On the recordMay 24, 2012
this amendment is supported by Public Citizen, U.S. PIRG, the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, and the National Women's Health Network. In the United States, we pay by far the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs--much higher than Canada, much higher than Europe. There are a number of reasons for that. One of the reasons is the widespread fraud, systemic fraud being perpetrated on the American people by virtually every major drug company in this country. In the last few years, companies such as Abbott, Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, GlaxoSmithKline, and many others combined have paid billions of dollars in fines because they are ripping off Medicare, they are ripping off Medicaid, and they are ripping off the American consumer. It is high time we said that fraud cannot be perpetrated as a business model by some of the major corporations in this country. I ask for a ``yes'' vote. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Wyoming
