Monday, April 5, 2010

WASHINGTON - Senator Chuck Grassley is asking the Secretary of Health and Human Services to account for the fact that the agency that runs Medicare failed to respond for over a year to credible information about fraudulent pharmacies bilking Medicare.

The pharmacies in question included empty store fronts that successfully billed millions of dollars to private insurers, where they were identified, yet Medicare officials completely ignored the warnings, despite repeated warnings.

"Every Medicare dollar that's lost to fraud is a tax dollar wasted and a dollar that doesn't go to serve Medicare beneficiaries, as intended," Grassley said.

Here is Grassley's letter to the Secretary of Health and Human Services.

This information comes on top of Inspector General reports last year about the Department's repeated failure to respond to formal reports about programmatic flaws that led to Medicare fraud, waste and abuse.

Conservative estimates say that at least $60 billion in Medicare dollars are lost every year to fraud, waste and abuse.  Earlier this year, Grassley introduced a comprehensive bill, the Strengthening Program Integrity and Accountability in Health Care Act, to combat this loss in federal health programs including Medicare.  It includes better screening requirements to keep fraudulent providers out of Medicare, as well as a stop-gap to prevent the federal government from paying first and asking questions later about whether claims for payment are legitimate.

-30-

WASHINGTON, April 5, 2010 - Senator Chuck Grassley recently met with Jonathan Daters of Eldridge in Washington, D.C.

Daters, a junior at North Scott High School, was in Washington, D.C. attending the National Youth Leadership Conference.  The conference provides opportunities for students to discuss issues with private and public sector leaders, meet members of Congress and visit Washington's historical landmarks.  During their visit, students take part in group discussion and decision-making exercises to further prepare themselves for leadership roles.

Grassley discussed the opportunity that students have to intern in one of his offices.  "Being an intern is a valuable experience that allows students to get an inside look at politics and become more involved in representative government."

"It was great to meet with Jonathan," Grassley said.  "I enjoyed hearing his views and answering his questions about government.  During his time in Washington, he received a first-hand look at the federal government in action.  I'm glad Jonathan was able to see some of my day-to-day activities."

Meeting with young people has been a priority for Grassley throughout his career in the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate.  He enjoys meeting with nearly 60 groups of students every year.  To schedule a meeting with Grassley, visit http://grassley.senate.gov and click on Scheduling Requests under the Info for Iowans tab.

-30-

Finance leaders say findings could help lower barriers to key U.S. exports

Washington, DC - Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and Ranking Member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) today requested a study of the market for agricultural products in China, including the effects of tariff and non-tariff barriers on U.S. agricultural exports.  In their letter to Chairman Shara L. Aranoff of the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC), the Senators asked the ITC to cover a five-year period from 2004-2009 in its report, and to submit the report within eleven months of receipt of their letter.

"China is already the fourth largest market for U.S. agricultural products, but there is room for substantial growth if we can reduce trade barriers to our exports.  The United States is a top exporter of wheat and beef, but we face unjustified restrictions in the Chinese market," said Baucus.  "The report Senator Grassley and I commissioned today will investigate restrictions on these and other agricultural products, so we can begin to remove barriers and send more of our Montana and American-made goods to China and create jobs here at home."

"China has become a major market for American agricultural exports.  But the potential is there for China to become an even bigger market for these products," Grassley said. "We need a better understanding of the tariff and non-tariff barriers that U.S. agricultural producers face in trying to export to China.  The study that Chairman Baucus and I have requested today will help.  Specifically, beef and pork producers in Iowa and across the United States stand to benefit from the elimination of non-tariff trade barriers that have no basis in science.  This investigation will shed more light on those barriers."

The text of the Senators' letter follows below:

April 1, 2010

The Honorable Shara L. Aranoff

Chairman

U.S. International Trade Commission

500 E Street, S.W.

Washington, DC 20436

Dear Chairman Aranoff,

We are writing to request that the U.S. International Trade Commission conduct an investigation under section 332(g) of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1332(g)) regarding competitive factors affecting agricultural trade between China and the United States.

Since it joined the World Trade Organization in 2001, China's imports of U.S. agricultural products have grown substantially. China is now the fourth largest market for U.S. agricultural exports.  Yet sales are highly concentrated in a few products?soybeans, cotton, poultry, and hides and skins accounted for more than 85 percent of Chinese imports of U.S. agricultural products in 2009.  Chinese imports of several globally competitive U.S. agricultural products, such as certain meat, feedgrains, and processed food, are limited.  With rapidly rising per capita income and resource constraints on domestic production growth, China has the potential to provide greater opportunities for expanding U.S. agricultural exports.

At the same time, several factors threaten the ability of U.S. agricultural exporters to realize these opportunities.  Chinese government policies aimed at boosting domestic production and curbing imports, non-tariff measures, including sanitary/phytosanitary measures and technical trade barriers, and increased competition from third-country suppliers, especially those with which China has negotiated trade agreements, are important factors that could weaken the competitive position of U.S. agricultural products in the Chinese market.

The Commission's report should cover the period 2005-2009, or the period 2005 to the latest year for which data are available.  In addition, to the extent possible, the report should include the following:

* an overview of China's agricultural market, including recent trends in production, consumption, and trade;

*  a description of the competitive factors affecting the agricultural sector in China, in such areas as costs of production, technology, domestic support and government programs related to agricultural markets, foreign direct investment policies, and pricing and marketing regimes;

* an overview of China's participation in global agricultural export markets, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region and in those markets with which China has negotiated trade agreements;

* a description of the principal measures affecting China's agricultural imports, including tariffs and non-tariff measures such as sanitary and phytosanitary measures and technical barriers to trade; and

* a quantitative analysis of the economic effects of China's MFN tariffs, preferential tariffs negotiated under China's free trade agreements, and China's non-tariff measures on U.S. agricultural exports to China and on imports from the rest of the world.

The Commission should submit its final report no later than eleven months from the receipt of this request.  As we intend to make the report available to the public, we request that it not contain confidential business information.

Sincerely,

Max Baucus                         Charles E. Grassley

Chairman                       Ranking Member

###

WASHINGTON - Chuck Grassley today said that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has awarded two competitive grants totaling $3,030,257 to the Iowa Department of Public Health and the University of Iowa.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will distribute the money as shown below.

• $2,745,257 to the Iowa Department of Public Health to help pay for the Ryan White Care Act Title II.

• $285,000 to the University of Iowa from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences to help pay for pharmacology, physiology and biological chemistry research project titled, "Evolution of Pre-mRNA Splicing in Primates."

Each year, thousands of local Iowa organizations, colleges and universities, individuals and state agencies apply for competitive grants from the federal government. The funding is then awarded based on each local organization or individual's ability to meet criteria set by the federal entity.

-30-