benton: thank you, chairman wyden. ranking member crapo and members of the community, thank you for the opportunity to testify. children, adolescents experience mental distress at higher rates and with more dire consequences than ever before. in the first half of 2021, we reported cases of self injurious behavior and suicide in children five to 17 at 45% higher rates than the same period as 2019. the children under 13 have suicide rates --the suicide rate for black children have increased twice at the rate of white children. the pandemic has highlighted and worsened disparities with barriers to access, under recognition, and under treatment of mental health disorders. the burden for illness is worse for children of color, who have greater exposure to environmental trials -- trauma. children are overrepresented in the juvenile justice and welfare system where higher rates of mental health disorders are unrecognized or untreated. you have heard many of the statistics before, but i would like to share how the situations s

wyden: mr. president, i rise today to remember the late frank moore of oregon. frank passed away last month at 98. now, the story of frank moore is really at least three stories. it is a story about a war hero. it is a story about a natural resources hero. and it is a love story, which is the only way to describe his wonderful marriage with his wife, jeanne, who survives him to this day. so, to begin, frank will always be remembered in our corner of the nation as a legendary flyfisherman who channeled his love of the umquar river into protecting and preserving this extraordinary natural treasure in southern oregon. mr. president, it has been said in fishing circles, and i quote, most of the world is covered by water. a fisherman's job is simple -- pick out the best parts. and my friend frank picked out consistently the best parts of his extraordinary life. and all of us as oregonians are better off for his good judgments about the umqua and about so much else in oregon. after returning to our st

missions, national intelligence and departmental priorities, we have some members, not just senator wyden but me as well who are very unhappy with the ina's operations in portland in 2020 and then disappointed that the ina provided next to no warning about what was to come on january 6, just had the one year anniversary of that date and the recognition of what domestic violent extremists can do from either end of the political spectrum i think needs to be a focus of some of your work. obviously, at the same time, particularly if they're domestic violent extremists, the first amendment protect's america right to free speech and nonviolent, peaceful protest, and obviously, part of your role would be to defend the constitution and those first amendment rights. you would be squarely at the center of those two imperatives, both protecting our country and the constitution and would like to hear today a little of how you would like to navigate that important work while not politicizing ina's activities, obviously, when i submit for the record a moment, the kind of who's who of law enforcement an

democrat senators ron wyden and heinrich are probably oversight transparency after exposing the agencies election of american private data. wait a second, i thought they weren't supposed to do that. they say they can't reveal details about what the cia has collected because information is classified. the secret. the cia says it's all super budget for national security purposes but after what we have learned about the obama administration buying on his political opponents, does anyone really believe that? running me to discuss, former cia officer and chairman and cee purpose hey, capacity breeds corruption we don't know enough about the cia, they been working in concert with nfa will bring up data on foreign individuals from a foreign target get every once in a while americans get caught up in that, what is going on? >> the cia is having relationship issues with u.s. persons are trying to figure out what i can say about valentine's day other than which my most wonderful partner in life, missus baker happy valentine's day and the us gifts. [laughter] kennedy: cupid spy on her. [laughter] >

in the report, we looked at the first chair of the wyden administration and found they imposed $201 billion of economic impositions. the biden administration is by far the biggest first year of an administration in that timeframe. when you consider the fact that typically what happens during the first chair of administration is that they are laying the groundwork for more substantive rule to come in the future, i think is a clear indication of the future where we are headed that there will be more economic costs coming. host: you mentioned the $201 billion number found in your report. you also mention a number of executive orders being signed and the topics of vehicle admissions and covid-19 safety measures. can you elaborate on what those things? guest: the vehicle admissions rule is probably about 90% of the net total. that is probably about $180 billion. that sets miles per gallon standards per year from 2023 to 2026. most people are familiar with the mandate from osha on employers of more than 100 employees to either vaccinate or provide testing for them. that was about $4 billion. that

senator crepo. >> want to follow up on senator wyden's questions. we can find an intersection where we can find agreement on a bipartisan basis . unwanted follow-up just to try to noodle out a littlebit more information about this exact question . and ms. collins, i found interesting your comment about paper being the kryptonite for the irs. as americans who listen to your testimony heard you say that and described it and heard the rest of the testimony of our panelists, it must have been mind blowing to them to believe that's the way it is with the irs in terms of their it infrastructure and technology. it seems to me this is something that we really do need to solve. i've asked the irs and will continue asking them as senator wyden said in our next hearing. i expect we will have a chance to ask themhere . what is their plan and what is it going to cost? how do we need to fund to get this issue solved. just a couple of data points, in fiscal year 2021 the irs was given a special $1 billion allocation for it modernization which represents about 3 to

that took her to be in that we discussed in our call with senator wyden. one is, even if that was arguably lawful, different people and scholars agree about whether that was lawful and whether judges should've signed the order a lot. there is additional step there. is it appropriate? does it meet the expectations of the american people? that doesn't meet the expectations of congress to use that tool in that aggressive way? that, that deliberation, that analysis, wasn't really done. and a second piece of that, related to that, is this idea of secret law. that the reason why the expectations weren't measured against that program is because the program is classified, the pfizer court opinion authorizing the use of 215 for all that metadata was classified. and it couldn't be discussed openly in congress, couldn't be discussed openly with the american people. so people couldn't couldn't see, couldn't make their arguments one way or the other. and that's, that really handicapped the use of that tool and it makes it understandable why people acted as they did whe

oregon senator ron wyden said the nation's young people are facing a mental health epidemic. >> our country is in danger of losing much of a generation. >> louisiana senator bill cassidy says the federal government sends money to states for mental health services but worries the money isn't will spent. i hear anecdotally around the country that psychiatric services for medicaid patients is extremely poor as another fix, the american medical association is urging congress to do more to ensure health insurance covers mental health services reporting in washington, reshad hudson. >> coming up on kron, 4 news republican state senator announces his candidacy to replace governor gavin newsome. when we return, we'll introduce you to the new candidate. >> and what senate minority leader mitch mcconnell is now saying about the january 6 insurrection and what it means for the republican party. >> plus, the suspect involved in the deadly shooting of a bay area. sports personality arraigned on murder charges arraigned on murder charges today. that's c when a truck hit my son, arraigned on murder charge

. >> thank you very much, senator wyden. and i agree, trace, with senator wyden's comments. i'm going to let you off the hot seat for a minute, though, and go back to dr. hoover and then to some of our other witnesses. dr. hoover, for idaho and other states with large rural communities, the mental health care delivery system looks substantially different from other urban or suburban populations. even though the need for mental health services is similar between rural and urban areas, it's harder for children in rural areas to access those same mental health services. in your work with the state, can you elaborate on some of the specific risks and challenges that younger americans living in rural areas might confront with regard to mental health? and i ask this question in the context of already you've indicated our schools, many of them, have good programs in place and they are working well, need to be strengthened and enhanced and given more tools. but focus that a little bit on rural areas. how are we doing there, and what role do schools play in providing mental health se

senator ron wyden and martha heinrich say the activity did not have the safeguards of congressional oversight. the cia has released some information on the program and defended it as lawful. members of the billionaire family that owns purdue pharma is trying to get the opioid segment on track. they are considering whether to add $1 billion to the agreement in an effort to win over holdouts. that would bring the family contribution to $5.3 billion. a judge rejected an earlier version. global news 24 hours a day, on air and on quicktake by bloomberg, powered by more than 2700 journalists and analysts in more than 120 countries. i am ritika gupta. this is bloomberg. ♪ pres. biden: should leave now. we are dealing with the -- american citizens should leave now. we are dealing with one of the largest armies in the world. that is a world war i americans and russians start shooting at each other. tom: the president of the united states delicately driving the forward on what we have seen of last couple of days, which is a significant step up in diplomacy including comments yesterday off of the unit

but for wyden and hinrich that data raises concerns over whether americans' private civil liberties are being protected. said in a statement friday, the cia may acquire information about americans who are in contact with foreign nationals. when the cia acquires information it safe guards that information in accordance with the procedures proved by the attorney general which will restrict the cia's ability to collect and retain information. it's clear it's the latest salvo in the ability to examine americans' data without a warrant or legal predicate and ensuring they're able to connect the dots against security and national security concerns. and looking into how the date is stored, disseminated and searched but right now, we still have more questions than answers about the precise nature of this collection, especially with what the cia was looking at. christi, phil. >>> on the football field, he's a mountain of a man. off, more like a gentle giant. up next, how the he's gettinged notice fod are his work off the field. ugh your day, medicine. new from vicks. nothing like a weekend in th

morning oregon democratic senator ron wyden want the irs to have the resources to fix the problem. that's the path to getting a permanent fix rather just putting band-aids on the irs. we need to get out of the age of the dinosaur, the dark ages, as you indicated, and we need to modernize our systems. but some republicans don't think more funding is the answer. i for one. i'm skeptical that. >> technology and money would seem to be the answer to a lot of our problems. these days is going to be the panacea. texas republican senator john cornyn says the problem is bigger than just slow there are actually writing checks to people who are not entitled to that court and believes the trouble started when things like stimulus payments created new work for the agency. he says it's not the right time to make any more changes. reporting in washington. i'm basil, john. >> still ahead, reforming the recall. how the effort to try to remove governor newsom from office might have inspired some big changes. >> and most readings are in the 40's and the 50's looking for lows to settle into the 40's,

scott, brian mast, dan crenshaw, mitch mcconnell, peter welch, debbie dingell, shelley capito, ron wyden, unusual whales tracking site. that is what is happening too. congressman, great to have you on. good to see you. congressman scott perry there. now this, the big oil majors, world's most powerful independent oil trader warning high gas and oil prices here to stay as russia is expected to invade ukraine within days. new alarming rhetoric on the white house from that coming up. plus the latest on the border, new reports a dramatic plunge in deportations under the white house. it is still delaying the full report from i.c.e. keep it here on "the evening edit". ♪. discomfort back there? instead of using aloe, or baby wipes, or powders, try the cooling, soothing relief or preparation h. because your derriere deserves expert care. preparation h. get comfortable with it. preparation h. get comfortable with it. today, you have to deal with a lot of moving parts. you want everything to be on autopilot. and to be prepared if anything changes. with ibm, you can do both. your business can brin

last night what we have seen is two members of the senate intelligence committee, heinrich and ron wyden made a pretty dramatic allegation. they have claimed that the cia -- they have information showing that the cia has for years been collecting information in bulling that includes americans's information and they have been sifting through it and in a way that concerns americans civil liberty. they have declassified some materials related to this counterintelligence surveillance last night. they said the program itself must stay classified in order to protect so-called sources and methods, which are the crown jewels of the intelligence community, how they continue to be able to do their job to collect on foreign threats. right now we don't know what the data that has been collected or how this program really works. the two lawmakers did give us some clues, though, when they said they're concerned about back-door searches of americans' data. what do i mean by that? the cia is a foreign-facing intelligence organization, right? they are not typically allowed to investigate americans. but s

the offer of a summit between putin and wyden biden and the fn the ground with ukraine and around ukraine. the facts on the ground are not promising. first, you have word today from the u.s. military its latest intelligence assessment shows planning by the russian military around the ukraine border is not slowing down despite this talk. we reported last night that commands have been given to tactical commanders in the field to go forward with an invasion. that is one of many indicators that the u.s. is looking for. they haven't seen all of them, but it's an important one. they're still waiting for other signs, for instance, large scale electronic warfare here, jamming large scale cyber attacks. they have not seen those indicators but the orders going into tactical command is significant and as you mentioned, right now, this is remarkable statistic, really, russia has some three quarters of its conventional forces postured against ukraine. and that includes their main combat unit. a battalion tactical group and 35 of the 50 manned aerial surveillance systems as well as some 500 fighters an

senators ron wyden of oregon and martin heinrich of new mexico says the agency has long hidden details about the program from the public and congress. they have written top intelligence officials calling for details about the program to be declassified. that letter was sent last april with declassified thursday. the cia says such programs are repositories of information about activities of foreign governments and foreign nationals. it says it keeps congress fully informed about the programs. we'll follow this story. the family and friends of former british cameraman peter josephal detained by the taliban since early december he and several other british aid workers are currently being held by the man who heads the taliban intelligence service. abdul was released from go guantanamo bay exchanged for army soldier boberg dal tonight he is holding several british and american businessman and aide workers. he inside afghanistan. the biden administration is getting heat tonight from the mainstream media over tone and access. news outlets and beat reporters say they are not satisfied with eit

hopefully they're going to act during a senate finance committee hearing thursday, chairman senator ron wyden blamed years long budget cuts that have hampered the i r. s the cuts that have heard customer service and enforcement against cheats started more than a decade ago. others pointed to outdated technology, saying an update as long overdue. we need their long term plan. we need their short term plan and we've got to fund it. to ensure smoother filing process the irs recommends electronically filing with direct deposit to avoid processing delays. taxpayers should also pay extra attention if they received economic impact statements or an advanced child tax credit last year. in washington. mala rivera, ktvu fox two news. i just heard this loud sound. i was still in bed and it sounded like a bomb. disturbing wake up call of pala balto when a driver winds up inside a bedroom. and fire ripping through an iconic clubhouse near detroit. coming up the pieces of history saved from flames. this winter, comcast business is helping team usa and businesses across america stay ahead. keep yours ahead t

i would like to thank chairman brown and senators wyden, casey, and warren for their leadership on the ssi restoration act, which would update and simplify ssi. it would dramatically cut poverty among seniors and people with disabilities, allow beneficiaries more dignity and independence, and improve program integrity. while the emerging house bill includes important provisions to support the health of seniors and people with disabilities, it does not include any provisions to fill in the income gap left by inadequate ssi benefits. ssi provides monthly cash assistance to 7.8 million people who are disabled or elderly and have little income and few assets. ssi benefits are very low and should be raised. the maximum federal benefit is just $794 a month, only three-quarters of the federal poverty line. about 4 in 10 ssi beneficiaries live in poverty. when policymakers established ssi, they sought to assure that “aged, blind, and disabled people would no longer have to subsist on below-poverty-level incomes.” ssi benefits alone, however, have never been large enough to raise beneficiar

during a senate finance committee hearing thursday, chairman senator ron wyden blamed years long budget cuts that have hampered the i r s the cuts that have heard customer service and enforcement against cheats started more than a decade ago. others pointed to outdated technology, saying an update as long overdue. we need their long term plan. we need their short term plan and we've got to fund it. to ensure smoother filing process the irs recommends electronically filing with direct deposit to avoid processing delays. taxpayers should also pay extra attention if they received economic impact statements or an advanced child tax credit last year. in washington. mala rivera, ktvu fox two news. all members of congress are being invited to attend president biden's upcoming state of the union address last year, biden's speech to congress was limited to 200 people about 20% of normal capacity this year, all members of congress are invited to attend. but no guests will be allowed masks will be required social distancing will be enforced and everyone will have to submit a negative covid test .

i want to thank senator wyden who is the cochair in the portion of this effort. the pediatric and mental health challenge for those of us in this room working with others who share a vision we can forge the way. established something called the family council and the goal of our council which united by different departments focus on intervention in the root causes in treating symptoms related to the causes of those problems and in your statement you mentioned we can improve the mental health and well-being of children with low cost benefits. how can congress work on preventive services? >> senator it's good to see you and thank you for that question aboutse prevention. i'm particularly grateful for it because i think historically as a health system we have focused the lion's share of our attention and energy on treatment and not so much on prevention and we are seeing the consequences of that with mental health. 75% of people who struggle with mental illness their troubles appear before the age of 24 so we have got to get to it early. the good news is within the

christian wyden joins me now. proven seems to have gotten what he wants. the germans wouldn't allow it. he got what he wants. >> he wanted ukraine to have no deployments. he wanted to put himself on world stage with other world leaders, he accomplished all of that. the biden administration didn't negotiate in earnest. whether the united states agrees and whether the ukraine, germany and other members to prevent that. stuart: when the olympics are over he invaded ukraine? >> in early 2021 massing troops, there's a good reason to be cautious. it involved dressing it up as an exercise like this. french president macron has given them an offering. why bother holden occupy a country that doesn't want you. stuart: iran, just weeks from having nuclear material and producing a bomb. do you think we would be in this position if biden had not rejoined the iran nuclear deal? >> know we wouldn't. iran is on the offense or defense, taking american diplomats hostage. when you have them on the backflip, when they visit iraq as head of part of iran that is part of exporti

warren in oregon, democratic senator ron wyden want the irs to have the resources to fix the problem. that's the path to getting a permanent fix rather just putting band-aids on the irs. we need to get out of the age of the dinosaur, the dark ages, as you indicated, and we need to modernize our systems. but some republicans don't think more funding is the answer. i for one. i'm skeptical that. >> technology and money would seem to be the answer to a lot of our problems. these days is going to be the panacea. texas republican senator john cornyn says the problem is bigger than just slow there are actually writing checks to people who are not entitled to that cornyn believes the trouble started when things like stimulus payments created new work for the agency. he says it's not the right time to make any more changes. reporting in washington. i'm basil, john. >> well, uber is now letting passengers know how they are doing. curtis, iraq are wise. they are rating writers for their manners across the country. the company sharing the results hoping it will inspire people to be nicer. san fr

legislationce of with senator graham and senator wyden and senator collins to introduce the workforce readiness act and what it would do is to do some polling with afterschool providers to connect you with with local employers through things like job shadowing or exploration are internships, just another way of connecting folks with what might be the first job to get at the challenges the senator explained. can you tell us a little bit moreir about what we need to be doing to connect young people sooner if you agree with the quality of opportunity challenge. >> in new york city in particular the providers who do workforce development are often engaged. i thinkg where we find the most success is the subsidized workforce learning or development opportunities for the project based learning for part of that we need to expand on the opportunity act. the waiver that is in place right now serving exclusively we've heard from our members makingex sure more young adults that are in school have access to the programs and dropout prevention so in additionon to that it's to connect to that employ

i was just speaking to a keep wyden who is taking park in territory -- with all hands on deck effort. he was telling me that, yesterday, his wife was driving their three children during curfew time through the streets of kyiv. it is unclear exactly what happened, but she was shot and seriously injured. she is now in hospital. he is now taking care of their three children, no longer able to partake in the territorial defense effort until their grandparents can arrive to take care of the kids. it is just one story that just shows you the human impact of this invasion. yasmin? >> the impact, the desperation, what an incredibly tragic story there. erin, thank you so much as always for your incredible reporting on the ground. i'm gonna let you go. for now. ralph sanchez, i'm gonna move to you, over in moscow talking about the response of course for vladimir putin's shocking, of course to hear that, earlier today, i should say yesterday, new color forces of known hyaluronic. what is that saying about the state of the russian president right now? and where he believes the success or lack of

so i want to thank senators booker, wyden and all my colleagues to worked with us on this important and long overdue change. i hope we can make more progress to cannabis reform in the near future. now, madam president, i move to proceed to calendar 266, h.r. 3076. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. mr. schumer: i send a cloture motion to the desk. the clerk: motion to proceed to h.r. 3076, an act to provide stability to and enhance the services of the united states postal service and for other purposes. mr. schumer: i send a cloture motion to the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: cloture motion, we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the motion to proceed to calendar 266, h.r. 3076, an act to provide stability to and enhance the services of the united states postal service and for other purposes, signed by 18 senators as follows. mr. schumer: i ask consent the reading of the names be waived. the presiding officer: without objection.

in the context of the most recent information that has come out from a couple of senators, senator wyden and a privacy and civil liberties oversight board that the cia has been for quite some time now engaged in unlawful and improper collection of data on american citizens in violation of law, it becomes even worse and if this administration doesn't want to get to the bottom of it certainly i hope congress will but we may here again, as you indicated have to wait until the midterms. david: this is more than just spying. this is inserting disinformation into secure websites. by the way, not just when donald trump was running for president but when he was actually president, somebody went into his secure executive office of the presidency website trying to insert this data to frame him. >> they did. these were people that knew exactly what they were doing both politically and from a technology standpoint and i'm sorry to say that even one of my hometown universities here, georgia tech university, in atlanta, georgia, seems to perhaps been part of this insidious activity. david: bob, we onl

senator ron wyden, the committee chair, says today it's more likely for a wealthy person to get hit by a meteor than to get audited. but a new bill, the irs priorities act, will be introduced tomorrow by congressman westerman. he told us in a fox business exclusive the bill would ban the irs from hiring more auditors before they can clear the massive backlog and get taxpayers their money back. >> they work for the american people, not the other way around. i promise you if people haven't paid their taxes, the irs will be going after them. if you don't pay your taxes, you get interest and penalties, but i doubt the irs is going to adjust for inflation or pay interest on these returns that are past due. >> reporter: and, david, over 75% of the irs' work force is still working remotely from home, so not only are there concerns that this remote work is not as productive which is adding to issue of a backlog, but also working from home could be less secure. david? david: hillary, thank you very much for that. well, things are complicated enough for taxpayers and the ir, s and now colorado h

we do want to thank this committee and senator brown, cardin, wyden and several senators have worked toward preparing regulation. let me be clear we have steadfastly supported preparer regulation. we do believe that having those minimum standards will help the tax system, the voluntary compliance system. we do agree that preparer regulation is important. we have supported legislation in that realm. and i think that would help some of the unscrupulous tax preparers. we do support the concept broadly and look forward to working with you on supporting that preparer regulation legislation. >> thank you. and, finally, let me just recommend and commend the men and women who work at the irs. they have done an incredible job with increased burden upon them to really focus on the needs of our taxpayers, and they have little resources to do so. so thank you, everyone. i yield the remained earp of my time. >> thank you, senator cortez masto. i'm glad you and your colleagues are singling out the terrific work being done by many people at the irs under incredibly hard circumstances. okay, senator

in the report, we looked at the first chair of the wyden administration and found they imposed $201 billion of economic impositions. the biden administration is by far the biggest first year of an administration in that timeframe. when you consider the fact that typically what happens during the first chair of administration is that they are laying the groundwork for more substantive rule to come in the future, i think is a clear indication of the future where we are headed that there will be more economic costs coming. host: you mentioned the $201 billion number found in your report. you also mention a number of executive orders being signed and the topics of vehicle admissions and covid-19 safety measures. can you elaborate on what those things? guest: the vehicle admissions rule is probably about 90% of the net total. that is probably about $180 billion. that sets miles per gallon standards per year from 2023 to 2026. most people are familiar with the mandate from osha on employers of more than 100 employees to either vaccinate or provide testing for them. that was about $4 billion. that

those democrats, senators ron wyden and martin heim rick say the agency has been collecting that data in bulk without congress knowing. they are demanding an explanation and rightfully so. if we get any information we will bring it to you. scary. and the supreme court rejecting an appeal from a group of new york city teachers who wanted the vaccine mandate blocked. teachers arguing the mandate violates their religious freedoms, justice sonia sotomayor rejected the emergency appeal. offering no explanation, no word on whether she was wearing that when she rejected that the rejection coming the same day as the deadline for nearly 4,000 nyc mandate or face losing their jobs and those are your headlines. all right. will: we're downtowning down the kickoff in the most anticipated ads of the year of the super bowl. you won't have to wait until tomorrow to see them because lawrence jones has a preview. lawrence: good morning, family. we have been talking about working out before the cheerleaders get here. what if i could told you can have a nice snack and work out at the same time? we will t

wyden: mr. president, i will offer another proposal shortly as an alternative to senator scott's unanimous consent request, and i'm going to make a few brief points before i do that. first, i want to make clear, mr. president, that on this side, nobody -- nobody -- takes a back seat to anyone else when it comes to standing up to the horrific abuses of the chinese government against its people as well as its economic cheating that has ripped off american jobs and our prosperity. that's why i worked worked withr colleague from ohio, senator brown, to close once and for all an immoral and unjustifiable loophole that allowed some products made with forced labor to enter into the united states. that's why i've also worked with senator crapo on a bipartisan effort to build on that progress with respect to forced labor and to crack down on the rest of china's playbook of abuses and rip-offs. we wrote at bipartisan amendment that deals with forced labor investigations, with intellectual property protect

wyden: mr. president, earlier this afternoon, i made it clear that i was going to put forward a unanimous consent request asking the senate to take up and approve the nomination of michelle taylor to serve as the united states representative to the u.n. human rights council with the rank of ambassador. and in just a minute and a half or so, i will make that unanimous consent request. ms. taylor has an exceptional record with respect to humanitarian issues. she has served on the antidefamation league and the united states holocaust memorial museum council. she's been a strong advocate for the rights of women. i come from a family that lost relatives in the holocaust. ms. taylor is the daughter of a holocaust survivor, and it is absolutely essential that we up the ante in the fight against anti-semitism, and that's a key part of this country's diplomacy. the reason that i am making this unanimous consent request tonight is that michelle taylor is unquestionably callified for this important post, b

wyden: thank you very much, madam president. madam president, i certainly agree with the proposition that was advanced by my colleague to improve service at the internal revenue service. the fact, however, is the effect of this proposal is to demean i.r.s. workers and distract from the real challenges facing the i.r.s. and the real challenge can be embodied by the fact that for years and years my colleagues on the other side of the aisle have been squeezing and downsizing critical enforcement services at the i.r.s. to the point where the wealthy cheats basically can get a free ride. they can get a free ride. madam president, about the other day in the context of talking about tax cheats at wealthy partnerships that aren't getting audited, i said the chance that they're going to be subject to real enforcement when they're a wealthy tax cheater, about the same likelihood as being hit by a meteor. and it is because of these policies that have been downsizing resources at the i.r.s. to deal with these wealthy tax cheats for years. n

so the grassley-wyden bill -- or the wyden-grassley bill -- remains our best chance to lower prescription drug costs in a bipartisan manner. and i urge my colleagues to work with me to pass this bill. i'll give you just some examples, probably only a half a dozen out of 27 major pieces it has in it. number one, it caps out-of-pocket costs at $3,100. i'll have to give to the democrat proposal. they have reduced that down to $2,000. i'm willing to negotiate $3,100 or $2,000. secondly, it eliminates the doughnut hole. third, it caps rising drug prices in medicare at inflation price index. four, the bill ends uncapped taxpayer-funded subsidies for big pharma. five, it brings more sunshine, more competition, and more oversight to how big pharma prices drugs in the first place. lastly out of 2,700 sections in this bill, i want to say it saves $72 billion for seniors and $95 billion for taxpayers. in addition to this bill, i have four prescription drug bills that have passed the judiciary committee with unanimous support. so, obviously, all four of those are bipartisan bills. these four bills br