growth, the trump administration is overhauling the waste, fraud and abuse that has characterized the federal government's use of tax dollars for decades. the department of labor is eliminating unnecessary red tape that stifles innovation. we are on track to restore freedom and purchasing power to hardworking men and women. for example, the labor department recently uncovered $4.4 billion of unspent and unusable covid funding and is actively working to return that money to the treasury in its entirety. when americans' hard-earned tax dollars aren't wasted, more of their paychecks can go toward things that actually matter. putting food on the table, gas in the cars, and providing stability for our families. workers are the cornerstone of our economic comeback. and that's exactly why america-first policies matter. i stand by ready to equip, train and support our workforce so that they can thrive in the ever-changing job market.

consistent with these efforts, the president's fiscal year 2026 budget gives states and localities flexibility to spend workforce dollars in a way that makes the most sense for them. by consolidating siloed federal training programs into a single make america skilled again grant, states will be able to spend more time and money delivering high-quality training for their workers and less time complying with burdensome federal regulations. pursuant to two critical executive orders, my department is hard at work to collaborate with the departments of commerce and education to unlock the potential of the american worker. we are looking to strengthen rebellingsterred apprenticeship -- registered apprenticeships and invest in opportunities that upskill workers to meet current labor market demands. i'm confident that by revitalizing our workforce and preparing workers for their jobs of tomorrow, we are breathing life into the american dream. i believe as you all do that we

must work together to foster an economy that ensures every american can thrive. with good pay, safe working conditions and that secure retirement. it is my honor to work on behalf of president trump as we bring jobs back to the united states and put the american worker first again. i look forward to working with congress each and every day on these important goals and i look forward to our discussion here today. thank you. sen. capito: thank you. i'd like to next welcome the chair of the full appropriations committee who is with us here today, she needs no introduction at all. she's committed to leading this committee in a more functioning manner and hopefully on the floor with our appropriations bill. so welcome, senator collins. mr. collins: thank you very much -- mr. collins: collins thank you very much --

sen. collins: thank you very much. two job source centers was abruptly halted. the job centers serve nearly 500 students in maine each year and have become important pillars of support for some of our most vulnerable teenagers. it also has 129 staff members and is one of the largest employers in rural north maine. then the administration submitted a budget request that proposes to eliminate job corps altogether. this will deprive thousands, tens of thousands of job corps students across the country of

the opportunity to pursue higher education or enter the workforce or join the military. it's clear that job corps, while not perfect, works. and i want to tell you the personal story of a young woman, and i put up her pictures so that you can see her. i first met idez torres in 2008 when she was a job corps student in northern maine. she was originally from connecticut. she was experiencing homelessness. she was in a very difficult, dangerous situation and she recognized that she needed to change her life. she learned about job corps largely by chance and i asked

her, how did you choose the job corps center in north maine? she said, i needed to get as far away in the northeast from the terrible environment in which i was living that i possibly could. well, the story has a very happy ending. in 2019 i was the commencement speaker at hudson university in bangor and who comes up to me but idez. she has earned with honors her nursing degree. she went on to get her nurse practitioner degree. she totally turned around her life and that is the second picture that i'm showing you. and you'll notice that she is holding in her hands the

pictures that we took when the job corps students came in 2008 to see me here in washington. job corps literally saved her life. and she has been in the medical field ever since. it was job corps that made this possible. so i for the life of me do not understand why the administration wants to eliminate this valuable program. and i know, we've had a discussion on the cost, it is so much more expensive if someone, because of the influence and lack of support, ends up addicted or sex trafficked or in

jail than it is to have them go to a job corps center and receive the guidance and skills that they need to turn around their lives. and i wanted to make this real to you by showing you the two pictures and the change in this young woman's life. so in making these decisions, did you consider the potential impact that halting enrollment at the two centers in maine, which you did only in the state of maine, and also proposing the elimination of the program on people like idez whose life was changed and i would argue saved by job corps? sec. chavez-deremer: thank you, chairman. i appreciate this. first and foremost, i want to say at the front end, we agree

that this population is somebody we all care about. that is not the essence of what we're here talk to about but we do have to discuss the sustainability of job corps. i was a job corps champion in congress as well. i fought for all of these kids alongside of you. i understand how important they are to not only our respective states, but to our countries as well. we issued at the department of labor, and i know we've had this conversation and i know it will be ongoing with your office and many others because it's essential that we address the population of 16 to 24 who we are -- these are really essentially pre-apprenticeship programs that we know they need the skills and training for their entire lives, as you said, can you many more things than just upskilling. but we do have to look at it from a perspective, is it sustainable over time? we've released the department of labor a public transparency report that has never been done before and never exposed the

cost for each and every state and i know that i've shared with many of you the respective costs. i will continue to look at this but the transparency report shines a light of the serious flaws of this program. so here's what i would say. can we imagine together what it's like to continue to focus on this population throughout the country and do it better, more responsibly, and protect the american taxpayer? because on the outcome we want those tax dollars to be spent in a responsible way and still have the measured outcome that serves this young woman and many others. that's what i'm focused on doing and i am committed to each and every one of you to work through that process and what that looks like. no final decision has been made but we are reviewing every job corps facility and i understand the president's budget is signaling that this is not something that's sustainable over time. it's a $1.7 billion program with

a 3% graduation rate -- 38% graduation rate when the cost of $50,000 pursuant to and to get out about $156,000. we are in the hole now. i would have to come to the appropriations committee and ask for more money to just get us back to baseline, to have a graduation rate of 32%. so can we do better? i think we can. and i'm committed to working with all of you because this population of people is important to me just like it is to you. if you'll allow me to continue that conversation with you along the way, i promise you, we won't forget this population. we want them trained, upskilled, reskilled and have a job that changes their lives for the future of this country as well. sen. collins: thank you, madam chair. sen. capito: senator baldwin. sen. baldwin: thank you, madam chair. thank you again for being here, madam secretary. i have a few questions to start with the.

which hopefully we can get through very quickly. but regarding communication and transparaphernalia. so first, thank you for submitting a timely spending plan as required by the fiscal year 2025 full-year continuing resolution. but what you submithood some notations, footnotes that there are ongoing reviews of certain funding allocations. so will you commit to having your staff provide periodic updates to the appropriations committee staff on that review and the department's implementation of the appropriations law? sec. chavez-deremer: yes. sen. baldwin: second, will you please commit to me that your staff will notify committee staff of any programmatic delays the department experiences in spending any of the appropriated funds, again, if is cal year 2025? -- again, fiscal year 2025? sec. chavez-deremer: my goal is to always have open conversations with the appropriations committee. sen. baldwin: finally, will you

provide me with workforce reductions including accounts of the number of staff accepting deferred resignations for each of the department's offices through the most recent pay period? sec. chavez-deremer: yeah, thank you. if i might elaborate just a tad on that. you mentioned the house appropriations committee, congressman steny hoyer asked me that exact question. i did not have that information at that point. so we're still in that 45-day window. approximately 2700 employees have opted to take that d.r.p. i reported that out also to congressman hoyer as well. so just as an f.y. i. and also for our inspectors and our investigators, i think is key to the department of labor, the essential workers through osha, msha and wage and hour division, we have exempted from taking that program because they are essential to the department of labor for the enforcement. sen. baldwin: ok. and, you know, i want to just

comment on the deferred resignation program because, you know, this administration's been crystal clear that it wants to significantly reduce the federal workforce and the president's executive order 14210 says agency heads shall promptly undertake preparations to initiate large-scale reductions in force. and information provided to federal employees about the deferred resignation program indicated that the federal workforce is expected to undergo significant near-term changes, as a result of these changes or for other reasons you may wish to depart the federal government on terms that provide you with sufficient time and economic security to plan your future. this is really doing everything in my mind to tell employees to leave because if they don't, they're probably going to get fired. but anyway. i'm concerned that this administration is paying lip

service to protecting and supporting american workers. but then taking actions that harm them. we see the chaotic approach to tariffs impacting small businesses and larger employers who have had their supply chains disrupted and their workers paying the price with reduced work hours and price hikes to come. the department has pushed out approximately 20% of its staff who are now being paid not to work. which will seriously undermine the department's ability to fulfill its mission to support american workers. this includes forcing out about 25% of the staff at the employee benefits secure administration that we call, he was bsa, responsible for protecting the -- ebsa, responsible for protecting the benefits of american workers and retirees. so prior to implementing these staffing reductions, did you do an evaluation of the impact that it would have on ebsa being able

to do its job to protect americans' benefits if 25% fewer people were working there? sec. chavez-deremer: at the department of labor our goal is to fulfill the mission of every agency and that is protecting workers' rights. that's an essential part of the core mission. i can tell you, there are oftentimes what's important to me as the agency head is to make sure that spending more money doesn't necessarily get us the outcomes that we need. i can tell you the tariff conversation -- sen. baldwin: you have done an evaluation of what the impact would be on protecting workers' benefits by cutting that division by 25%? sec. chavez-deremer: we will always protect the american workers. it's essential to the department of labor. sen. baldwin: so you did an evaluation prior to pushing out 25% of those workers? sec. chavez-deremer: as i came into office, i had committed to this committee and every other committee in the full committee to do every evaluation and every agency so i can pull back the curtain and understand exactly what i am leading. sen. baldwin: i would appreciate

you sharing that evaluation and analysis with the committee. and i will submit some further questions for the record because i have quite a few others. thank you. sen. capito: thank you. madam secretary, we've talked about this issue but it's about the west virginia department of transportation. and the davis-bacon wage determinations for highway construction. they're just unworkable. when the biden administration published these wage determinations, west virginia d.o.t. was not given any prior notice of the proposed changes and therefore was unable to provide feedback and comments to d.o.l. before publication. the biden wage determinations left out key job classifications that are commonly used on highway projects. it's been very frustrating. the absence of these classifications has required west virginia d.o.t. to go through a complicated administrative process with d.o.l. to determine proper wages. you know, we're missing the construction season here as part of what i'm doing. or getting to this. has been significant delays in

advertising, but also awarding construction projects. i know that your staff has been working on this with our west virginia d.o.t. and with me in my office to make sure that our highways are safe and durable and drivable. so will you commit to continuing working with me to resolve this issue to ensure that west virginia's highway construction projects can begin without undue burden? sec. chavez-deremer: yeah, absolutely. i know my staff has been in touch with your staff and west virginia d.o.t. to try to resolve these specific issues. i'm committed to working with the wage and hour to ensure that prevailing wages are being calculated and applied appropriately. sen. capito: thank you. that's a timely request. let's talk about msha. i mentioned it in my opening statements. obviously it's important to a state like west virginia, the health and safety of our nation's miners. i'm concerned because i'm hearing from my constituents that msha offices in west virginia are closing. i'm worried that will reduce the

number of mine inspections, which are essential to ensuring that coal that powers our nation is mined safely and that workers return home to their families. west virginians know far too well the importance of keeping our miners safe on the job, having endured the tragedies that i mentioned earlier. can you elaborate on msha's plan for office closures in west virginia and i'm going to name the three that we had heard line the that were going to be closed. summersville, mount hope and in welch. sec. chavez-deremer: thank you again. there's no worker, including our miners, which i know are very important to you in west virginia, that should be concerned about not returning home safe. my goal as the agency head is to make sure that every worker is protected. as far as it relates to the msha offices, we're working with g.s.a. that is under g.s.a.'s purview. i'm working with them and advocating for those leases to stay open throughout. i don't have the exact number for you. but it's a critical mission to keep for our inspectors and our investigators to be there, to make sure that they're

assisting, to make sure those miners are safe and i will give that you updated list. but it is to keep those offices open and retain those leases but we're working on those now. sen. capito: much appreciated. i would say that close proximity, it's tough to get from one place to the other in case of an emergency, it can really create a lot of lag time if we don't have msha there and with our companies and our workers to be able to not just be protected but to react in case of an emergency. so -- sec. chavez-deremer: absolutely. sen. capito: please keep that front and center. let me ask you this question. what is it, make america skilled again? sec. chavez-deremer: that's right. sen. capito: ok. when you say that you've folded -- i think i'm hearing that you folded workforce programs into one big bucket, is that how you're -- how many different programs do we have in workforce development? sec. chavez-deremer: there are several and the goal is to work with our state partners. i can tell you, as i tour around

-- see all 50 states and visit with the american worker and visit with our community colleges, our career and technical education schools, the flexibility and modernization of getting that workforce investment is going to be key. i look forward to working with congress on making sure that wioa have the information they need to get through congress. it's going to be key for workforce investment. so it's the flexibility of doing so with our respective states. so, yes, make america skilled again through essentially a block grant for the flexibility in order for them to have access. that's going to be key for those local communities. sen. capito: ok. in my mind, what has worked in some instances in west virginia has been a public-private partnership. sec. chavez-deremer: absolutely. kop. sen. capito: with workforce programs where students who are maybe junior, senior, maybe they're in a career in technical or in regular high school,

they're unsure which direction they want to go. i'll use toyota as an example. they work with .pres. trump: we want to have a lot of good things happen. this is just the beginning. we have some of the most brilliant people sitting on this panel and likewise in the audience. i recognize so many. many of them are in the administration. with us today is the man who fought harder than anyone i know to bring these issues to the center of american politics, our secretary of health and human services, robert f. kennedy jr. bobby, thank you very much. [applause] and we're also joined by secretaries brooke rollins, scott turner, linda mcmahon,

doug collins, doug bergham, lori chavez-deremer. you're doing very well, lori. considering she's a democratic. [laughter] the unions say she's really good. i took a lot of heat for doing it. then they were all saying what a great job we did. now everybody's happy with you. great job. thank you very much. [applause] as well as e.p.a. administrator lee zeldin. budget director ross vought. s.b.a. administrator kelly loeffler. kelly's been amazing. she runs small business which is actually the biggest business there is, right? [applause] she had no idea how big -- she's doing great. f.d.a. commissioner, dr. marty mccarey. thank you, marty. [applause] n.i.h. director, dr. jay.

thank you very much, jay. and let's see, who do we have here. c.m.s. administrator, dr. mehmet oz, a tremendous guy, actually. thank you very much. [applause] a friend of mine, a really great senator, roger marshall. roger, thank you. [applause] governors mike braun, jim, part rick morrissey. representatives meu cannon, former speaker of the house, newt gingrich. newt, very quiet man. [applause] nice to see you, newt. four months ago i created the presidential commission to make america healthy again and today the commission officially delivers its first report on childhood health. here are just some of the alarming findings and they really are alarming. unbelievable, terrible. more than 40% of american children now have at least one chronic health condition. since the 1970, rates of

childhood cancers have soared, in many cases by nearly 50%. 5-0. 50%. wow. in the 1960's, less than 5% of the children were obese. now over 20% are obese. a few decades ago, one -- think of this one. this is to me the one that gets me. every time. and it seems to be getting worse. just a few decades ago, one in 10,000 children had autism. today it's one in 31. last time i heard the number it was one in 34, right? now it's one in 31. there's something wrong and we will not stop until we defeat the chronic disease epidemic in america. we're going to get it done. for the first time ever this report exams some of the root causes that many believe are making our children sicker and our population sicker, i guess. it just doesn't stop with the children. so population also. such as the ultraprocessed foods, over medicalization and

over-prescription and widespread exposure to potentially toxic chemicals. unlike other administrations, we will not be silenced or intimidated by the corporate lobbyists or special interests and i want this group to do what they have to do. we have to spell it out. in some cases it won't be nice or it won't be pretty but we have to do it. when you hear 10,000, it was one in 10,000 and now it's one in 31 for autism. i think that's just a terrible thing. it has to be something on the outside. has to be artificially induced. has to be. and we'll not allow our public health system to be captured by the very industries it's supposed to oversee. so we're demanding the answers, the public is demanding the answers and that's why we're here. already we're phasing out eight of the most common artificial food dyes. [applause]

and we ended the most serious conflicts of interest at the f.d.a. we, had a lot of conflicts over there. earlier this week we approved a snap waiver request from nebraska so they can stop taxpayer dollars from being used to make our children obese. i understand requests from three more states will be approved shortly. and more are expected to come in the following weeks. the commission will build on its work in this report to develop a road map to bold and transformative public health reforms for our consideration. it's a consideration and will lay out the facts. let me say congratulations to the entire maha movement. this movement has become very hot. people are really -- i tell you, they're going crazy over maha. [cheers and applause] and i look forward to continuing

the historic progress and i will say this, this whole group, this whole table, they're very -- i use the word because it's a beautiful word actually. the democrats took it and they used it, instead of the word liberal they used the word progress. meaning you're far -- they're not progressive. you are progressive. they shouldn't be allowed to use that word. and i'm -- [laughter] -- so therefore i'm not going it use it to describe you. but you are far forward thinkers. you're amazing thinkers and we appreciate having -- tremendous talent around this table. the most respected people. [applause] anywhere in the world actually. and, you know, i've been a fan of bobby for years. he came up to see me 13, 14, 15 years ago, i remember. and he left and i made a couple of the statements that he made because i agreed with the same thing and we both went through hell. do you remember that? it was a massive -- but we

turned out to be right. it was sort of interesting. [laughter] but i've been a friend of bobby and he's been a foe too. he's tried to stop a couple of my jobs. [laughter] in one case he did stop a job and i was really angry and then about four months later we went into a depression and i saved a hell of a lot of money by the fact -- [indiscernible] -- >> you're welcome. pres. trump: so i never minded. i always said, thank you very much for stopping that big job i was going to do. [laughter] but he's a fantastic guy and, bobby, we're with you all the way. your beautiful wife is sitting in the front row and she's always been right there with you. it was very interesting. i really wanted bobby to join and he was doing very well as a candidate. really well. he was being treated very unfairly by the other side. but he was doing so well that they treated you unfairly. they had no choice. i think they said, in order to qualify, newt, you had to have 80% of the vote, ok, do you remember that deal? you had to have 80% of the vote in order to qualify to run

against joe biden. and bobby thought that was a little unfair. that was about it. and he came onboard and we got very lucky. but you really helped and i want to thank you very much. [applause] give them your thought, please. >> thank you very much, mr. president. i do want to say something because i get a lot of credit for steering this administration toward the maha movement but i joined the campaign in august. i joined president trump in august and became -- went from independent to his campaign. and -- but it was in june, he made a speech, specifically on this issue. it was a maha speech before maha existed. i took note of that speech at the time and thought, there's a potential here for common ground. i want to thank you for your

vision, for your courage, for standing up. president trump is a populous president. he's blamed forgiving money to billionaires and all this stuff, we hear about that all the time. but he's on the side of the middle clarks the working class, the poor in this country. people -- [applause] and i've been following, i met every president since my uncle was president and i've never seen a president, democrat or republican, that is willing to stand up to industry when it's the right thing to do. and they're willing to talk about really difficult issues and to stand on those issues. i've never seen anything like it and i'm very, very grateful to you. i've sat with industry again and again in a room with him and heard him say, we can't do that.

we're going to do something different. deliver news that they didn't want to hear. so i'm grateful to this. this is a milestone. there's never an american history that has the federal government taking a position on public health like this. and because of president trump's leadership, it's not just one cabinet secretary, it's the entire government that is behind this report. and i can say again, i talked a little bit about, when i met rachel carson as a boy, my uncle tried to do this but he was killed and it never got done. and ever since then, we've been waiting for a president who would stand up and speak on behalf of the health of the american people and say there is no difference between good economic policy, good environmental policy and good public health policy and good -- [indiscernible] -- policy. we can have all of them. we need a united cabinet and we

need to go forward as a single people. i want to thank you for that, president trump. [applause] this report is a call to action for common sense. we've relied too much on research, ignored common sense for what some would call mother's intuition. it's common sense that ultraprocessed nutrient-poor food contributes to disease. excessive screen time and isolation lead to anxiety and depression, especially in children. it's common sense that exercise and healthy foods should come before prescriptions and surgery. it's common sense that not all calories are equal in nutritional value. it's common sense that overmedicating kids is

dangerous. it's common sense that we can celebrate the innovations of modern life while also demanding fearless inquiry into ameliorating the negative effects of medication, agriculture and environmental practices. it's common sense that research funded by corporations deserve more scrutiny than independent studies. i'm so proud of this cabinet and particularly secretary rollins and administrator diselder who -- zeldin again, who i will say it again, has worked late, late nights into the early morning to make this happen and all the leadership from the white house staff, beginning with stephen miller and heidi overton, dr. heidi overton. [applause] steady hand and getting us to the goal line. we could not have done it without them. they helped us grapple with

weighty issues and committed this administration to solving large, complex challenges like children's health. we're joined here by senators, advocates, governors who i have worked with and c.e.o.'s who i know who are all ready to begin carrying out this mission. this is the beginning of a conversation, a national conversation that we are going to have with maturity, with nuance for the first time in history. thanks to your leadership, president trump. there is a reason that the maha moms sided with you, president trump. it's because this administration has the bravery to tell the truth and solve problems through innovation and not nani state regulation. president trump, i'm honored to present you the maha report and work with this incredible cabinet that you have brought together to make our children healthy again. [applause]

>> three things. first, on behalf of an extremely grateful nation and on behalf of a lot of extremely grateful maha moms who are out there, secretary kennedy and mr. president, thank you. i see a maha mom and grandma in our amazing chief of staff right there, susie whiles. i see a maha mom in caroline levet and all across our cabinet. sir, my oldest son, luke, is here. stand up, luke. i am a maha mom of four. [laughter] and this hits particularly close to home for every single one of us in this room. that's the first thing. the second thing is that you mentioned, sir, in your remarks that we are on track to sign

multiples of snap waivers to get junk food and sugary drinks out of our food stamp system and i am so proud. [applause] i am so proud to announce that on monday i was in nebraska with the governor where we signed the fist one. an hour ago i signed the second one for governor braun in indiana. he may not even know that. i've got it right here, sir. [laughter] i also signed the third one, governor kim reynolds of iowa, about an hour ago. [applause] with a half a dozen more coming down the line. and, sir, that has never happened before. under republican or democrat administrations. we have never made that happen before. so i am so proud and so grateful for your leadership. >> governor morrissey here was the first one to apply from west virginia.

[applause] >> oh, governor morrissey. we will make sure you're at the top of the pile, simple i apologize. governor sanders has been a leader. governor polis from colorado. it has been remarkable how these governors have stood up. that's the second thing. the third and final thing, sir, is we all know that at the center of making america healthy again is making american agriculture great again. [applause] without american agriculture, without american agriculture at the center of this discussion, we have the most robust, the safest, the best agriculture system in the world and in partnership with the amazing secretary kennedy and all of these incredible patriots sitting around this table, under the leadership of the extraordinary president donald j. trump, we will make america healthy again. and what an honor it is to be a part of that.

so thank you so much. [applause] [indiscernible] pres. trump: big policy man here. >> so much has already been said. but in your remarks, mr. president, you made clear -- >> this is vince haley, by the way. >> in your remarks and in the report, it's very clear that there are no sacred cows who it comes to our children's health. we're showing the courage to turn over every stone to figure out, to investigate what is hiptd chronic childhood disease crisis and that's what this report represents, sir. pres. trump: thank you, vince. [applause] most have already spoken. the fake news wasn't here. what's going on?

[laughter] i want to thank you for your work. do you have anything to say to the media? >> thank you, sir. i think it's a moral failing if we don't address this, but it's definitely a financial failing as well. 50% of children are on medicaid or on the chip program. it is an obligation we all have to address this reality. as you know, the cost of medicaid's gone up 50% in five years. pres. trump: right. >> i thank you very much for the bravery to commission this report. secretary kennedy, secretary rollins. lee zeldin, everybody else on this panel, for being able to affect what has not been done since this law for medicare, medicaid was written in 1965. god bless you. pres. trump: thank you very much. a man who is so highly respected, dr. marty mccarey. would you say a couple of words, please? >> thank you, mr. president. the united states is the best in the world when it comes to

proton therapy, sophisticated operations. but when it comes to the health of the population, it's been a 50-year failure. and we have got to change course and it's not until you have had the courage to let us take on these giant issues, as vince said, without any sacred cows that we've been able to change and i think this will transform our health care system from a reactionary system where doctors are playing black-a-mole to a proactive system. so thank you, mr. president. pres. trump: thank you. lyle respected man. pleas say a few words. >> thank you, mr. president. i said earlier that it's shocking to me that what this report says, which is that our kids will live less long, less healthy, more unhappy lives than we will as parents. we can't have that. i'm so proud to be part of this

moment because that doesn't have to be the future. we can change things by doing excellent gold standard science, understanding the root causes of all these problems, reversing it. mr. president, this is an enormously important moment because from this moment forward we will reverse course so our kids will live longer than us. will live more healthy than us and will be happier than we have been. thank you. pres. trump: thank you very much. [applause] i have to say, we have the great of the farmers in the world and we love our farmers and we want to pay respect to our farmers. we always will. we won the farmers by a lot in the election and every election, all three elections. and we won by a lot. and i will never forget that. and they are forenorthwest our thoughts -- they are forenorthwest our thoughts. represent -- foremost in our thoughts. representing them is senator roger marshall. can you say a couple of words?

>> mr. president, we're not tired of winning yet. congratulations. what a week you've had. oversea, one win after another. one big, beautiful bill across the house floor this morning. you're the best closer in the game. and this is one of the greatest days of my life professionally speaking as well. i just want to acknowledge my maha mom out here as well, that my wife was maha nurse and a maha mom and a maha grandma. will you please stand up as well? my wife. [applause] mr. president, as you know, i spent 25 years delivering babies most every day. we saw a huge epidemic of diabetes of pregnancy and this has exploded in so many different directions now. we have an epidemic of mental health in our youth. obesity rates, 20%, 30%. 20% of our children are on a prescription drug. 60% of adults are on prescription drugs. we can do better than this. and it does start with the

farmer. it starts with soil health. and i just want you to know that our farmers are so committed to this as well and so many of them are already doing great things. they're making the soil healthier, they're using less pesticides, they're doing all the right things. it's going to take a little bit more effort and time to get everybody with those practices. but the american farmer and rancher were the original environmentalists, the original conservationists and they'll be right here working beside us and we appreciate your support of them as well. pres. trump: thank you, roger. [applause] i think i'll close by just saying that something happened a week ago that was very, very important, profound, but very important in so many ways. for years i notice that other countries paid much less for drugs and pharmaceuticals than we did. but i don't mean 2% less or 10%, which would be good. but i don't mean 20% or 25% or 30%. i mean sometimes we paid 10

times more, 12 times more, 13 times more than other countries. where people from our country would be seen going into mexico and seen going into other countries, leaving on trips and bringing their drugs home because they would be able to buy a drug for 1/10 the price of what it cost in new york city. i watched this and i watched it during my term and i didn't like it. i didn't like it. and it's a very complex system but we're smart also, maybe much smarter than they are. and at some point we had to figure out, i heard it was the middleman, nobody told me who the middleman was. nobody heard, all i heard was the middleman. i said, they have to be the richest people in the world, whoever they are. the drugs were 10 times higher and sometimes more than that. and i really got into it over the last year and i figured the whole system out.

and for various and sundry reasons, the united states of america was being screwed. and we were being taken advantage of and being left out for years and years and i said, it's not going to happen anymore and i brought a great gentleman, the head of eli lilly, in, who is great. he really is. he's great. he's done a fantastic job. and others also. but i had debates with them and pretty much it was a debate that was impossible to lose. you had to be a real bad debater to lose that debate. because they couldn't justify it. they tried to say, well, you know, we pay for research and development and the united states has agreed to pay for 100%. i said, why? why are we paying? by the way, that wasn't even the number because it's still way too high. if you took all the research and development. but you have other countries that are a lot more vicious than us in terms of their representatives. and they'd set a price for a

drug and they'd say, tell the united states to pay for the rest. we were subsidizing the whole world. and i said, we're not going to do that anymore. we've been a laughingstock for so many years. the last four years we've been a laughingstock. i said it. we were a laughingstock and now we're the most respected and we're the hottest country in the world. we're going to remain that way. we're going to do that with drug costs too. and so i said, i'm going to do something that's a very unpopular thing to do with a small number of people. mainly the people that own the drug companies. and others. and i'm not even blaming them. they were able to get away with it, but it was really other nations that took advantage of us because the drug companies were under their thumb and they would say, this is what i'm going to pay and the european union was right at the top of the list. let me tell you. we're going to pay $20 for this and we're not going to pay any more and america would pay $240 for the same thing that they're paying $20. they said, tell america to pay for the rest. so for years they went along

aimlessly and they did it. i started making changes. i'll never forget the end of my first term which was very successful, the best stock market ever, the best economy ever of any president. we went up 88% in the stock market as an example and i think 116% in one of the other and we had -- we're doing well but i never -- this whole thing with the drug prices always bothered me. i started really studying it. it's very complicated stuff. and i said, you know what, we are paying so much more and i demanded favored nations, we're the biggest buyer, we're the best buyer, we're the most solid buyer, we're the one that paid for all of the research and development and they said, we're going to do something that's earth shattering. so at the end of my first term, i was so proud because it's the first time in 28 years that any president reduced drug prices during the course of four years.

and you know what that number was? db 4% but -- .4%. but it was down. very little. essentially they remained the same. but i wanted to get it down and i was so proud. i thought i was the greatest guy in the world. [laughter] i took it down 1/4 of a percent. i did news conferences. i said, that's not very much. because we were still paying so much more and i decided i've got to break the system. and it's the most powerful lobby in the world, the drug company. most powerful there, the most powerful. and i'm not saying bad, good, i'm not saying anything. but they have tremendous power over the senate, over the house, over the governor as, over everybody -- governors, over everybody. they spent more money, billions and billions of dollars and i said, i don't care. i have to do what's right. and i declared most favored nations where the united states

from now on is going to pay the exact same price as the lowest price anywhere in the world. in other words, if you -- [applause] in other words if you take the country that's paying -- let's say in a certain part of -- you know, there may be some country out there that pays a little bit less for very good reasons because of the fact, a thing called poverty or whatever. but we take the lowest country, say, european union countries as a whole, that would be fine. or take individual countries within the european union. or take various countries that nobody's even heard about. we pay the lowest and what that's going to mean, and i'd like to put somebody to police it because it should start immediately. it shouldn't start in two years, three years, five years. they always say it kicks in. it kicks in in four years and in

four years they get changed. it should mean, remember i told you i was happy with .25%. it could mean anywhere from 89% reduction in drugs and pharmaceuticals. [applause] and i've actually had congressmen call me and say, sir, can we talk about this? no. they wanted to talk because it's tremendous power against them. and i understand that. every one of them was covered. senators were. i see roger smiling and roger probably was too. but he wants to do the right thing, right? he wants to do the right thing. and we're doing the right thing. we're taken advantage of. forget the drug companies, we're taken advantage of by other countries that insisted with the drug companies that they were going to pay x dollars -- we're not paying anymore and you're not doing business here and they were nasty about it. these people are almost sort of afraid of them.

and we are going to now get a reduction in drug costs of up to 89% in some cases. but 50% would be a low -- a bad number. so think of that. 50% versus .25%. think of that, 91%, 72%, it's going to be massive numbers. it's going to be incredible for medicaid, incredible for all forms of health care, medicare is going to be -- it's going to have a huge impact. so big that nobody can calculate it. this thing could drop by 25%, 30%. the drugs are a very big part of it. very big part. so it will affect everything. it will effect your whole life. the amount of monday you're going to be saving is going to be incalculable. nobody can believe i had the courage to do it. i don't think it's currently. i think it would have been courage not to do it. i tell you what, not to do it would have taken far more courage because i was tired of

it. and i was listening to these guys and they are, you know, they make a lot of money every year. millions and millions of dollars a year and at the beginning because of the complexity and what kind of a room you'd hear them talking and they almost convinced you that it's a great system, it's a wonderful system, even though we were paying 10 times more. that's why they make $30 million a year. because they were good. but not any longer. one of them just threw up his hands after i was just pounding on him and he said, i can't do it anymore. it's the hardest thing i have to do is try and justify this damn thing. i can't do it anymore. one of the biggest companies, i just can't do it anymore. you're right. as soon as he said that, that was like incredible. because i understood exactly -- he couldn't do it. he said it's the hardest thing he had to do was try to justify why we're paying $200 for something and somebody else is paying $12. that is a neighboring country. take canada. people go up to canada to shop because their prices are so much

less. it's not going to happen anymore. we're going to take the lowest country anywhere in the world and that's what we're going to be paying and we'll be saving from 50% to 89% and these are big -- these are tremendous numbers. there's not going to be anything where we're paying 10 times more than somebody else. one thing that is very important and it's got to be implemented, it's done. i've done the order. it's done. but we have to get somebody that's got a lot of strength and a lot of power because you have to implement it because these countries are going to go down fighting. they don't want this to happen because they're going to go up. now, there are many more people involved in the world than there are here. so they'll go up a little bit. maybe 15%, 20%, and we're going to go down 60%, 70% or 80%. but they will fight the drug companies. the drug companies are very worried that they're going to fight and that's ok. if they fight, we'll just say, that's ok. we're not going to let you sell anymore cars into the united states or we're not going to let

you sell anymore wine or liquor or alcohol or something that's actually much more important to them than the drugs. and we're going to be able to force that issue if we need to. they should do it. we're basically equalizing. they should do it and the drug companies should do just as well. there shouldn't be a hit on their stock. i don't think it will be. it's basically -- it's going to be the same amount of money but it's going to be redistributed and it's going to be redistributed so they're going to pay a little bit more and we're going to pay a lot less. a little bit more because there's so many more. it's a bigger number. and so, robbie, i'd like to ask you and dr. oz and marty perhaps and jay and maybe representing the world's politicians, i can ask roger who is so great with this whole subject. if you would be very, very tough and very, very powerful in a sense. it's not easy. you're going to have to get this done. the drug companies are going to

say, well, they won't do it. and maybe they won't. and if they don't do it, we're going to not do business with that country or those countries, but we're going to have to be very tough until it's totally stabilized and equalized. and, oz, i see your eyes are gleaming because you've been talking about this a long time but you've never had anyone willing to do it but i'm willing to do it. i think it's going to go down as one of the most important things we've ever done. because drug costs are going down. think of it. every year for 21 years the costs have gone up. and now they're going down. maybe by 85%. i'm telling you. 89% in two instances. 89% cut. nobody's ever seen anything like it. so i'd like to ask oz in particular because you and i know each other, he's a very tough hombre, this one. he's tough as hell. if you can lead the group, and it's not going to be easy. you're going to have to get in and fight. if you do it, you can have within a period of weeks, you can have drug costs that drop like a rock. ok? so you as a group, i have great

confidence and if you don't do it, i am firing every single one of you. [laughter] good luck, guys. all right? can you handle it? [indiscernible] >> the companies are all coming in. we've had some very promising interactions. give you a little time to be a tough hombre. tammy: pres. trump: you'll do a great job. i have no doubt about it. any help, i will be there to help you, ok? >> you mentioned something that has not been discussed in the past. people have talked about drug prices and a silo and isolation. but when you start going to the countries where they give depends counts to because they're getting beaten up there and you support these companies, they see a huge upside to pension. even greater than the numbers you mentioned. they should be able to charge more than what they would historically have been tolerant of if they have the support of the u.s. government and you. and secretary kennedy's aware of all these discussions. pres. trump: they were

artificially low and artificially high. we were artificially high. they were artificially low. we're not going to let that. and i think you're going to be able to handle it pretty easily. but speed is very important because we could do this immediately. this doesn't take two years, it doesn't take a month. so do the best you can. thank you very much. [laughter] [applause] thank you, everybody. thank you very much. are we concluded, bobby? >> yes. pres. trump: go ahead. >> thank you, mr. president. let's all give a hand for president trump. [applause]

[captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2025] >> shop at c-spanshop.org. c-span's online store. during our memorial day sale going on now. save are 15% sitewide on everything from apparel and accessories to drinkwear, bobble heads, puzzles and more. there's something for every c-span fan and every purchase helps support our nprofit operations. scan the code or visit c-spanshop.org. during our memorial day sale going on right now. announcer: sunday on c-span's q&a, travel writer rick steves talks about his 1978 journey along the hippie trail and the

60,000-word journal he kept of the trip which he recently published as a book. during the 3,000-mile trek, the then 23-year-old steves and a friend visited turkiye, iran, afg, pakistan, india and nepal. he recalls the people he met along the way, the challenges of traveling in foreign countries in the 1970's and the life long impact the trip had on him. >> it's fun to look back on it and see how naive and green and uneducated i was. but it's the growing pains of a global perspective, of gaining a global perspective. and i've got this notion that culture shock is a good thing. a lot of people try to avoid culture shock. to me culture shock is constructive. it's the growing pains of a broadening perspective. announcer: rick steves with his book, on the hippie trail, sunday night at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span's q&a. you can listen to q&a wherever you get your podcasts and on the

c-span now app. >> israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu made a statement following the shooting deaths of two israeli embassy staffers outside the capitol jewish museum in washington, d.c. he also talks about the israel-hamas war in gaza. prime minister netanyahu:last night in washington, something horrific happened. a brutal terrorist shot in cold blood a young, beautiful couple. they had just bought an engagement ring. he was planning to give it to her in jerusalem next week. they were planning to start a new and happy life together. that tragically did not happen. they weren't the victims of a random crime. the terrorist who cruelly gunned them down did so for one reason and one reason alone.