HUD Pays Some Attention to Housing Authority Salary Caps
Under pressure from Sen. Chuck Grassley, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) released updated salary data for the top executives at public housing authorities nationwide. The state and local housing authority executives are prohibited from exceeding a congressionally imposed cap on the amount of federal money that can be used for salaries. HUD announced it is seeking reimbursement from six housing authorities that exceeded the 2014 federal salary cap of $157,100. The cap for 2016 has been increased to $160,300. Grassley made the following comment on HUD’s action.
“Congress imposed the salary cap for good reason. Housing authorities receive billions of dollars from the federal taxpayers to provide safe, affordable housing for people in need. The federal funds aren’t meant to feather the nests of housing authority executives with big salaries and perks like housing and car allowances. But HUD didn’t pay attention and let too many housing authorities get away with wasteful spending. I welcome what HUD is doing on the salary caps, but much more needs to be done. HUD needs to stop letting housing authorities convert federal money to non-federal money to exceed the caps. And maybe Congress needs to take another look at a legislative proposal to tie salaries to housing units. Some housing authority executives receive six-figure salaries to manage only a couple hundred units. Many housing authorities have long waiting lists, and HUD needs to get the most bang for the taxpayer’s buck.”
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Senator Grassley’s 99 county meetingsQuestions have been raised by political entities about Sen. Grassley’s meetings with Iowans during the on-going Senate recess. I’m writing with information about these meetings, which are structured as they have been for years, despite partisan assertions to the contrary.
Sen. Grassley’s had at least one official business meeting in every Iowa county every year that he’s represented the state in the U.S. Senate. Any political meeting or event that Sen. Grassley attends does not count as one of his county meetings. This is the 36th consecutive year that Sen. Grassley has held an official meeting in every one of Iowa’s 99 counties.
The meetings are a mix of formats. There are open-to-the-public town meetings, where Sen. Grassley has Q&A with Iowans on any topic they’d like him to address. He invites comments and questions on any subject. There are also hour-long Q&A meetings planned at high schools, factories, offices, hospitals, and service clubs, where Sen. Grassley is the guest of a local host and, again, invites questions and comments from Iowans on any subject. Sen. Grassley makes a point to have this second form of meeting so that Iowans who are unable to leave work to attend an open town meeting have an opportunity for Q&A with their U.S. senator. He also likes to meet with young Iowans for Q&A in high schools and on college and community college campuses. When meetings are at plants and other workplaces they typically include a brief tour, but the vast majority of the time is spent in Q&A with a gathering of employees, which is sometimes hundreds of Iowans.
Every county meeting of Sen. Grassley’s is scheduled with 15 minutes after the meeting for media availability with local reporters before he heads to the next meeting.
The open town meetings are announced in a news release. Here’s the news release for this recess’ open town meetings: http://www.grassley.senate.
In addition to the three open town meetings, during this recess Sen. Grassley is holding 16 meetings at two local schools, 10 businesses and factories, two hospitals, a community roundtable and a service club for Q&A meetings with Iowans. As stated earlier, these meetings provide Sen. Grassley an opportunity to hear from Iowans who are unable to leave work or school to attend an open town meeting. While specifics had not been finalized, the decision to hold meetings in Northwest Iowa during this recess was made the first week in February, as part of the annual overall planning to travel to every one of Iowa’s 99 counties for constituent meetings.
As a reference point, during the same congressional recess a year ago, Sen. Grassley held four open town meetings and 15 Q&A sessions at local businesses and factories, schools and service organizations. The mix of constituent meetings has been conducted the same way for years and has allowed Sen. Grassley to hear from a cross-section of Iowans.
Sen. Grassley’s office notifies local reporters about the other meetings so that reporters have access to the routine media availabilities following every Q&A session. This approach is designed to avoid confusion about the meeting being hosted by the business, school, hospital or organization rather than an open town meeting.
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Ernst, Grassley Call for Review of Regulatory Barriers Iowa Pharmacies Face in Federal Drug Take Back Program
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Joni Ernst (R-IA) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) today sent a letter to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to request that the agency provide Congress with a report on the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) regulations that create potential barriers to the participation of local pharmacies in federal drug take back programs. The letter comes on the heels of Senate passage of the bipartisan Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA), legislation to help local organizations and municipalities engage in the fight against the nationwide opioid epidemic.
The Senators wrote, “We have heard from constituents in Iowa that a convenient place to return unwanted and unused controlled substances is to the same place they received them – their local pharmacy. However, some stakeholders have suggested that the regulations currently in place make it difficult and costly for retail pharmacies to participate in the program. Indeed, some of these same concerns were also raised in public comments provided to the DEA during the rulemaking process.”
“We appreciate the challenge of creating new avenues to return unwanted and unused controlled substances, while at the same time guarding against the diversion of these drugs. However, we also want to ensure that compliance and participation costs do not act as a deterrent to pharmacies that want to voluntarily provide this important service to their communities,” the Senators continued, “As such, we respectfully request that GAO review the DEA’s regulations, stakeholder concerns with them, and participation rates in the program, and submit a report to Congress with recommendations on how Congress and the DEA can address existing regulatory barriers in order to expand the voluntary participation of retail pharmacies in this important program as much as possible.”
In a recent op-ed, Senator Ernst stressed her commitment to ensuring that local pharmacies that wish to participate in the federal drug take back program are able to do so. She wrote, in part, “Based on feedback from Iowa pharmacists, I am working on a request to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to conduct a thorough review of the program and report to Congress with recommendations to address the barriers to participation that local pharmacies face. These recommendations will help us to find appropriate ways to maximize participation in the program and ensure that this important service to the community is widely available.”
As Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Caucus on International Narcotics Control, Senator Grassley led the Senate to overwhelming passage of the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act. Prior to that, he led the bill through the Judiciary Committee. The Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America recognized that without his leadership, the bill would not have passed the Senate. In addition, Senator Grassley successfully urged the Obama Administration to re-instate the DEA’s highly effective prescription drugs take back days, which it had discontinued. Grassley was an original cosponsor of the Secure and Responsible Drug Disposal Act, which initiated take back days and encouraged communities to establish programs to collect unused medications year-round.
The full text of the letter can be found here.
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Klobuchar, Grassley Statement on Federal Trade Commission Suit against Endo Pharmaceuticals Inc. for Violating Antitrust Laws
Klobuchar and Grassley have introduced bipartisan legislation that would help put an end to pay-for-delay settlements that block consumers’ access to lower-cost generics; the legislation would bring more affordable generic equivalents on the market and ensure consumers have access to cost-saving generic drugs they need
WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar and Chuck Grassley today issued the following statements on the announcement that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed suit against Endo Pharmaceuticals Inc. and several other drug companies for violating antitrust laws by using pay-for-delay settlements to block consumers’ access to lower-cost generic versions of Opana ER and Lidoderm. Klobuchar and Grassley have introduced bipartisan legislation that would help put an end to pay-for-delay settlements that block consumers’ access to lower-cost generics.
"Competition, not sweetheart deals between branded and generic companies should determine prescription drug costs,” said Klobuchar. “The deals alleged are clear examples of pharmaceutical companies sharing monopoly profits and consumers paying the price. Although I appreciate that the FTC heeded our call for increased enforcement, today’s action illustrates the need for our legislation to help ensure people have access to the medications they need at a price they can afford by putting an end to these harmful agreements.”
“Whenever companies game the laws to their advantage, consumers, and in this case, the patients, are left feeling the pain,” said Grassley. “These allegations show how far some companies are willing to go at the expense of consumers, who have no other, more affordable options. Deals like these involving competition-stifling pay-for-delay maneuvers are exactly what Sen. Klobuchar and I have been working to end. Our legislation would curb these harmful tactics and help ensure that consumers have timely access to lower-cost generic medications.”
Klobuchar and Grassley have long supported efforts to combat anti-consumer pay-for-delay settlements. The senators are the lead sponsors of the Preserve Access to Affordable Generics Act, which would crack down on anti-competitive pay-offs and make sure consumers have access to cost-saving generic drugs they need. The bipartisan legislation would make it illegal for brand-name drug manufacturers to use anti-competitive pay-off agreements to keep more affordable generic equivalents off the market. Klobuchar and Grassley introduced similar legislation in 2010 following a resurgence of patent settlement agreements. In July 2013, the Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy, and Consumer Rights held a hearing to scrutinize pay-for-delay deals.
Here is a link to the FTC’s press release announcing the suit.
