mr. cassidy was a direct bowen.ent of charles this man wrote about the war in ways. that wase people reading the letters looked into his soul. this man was a laborer before the war. this man set up a gambling shop to make money in the army. we had a talk yesterday about the financial burdens of war on the poor. let us not forget that those pressures were certainly great. bowen was trying to work his way up the social ladder by making some money. he was still a man who believed in couldbowen himself sympathize. his shoes were in tatters, he could not afford a new era of gloves, he was suffering greatly. he still refused to defy military authority. he refused to defy military authority because again of what he saw and more forrtantly of experience. two years, he had been in the experienced had comradese had seen his such as fredericksburg, he saw his comrades go to his death to follow orders for an attack that was of course suicidal. he had the experience in camp of seeing the suffering of his comrades. he was a subjected to discipline as well as inflicted discipline b

senator cassidy. >> mr. secretary, thank you for being here. let me start off with a specific drug and then we'll build from that into a line of questioning. you and i have in the past spoken of glevic, released in 2001 used to be probably a couple thousand dollars a year, now i'm told that it costs $8800 a year in canada, and it costs $144,000 here in the united states. now, as you and i both know, the way that the catastrophic coverage works, is that once somebody moves into the catastrophic portion, the beneficiary is responsible for 5% of the list price, not the net price. and so i have a former patient, i'm only former because i'm no longer practicing, she's paying 5% of $144,000 for a drug which has been released since 2001. now my staff tells me that the company that has glevic has extended the patent protection if you will with an agreement with the generic competition. now, senator asked, what do we do about this and you responded we need competition. i would say what do we do about glevic, available since 2001, canadians spend less th

cassidy. >> thank you mr. secretary, like all of my colleagues, i hear from my families across the commonwealth about how the prices affect their lives and one in four americans who take prescription drugs have a difficulty affording them. let me read a letter i got from one ned andrew who lives in great falls who wanted tohare his story. in the united states, drugs that effectively cures severalorms of leukemia cost approximately $159 to manufacture. in the united states there is no available generic and brand names market cost is $146,000 a year, 159 to make that $146,000. this isn't a drug consumers can choose not to take. they would literally die of cancer. my father is being treated leukemia that is effectively curable. .. >> but ts issu is one that i hope all in congress and the nation as a whole come together on. studies about that indicate the cost ofanufturing cost $159 per year that the price charged is $31000 the price for a generic is $8000. i read president trump's announcement and your testimony

cassidy. >> actually, mr. -- secretary azar, what i heard is that if you effectively work congress, we can keep medicare beneficiaries from paying more, while we save taxpayers $30 billion and make the system more sustainable. that's what i heard from you. i have five minutes so i agree totally with senator bennett, he and i and others are working on a price transparency initiative, clearly youe aft transparency. now one thi when you spoke about rooebtss and you pointly said you may have the authority within part d, what about the commercial system? >> so within rebates we actually have the anti-kickback statute where the rebate safe harbor exists that created this whole rebate system to start with. how far that reaches beyond government programs and whether that could apply into purely commercial/private pay systems, would be -- we need to study that? >> if you can let us know. that's where congress would want to step in. >> that's why i told the chairman we would welcome congress -- >> me stop, next year mentioned as well and people have been concerned how quickly will consumers begin to see

cassidy. senator whitehouse. >> thank you, mr. chairman. mr. redick, good to see you. thank you for your visit to my office. the irs has a history from days of having been used as a political weapon. we have a president who apparently is regularly demanding loyalty of folks who are appointed. we witness the administration leaning on both independent reg larts -- regulators and on agency of government like doj that are supposed to be independent to try to impose their will. that combination of factors raises the question of how, a, have you made any loyalty pledge or been asked to make any loyalty pledge. no, you have not. >> excuse me. no on both counts. >> no on both counts. and along the spectrum of yielding to political pressure when it's brought to bear on you versus being staunchly independent as commissioner, where do you expect you would fall along that spectrum? >> i would hope that the members of this committee and the american taxpayers see me as staunchly independent or more so. >> one of the problems we talked about in my office is the problem of shell corp

mr. chairman. >> -- advice and consent on the committee. senator cassidy. >> thank you. thank you both for being here. mr. chairman, thank you. last week i was in lafayette, louisiana, announced our save your families community initiative and i would speak to folks back home and what i learned from them will be the basis of my questions for you. i spoke to the father of the 17-year-old, the young man who eventually died who when he first went into treatment was asked by the insurance company to be released two weeks after treatment began. the fact that he died obviously indicates that this was not not effective strategy. then i contrast it with my next conversation, which is that if you're an impaired physician in louisiana, there's a minimum of three months inpatient therapy, then one month follow-up before you're allowed to practice once more. so contrast that, which is apparently effective, three months inpatient with a month of follow-up, with that which clearly was not, after two weeks they were asked to leave. lastly, i spoke to another physician who told me of the

cassidy. senator mccain. >> thank you, mr. chairman and mr. secretary. i hear about how high prices affect their lives. one in four americans who take prescription drugs have difficulty affording them. let me read a letter from a guy i got from andrew vitner who lives in great falls and wanted to share his story. a drug that cures several forms of leukemia, in the united states there's no available generic and the brand name drug's market cost is $146,000 a year, $159,000 to make it, $146,000 a year. this is not a drug that consumers can choose not to take. to be blunt they will quite literally die of cancer. the cost of this drug is a major finance burden our our family. this is to me an absolutely unacceptable exploitation of extremely vulnerable americans who have quite literally no other options to get this lifesaving treatment without searching for loopholes in the law or outright breaking it. preventing this exploitation is something every american can agree on, an issue that has lives in the balance. i know these are trying divided times, but this

judge executive cassidy, who was a maj cqring the land for the county, and preserving the history there. d stevemcbri the director of interpretation and archeology at the heritage park, and mrs. mary kozak, special projects director for jessamine county, kentucky, who has worked tirely -- tirelessly preserving the history of camp nelson. i also want to thank several others who contributed to our efforts and assisted in gaining support for this effort, including governor beaven, the jessamine county fiscal court, the lexington-fayette naacp chapter, the jassamine chamber of commerce, and my colleague, congresswoman marcia fudge, from ohio, among others. it is one of my gls in congress to make camp nelson a place wre the entire nation can experience the rich history has to offer. and apprecte the ain story it tells about the long march toward freedom for african-americans in kentucky and beyond. and with that, i urge my colleagues to support this legislation. and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from kentucky yields. theentleman from utah reserves. the chair recognizes the gentleman from northern mariana islands. mr. sablan: thank you very much, mr. chairma

mr. chairman i will yield back the balance of my time. >> in that order i will call on you and then we will have a second round after i've asked my questions. senator cassidy. >> thanks for coming. i enjoyed were meeting in my office. in february i had an exchange with the acting commissioner on identity theft and protection of taxpayer data. my identity was stolen once and it still has implications in terms of how we violated when we receive the dollars back. so, the significant reductions in id theft since 2015 is 1.4 million fraudulent returns in 201 2015 of 600,000 this yea. what thoughts do you have as to how we can move the 600,000 which cost billions of dollars in fraudulent returns down towards zero? >> i'm oui encoded the fact thae interim reserve has made a bit debate could end and it would still be too much that any identity theft is still too much. there are issues with respect to the timing of certain functions in the internal revenue service if they were a lot more time they could prevent the theft situations and stuff like this is confirmed by bot by the forwo working with you in that regard. >> i'm told that my sou my stoln return did not n

mr. dicht. >> thank you for having us. >> thank you for having us. >> george. >>> thank you, amy. >>> coming up, that stunning confession from david cassidy.th. we'll have never before heard audio next. to most, he's phil mickelson, pro golfer. to me, he's, well, dad. so when his joint pain from psoriatic arthritis got really bad, it scared me. and what could that pain mean? joint pain could mean joint damage. enbrel helps relieve joint pain, helps stop irreversible joint damage, and helps skin get clearer. enbrel may lower your ability to fight infections. serious, sometimes fatal events including infections, tuberculosis, lymphoma, other cancers, nervous system and blood disorders, and allergic reactions have occurred. tell your doctor if you've been someplace where fungal infections are common, or if you're prone to infections, have cuts or sores, have had hepatitis b, have been treated for heart failure, or if you have persistent fever, bruising, bleeding, or paleness. don't start enbrel if you have an infection like the flu. since enbrel, dad's back to being dad. visit enbrel.com and use the joint damage simulator to see how your join

mr. chairman i will yield back the balance of my time. >> in that order i will call on you and then we will have a second round after i've asked my questions. senator cassidy. >> thanks for coming. i enjoyed were meeting in my office. in february i had an exchange with the acting commissioner on identity theft and protection of taxpayer data. my identity was stolen once and it still has implications in terms of how we violated when we receive the dollars back. so, the significant reductions in id theft since 2015 is 1.4 million fraudulent returns in 201 2015 of 600,000 this yea. what thoughts do you have as to how we can move the 600,000 which cost billions of dollars in fraudulent returns down towards zero? >> i'm oui encoded the fact thae interim reserve has made a bit debate could end and it would still be too much that any identity theft is still too much. there are issues with respect to the timing of certain functions in the internal revenue service if they were a lot more time they could prevent the theft situations and stuff like this is confirmed by bot by the forwo working with you in that regard. >> i'm told that my sou my stoln return did not n

mr. cassidy: mr. president, i'm here to speak about honoring steve gleason with the congressional gold medal. steve is well known in louisiana through the gulf coast and to football fans across the country. he's a washington state native, as senator murray recently spoke, but now lives in new orleans with his wife, michelle, and his son, rivers. steve played in the nfl for eight seasons, mostly with the new orleans saints, famous for the new orleans saints because on september 25, 2006, monday night football, the first game back in the superdome when the superdome reopened after hurricane katrina, the saifntses were playing their arch rierval the hated atlanta falcons. probably the presiding officer likes the falcons. the falcons were punting deep in their own territory. steve broke through the line, blocked the punt, the ball recovered for a touchdown. the stadium erupted. 70,000 fans in a domed stadium. i was watching on tv. al michaels was blown away. an incredible moment, not just for the football

mr. cassidy: mr. president, i rise to address on two separate topics. let me begin with national seersucker day. senator wicker started it by speaking about earlier about seersucker day. it is a bipartisan tradition to celebrate an american tradition, an american tradition is that started in new orleans and anyone who's been in new orleans in july and august can understand why you would like it a lightweight summer suit. and i was asked today by a reporter, why would you continue seersucker tradition? i'm thinking, wait a second. why wouldn't you wear a lightweight suit on a summer's day as opposed to a wool suit? and it just makes sense, but sometimes such sense is in short supply here in washington, d.c. on the other hand, it is something in which both parties, folks from all regions of our country, participate in. and, again, it started in new orleans when joseph haspel developed seersucker. so it is a lightweight suit. it is, if you will, a lighthearted tradition. but it is one that celebrates an

mr. president, to let down that many americans who depend on the nationalod insurance program. again, i strongly encourage my colleagues to support this emergency extension of the nfip which i'm working on, along with senator cassidy, the senior senator from louisiana and whose support i greatly appreciate. we're a month awayrom a lapse of the nfip. 21 working days in the senate, and that's why i'm requesting a vote on a clean short-term status quo reauthorization that will get us through hurricane season. thank you, mr. president, and i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. mr. cornyn: mr. president. the presiding officer: the majority whip. mr. cornyn: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. cornyn: mr. president, as we all know, we are on the farm bill of the senate. i want to thank chairman roberts and ranking member stabenow to get us this far. when differences are along ideological lines, the differences in the farm bill tend to be regiol as much as anything he's, -- else, they've done a good job to bring a fair and equitable bill to the senate floor and that's reflected by the