Political Quotes

“4 years ago, I kicked off an investigation of Big Pharma's tax practices, the dodges and tricks these hugely profitable, multinational companies use to winnow down their tax bills. This was not very long after Trump's first tax breaks for corporations went into effect. My Democratic colleagues on the Finance Committee and I wanted to know exactly how sweet a deal Trump gave the biggest drug companies and what changes needed to be made to ensure these corporations paid a fair share. So far, in the course of my investigation, I have released information on the tax practices of five major drug companies: AbbVie, Abbott Laboratories, Amgen, Bristol Myers Squibb, and Merck. The questions that I asked these companies were not very complicated. Essentially, what I asked came down to questions like: How big were your sales? Where did you make them? Where did you report your profits? Where did you stick your intellectual property? Did you actually pay taxes? Last year, I expanded my investigation with an inquiry to the company Pfizer. Pfizer initially resisted, but my staff and I were not going to let up. Finally, the company provided some answers to our questions. We are going to get into those issues now, and I ask unanimous consent to enter into the Record a memorandum outlining records of my investigation relating to Pfizer's tax-avoidance schemes, which will also be available immediately on the Finance Committee's website. Mr.…”