congressional_record: CREC-2025-01-16-pt1-PgS197-5
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| granule_id | date | congress | session | volume | issue | title | chamber | granule_class | sub_granule_class | page_start | page_end | speakers | bills | citation | full_text |
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| CREC-2025-01-16-pt1-PgS197-5 | 2025-01-16 | 119 | 1 | LEGISLATIVE SESSION | SENATE | SENATE | SLEGISLATIVE | S197 | S197 | [{"name": "Chuck Grassley", "role": "speaking"}] | [{"congress": "119", "type": "S", "number": "5"}] | 171 Cong. Rec. S197 | Congressional Record, Volume 171 Issue 9 (Thursday, January 16, 2025) [Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 9 (Thursday, January 16, 2025)] [Senate] [Page S197] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov] LEGISLATIVE SESSION ______ LAKEN RILEY ACT--Resumed The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the Senate will resume consideration of S. 5, which the clerk will report. The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows: A bill (S. 5) to require the Secretary of Homeland Security to take into custody aliens who have been charged in the United States with theft, and for other purposes. Pending: Thune (for Ernst/Grassley) Amendment No. 8, to include crimes resulting in death or serious bodily injury to the list of offenses that, if committed by an inadmissible alien, require mandatory detention. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Iowa. Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I ask to speak in morning business for 2 or 3 minutes. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. National Pharmacists Day Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, on Sunday, January 12, it was National Pharmacists Day. I think it is quite appropriate that we pay attention and give reward to the work that pharmacists do. I would like to extend a warm thank-you to Iowa pharmacists for their dedication and for their service. While we commonly know a pharmacist as someone who fills our prescription needs and educates us about medications, a pharmacist is typically the most accessible healthcare provider, and that is especially true for rural America. Do you know what? Nearly 90 percent of the U.S. population lives within 5 miles of a pharmacy. For several Congresses, I have been leading a bipartisan effort that is called the Pharmacy and Medically Underserved Areas Enhancement Act. This bill encourages pharmacists--only where they are licensed and trained to do this--to offer healthcare services under Medicare, such as health and wellness screenings, immunizations, and diabetes management. This is necessary because, for many seniors in rural areas, it is simply easier to get to a pharmacist than it is to get to their nearest doctor. I also know that it is vital to protect rural pharmacists from greedy pharmacy benefit managers who have placed unfair pressures on pharmacies in recent years. In fact, I hear from a lot of Iowa pharmacists that if we don't do something about pharmacy benefit managers, we are going to continue to lose pharmacies in the small communities of rural America and particularly Iowa. So, since 2018, I and about 65 or 70 of my colleagues have been trying to hold PBMs accountable and do that through legislation--about three different pieces of legislation--so that we can lower prescription drug prices and, in turn, keep our rural pharmacies in business. We want to do this through transparency because nobody knows what PBMs do. It is an opaque operation; yet they make up our formularies. Do they help big pharmaceutical companies or do they help the consumer? We don't know, and we need to do that. So I hope this Congress will move on some legislation to make what PBMs do transparent because with transparency comes accountability. I am going to keep fighting for our pharmacists and our consumers. I yield the floor. Recognition of the Majority Leader The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader is recognized. ____________________ |