In the News in Last Month Part 3

In the News in Last Month Part 3

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Mr. Speaker, it’s my great honor, maybe one of the biggest honors of my lifetime, to stand here on the floor and do something that’s 59 years overdue, to recognize the survivors and those who gave their lives on the USS Liberty 59 years ago today, when they were viciously attacked by IDF jets, and also after that by torpedo boats. I’m going to tell you a little bit of their story. And by the way, there’s at least a dozen of them here today with us.

I just met with them in my office and they related this story to me. You know, it was a clear day. The USS Liberty was one of the most technologically sophisticated ships in the Navy, but it was virtually unarmed and it was sent to observe the Six-Day War going on in the Middle East between Israel and its neighbors.

It arrived on June 7th and the weather was clear. The planes came out to meet them, to investigate, and then on the next day, on June 8th, they started the day. The visibility was unlimited.

The American flag was flying proudly on the USS Liberty. More planes came from Israel to surveil the boat, the ship, and they thought they were in good shape. But what happened next surprised them all.

French Mirage jets showed up and for 25 minutes, strafed and attacked the USS Liberty. They shot rockets. They shot 30 millimeter cannons into the hull and into the ship.

They even dropped napalm on the bridge of the ship. This was an effort to kill everybody on board. There was no intention of taking prisoners.

After the 25 grueling minutes of attack on this virtually unarmed ship, and they thought things were over and they could recover, the torpedo boats showed up. Three torpedo boats. They launched four torpedoes.

One of them hit the hull of the USS Liberty and killed 25 people instantly. It blew a 40 foot by 40 foot hole in the side of this ship. They were intent on sinking it, but they were also intent on not having a single survivor.

According to eyewitness accounts, the Israelis machine-gunned the lifeboats that they put down. They machine-gunned the firefighters who were on the deck. They were bringing the wounded and the dead to the mess hall to triage them.

They had one doctor who was trying to help them all put a few stitches in. It was harrowing and it’s amazing. If not for that crew, that boat would have sunk that day, but it still wasn’t over.

Helicopters showed up. Combat helicopters. And the USS Liberty, even though their signals were being jammed by the Israelis, got a signal out and there were ships that tried to respond.

The USS Saratoga, the USS America sent planes. Both of them sent planes to help the USS Liberty and something happened that’s never happened before. A ship under attack, the planes were recalled.

This has never happened before and they sat there for 17 hours. 34 dead, 174 wounded out of 294 crew members. That’s over 70 percent casualty rate, unheard of.

The Israelis were intent on leaving no survivor. And what about our own military? Why did they not send anybody for 17 hours to help these men? So what really happened? You know, the official reports say that it was a case of mistaken identity, but if you listen to Dean Rusk, former Secretary of State, Richard Helm, CIA Director, Bobby Ray Inman, head of the NSA, Captain Ward Boston, who was the Chief Counsel of the Court of Inquiry. If you listen to Admiral Moore, who served in Pearl Harbor, Midway, commanded both the Atlantic and Pacific Fleet, and was Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, none of these distinguished men think this was an accident.

They think it was intentional murder by the country of Israel, either as a false flag operation or because they simply didn’t want anybody observing what they were doing that day. Well, I’ve got a call to action for everybody here. Honor these individuals.

Quit ignoring that they exist. Go to their website, USSLiberty.org. Support them. And while they’re still alive, they need closure.

Let’s give them closure. Let’s have an investigation. Let’s pass a resolution honoring them.

It’s long overdue. And then they can have their justice. With that, I yield back, and I ask unanimous consent to enter into the record a declaration of Ward Boston declaring that the only official Court of Inquiry was invalid.

Without objection, so ordered. I yield back. The gentleman yields back.

The Chair now recognizes Senator Warren. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. So after President Trump and the Republicans slashed health care for millions of families, the President pitched his TrumpRx website as the answer for Americans who are worried about health care costs.

He claims that TrumpRx has reduced prices by as much as 600%. 600%, which I think means companies should be paying you to take their drugs. But let’s do some real math here.

Take one drug, Protonix. A 30-day supply of this heartburn medication cost $200 on TrumpRx. But there is an identical generic version of this pill called Pantoprazole.

Secretary Kennedy, do you know how much it costs for a 30-day supply of that drug at Costco? But I would say this, Senator. President Trump has a different way of calculating. There’s two ways of calculating percentage.

If you have a $600 drug and you reduce it to 10, that’s a 600% reduction. I understand that you know I only have five minutes. Do you know what the drug costs at Costco? I do not.

The drug is $16 at Costco. TrumpRx charges $200 for Protonix, and Costco charges $16. Let’s do another one.

Tecosin is a treatment for heart arrhythmia. It costs $336 on TrumpRx. Or you can get the generic at Cost Plus Drugs for $12.

So you tell me, Mr. Secretary, are patients better off paying $336 on TrumpRx or $12 at Cost Plus Drugs? You’re comparing apples to oranges because you’re comparing the brand drug to the generic drug. To the exact same drug. Well, people should be buying the generic, and we will be directing them to the generic.

To the exact same drug. We’ll be directing them to the generic. Tell me, Mr. Secretary, you think people ought to be paying $336 instead of $12? A lot of people, a lot of doctors prescribe the brand, so we’re giving them 600% reductions on the brand.

We will be directing them to the generic whenever it’s available. So here’s the thing. We know about brand names versus generic.

It’s a big pharma talking point in order to fool people into buying a more expensive drug. The generic is chemically the same. And here’s the thing.

If you’re buying a drug on TrumpRx, there is a more than one in four chance that Trump’s discount is actually a price hike. And for an anti-Big Pharma guy, you sure don’t seem worried about steering patients to more expensive drugs that are gonna pad Big Pharma’s profits. But there’s more in this deal.

In exchange for these scam discounts, President Trump has exempted these drug companies from his 100% tariffs. So think about that. Big Pharma makes billions of dollars in tariff relief by listing their drugs on TrumpRx.

And then they don’t even lower the costs on many of these drugs. That is a great deal for Big Pharma. So Secretary Kennedy, here’s my question.

Did you sign off on these sweetheart deals for Big Pharma or was this all President Trump’s idea? The tariff relief is only applicable if the company has agreed to produce the drug in America. They have one year to do so. And then they don’t get the tariff relief and then it is gonna bankrupt them.

So you’re the one who negotiated these? Did I negotiate the deal? You negotiated these deals. Will you make those deals available to us so we can see them? I didn’t personally negotiate them. All right.

Did your team negotiate these deals? Yes. Will you make those deals available to us so we can see them, a little transparency? We will make the deal. I’ve already said this.

I’m happy to make the deals available except for proprietary information and trade secrets, which when you pass the IRA- I will hold you to that, Mr. Secretary, because if these deals with Big Pharma are so great for Americans, then we should be able to see what promises have been made. You have the power to make this deal yourself. Why don’t you do that? Why did you? We did this because you refused to do it.

What we’ve got is Trump — You have a lot more power to negotiate than we do. Trump stakes- We got the lowest prices in history. By healthcare costs and you and Donald Trump are actually making the problem worse.

The American public deserves better. Millions of people who are using Trump Rx disagree with you. I said the millions of people who are using Trump Rx disagree with you.

One out of four chance of paying more at Trump Rx than they would if they went to Costco. That’s not much of a deal for the American people. Not on branded drugs.

Oh, so your answer is Americans should just not take prescription drugs- We are directing people. We will be directing people to the generics, the cheapest available. But a lot of doctors prescribe the brands and we’re giving them massive reductions in the brands.

So those mass, mass discounts — Massive. 600%. 600%.

They can pay hundreds of dollars- Or more. On Trump Rx or they can get it for 12 bucks. This is the second instance of the secretary denying the public’s right to know.

That’s all that the members on this committee have asked for.