. you can't be depend on subsidies

for particular industry. set the table so puerto rico can grow. i think it's a big part, which is in addition to giving with the imminent needs of the crisis. we have to have a vision towards the future for growth and there's a lot of people who want to contribute to the outcome. >> we have time for more. [inaudible] >> i'll take that. a lot of people may be hard for antonio. as a personal matter i think it's a little unrealistic we use this crisis to solve the situation. i said that as a family and porter ago that arrived in the early 1800s and was there for the transition that has family. we greatly want to be equal, a

member of the country as a windows. whereby citizenship in this in e elegant hotels, the difference between puerto rico should be no different than being from oklahoma. truth be told it's probably a big lift politically. it's probably asking a lot right now. it's unrealistic. it would be great but i think it's a little unrealistic to conflate the issue. inflation has been an enormous problem confusing a lot of things at once. we need to separate fact from fiction, get to the meat these. with great leadership and a more firm foundation we can make those difficult decisions about status at a later date. >> i would say it is appropriate. like puerto rico and d.c. we have been troubled from our founding with our relationship with the federal government and our lack of representation. 13 so everybody called me a clone of governor, let's just do

with her immediate issues. we can do with all of these issues of representation, we can walk and chew gum at the same time. about two years into a recovery we had a very productive discussion with the administration about our relationship with the federal government. not begin at the political level it on the ballot sheet level 50 well. what were the things that you should should you? what are the things the federal government should do? doesn't make sense for us to be running a prison system? federal government took over. makes sense for us to do the court system. we continue to that discussion as we win. they cut in the health care issue come into issues of education. when you're talking about restructuring you are talking about a part of what a financial person would call for balance sheets. yes, deal with restructuring the the point is you've got to do

with the other liabilities, deal with how you manage your assets in a comprehensive way. >> i'd like to briefly weigh in on this. there is no question that status is widely imported. why are we proposing that restructuring authorities and eitc and fanfare medicaid treatment be provided to puerto rico? as a territory order because of status does not afforded adequate tools in those three areas. and so we believe that as congress come as the broader administration, we need to afford the commonwealth those tools that it needs now such that it can navigate this crisis. we agree that over a long period of time status has contributed to the crisis.

we have tailored our legislative proposal to provide the tools the commonwealth needs most urgently today to resolve, to resolve this issue in the areas of restructuring and health care and eitc. it is a real issue and an issue that the people of puerto rico will need to decide. >> let me pushback on that a little bit and take the step about awful question one step further. i gave david, broadly speaking the republican party, a little fun jab about consistency with the bankruptcy here and not there. but on the democratic party come and i'm a proud democrat. i came to bpc to ask myself the tough question, what we're talking about is not a principled solution to the question, right? we are talking about puerto rico going from one-tenth to one half. there's kind of got it is something but not that funding

this program and not come as the equitable principle solution, right? it worked for hawaii. america has been a growth business. what are the democrats not taking a step back as the party and saying, puerto ricans our citizens, puerto ricans are americans. we have said that repeatedly here. america is a country that started with 13 state. today we have 50. are we going to have the perpetuity of territories left over from a colonial expansion that's now more than 100 years old or a principled position? i've been struck by the lack of anybody putting a principled statement forward announce the time to discuss stated. why do you think that he is? >> i would turn to you because you are on the ground. [laughter] student truth be told i think the analogy i make is like a club. first of all the members of the

club have to want to invite new members and. the other thing is the people who were invited in have to want to join. i think that we've got to use this crisis to develop come in as much as we need to set a crown set for fertile growth, we have to reset border because expectations about what it means to be in virginia. but tolerance for the underground economy is kind of abhorrent to me. i know exactly of university system if you cash in your pocket and speak spanish, you don't have to look like someone from the mainland. there's enormous culture around as we get with. i'm not answering your question essentially. i just think the truth of it is, as lessig is practically hard, inasmuch as the club have to invite new people in, then you people have to realize what the consequences are for joining the club. i'm not an advocate -- doesn't

in for my professional ending. just a personal thing. but truth is i think it's not clear the club wants us invited in and it's not clear, that's both sides of the aisle. it's not clear all puerto ricans want to go in although i believe the majority does. with to get past it if we can entertain the notion because the consequences of being a full member of the club have to be understood by everybody. >> one reason why even for those people would like to be a state, this is true in d.c., in d.c. the reason why we are not the state was able but we were a pal of managed rack. i think there's less of that now. we were a city. americans didn't like cities in the 20th century. there's less of that now but the thing that remains is we are a democratic entity and i don't think this senate wants to to more democrats.

i think d.c. or puerto rico were thought-provoking entities that they could be a state tomorrow night. [laughter] its inertia is point the last some added alaska and hawaii came in for a previous also because hawaii was staunch republican place and alaska was full of democrats. trust me. i don't think of breaking news election night in november measure the opposite. we are not great at predicting the future of political alignment. >> i have to give credit for the congressman to advance this agenda and put on a track. is probably to be committed to put the agenda, the agenda of status on some track. it faces and a lot of other issues.

>> i think we're going to bring the conversation it to a close. i think it's important as a think about is to think this is a crisis. it has to be action. i for a lot of support around the country principles that antonio laid out although disagreement about the details. details are important. i think we've also heard this could be more brought about puerto rico. it could affect other characters to one topic that didn't come up was the sovereign status of american native tribes who are not states that have a good relationship with the federal government to invest in industries like gaming industry which may be headed for financial problems. and so this is something that's going to keep coming up and we really encourage, at bpc want to provide a place for thought leadership. commend antonio for the leadership is provided and treasury provide into space. urge congress to get to work in crafting a solution and

reiterate our commitment to providing all sides to end the point. thank you all very much, and have a wonderful day. [applause] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations]

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[inaudible conversations] >> the president of colombia is in washington today visiting with president obama this afternoon he will hold a joint press conference with suggested john kerry. you can see that at 2 p.m. eastern on c-span your back to the campaign trail this evening as hillary clinton and senator bernie sanders speak at a party dinner that takes place in manchester. c-span select coverage at seven eastern. carly fiorina started off a campaign appearance this one in manchester by talking about saturday night's republican presidential debate. she did make the cut because the decision was based on polls from

iowa, you have a nationwide. is what she had to say about that this morning. >> it is proof positive this game is rigged. it's why i am running for president because we have to take our country back. you may remember when all this debate stuff started, the media and political a summit in washington said that voters can't handle so many candidates. we have so many candidates. they came up with all these criteria to decide which candidates were on which stage, remember? it was polls. a funny thing happened this week. the people of iowa voted, right click they voted. and then that vote i beat you guys they're sitting on that debate stage. i'm tied with jeb bush in delegates. the last thing i knew, votes and delegates counted. but apparently the political establishment in washington and then the establishment in your city decided votes don't matter.

delegates don't medically thing that matters is establish some creature using some old way back in january so we will stick to the. so guess what? they think they get to pick president. it's an insult to the people of new hampshire. you pick president. you are the first in the nation primary, and they are taking away your power. i have observed up close and personal how seriously you take this responsibility. nobody ever heard of me when i launched this thing that you showed up. you showed up in living rooms and dining rooms and town halls and museums and you listen. and because you take your responsibilities seriously, you listen to all of us and you listen over and over and over again. i learned in new hampshire way, i've got to see five times. i respect that. you also know, you know even in this day and age of media that

there's nothing like sitting and looking at a candidate in the eye and asking a question in understanding how they're going to respond. is not the same as an ad, not even the same as a nationally televised debate. i think you can handle eight candidates on a debate stage of the political establishment and abc says you can't. i'm counting on you. i'm counting on you to do your job and pick a president. >> the citizens of the greatest state are not easily one. account -- ♪ ♪ ♪ >> in village, town and city, voters brave better snow and sleet to cast their votes. >> thanks to the people of new hampshire. >> good to be back in new hampshire. >> first in the nation primary. >> the new hampshire.

>> hey, he's from new hampshire. >> one reporter is called new hampshire's primary the most cherished american political survival rights. >> governor, thank you for coming to new hampshire. >> this as a place we can observe a candidate in the heat of a dialogue, in the heat of getting tough questions about their positions on the issues. it's not just a place where it's a scripted speech. >> new hampshire takes its first in the nation primary status really seriously. >> this is one of ulcers at townhall meetings we will be having. >> this is my 20th town hall meeting. >> welcome to our 115th town hall meeting here in new hampshire. [cheers and applause]

>> booktv and 48 hours of nonfiction books and authors every weekend on c-span2. are some programs to watch for this weekend. >> basically you have to pretend to be something you're not, and the unfortunate part is that in order to pander to like republican primary voters in iowa, you to adopt a persona and a style that would hurt you when it comes to winning over

millennial or cosmopolitan americans i believe should be voting conservative but are turned off by the cultural baggage and the stylistic stereotypes of what we think of when we think of conservative. >> sunday at noon, our life we are discussion author and former fox news host eric burns. join a conversation with your phone calls, e-mails, facebook comments and tweet. watch booktv all weekend every weekend on c-span2, television for serious readers. >> the increase in prescription drug costs was the focus of the hearing yesterday by house oversight and government reform committee. pharmacy old turing pharmaceuticals martin shkreli declined into question. the former company obtained a license for the drug daraprim and raised the price by over 5000 person. -- 5000%. this is just over three hours.

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>> [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] >> if you could all take a seat. welcome everybody. the committee on oversight and government reform will come to order. without objection pictures authorized to declare a recess at any time. the chairman is responsible under the rules of the house and the committee to maintain order and preserve decorum and the committee room, and i will do

that. we have an important hearing. we've had an important week. we've had a number of hearings that the very important. today we are talking about the cost of health care in our country. because it is growing at an unsustainable rate. congressional budget office reported the federal government will spend 1 trillion, trillion, dollars on medicare and medicaid and other health care programs. cbo reported in 10 years time the cost will double roughly $2 trillion. the costs for prescription drugs are a substantial portion of the federal health care expenditures. 2014 the government paid a just over $77 billion in medicare part d prescription drug benefits, including its difficult to sustain this. one way that affects the cost of prescription drugs is to increase access to generic drugs and drugs that have been on the market for some time. our committee is fortunate to have one pharmacist. i think there's one pharmacist

in the trended congress. e. have insisted on a bill sublette to yield one minute to mr. buddy carter from georgia. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i'm disgusted that -- i know free market principles are the best way to provide quality, affordable health care to the american people. what was done here is different. perverse business practices were employed to exploit a patient group trying to do nothing more than to extend their lives. none of the witnesses here today have had to look into the eyes of someone who is trying to make a decision between buying groceries and buying medication. no one here today have seen the look on a mother's face when she realizes she can't afford to buy her child's medication.

i have. but as a health care professional, i have worked with these people in order to make sure were that they can get their medications and to make sure that my business and my employees stay afloat. so some here today may hide behind their shareholders or their corporate boards and say that this is just free market principles. at i, for one, don't agree with that. i will play that you can meet your shareholders needs, that you can meet your boards needs and still take care of the american public. but then again i'm not sure that those who are hiding behind their shareholders and their boards really care about that. mr. chairman, i yield back. >> thank the gentleman. the fda, federal drug administration, is responsible for approving applications to manufacture generic drugs at this drone and a backlog of applications and in an attempt

to deal with the backlog congress passed unanimously out of the house by voice vote and with only one dissenting vote in the senate as i recalled the generic drug user fee act in 2012. the act promised, require applicants to pay $1.5 billion in user fees over a five year period. despite this, the fda still has a backlog of more than 3700 generic drug applications. basic premise you i think is one of basic economics that you get somebody who rapidly increases, dramatic increases the price of a prescription drug, it's going to invite more competition. if that competition can i get the approval from the fda, then there is no competition, and the price will be inelastic and it will continue to rise. so most of my questions they are actually for the fda and what they're doing took celebrate

that process. i believe the fda has failed to meet its statutory responsibility to dramatically, in its processing. a good example of how valuable a shortened fda review process has become is a program that offers priority review vouchers. because the fda review process can be so time-consuming, drug companies have been paying outrageous sums for these vouchers. lasher one of these vouchers sold for $350 million. these vouchers only speed up the process by roughly four months. that meet at least one applicant was willing to pay $2 million a day just for an additional 120 days. given these facts is obvious our current review process for generic drug applications is to soldier alon on with the fda wee representatives from to drug manufacturers, turing pharmaceuticals purchased a prescription drug daraprim and raised the price from $13.50 to

more than $750. valeant pharmaceuticals cdo is also there to explain how this company bought hard drugs and raised their price is 525, and 212%. all three of these drugs like any generic competition even though the patent had expired and are available for generic version. i before getting from our witnesses today. i also want to thank ranking member cummings who has been very passionate on this issue and for insisted that we had a string. i think -- i would not yield time and recognized a is becomig so five minutes. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. and from the depths of my heart i thank you again and again for holding this hearing. the issue has been my number

one, number one, investigative priority for several years. and i'm so grateful that we're holding this hearing today and the drug companies, the fda and other stakeholders have been called here. thank you for also sending joint document request to these companies, turing and valeant your they both refused my previous request and i've struck did our ability to investigate their actions. the fact is we would not have the documents we have today without your action. and i thank you again for that. we have now obtained more than 300,000 pages of internal documents from these companies after they stonewalled. they include e-mails, analysis on revenues and profits, communications with hospitals and other providers and public

relations strategy documents. earlier this week i circulated two memos summarizing these documents. i now ask unanimous consent they be made part of the official hearing record. >> without objection, so ordered. >> these documents provide an insider's view into a drug company executives are lining their pockets at the expense of some of the most vulnerable families in our nation. their basic search has been to buy drugs that are already on the market and then raise the prices astronomically for a temporary period of time before other competitors enter the market. these companies did not invest funds to research or develop these drugs. they bought them, jacked up the prices, took as much money as they could out of the pockets of patients, hospitals and others,

and put those funds into their own coffers. i call this money blood money. how much money are we talking about? valeant reported gross revenues of more than $547 million on nitropress and isuprel, just to drugs. that's more than half a billion dollars in one year. coming out of the pockets of hard-working americans. the company reported profits of 351 million on just these two drugs in 2015 alone. these stunning returns by valeant ceo today, michael pedersen, according to press reports these massive profits allowed mr. schiller who is here today, on behalf of valeant, to

collect a salary of $400,000 per month. per month. out of the pockets of our constituents. touring, the company reported $98 million in revenues for daraprim in 2015 within manufacturing cost of only $1 million. yet, turing actually tried to claim that it took $44 million loss last year. the company reported it spent $22 million on research and development. this money apparently went to know nations, to unnamed entities, contributions to foundations, and other research and development costs. but the documents we have updated indicate that these expenditures are just as much about pr as r&d.

like a ponzi scheme. it appears that touring may be using revenues of daraprim to research and identify an extra it will acquire, and then holds similarly massive price increases on future victims. it's not funny, mr. shrilly. people are dying. they are getting sicker and sicker. based on the documents obtained by the committee, we know exactly what these companies will say as part of their public relation strategy. they will try to distract from their massive price increases by talking about there are indeed. they will downplay their massive profits by claiming that they help patients who can't afford exorbitant prices. the destiny from the drug companies today will be the same but the difference now is that we have been behind their

smokescreen. these tactics are not limited to a few bad apples. they are prominent throughout the entire industry. dinette pfizer, -- all of these companies have taken significant price increases on their drugs. the reason i care so much about this issue is because it directly, directly affects my constituents, as a constituent of every member of this committee, every member of this congress. the people in my district are not on the forbes billionaire list. they don't buy wu-tang clan albums for $2 million. they can't liquidate assets to free up millions of dollars. they work hard. they get the early bus, and many take on decent salaries.

but like many americans, they struggle every single month. to support their families and to pay for the increasing cost of housing, education and health care. they live from paycheck to paycheck. and sometimes from no check to no check. hard-working american families should not be forced to come increases of 10%, 100% or 1000% just to subsidize a lavish lifestyle of hedge fund managers and for executives. as i conclude, i hope we can also talk about solutions today. for example, suggested hillary clinton has sent letters to the fda and ftc proposing stronger regulatory action to crack down on companies that engage in price gouging. i think this is an interesting

approach that could be significant and bipartisan support. on the legislative side i was introduced to the prescription drug affordability act with senator bernie sanders. one provision in this bill would allow hhs to negotiate drug prices for medicare. this is something that even donald trump supports. it is significant bipartisan agreement on the need to address this crisis. according to the nonpartisan kaiser family foundation, rising prescription prices at the top health care concern for all americans, including democrats, republicans and independents. i hope today's hearing is the beginning of a sustained effort to address this issue in a bipartisan way. it should be addressed in a bipartisan way that brings much-needed relief to american

families. and again, try to i truly and sincerely thank you for this hearing. and just, try to me ask unanimous consen to take care oe business before we continue speak with yes. >> since i started this investigation several years ago, i have literally been inundated with letters from families, hospitals, patient groups begging, not asking, begging for relief on these astronomical price increases. i have 12 literature that i would like to include in the official record of today's hearing. they've been signed by more than 100 different organizations. obviously, i will not go through all of them at some of them include the american association of poison control centers, the american federation of teachers, the california poison control system, consumers union, fair pricing coalition, hiv medicine association and infectious diseases society.

infectious diseases society of america, human rights campaign, national alliance of state and territorial aids directors, national multiple sclerosis society. finally, mr. chairman, there is one more letter i would like to submit, and it is one of the first letters i received on this issue way back in 2011, and started this journey. ..