Grassley Direct

I spoke with Maureen Olsen of the Neola Gazette and Dennis Morrice of KLEM Radio about mental health reforms and legislation, debates in Iowa, Mylan's overcharging Medicaid for EpiPens, follow-up from the hearing on ag mergers, feedback from Iowans on the Supreme Court nomination and the presidential and vice presidential debates.

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A bill I championed to assist survivors of sexual assault became law this week.  The Survivors’ Bill of Rights ensures that evidence from sexual assault crimes is both collected and preserved so that survivors have the best possible shot at justice.  I worked with a young survivor, Amanda Nguyen, to get this bill on the books so we can improve the chances of catching perpetrators and help survivors find closure.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement never detained and never started deportation proceedings for an undocumented immigrant with a violent and criminal background who lied to Border Patrol agents to avoid removal. He ended up killing five people, four of them Iowans, while in the United States. I am seeking answers from the Obama Administration on why he wasn't a priority for immigration enforcement.

More than two weeks ago I started looking into whether Mylan was overcharging taxpayers for EpiPens due to misclassification under the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program. According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, EpiPens were misclassified, meaning Mylan should have been paying a 23.1 percent rebate to Medicaid when it has been paying only 13 percent.

My staff and I examined how much Mylan's revenue has increased from charging taxpayers in the last few years. Our analysis found that Medicare and Medicaid charges for EpiPens increased 463 percent from 2011 to 2015.

This week I sent a letter with three other congressional committee chairmen to the Department of Justice with questions about the FBI’s agreement to severely limit its searches of Secretary Clinton’s senior advisors’ laptops during the investigation of her non-government email server. In the course of reviewing some immunity agreements related to the investigation, the committees learned that the FBI also inexplicably agreed to destroy laptops that were subject to congressional subpoena.

My regional director for the Davenport area will be holding open office hours across southeastern Iowa and will be available to take questions, comments and concerns about federal issues from Iowans.

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