Executive Session

Floor Speech

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Mr. CORNYN. Madam President, we learned yesterday that Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen was stepping down from her position as Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. I just got off the phone with her and thanked her for her service.

When the Department was first established more than a decade and a half ago, we knew that this position would be a very tough one, especially in the aftermath of 9/11--the terrible terrorist attacks. We knew that protecting the American people from the growing threat of terrorism was job No. 1. The truth is that this job has only gotten tougher as time has gone by. While counterterrorism remains a central focus for the DHS, the number of missions it is responsible for, both on the ground and in cyber space, has multiplied to include a myriad of natural and manmade threats.

Since Secretary Nielsen has taken this job, she has led the Department's response through flooding and wildfires, foreign attempts to infiltrate our election infrastructure, and the growing humanitarian crisis we continue to see unfold along the southern border.

Above all, Secretary Nielsen has been a fierce advocate for the men and women at the Department who carry out these diverse missions on a daily basis. With more than 240,000 DHS employees around the world-- many of them in Texas--keeping them mission-ready is one of the most important responsibilities the Secretary has, and it is one she has taken very seriously.

I have had the opportunity to work closely with the Secretary on a number of issues but in particular on attempting to find commonsense reforms to secure our border and close loopholes that are being exploited in our immigration system. I have been consistently impressed by her deep knowledge of the issues and of her steadfast commitment to finding solutions.

America is better off for her service, and I hope we will continue to find good people like the Secretary who will be willing to contribute their service to the betterment of our country. I thank her, and I wish her well in the next chapter of her life.

Prescription Drug Costs

Madam President, the Senate Finance Committee will continue with hearings tomorrow on the high cost of prescription drugs. I hear a lot about this back home in Texas. Whether they are seniors who struggle to cover the costs of the prescriptions they have been taking for years or will be taking for the rest of their lives or whether they are parents who face tough financial decisions to make sure their children receive the medications they need, their stories can be heartbreaking. I have no doubt that all of my colleagues here in the Senate and in Congress hear the same things back home from their constituents.

A February Kaiser Family Foundation poll found that nearly 80 percent of Americans believe that the cost of prescription drugs is too high, and nearly 30 percent of adults, because of the cost, report their not taking their medications as prescribed. In other words, they are self- rationing, and it can be dangerous.

Without intervention, I don't expect these prices to drop anytime soon. In fact, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has estimated that between 2018 and 2027, consumers could expect to see their prescription drug costs increase by an average of 6.1 percent each year. That is faster than the increase in doctors' visits, hospital stays, or any other aspect of healthcare.

What exactly is behind these high prices? That is exactly what the Senate Finance Committee is going to find out. Over the last few months, we have been looking at every step a drug takes when it is en route from research and development to the bottle in your medicine cabinet, and we have been asking a lot of questions along the way. We have heard from patients, health economists, and pharmaceutical companies.

We will be talking tomorrow mainly to pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs, who are the intermediaries between the manufacturers, consumers, and health plans. They negotiate with manufacturers to secure rebates, which should lower the price of the prescription drugs for patients, but many times they do not. The size of a rebate could mean the difference between a drug's being covered by your insurance or not.

There are a lot of financial incentives in healthcare and prescription drug pricing that we need to peel back, like one would the layers of an onion, so that we will know exactly what is going on. What I find so surprising is that for as big a role as PBMs play, we know surprisingly little about how they operate.

The terms of these rebates, including dollar amounts and incentives, are cloaked in secrecy. Since there is no paper trail or standard procedure on how these rebates or discounts are determined, it is nearly impossible to follow the money. I have always told people that I am not sure why prescription drug pricing is so complex. I don't know whether it is by design or if it is unintentional, but it certainly exists. This lack of transparency for the consumer is concerning, as it should not take an advanced degree to figure out where your money is going when you buy your prescription drugs.

I am eager to question these PBMs tomorrow and to hopefully begin to remove the shroud of secrecy surrounding these rebates and prescription drug prices. Finding out what has led to these rising prices is critical to ensuring that Americans are able to receive the drugs they need at prices they can afford. Tice Family

Madam President, on a final matter, several families were in Washington this last week to advocate for the release of their loved ones by two rogue regimes. One of the men being held captive in Syria is Austin Tice.

There are many ways you can describe Austin. He is a seventh- generation Texan, a decorated Marine Corps veteran, an Eagle Scout, and an award-winning journalist. Yet, to Austin's family, he is so much more than his impressive list of accomplishments. He is their beloved son, brother, and friend whom they have not seen or heard from for 6\1/ 2\ years.

In the summer of 2012, Austin was getting ready to enter his final year of law school at Georgetown University. Instead of spending the summer working at a law firm, he chose to do something few were brave enough to do at the time, which was to report on the Syrian civil war from the inside. Austin always had a passion for storytelling, and he was frustrated by the lack of reporting on the impact this vicious violence was having on the Syrian people.

In demonstrating his courage and tenacity gained during his time in the Marine Corps, Austin got on a plane that May to fly to Turkey. Over the summer, his photos and stories illuminated the human cost of this conflict until one day in August of 2012 his stories abruptly stopped. The following month, a shocking video surfaced that showed Austin's having been blindfolded, bound, and surrounded by unidentified, armed men. Austin was just a few days from returning to the United States when he was abducted, and to this day, we have no specific information about his captors or the conditions for his release.

Austin's family--particularly Marc and Debra, his parents--has worked tirelessly over these last 6\1/2\ years to locate Austin and to bring him home. I have had the privilege of meeting with them multiple times, and I can only imagine what an impact this has had on them and on their entire family. I have tremendous respect for Marc, Debra, and their family. I wonder if others could stand up under this pressure as well as they have, lo these many years, during their steadfast advocacy for their son's safe return. Yet they do have a sort of serene confidence that comes across when you talk to them in that one day, Austin will return home.

Once again, I join the Tice family in calling on Austin's captors to release him immediately. I also continue to call on the administration to make sure that Austin is kept in mind when there are any discussions with the Syrian Government and future decisions to remove U.S. forces from Syria. I assure Austin's family that our resolve has not weakened; it has only grown stronger. I will do everything possible to press for his release, and I will continue to urge the administration to do the same.

CITGO 6 Families

Madam President, sadly, Austin is not the only American being held captive by a rogue government regime today. In fact, he isn't even the only Texan.

In November of 2017, days before Thanksgiving, six Citgo executives were summoned to Venezuela for meetings with Citgo's parent company, Venezuela's state-owned PDVSA. During the final meeting, these men were detained by the Venezuelan Government, and for the past 16 months, they have been held captive beneath a military intelligence compound in Caracas. They have been denied contact with the State Department. They have been held without a trial. They have been unable to receive humanitarian aid. As the already horrible situation in Venezuela continues to worsen, their conditions are likely deteriorating even further.

In February, the children of two of these men wrote an op-ed in the Houston Chronicle that detailed the suffering of their fathers and that all six families have faced. They wrote: ``In their isolation, our fathers have bonded together over a shared purpose: to stay strong in body, mind and spirit in anticipation of their eventual return to their families.''

I assure these families that we will continue to stand alongside them in this fight. I call on the Maduro regime to immediately release these Americans and to allow them to return home. I have continued and will continue to urge the administration to make sure this remains a top priority.

Just as we have worked closely with the Tice family over the last 6 years in advocating for the release of Austin, their son, we will continue to do the same for these six men. The heartbreak felt by these families is unfathomable. Their spouses, children, and grandchildren are desperate to have their loved ones returned home. Together, we should do everything in our power to make that a reality.

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