senator grassley. [applause] senator grassley: thank you. thank you. as far as i'm concerned, you could go on and on. thank you for the recognition by the historical society. it is an honor to be here to recognize the original standing committees of the united states senate. ones, committees on finance, established december 11, 1850. to what my predecessor may have led some people to --ieve, senator hassan and i senator hatch and i were not original members of this committee. [laughter] senator grassley: the senate committee on finance has steered legislation through congress that has shaped american society and our way of life, and i think you gave a better historical description of that than i am prepared to do, and i appreciate your perspective of that. more than 100 years ago, it took passage of the 16th amendment to allow the federal government to raise revenue through the income tax. ambitious, the most and sweeping policy changes under the committee's jurisdiction, social security, a critical income safety net for the the finance committee also

i appreciate you coming on, senator chuck grassley. sen. grassley: thank you. bob: appreciated. [applause] bob: now stay tuned for a video from pfizer. ♪ bob: we are back. i would like to welcome senator debbie stabenow. [applause] sen. stabenow: it is awfully dark out there. bob: i started us out senator grassley with the question and i will do the same for you. drug prices, i'm sure you're hearing it all the time from your constituents -- what are they saying? if you can name names about drugs they are especially angered about, feel free to name those names. bob: -- sen. stabenow: let me start by saying that senator grassley, a good friend of mine, deserves a lot of credit for holding hearings and has been see her about wanting to address this issue. it is the first time we have had pbm'sug company ceos or before the finance committee since i've been on the committee, since 2007. i appreciate that very much. the fact is a growing part of health care cost to hear about people,ividuals, from from hospitals, from doctors is the cost of prescription drugs, bar none. name the drug

grassley: no. [laughter] sen. grassley: so let me, let's go back. at this point, there's kind of finger-pointing. you know, the pbms when the pharmaceutical companies. a month before, we had the pharmaceutical companies for hearing and they blamed the pbms. you've got to stop the finger-pointing, and that's why, take the secrecy out of all this pricing. and make sure that we know exactly how the process works. if you would want to see how complicated the pbm role is in all this between making of the drug and research on the drug and getting it to the consumer, last week i believe "wall street journal" had something online that showed how complicated this process is. people ought to take a look at that. you can't understand it and we ought to be able to understand it. and for instance, the federal government is one of the, may be the biggest purchaser of drugs in the entire country, and we are spending a lot of taxpayers ' money and we ought to be responsible for spending and you ought to know what gets into the price. >> i do want to get into anothe

grassley has been a long time.ommittee but at the end of the day -- lou: i know he's been there but what is he doing? >> certainly not serving the president well which is very critical. to a certain extent iowa is a swing state and obviously he needs to get on -- lou: what should the president do with this? it is irritating. what is going on with the party? one way or another the senate republicans are messing with the president. >> the truth of the matter the president is the antiestablishment candidate and they are all part of the establishment. they have to hang onto him because he has the support of the republican party across the country with higher numbers even in ronald reagan when he was president. my senses today they are all frightened of him. everything is doing succeeding at the end of the day. but they will pick a little bit here and there. just ignore them and keep marching forward. lou: the presence of the fake news has never been more dishonest than it is today. thank goodness we can fight back on s

chuck grassley not only resisting the president's policies that keep working for america and iowa, so why is grassley and the junior senator from iowa, jon joni ernst, why t they acting like they're representing the mexican drug cartels? we take that up tonight. >>> president trump swatting away at his annoying detractors. president trump asserted executive privilege today to block the radical dimms access to census documents and the president asked what sense does a census make without a citizenship question. >> i think when you have a census and you're not allowed to talk about whether somebody is a citizen or not, that doesn't sound too good to me. it's totally ridiculous that we would have a census without asking. but the supreme court is going to be ruling op it soon. i think when the census goes out you should find out whether or not and you have the right to ask whether or not somebody ask a citizen of the united states. lou: for more on the president's executive privilege assertion, we turn to our chief intelligence correspondent, katherincatherine herridge. >> the house overs

grassley: senator casey. casey: thank you for the hard work you are doing and staying in touch with us. you won't be surprised i will be raising the issue of enforcement and i know you spoke to that both in your testimony and i'm sure otherwise today. awanted to start with reiteration of my support for the labor and cooperation enforcement framework that two of our colleagues. senator wyden being the ranking member. just by way of quick summary increasing the number and training of enforcement the u.s. provided capacity building of joint initiatives to promote the enforcement of international recognized labor rights. and also working together to inspect facilities. all of that which i know you are aware of. i wanted to put that on the record for emphasis. with antart today acronym and description. it is known as the bureau of labor -- international labor affairs and -- in our department of labor. here is what their website says in terms of the mission of this bureau. in the general description of their work t

senator grassley talked on it a little bit.hat's your take that there is also some concerns that it won't lead to as much savings as people think. i know independent actuaries at medicare said this might raise costs. those will be made up for somehow on the back end. and medpac has said that. cms. what are your thoughts on the rebate rule and whether it's as beneficial as some my belief it is? >> well, i'm a skeptic. because every time we've tried to do something, folks have been able to game it. and so i think there are people sincerely in there trying to work within the current system. but i also just know in the end -- to me, it's all about -- bottom line, in the end, do we pay more? do we pay less? are we the highest in the world, lowest in the world, somewhere in between? we are the highest prices in the world. so, you know, just from a cost benefit standpoint, value standpoint, you've got to step back and go, doesn't matter how we change the chairs on the titanic. the ship is going down. and so we need to be focussing on

senator grassley talked about it a little bit.e that there's also some concerns that it won't lead to as much savings as maybe people think. i know independent actuaries at medicare said this might raise costs because we're not going to get all -- bills will be made up somehow on the back end. medpac has said that your what are your thoughts on the rebate rule and whether it's beneficial as some might believe it is? >> i am a skeptic, because every time we try to do something, hopes have been able to gain it. i think there are people since early in the kind of work within the current system, but i also just know in the end come to me is all about bottom line come in the end, do we pay more, you would pay less? i with the highest in the world, most in the world, some in between? we have the highest prices in the world. the just from a cost-benefit standpoint, value standpoint, he's got to step akin gump doesn't matter how we change the chairs on the titanic. the ship is going down. so we need to be focusing on the big picture which

senator chuck grassley says the move is really putting a wrench in their ability to get the usmca through congress. >> i think it's not a setback from the standpoint of how hard i'm going to work to get usmca passed so the president can have a big victory. i'm disgusted in several ways, not with the white house but there's some disagreement even among republicans whether resolution of disapproval would be appropriate. reporter: senator cornyn telling fox news he doesn't think congress can consider the usmca as long as we are in this trade fight with mexico. some in the gop are thinking about overriding the president's tariff threat by voting to block the added tax on products coming from mexico. republicans are concerned that this ever-growing tariff could have catastrophic effects on consumers and companies and the u.s. economy as a whole. senator john kennedy says he

but first rino senate chuck grassley saying that congress has delegated too much authority to president trump an adamant opposer of prmp's tariffs that he threatened against mexico says lawmakers in congress not the president should be making the final decision on tariffs. senator. most of the people in congress couldn't spell tariff. what are you talking about. and especially a senator from iowa. from iowa. he should perhaps focus on illegal immigration. the crisis in his own state. iowa home to 50,000 illegal immigrants. back in 2008 nearly 400 illegal immigrants were detained in an i.c.e. raid in iowa. we haven't heard too much about raids there or stopping illegal imgraition animmigration and hif illegal immigrants. i wonder why the senate is so interested in this issue.

>> zuckerberg was on the hill talking to senate and congress, senator chuck grassley asked him how his company makes money, how do you not know this? you need to know the things, someone in your office needs to understand this. this is what we are up against, congress is behind on technology, i'm sure they have staffers, this is not one side of the other but both sides of the aisle. dagen: there's bipartisan agreement that you heard similar things from republicans and elizabeth warren. >> right. dagen: in terms of -- where do you see this going? >> if you talk narrowly about the hearings, they will talk about being monopoly, same situation where elected officials aren't going to understand business model, aren't going to be able to unpack that, the real issue that needs to be litigated is privacy, they avoid privacy discussion because they will be defending themselves saying they are not monopoly. we have to address the privacy situation. >> the privacy situation is worst than i think any of us are aware of.

>> i agree with senator grassley as rare as that might be.policy and trade policy is different from immigration policy. the president should send an enjoy down to mexico and get them to work on their side of the border to stop the flow coming through their country. tariffs will be known as the trump tax and it will hurt the economy. it's one thing it president has going for him going into 2020. judge jeanine: stephanie? >> what options do we have? we did a segment where the democrat was because president trump was threatening to shut count border. we didn't do that. clearly mexico will ask. as an america i can tell you i would be willing to sacrifice avocados for border security. i don't liberals don't want to sacrifice their avocado toast. judge jeanine: we have tried everything. the president has tried everything. there was talk and i thought there was an agreement where mexico was going to hold asylum seekers in mexico until we could process them. but in the end we have a scenario where mexico, not just the united states, and it will be a

news, we did get our picture taken together, so maybe it's out there that we met with senator grassley and ranking member brady, who was with you, and richie neal, our chairman of the ways and means committee. such a nice ring to it, richie neal, chairman of the ways and means committee. anyway, we met. our concerns are as follows. overarching enforcement. you must have enforcement. or else you're just having a conversation. if you don't have enforcement, you're just having nafta again with sprinkles on top or something, but you're not having a new nafta because enforcement is very essential to implementing a trade agreement. our three areas of concern are overarching, workers. what does it mean to america's working families? secondly, environment. what does it mean in terms of the environment? big disappointment, some of what happened with nafta in terms of the environment. and the third, which is a big concern, and my caucus, is the pharmaceutical, how pharmaceutical drugs are treated in the agreement. more on the subject if you ask me, but those are the three areas. then there are o

. >> the president is even taking heat within his own party, this from senator chuck grassley of iowa policy and port security are separate issues, trump should consider alternatives such as imposing a fee on the billions of dollars, annually leave the us-mexico which only encourages illegal immigration and don't help the u.s. economy. the present members of his own party when he announced this. >> it's not on characteristic, leadership on the hill, reportedly what happened in this case, what we are hearing as well, not just grassley but reporters, essentially just disproportionally help them because they import significant amount of mexican goods. a ripple effect on the. you are seeing folks in the republican party, tariffs across the board. this move as well. president is just a couple of minutes ago, tweeting about how the u.s. will no longer be the piggy bank for the world and was himself drying something of an organizing between his china strategy, it doesn't seem as if there will be any talk down on this. his most trusted advisors tried. i don't think grassley will succeed. >> o

lou: yeah, i just, i just -- it rankles me so profoundly, to have grassley talking as if he is therea blue, white robe of some is sort speaking from a cloud about the sins of mere mortals when he has been aiding and abetting this nonsense with his establishment blather and inaction, dragging his feet at every opportunity and then reporting back to good people of iowa just pure nonsense. i just can't stand this pure, aggravated, to me, disloyalty to this nation. it is sickening to watch the sanctimonious nonsense instead of people with enough guts to actually take action against what is clearly a violation of our laws and the integrity of our entire system. >> yeah. i mean, lou, i've used this analogy with you before, but what goes on in washington, d.c., it's a hot like professional wrestling, you know? when you see it for the first time, you think that the combatants don't like each other, they hate each other, they're hitting each other. the fact of the matter is they're business partners, they're working together, and there's a lot of that in washington, d.c. where, you know, one

senator grassley. i will refer to a letter i sent to state homeland security, fbi and department of defense. it was in regard to an interview you gave in which you confirm there is active hezbollah cells in venezuela, and, of course, everything going on in venezuela is -- is just something that gets our attention very quickly. hezbollah's -- or venezuela's proximity to our border increases their scope of influence, and also allows other foreign adversaries like china, russia and iran to strengthen their existing power hubs. when looking at local counter narcotics, it's nearly impossible to ignore the effect of drug trafficking organizations, transnational criminal organizations and terrorist groups. in fact, by many accounts, state weakness and powerful criminal organizations are a direct result of drug trafficking. so my first question, what role does hezbollah play in organized drug trafficking? what other related criminal and terrorist activity exists as a result of money generated by trafficking dr

well it's there's been bipartisan condemnation of the republican senator chuck grassley who represents a major agricultural state was among the 1st to come out and condemn these new tariffs saying that they're inappropriate obviously this has an impact on what farmers in his state are able to sell on the global market and of course because mexico is one of the u.s. is 2 continental neighbors there's a lot of agricultural traffic that goes not just north from mexico into the u.s. but southward from the u.s. into mexico and so that is something that is very much of a real concern mr grassley is also the chair of the senate agricultural committee so he's very much in tune with how economic policy affects the well being of farmers whether here in the united states or in some other country of course many democrats are also condemning this move but what you're hearing from both democrats and republicans fully is that ultimately whatever the amount of the tariff is it's not going to be the producer that having to take the financial hit that cost is passed along to whoever ends up buying the p

clearly not sufficient, senator grassley. your point is well taken. there are still spaces where money can move. the anti-money laundering laws are good. they're effective. they give us the resources and tools, and we force a lot of the resources to move through cash systems, not international banking systems, but there's still more work to do there. >> is there any change of law or help you need from congress in that regard? have you suggested anything? if you do, now is an opportunity to repeat it. >> senator grassley, if you will, i'd love to have treasury give you the answer to that in writing. >> so it's more treasury than -- >> the money laundering -- we have a tiny role in this. it is really a treasury matter more than it is state. we work on that same set of issues and the designations that flow from those often are state department designations. but the most important work in the banking system is done by treasury. >> okay. this might be my last question. colombia is the world's leading producer of cocaine. plan colombia we've talked about. w

i want to show you what republican senator chuck grassley said. he said he supported most of the president's immigration policies, but not this one. he says, this is a misuse of presidential tariff authority and counters the congressional intent following through on this threat would serious jeopardize passage at the usmca, and what could be a victory for the country. are you worried about the impact it could have on the passage of that trade agreement? >> i think that trade agreement is it going to go through. i think they're going to work it out. remember nafta itself took a great deal of time and over 400 side agreements. this is going to have a bunch of side agreements, too, they're working on that. if it were not to work to ame ameliorate what we have. mexico already sent up an envoy to try to negotiate with this administration and arriving next week, that tells me how important they think this. the president says we've worked with the carrot side and we'll work with the stick side. what would you tell businesses near the border worried that

senator grassley: thank you, senator. thank you, ambassador lighthizer. your willingness to appear. i hope you consider your obligation to appear. you have a lot on your plate. and we know that you work hard at your job. i would request that senators with questions for the record please submit them by the close of business july 2. meeting adjourned. thank you for coming. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2019] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] >> if you missed any of this hearing with trade representative lighthizer you can see it in its entirety at c-span.org. just type lighthizer in the search box. coming up at 2:00 p.m. eastern, the u.s. house comes into session. live coverage on c-span. later today, house members will resume debate on a bill for labor, health, education, defense, energy, water programs. watch the house live when they return here on c-span. >> oh, do i look forward trouning against them. >> tonight, president donald trump holds a rally in orland

two we wouldn't be in this situation people like chuck grassley would have done their job. would have done their job, trump would need to be putting tariffs on mexico. that is the problem. >> it is precisely that but that is a matter that is now in the rearview here. this is all now about the future with the president taking charge of the situation. >> thank you. >> a woman in florida, awakened to the sound of her kitchen window being shattered but instead of coming face-to-face with a burglar, she found a different sort of intruder. 11-foot alligator in this happened in clearwater, four. the gator went through a kitchen window, started thrashing arou around, knocking over furniture and damaging walls. police and the gator trapper at the gator outside, the wound was at home. she said she's upset about the reptile smashing her good bottles of wine. she should really get over that quickly. don't you think? reaction from attorney general william barr about the deep state attempted overthrow of trump. that and much more after the break. break. back then, we checked our zero tim

they found a sympathetic ear in chuck grassley, who set publicly as a republican from iowa, he wantso prevent having those tariffs in any way shape or form be able to be applied when the president cites national security concerns. and with senator pat toomey, i am sorry, senator bob casey, he told me he wants mr. lighthizer on u.s. cma and will die get past. influence is of an representative lighthizer is having in terms of the debate, and in terms of what is going on in the white house? does he have the year of the president? kevin: u.s. trade representative height laser has been at the forefront of having to negotiate with democrats, especially in the democratic-controlled house of representatives he has been the point person dealing with house speaker nancy pelosi as they build some type of bipartisan coalition across the finish line. he has had to work and negotiate with more progressive members, who have argued, this is not a progressive enough deal as they would like. this will be front and center. vonnie: can i ask you about the tweet on mario draghi and ecb earlier, kevin? wh

why is grassley and the junior senator from iowa, jon joni ernst,

lou: when i watch cornyn and grassley and the whole butch of the republican leadership -- do we have this picture of the republican leadership in the senator in i would like to show these audience. these folks who preteb pretend e leaders taking responsibility for the people who put them in washington, d.c. again, do we have that picture available? if not -- there they are. a jovial bunch, joni ernest, blunt to your right, left there, mcconnell in the middle, john thune in the back. these people are the ones selling out this president and i want every american to see just who it is that is trying to commit -- first of all they're committing political suicide because they are refusing to support this president. they didn't pay much attention to what happened in the november midterms last year. everyone who did not support this president lost their seat. that's why the democrats are in control. it's going to happen again. and to see these people stand up and question the president, these are the geniuses who got it in this mess, tom. these are the same people who pushed these nonsense

chuck grassley said this. >> we'll be very vocal that we think tariffs in this instance are hurting the chances of getting the usmca. and for me that's a very important goal. and goal of this committee. >> the president reaffirmed his position when he was in ireland. the assessment is 5% is a small penalty for mexico to pay if it can't get the southern border under control. we'll update you should we have any more news about what happened here at the white house today or what potentially the foreign secretary said at the embassy. connell: stand by in the briefing room. if this goes through there is the possibility they might block the tariffs. they are said to start at 5%' and go up from there. chuck schumer says he doesn't think it will actually happen. >> if past is prologue, he makes threats, then he backs off when he sees the danger. i have the feeling this one just popped into his head. it's clear many in the administration will disagree. i believe he'll back off when faced with opposition among business and his own republicans. when he sees what a dumb move he has made in terms of

why is grassley and the junior senator from iowa, jon joni ernst, why

[applause] and i also want to recognize and thank great senator chuck grassley. chuck, thank you very much. [applause] e-15, the way on ethanol, right? he's tough. when he goes after you, he's brew tasm but he gets what he wants and then he likes you, right? congratulations to the farmer, frankly. great job. appreciate it. and that's all year round. mike braun. thank you, mike. great job you're doing. representative, greg walden, we worked so hard together on right greg. people are loving it. devin nunes, incredible people. lieu tetant governor jeff dunkin' and doug forest. thank you. you didn't get a very good seat. i can't believe it. [laughter] it's not like you. and all of our great state legislators we have a lot of them with us today. a lot of great medical people and doctors. for decades powerful insurance companies lobbyist and specialist interests have denied the real cost of the health care services they provide. it's that simple. this lack of price, transparency that is enriched entry giants greatly costing americans hundreds of billions of dollars a y

the state department notification to grassley who is overseeing this review does not identify individuals by name but fox news was first to report the key aide huma abiden and jake sullivan sent things through it. despite the two-year f.b.i. investigation no one was charged with mishandling classified information even though james comey confirmed in july 2016 that seven email chains were classified at the top secret special access program level when they were sent or received by clinton's team. they are among the u.s. government's most closely guarded secrets, sean. >> sean: great investigative work as always. thank you so much for sharing that with our audience. more later in the show. first we turn our "hannity" watch. radical socialist democrats their close friends and the media mob. tonight nancy pelosi is barely clinging to her gavel. the speaker in name only is trying to prevent her radical base from launching an impeachment proceeding against president trump. i said speaker in name only to apiece this radical base. top democrats investigating trump/russia collusion. they once again

turns out he has gone full on rino and establishment hack chuck grassley.s grassley and the junior senator from iowa acting like they represented the mexican

chuck grassley has been disapproving on tariffs impacting his state.re they going to vote against him? that's a big ask >> absolutely. >>> appreciate it, guys. >>> shares of apple are down 14% in the last month but is now on a rebound the time to buy? plus why falling interest rates aren't spurring an increase in home buying. that's all coming up on "power lunch. is this ride safe? i assembled it myself last night. i think i did an ok job. just ok? what if something bad happens? we just move to the next town. just ok is not ok. especially when it comes to your network. at&t is america's best wireless network according to america's biggest test. now with 5g evolution. the first step to 5g. more for your thing. that's our thing. dear tech, let's talk. we have a pretty good relationship. you've done a lot of good for the world. but i feel like you have the potential to do so much more. can we build ai without bias? how do we bake security into everything we do? we need tech that helps people understand each other. that understands my business. we've got s

turns out he has gone full on rino and establishment hack chuck grassley.he junior senator from iowa acting like they represented

one person benefitting is chuck grassley.e applied for assistance both times the trump administration offered it and said only farmers with dirt under their finger nails should get it. chuck grassley worked in washington since 1975. trump tried to soften the blow as trade wars with billions in hand outs. farmers are bearing the burden and the situation is getting worse. so much for trade wars being good and easy to win. that's your reality check. >> that's a good dose of reality, john. thank you very much. >> a double dose of reality. >> make mine a double. jon stewart came out of retirement for a stunning performance yesterday. >> behind me -- >> it wasn't a performance. this is real life for him and for the people with him. >> it was emotional and intense. he told off congress for saying they would never forget 9/11. then he says overlooking our heroes. >> sick and dying, they brought themselves down here to speak to no one. shameful. for hair that hates humidity with rich coconut oil, a legendary smoother, and cocoa butter

and elizabeth warren tells the story about how she has worked with chuck grassley for over the counters to save money for people. >> but none of these are espousing segregationist views. >> many of them are espousing views that are an anathema to many people on the democratic side when it comes to women's rights and immigration and some pretty broad civil rights issues that many of us feel strongly about in 2020, including joe biden. so i think the point that vice president biden was making last night was that, yes, those views were repugnant to him, and he has told that story many times because of how repugnant those views were to him. >> this becomes a debate inside the party. if you listen to ocasio-cortez, for example, and other progressives, they will say that the very foundation of this story is simply incorrect. because those reviews are so repugnant, the system itself needs to be thrown out. and this seems to be an argument from the vice president this idea generally that you have to work with republicans. segregationists aside. i mean, do you, you believe that this is the righ