ACCOMPLISHMENTS sked
PRESS RELEASE
December 29, 2016
CHUCK GRASSLEY
SENATOR
SENATE
GRASSLEY MARKS POLICY, OVERSIGHT ACCOMPLISHMENTS IN 114TH
CONGRESS - Part 2
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Health care. Grassley continued his oversight of healthcare with the Gilead report, investigations into Mylan, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the Department of Justice regarding the EpiPen pricing, nursing home social media abuse, advocacy for sunshine law and many other issues through committee participation.
Grassley also introduced the ACE Kids Act; the Pharmacy and Medically Underserved Areas Enhancement Act; the Rural Hospital Access Act; the Medicare Residential Care Coordination Act; the HELLPP Act covering podiatrists as physicians in Medicaid; the Medicare Formulary Improvement Act; the Accelerating the End of Breast Cancer Act; a bill to Improve Standards for Orthotics and Prosthetics in Medicare; the Transition to Independence Act for Medicaid; the Rural Emergency Acute Care Hospital Act; a bill to permit review of certain Medicare payment determinations for disproportionate share hospitals; and a bill to require the use of electronic visit verification systems for home health services.
Grassley pressed the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) on easing the transition of patients in the failed health care co-op serving Iowa and Nebraska as well as whether the agency withheld funding, leading to the co-op`s collapse.
Grassley introduced an updated version of bipartisan legislation allowing small businesses to resume helping their employees buy individual health insurance. A new version of the Small Business Health Care Relief Act makes improvements to ensure the bill will work as intended. Further, in order to address any cost concerns, the bill imposes a still-generous limit on the amount an employer may provide to their employee to purchase individual insurance or pay for other medical expenses. This limit is set at $4,950 for individuals $10,000 for a family and is indexed for inflation going forward. The IRS has interpreted the Affordable Care Act as barring small businesses from reimbursing their employees for the cost of buying health insurance on the individual market. This has disrupted a practice that small business owners and their employees used for years, leading to expressions of concern from small business owners and employees to Congress. The provision became law as part of the 21st Century Cures (CURES) Act.
Grassley pressed CMS on how much federal money it has given to each state health care exchange, how much money it has identified as misused, what it can do to recover money for unallowable activities, and how much money for unallowable activities it has recovered.
Grassley supported the CURES Act, citing the benefits of finding safe and innovative medical treatments, particularly for those diseases that currently have few options, such as Alzheimer`s disease. The legislation also included his measures to help rural ``tweener`` hospitals and to restore the ability of small businesses to help their employees with health insurance premiums. The Cures Act includes Grassley`s bipartisan legislation to strip an Obamacare penalty against small businesses that provided assistance to their employees to help with insurance premiums and health care expenses. Thanks to Grassley`s work, the Cures Act does not include provisions to water down his Physician Payments Sunshine Act shedding light on drug and medical device company payments to doctors. Grassley fought the provisions, and bill sponsors removed them to secure his support. The legislation was signed into law by President Obama.
Grassley introduced the Over-the-Counter Hearing Aid Act of 2016, which would make certain types of hearing aids available over the counter and remove unnecessary and burdensome requirements that would pose barriers for consumers who could benefit from hearing aids. Grassley also applauded a U.S. Food and Drug Administration announcement that it will take steps to improve consumer access to hearing aids, including by not enforcing the requirement for a medical evaluation or waiver in order to acquire hearing aids.
Grassley is a co-sponsor of bipartisan legislation that would help preserve Medicare beneficiary access to necessary medical equipment such as oxygen, blood glucose monitors, and sleep apnea machines in rural areas.
Following Grassley`s bipartisan letter to the Office of Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the inspector general released preliminary results of an ongoing review concerning the costs to Medicare due to recalled or defective medical devices. The OIG reviewed medical records for beneficiaries who received certain types of recalled or failed devices and found costs of around $1.5 billion in Medicare payments and $140 million in beneficiary copayments and deductibles for device replacements and other procedures associated with fixing just seven faulty cardiac implants.
While Zika funding was being debated in the Senate, Grassley pressed the Obama Administration on why it appeared that billions of dollars in unobligated funds weren`t being directed to a Zika response. Grassley noted that the Administration had been slow to distribute $589 million left from the Ebola threat toward fighting Zika.
Grassley introduced bipartisan legislation, the Ensuring Access to General Surgery Act of 2016, that would produce high quality data on where general surgeons are in short supply around the country. The need for general surgeons is especially high in rural or other under-served communities.
Recognizing the tremendous physical, emotional and financial cost of Alzheimer`s disease, Grassley co-sponsored the bipartisan Ensuring Useful Research Expenditures is Key for Alzheimer`s Act or the EUREKA Act which would offer a financial award for a successful cure. EUREKA was signed into law in the CURES Act.
Grassley, along with Senator Ed Markey, started the Bipartisan Senate Cystic Fibrosis Caucus and authored a bipartisan resolution designating May 2016 as Cystic Fibrosis Awareness Month. Grassley, as co-founder and co-chair of the new Senate Caucus on Cystic Fibrosis, welcomed advocates at a panel discussion in June. Attending the event were Iowans who encouraged Grassley to form the caucus: Jaclyn Strube of Waukee and Chaney Kurtz of Clive, who both have children with cystic fibrosis. Melodee Pomerantz, executive director of the Iowa Chapter of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, also attended.
In September, Grassley organized a briefing for the community to discuss issues related to patient wandering, including patients with Alzheimer's and autism. The event was well-attended and held at the University of Iowa in Iowa City.
Housing. Grassley continued his oversight of the Department of Housing and Urban Development and local housing authorities to be sure that the billions of dollars meant for safe, affordable housing for those in need are spent properly.
The Senate Appropriations Committee approved language championed by Grassley to ensure transparency and promote accountability in public housing authorities` use of more than $350 million in federal tax dollars. The Grassley language, which was incorporated into a committee report that accompanies an annual spending bill, will ensure that federal funds transferred to housing authorities will retain their federal designation and be subject to U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development oversight.
Under pressure from Grassley, the Department of Housing and Urban Development released updated salary data for the top executives at public housing authorities nationwide. The state and local housing authority executives are prohibited from exceeding a congressionally imposed cap on the amount of federal money that can be used for salaries. HUD announced it is seeking reimbursement from six housing authorities that exceeded the 2014 federal salary cap.
Grassley pressed the Treasury Department for better oversight of a $9.6 billion program meant to help homeowners who suffered during the housing crisis. Grassley outlined a low rate of help for homeowners through the program, which has provided assistance to only 256,361 of the 601,838 homeowners in the states where the program is available who applied for assistance. Spending on administrative expenses has been a concern since the program began.
Grassley asked the Government Accountability Office to review whether the Department of Housing and Urban Development is taking effective steps to comply with the federal law making wanted fugitive felon status grounds for termination from living in public housing. The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) of 1996 makes fugitive felon status grounds for the termination of tenancy in federal housing assistance programs. In addition, the law directs these programs to provide law enforcement officers with information about program recipients for whom there are outstanding warrants to assist in their apprehension. Media reports and Grassley`s inquiries indicate that neither HUD nor the HUD Office of Inspector General properly tracks the number of wanted fugitive felons living in public housing or takes effective steps to help law enforcement locate and apprehend these individuals.
Illicit drugs, cannabidiol. Grassley was among several senators who successfully urged the Drug Enforcement Administration to re- instate its take-back program for unused prescription medicines. The program was popular in Iowa and helpful for ridding medicine cabinets of pain relievers that could be abused by teen-agers.
The Senate passed and the president signed into law Grassley`s Transnational Drug Trafficking Act, which will help combat transnational drug trafficking. The law helps the Department of Justice combat the international trafficking of methamphetamine, which is increasingly being trafficked from Mexico into the United States.
The Obama Administration announced that it will make it easier for scientists to access marijuana for research, while leaving the scheduling of marijuana unchanged. In addition, Grassley and Sen. Dianne Feinstein helped persuade federal agencies to conduct a scientific and medical analysis of cannabidiol, a component of marijuana under consideration to treat severe epilepsy and other conditions, to see if there is a scientific basis to change its schedule. Grassley and Feinstein introduced the Cannabidiol Research Expansion Act to support research initiatives on the potential benefits of substances such as cannabidiol. Grassley also authorized a Judiciary subcommittee hearing that was held on the potential medical benefits and risks of marijuana.
Grassley convened a hearing to explore whether the Justice Department is effectively gathering data to evaluate how state recreational marijuana legalization is impacting its federal enforcement priorities, including protecting minors from harm and preventing other adverse public health consequences.
In addition to the Judiciary Committee field hearing in Des Moines on the threat of methamphetamine, Grassley as Chairman of the Caucus on International Narcotics Control convened a hearing on drug trafficking across the Southwest border and oversight of U.S. counter-drug assistance to Mexico.
Grassley sought details on Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) payments to a confidential source who was reportedly engaged in a personal relationship with a DEA supervisor. According to media reports, an Atlanta-based DEA supervisor engaged in sexual relationships with two confidential sources, one of whom was paid $212,000. Other agents reportedly falsified agency documents to give the payments the appearance of legitimacy.
Grassley and several of his colleagues wrote to Secretary of State John Kerry regarding the problems of dangerous synthetic drugs and counterfeit goods entering the United States due to weaknesses in international mail security standards. Grassley also led a bipartisan group of senators in introducing legislation aimed at controlling dangerous synthetic substances marketed as alternatives to illicit drugs. The Dangerous Synthetic Drug Control Act bans 22 synthetic chemicals including 11 used to create synthetic marijuana, often marketed as ``K2`` or ``Spice,`` as well as three derivatives of fentanyl, a synthetic opioid estimated to be 100 times more powerful than morphine that has been associated with numerous overdose outbreaks. Grassley also held a Judiciary Committee hearing on the dangers of synthetic drugs in June.
The Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA), a sweeping addiction recovery bill aimed at addressing the nation`s growing heroin and opioid addiction epidemic led through the Senate by Grassley was signed into law. More than 250 addiction, recovery and law enforcement organizations, including a dozen in Iowa, called this bill ``the critical response we need.`` The law authorizes nearly $900 million over five years to enhance prevention, education, treatment, recovery and law enforcement efforts. As funding for this crisis continues to rise, CARA will serve as the blueprint for how to attack the scourge of addiction. Grassley worked to include several provisions to meet the unique needs of communities like many in Iowa in their battle against opioid and meth addiction. Specifically, Grassley worked to reserve a fixed portion of resources to improve first responders` access to overdose-reversal medication in rural areas, like much of Iowa, where emergency services can be limited. Grassley also secured eligibility for new grants created by the bill for areas like Iowa that are suffering from local drug crises related to methamphetamine, in addition to opioids. CARA also includes Grassley`s Kingpin Designation Improvement Act, which boosts law enforcement`s ability to freeze the assets of international drug cartels that are often the source of heroin and meth in the United States.
Immigration. Grassley led the effort on many immigration reform initiatives and has conducted thorough oversight of the executive branch`s policies. He has focused attention on making sure Americans are given the first opportunity at high skilled jobs in the United States. He has worked to ensure that criminal immigrants are returned to their home countries and that drunk drivers, gang members and murderers are not released into communities across America. He has authored legislation to close loopholes in U.S. visa programs and ensure that refugees are properly screened before entering.
Grassley and Ernst introduced Sarah`s Law, legislation to honor Sarah Root, an Iowan who was killed earlier this year by a drunk driver in the country illegally. Sarah`s Law would require U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to take custody of an individual who is in the country illegally and is charged with a crime resulting in the death or serious bodily injury of another person.
Grassley secured $1 billion for the biometric exit tracking system, part of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996, which would collect a record of departure for every person departing the United States, including land, air or sea ports of entry.
In 2015, the Judiciary Committee held a hearing on ``Immigration Reforms Needed to Protect Skilled American Workers,`` receiving testimony from witnesses about the H-1B visa program which allows employers to import so-called ``specialty`` workers from abroad. The committee heard about fraud and abuse, how some U.S. workers were forced to train their replacements who were in the country on a work visa and about how federal agencies needed to keep pace with the schemes that some employers use to bypass worker protections. Grassley and Senator Dick Durbin co-sponsored the H- 1B and L-1 Visa Reform Act of 2015, an updated version of the bill introduced several times over the last decade, and strengthened with several provisions addressing new or previously unknown abuses of the program. The bill would reform the H-1B visa program by returning it back to its original intent and ensuring that qualified American workers are given the first crack at high-skilled job opportunities.
Grassley fought against sanctuary city policies that allow criminal immigrants to stay in communities because of state or local policies that expressly prohibit law enforcement from working with federal immigration officials. Grassley pressed the Department of Homeland Security on a number of cases involving crimes committed by individuals who were allowed to remain in the country despite entering illegally and previous criminal convictions.
Grassley held a hearing where victims` families shared their stories and called for reforms to improve enforcement of immigration laws and prevent future crimes.
He continues to investigate concerns with the influx and placement of unaccompanied alien children who have traveled from Central and South America and crossed into the United States in increasing numbers since the border surge of 2014.
Grassley raised concerns about the insufficient vetting process to ensure terrorists posing as refugees are not granted access to the United States. ISIS has stated it will use the U.S. refugee program to infiltrate the country. Grassley has called for a halt on accepting refugees from Syria until U.S. intelligence officials are satisfied with the vetting process.
Grassley is leading a bipartisan and bicameral effort to implement national security and anti-fraud safeguards in the EB-5 program following concerns of abuse raised by whistleblowers, independent watchdogs and agency leaders. The bill he introduced, the American Job Creation and Investment Promotion Reform Act, reforms the EB-5 Regional Center program to address the widespread fraud and abuse of the program.
Grassley condemned efforts by the Obama Administration to circumvent constitutional checks and balances by abusing its limited immigration parole authority to effectively create a new visa program without congressional approval. A Department of Homeland Security proposal would expand its limited authority by applying it to an entire class of foreign nationals, ignoring Congress` constitutional role in setting the nation`s immigration policy and repeating many of the failures of the EB-5 immigrant investor visa program.
Grassley and House of Representatives Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte called on the Obama Administration to declassify its plan to admit into the United States potentially over 2,400 refugees whom Australia has refused to admit. Their call followed concern that the administration's secret negotiations with Australia left Americans in the dark about the full scope of its resettlement plans, and requested a briefing to review the classified agreement. It is unprecedented to classify an agreement to usher in refugees to the United States and the Chairmen`s review of the agreement further confirms that it should never have been classified in the first place.
Throughout the 114th Congress, Grassley and Goodlatte have requested the immigration and criminal histories of numerous illegal immigrants who have allegedly committed serious crimes including murder and rape in order to gain a greater understanding of the enforcement priorities of the Obama administration.
Grassley is seeking the immigration and criminal history of the man who launched an attack on Ohio State University`s campus, leaving 11 people injured. Abdul Razak Ali Artan, the student at the university who crashed his vehicle into a crowd before getting out and slashing people with a knife, is believed to be a refugee originally from Somalia. According to reports, federal investigators believe Artan was inspired by ISIS and the radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, and are treating the incident as an act of terrorism. An ISIS propaganda website also called Artan a ``soldier.``
After repeated calls from Grassley to pressure nations to cooperate with U.S. immigration authorities, the Obama Administration began suspending the issuance of certain categories of visas in Gambia because of the country`s refusal to repatriate its citizens who have been ordered to be deported from the United States. The action is a modest step by the administration to push so-called ``recalcitrant nations`` to cooperate with U.S. deportation efforts. Grassley has long urged the Obama Administration to use its visa sanction authority to compel cooperation on repatriation of foreign nationals with removal orders, as Congress intended.
Grassley called on the Obama Administration to explain its management of the U visa program following significant findings of fraud and a new administrative policy that appears to violate the law. The U visa program was designed to allow foreign nationals who fall victim to crime in the United States to remain here to assist in the investigation and prosecution of their perpetrator. However, falsified U visa applications and Obama Administration policies that ignore congressional limits have allowed the program to be distorted beyond its original intent.
Grassley questioned the Obama administration`s oversight of flight schools and their training of foreign nationals. Grassley reiterated concerns after a Jordanian national, who was reportedly in the United States on a student visa, in October 2016 crashed a small plane during a training exercise at the entrance to the Pratt & Whitney factory in East Hartford, Conn. According to local law enforcement, the Pratt & Whitney plant is classified as a ``critical infrastructure`` facility by the U.S. government. Grassley introduced legislation in 2014 to reform the student visa program. The bill would help root out fraud and abuse in the student visa system, including ending a flight school`s participation in the Student and Exchange Visitor Program if the training program is not certified by the Federal Aviation Administration.
Inspectors general. Grassley raised concerns about Justice Department efforts to block inspectors general from accessing records for its investigations, despite laws allowing such access. He held a hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee to listen to both the inspector general community and the Justice Department, and to reiterate that when Congress says that inspectors general should have access to all records, Congress means all records.
Grassley introduced legislation to again restate Congress` intent to allow IGs to access such records and overturn a recent Justice Department legal opinion that other agencies have already relied on to deny their inspectors general access to agency records. The Senate passed and the president signed into law the Inspector General Empowerment Act, which restores Congress` intent to guarantee inspectors general access to ``all records`` of the agencies they oversee, overturning a 2015 Obama administration legal memo roundly criticized by both Republicans and Democrats.
Grassley released a joint majority staff report between the Judiciary and Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committees, ``Empowering Inspectors General: Supporting the IG Community Could Save Billions for American Taxpayers.`` The report was a result of information solicited from inspectors general across the federal government. The report identified $87 billion in potential cost savings for the American taxpayer and detailed circumstances of agencies obstructing IG access to critical information.
Intellectual property. Grassley led through the Judiciary Committee bipartisan legislation to shield American innovators against growing instances of intellectual property theft involving valuable proprietary information. The Defend Trade Secrets Act creates a new avenue for companies to pursue civil claims against trade secret thieves in federal court and protect against dissemination of valuable intellectual property. The bill passed the Senate unanimously and was signed into law.
At Grassley`s request, the U.S. Copyright Office performed and released an analysis of how copyright law applies to software- enabled consumer products, which are becoming increasingly prevalent in the lives of American consumers. While technological innovation presents new opportunities, it also poses important questions about privacy, consumer protection, public safety, cybersecurity, competition, and the development of the digital economy. To help the Judiciary Committee understand a critical component of these issues, Grassley asked the Copyright Office for a study of how copyright laws are implicated by the prevalence of software enabled devices.
Legislation introduced by Grassley to help ensure that historically significant films and sound recordings are preserved for the benefit of generations of Iowans was signed into law. Several Iowa libraries and organizations have taken advantage of these grants to preserve films and recordings depicting events or issues that are important to the state`s history.
Grassley, co-chair of the Congressional Trademark Caucus, led the Senate in passing a resolution designating July as National Anti- Counterfeiting Consumer Education and Awareness Month. He also led a Judiciary Committee hearing on counterfeiting in July.
IRS. Grassley drafted the 2006 provisions that improved the IRS whistleblower office to stop tax fraud. A report from the non- partisan Government Accountability Office shows the IRS whistleblower office has collected more than $3 billion since 2007 that otherwise would have been lost to fraud. The report describes several major barriers that might discourage whistleblowers from coming forward. Grassley worked throughout the year to improve the whistleblower office. Congress re- instated private firms to collect tax debt for the IRS, something Grassley has long supported to collect billions of dollars in taxes that the IRS isn`t attempting to collect.
Congress approved several provisions from Grassley`s Taxpayer Bill of Rights Enhancement Act of 2015, introduced amid gross mismanagement and inappropriate actions by IRS employees that have shaken what little confidence taxpayers may have had in the agency. The provisions include: codifying the Taxpayer Bill of Rights, such as quality service; prohibiting IRS employees from using personal email accounts for official business; improving the ability of 501(c)(4) and other exempt organizations to seek review in federal court when the IRS fails to act on an application in a timely manner or makes a negative determination as to their tax-exempt status; and the termination of employment of Internal Revenue Service employees for taking official actions for political purposes. The provisions became law as part of an omnibus tax package in December 2015.
Even before the IRS experienced a computer hack, victimizing innocent taxpayers, Grassley was urging the IRS to improve computer security to protect taxpayers. He followed up with the IRS after its breach to make sure it was doing everything possible to help affected taxpayers.
Grassley introduced legislation to combat return theft by perpetrators who steal the identities of innocent Americans. The Tax Return Identity Theft Protection Act of 2016 strengthens penalties for identity thieves, establishes enhanced sentences for crimes against vulnerable and frequently targeted groups, and clarifies the state of mind proof requirement that has created an obstacle to holding some identity thieves accountable.
Jobs and the economy. Abusive patent litigation practices are undermining the patent system that has made the United States one of the most dynamic and innovative countries in the world. In an effort to curb these abuses, Grassley co-authored the PATENT Act, which aims to cut down on the frivolous lawsuits that burden the economy and cost small businesses millions of dollars every year. Grassley led the bill through the Judiciary Committee