I passed into law the Social Impact Partnerships to Pay for Results Act (S. 963) which empowers states, local governments, nonprofits, and the private sector to scale up evidence-based interventions that address our nation’s most pressing social and public health challenges. Because social impact partnerships are focused on achieving results, government money is only paid out when desired outcomes are met. In essence, this legislation brings pay-for-performance to the social and public health spheres, allowing the federal government to improve the impact and effectiveness of vital governmental services.
Too many American families have been hit with costly surprise medical bills at their most dire time of need. I, along with members of the Senate Bipartisan Working Group, introduced the bipartisan STOP Surprise Medical Bills Act (S. 1531) to protect patients from surprise medical bills.
At a time when Hoosiers are struggling to afford their prescription drugs, it is disheartening to see some pharmaceutical companies taking advantage of hardworking taxpayers through a loophole. I helped to introduce and pass into law the Fair and Accurate Medicaid Pricing (AMP) Act (S.1785) that would lose a loophole in the Medicaid rebate program that results in big pharmaceutical companies overcharging taxpayers. I also helped introduce the Strengthening Average Sales Price Reporting Act (S.2051) which would improve the accuracy of Medicare’s payments and protect beneficiaries and taxpayers from paying higher prices.
I cosponsored and fought for passage of the First Step Act, which will reduce recidivism by allowing low- or minimum-risk prisoners to earn time credits toward earlier transfer to prerelease custody such as a halfway house if they participate in certain recidivism-reducing programs while in prison.
Many Hoosiers remember the impacts the avian flu and the swine flu had on our communities across Indiana. To protect our families and our farm economy, I helped introduce the Advancing Emergency Preparedness Through One Health Act (S.1903) to advance a “One Health” approach—the idea that human and animal health are linked, and that they should be studied together—to improve public health preparedness to disease outbreaks.
I fought for victims of trafficking by cosponsoring the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2017 (S. 1312) to establish and reauthorize critical programs to prevent human trafficking, promote justice for survivors, provide services to victims, and increase federal coordination to enhance the federal government’s response to the crisis of exploitation.
I also cosponsored the bipartisan Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act (S. 1693) to eliminate federal liability protections to ensure there is no legal barrier to the prosecution of websites involved in sex trafficking. This bill would also provide victims of sex trafficking an avenue to take legal action against websites that knowingly allow a sex trafficking crime to be committed.
In order to combat the flow of illegal drugs into our communities, I helped introduce the Coast Guard Drug Detection and Interdiction Act (S. 2173), which expands the United States Coast Guard’s (USCG) use of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) and maritime patrol aircraft (MPA) to help identify and interdict illicit drugs.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has as large role in keeping American consumers safe, and to ensure its best performance I co-led the FDA Reporting Transparency and Accountability Act (S. 1062), which would enhance performance reporting at the FDA.
Our local, state, and federal law enforcement officers and employees oftentimes undergo extremely stressful and traumatic events. In order to best care for them, I helped introduce and ensure passage of the bipartisan Law Enforcement Mental Health and Wellness Act (S. 998), to authorize grants to initiate peer mentoring pilot programs, direct DOJ and HHS to develop resources for mental health providers based on the specific mental health challenges faced by law enforcement, and support law enforcement officers by studying the effectiveness of crisis hotlines and annual mental health checks.
In order to preserve the ability of seniors to access medical care, I cosponsored the Protecting Seniors' Access to Medicare Act of 2017 (S. 260), which ended the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB). IPAB was tasked with reducing per capita increases in Medicare spending, threatening the ability of seniors to access the healthcare they require.
