Leaders in congress, are to pretend didnt happen. Is that just Mitch Mcconnells nature . What has to happen for something to get done . Tell me what you saw when you watched the Press Conference today. Reporter well, Mitch Mcconnell knows when youre the leader, a party in the senate, youll take shots. Thats part of the job, a guy who takes incoming fire and allows your caucus to get things done. The two men appearing sidebyside today was politically smart or at least acknowledgement of political reality. Their goals in most cases are the same and desperately need each other to get any of them done. On tax reform, they cannot have the same problems they had on health care. If theyre sniping back and forth at each other day after day its gawk to be that much more difficult to get done. You heard some of that today. The president praising Mitch Mcconnell. Saying hes the guy to get it done on all of these issues and put a bunch of additional issues on Mitch Mcconnells plate now
this is a trump program. What we always wanted where does this go from here . Joined by a frequent guest of the show, a Senior Editor at large at breitbart. Joel good to see pup thank you for being with us again. I want to play for you what the president said at the Press Conference about steve bannon, and changing his mind. Lets listen together. Well have a very good relationship, as you know, with steve bannon. Steves been a friend of mine a long time. I like steve a lot. Steve is doing what steve thinks is the right thing. Some of the people he may be looking at ill see if we talk him out of that. Joel what do you make of what the president said . Im going to try and talk him out of that . Well, i think he knows hes going to have a hard time doing so. I think that trump wants Steve Bannons program to succeed. I think he wants to see republicans elected to the senate in 2018 who are going to support his agenda. At the same time, thats still a long way off, and he has to work with Mitch Mcconnell. Do something and then fails. In the british parliamentary system. You resign. Reporter you resign. If its a budgetary matter. Reporter right. Mitch mcconnell said he would pass obamacare. Didnt do it. The countrys Fate Doesnt Rest On The Pennell Political Career of Mitch Mcconnell, and i think this is principle ive applied in other cases as well. Said john boehner should resign when the house, his own caucus rejected his plan. When you lose in that setting and cant unify your party behind you you need to let somebody else lead that appeared. Steve bannon is coming at this situation as a nonpolitician. Hes not an elected official. But what hes doing isnt so unusual in the sense that there are campaigns to provide alternative leadership for parties that fail to deliver on their promises to their voters. What do you make of What Mcconnell said standing next to trump when he said, we have to nominate people who can win. Who can win, because so that
the republicans actually maintain their majorities in both houses . Reporter well, Mitch Mcconnell pointed out a number of examples. Yeah but but in some cases the incumbents unseated by the tea party in 2010 and 2012 couldnt win either. Look at Richard Lugar in indiana, basically didnt live there anymore. Many other examples as well where the public in general, not just Republican Voters said weve had enough of these incumbent politicians. Jo think its up to Mitch Mcconnell to decide who can win and who cant. I dont think the Senate Leadership have done a very good job. Krist would have been the nominee instead of marco rubio in florida. You can find many they picked losers. I think steves task is to find candidates who can win as well, but candidates who will stick to the program not just trumps program but really the broader conservative movements program. The promises made to voters since 2010. What does that look like . I get the frustration with establishments. The democrats have a similar issue they faced in the primaries leading up to the election. What does it look like . What does success look like to bannon to breitbart, if these Establishment Candidates go away . What are we looking at a year from now heading into is a Midterm Election with a number of new candidates both at the congressional level at the senate level . Reporter heres the irony. You have have one of the most establishment figures around, lindsey graham, saying essentially the same at steve bannon. When it comes down to practical details what Mitch Mcconnell has to do to keep his job is deliver on his promises. What steve bannon wants is to replace, do nothing senators with senators who will help the Republican Party keep its promises. All focused on results. If the Republican Party can deliver on promises made for six to eight years things stay relatively stable. If the Party Establishment fails
mcconnell is out and many feel he should have resigned already. They get to into the midterms way record of accomplishments, they need to. What graham said about the Republican Party. Lets play it. If we dont cut taxes and we dont eventually repeal and replace obamacare, then were going to lose across the board in the house in 2018, and all of my colleagues running in primaries in 2018 are probably going to get beat. The end of Mitch Mcconnell as we know it. To your point, making the same point steve bannon is making, however, the problem. Started with lets cut taxes. There are a number of people, particularly the tea party republicans, the Freedom Caucus, who like the idea of cutting taxes. What they didnt know is that this was going to come with a potential deficit increase. The white house keeps saying Something Like dynamic scoring, stimulate the company and greater Economic Growth as a result and that stuff. In the end, fiscal conservatives, to them, a bit of an anathema. Reporter interesting, look at the record of the tea party and Freedom Caucus and
conservatives who have been elected over the last several years. When push came to shove they always voted yes. Always compromised, going all the way back to the Big Budget Debt Ceiling Fight of 2011 that ended in the budget control act. Conservatives, Tea Party Members voted for that. Now the problem in the Republican Party particularly in the senate are the moderates and maverick whose historically may have been a bridge between the two parties particularly when republican was in the minority but seem unwilling to govern as long as trump is the head of the Republican Party. These moderates need to be brout onboard or defeated at the next election if they cant play with the team, get with the program, there needs to be something done at the ballot box. Trump wants to see if he can do it before then and bannon wants to do it in the long run. You need an emphasis, thinking like trump is, on both the short term and long term. Got to work with the establishment to get things done now but in the long term see a turnover, republicans move in this direction. So with trump today talking about how great friends he is with everybody, basically, but
today talking about steve bannon, and how long theyve known each other and this stuff, vanity fair had a piece out with two interesting bannon quotes including talking about the fact that the president only has a 30 chance of making it to a full term. Bannon has told people he thinks donald trump has a 30 chance of making it the full term. What do you think of that . Reporter i dont know the context in in steve made the remark. Broader point, this presidency is fragile in that it has a narrow base of support. The base is loyal and that base has moved mountains. Its shocked pollsters and pundits over and over, but trump has to stay loyal to that base to stay in office and be effective in office. I think thats steves point. That the base that trump brought to the polls on november 8, 2016, has certain requirements. Wants him to succeed in fulfilling his pledges and if he goes looking for support among democrats hes not going to find
muf much, or the gop establishment. Got to stay faithful to the base. And isnt that fundamentally problematic . To acknowledge the fact the base is narrow. Not even half the electorate and that the president should continue to cater to that base rather than say, hey, i can there could be a much bigger base if i change my political positions . Reporter ill spill a secret about steve bannon. His model in terms of thinking about this is barack obama. The barack obama model of being reelected was to focus on his base, do things that pleased his base. Didnt do what bill clinton did, moving towards the center after moving in the midterms. Barack obama doubled down, went for what his base wanted and in doing that made sure they turned out and they turned out in states he needed them to. This is Bakely The Trump and bannon model. Focus on delivering to your base. Bring them out to the polls again, you can bring in enough other people to win where you need to. Thats the barack obama model. You might say maybe we shouldnt
have that, go back to bill clintonstyle politics where politician fighting for fundamental values. So theyre going to be trying to do whatever they can to bring their base of voters to the polls. Joel, good to talk to you. Thanks for being with us. Breitbart Senior Editor at large. New revelations in the unfolding Harvey Weinstein story. Nbc news learns the new York Police Department is investigating two credible allegations of Sexual Assault against the former Hollywood Mogul per a senior Law Enforcement official with direct knowledge of these matters. The allegations are different from those stemming from a 20year sorry, 2015 nypd investigation ultimately not prosecuted ostensibly due to a lack of evidence. More than 40 women accused him of harassment at this time. Any allegations of noncon sensetural sex are denied by mr. Weinstein we should share. And rick pitino from the University Of Louisville formerly fired today. Three weeks since the school was charged with bribery. 16 seasons with the school. The universitys Athletic Director remains on paid leave. Up next, how President Trumps move to eliminate Cost Sharing Benefits for insurers might result . An unwelcome spike in your health care premiums. Is sparking innovation. You see it in the Southern Tier with companies that are developing powerful batteries that make everything from cell phones to rail cars more efficient. Which helps improve every aspect of advanced rail technology. All with support from a highlyeducated workforce and vocational job training. Across new york state, were building the new new york. To grow your business with us in new york state, visit esd. Ny. Gov. To grow your business with us in new york state, Eight Hundred dollars when wet switched our auto and home insurance. With liberty, we could afford a real babysitter instead of your brother. Hey. Oh. Thats my robe. Is it . You could save Seven Hundred Eighty Two dollars when liberty stands with you. Liberty mutual insurance. Anyone who calls it a hobby doesnt understand. We know that a persons passion is what drives them. [ clapping ] and thats why every memorial we create is a true reflection of the individual. Only a Dignity Memorial Professional can celebrate a life like no other. Find out how at sanfranciscodignity. Com. The health care as you know is moving along. Knocked out the csrs, a subsidies to the Insurance Companies. Could almost go agency a payoff and its a disgrace and that money goes to the Insurance Companies. We want to take care of poor people. We want to take care of people that need help, with health care. That sounds really logical. That was President Trump this afternoon on his decision to end key obamacare subsidies called csrs over the weekend. And the president tweeted, Health Insurance stocks gone through the roof during the obama era. These costsharing reductions are government subsidies. Government takes money, reimburses Insurance Companies for the cost of providing discounted insurance to lowincome americans. Okay . So the Insurance Companies offer insurance at a discount to lowincome americans. They get less money and the government makes back that money. Ending the subsidiesubsidies, n mandate providing insurance, the companies have to recoup that lost revenue meaning increased premiums. Middle class families with insurance through the Affordable Care act likely hit the hardest. A family of four seeing premiums increase significantly despite what you might hear from politicians. A Kizer Famiaiser family founda anticipates the rates to rise an average of 19 diggs to the already baked in increases that were going to be there. I bring in a Senior Vice President for special initiatives at the Kaiser Family
foundation and a Senior Adviser to the president of the foundation. Larry good to have you here. This is an interesting one, because the president is not wrong in everything he says about the Cost Sharing Reductions. They were, in fact, designed to ease the transition to allow the Insurance Companies to participate in these marketplaces by giving them something of a cushion. So on that hes not wrong, but where he says this is going to provide relief by doing this, there he is wrong. Yeah. I mean, you know, Insurance Companies have to provide this discounted insurance, lower deductibles to low income enrollees an the payments were reimbursing Insurance Company for the added cost of doing that. Werent a payoff or a bailout. Just reimbursement for costs that the Insurance Companies were incurring. Now, the result of it is, this is intended to be sabotage, its imperfect, because the Insurance Companies will still offer coverage, just charge higher
premiums to other people in the marketplaces and off the marketplaces to do it. So the president talks about this resulting in lower premiums. Thats not true, because there are no lower premiums generally speaking anywhere on the horizon unless youre in alaska. Generally speaking, a family, this family, middle class family that is expected to see a rise in premiums, what are their alternatives . Either pay the higher premium or switch to a lower tier of insurance . Right. This is as weve heard, everything with health care is complicated and this is certainly no exception. So people who, low income people getting subsidies are protected. Theyre protected by the Cost Sharing Reductions lower deductibles and premiums. Any hike in premiums low income people are covered. Middle income people, enrolled in whats known as a silver plan. A midlevel plan thshgs e could see premiums go up but have gold plans available, bronze plans available. So there may be disruption, but
ways they can avoid this premium increa increase. The important thing is optics of this. Well hear about really big premium increases as open enrollment starts in a couple weeks. The primary reason for the big premium increases is the termination of payments that the president did last week. Why is it, if the president , the executives determining payments, made to these Insurance Companies, for these Cost Sharing Reductions, why is it that the estimate is that this is going to increase the deficit over ten years . Yes. In fact, that gets trickier. So there are two kinds of subsidies here. One the lower duct bibles low income people get and other lower premiums low income people get and these premiums subsidies are tied to midlevel silver plans. Silver plans go up, subsidies to low income people go up as well. The federal government takes money out of one pocket, but
putting money in one pocket but taking it out of the other pocket. Larry, good to talk to you. Thanks for jumping in to clear up the very complex issues. The Vice President for special initiatives and Senior Adviser to the president of the Kaiser FamilyFoundation Upon whom we reply heavily for research into health care cost. Coming up, fire crews are finally gaining ground on the Deadly Wildfires incinerating Northern California with Wind Conditions improving. Some residents getting allclear to head back home. Plus, devastation in puerto rico. Residents there struggling to find clean drinking water. Many of now drinking contaminated water. When asked about the dire situation on the island, the president said, theres plenty of water. We have massive amounts of food, but they have to distribute the food and they have to do this. They have to distribute the food to the people of the island. So what weve done is, we now actually have military distributing food. Something thats really, they shouldnt have to be doing. gasp singsong budget meeting sweet. If you compare last quarter to this quarter. Various mmm. Its no wonder everything seems a little better with the creamy taste of philly, made with fresh milk and real cream. Wildfires in californian history. Officials lifted some mandatory Evacuation Orders overnight dropping the number of people affected from about 100,000 to just under 75,000, but these fires are still extremely dangerous. Theyve killed 41 people. The most recent, a Fire Truck Driver who died when his Water Transport Truck flipped. At least 16 wildfires across the state are still burning but were seeing some progress in wine country. The Atlas Fire In Napa County is now 68 contained. The tubbs fire also in napa county is 70 contained. And the nuns fire is 50 contained. The people who survived the fires have harrowing stories, however. I ran out to my car. I looked up to the west. I saw this wall of flame come over the hill. I jumped in my car. Some neighbors across the valley from me saw me drive down and
the flames overtook the entire house. It was that close. Nearly 11,000 firefighters are working together to contain the wildfires in california. Many of them are working to save other peoples houses despite having lost their own homes to the flames and one of those is teri sanders. Here is a picture of him with his 11yearold son in front of their neighbors burned out home. It was brought down by the same wildfire that destroyed their home. Terry joins me now. Terry, thank you for being with us. You were coming home from a shift, fighting the wildfires, and you approached your own home. Weve got pictures of that. What went through your mind as you approached your home . Well, just to correct i Wasnt Fighting this particular fire. I had come home from work, from oakland fire and i live in santa rosa. So i came home to, you know, enjoy my time off, and we knew
that there were going to be some high winds coming in that evening, and the winds were i mean, brutal. They were really whipping. 50 mileanhour, at a minimum. And the funny thing was my wife and i were more concerned at the time when the wind started about a doug fir behind our house and thought it might crush us. I looked up saw the glow of the fire. Its unmistakable. Knowing how wind and fire work together, i ran up the street to the firehouse on the corner to see if the engine was out. And asked them if they knew about the fire. His response to me was, which fire . Oh, wow. In which case i knew, okay, this is not good. Went back to the house. Got my wife up and told her, start packing, and get the cars loaded and get my son isaac up our bed and went back to the firehouse again and now there was a crew there all getting suited up to go. And turns out, you know, we left prior to the evacuation order, went down the street to a parking lot. We decided to leave. Before we left we went around knocking on all the doors in everyone in my neighborhood. Went down it street to a lucky parking lot. That became unsafe. Went to did all the grocery stores. Went to the safeway parking lot. That became unsafe. And its you know i was going to say. Youre the one who keeps everybody safe. The one people turn to. The picture of your son. Put it up again. Thats got to be something. That you cant do anything when something is this big. It is a slow effort sow stop and contain these fires . Yeah. As a firefighter, when youre fighting a fire that, that size, you basically with your crews are only attacking one piece of
it. Yeah. You can compartmentalize. I need to stop the fire from going over here. But when youre a victim of it, and youre seeing your neighbors home completely just devastated. Its a whole other perspective. Terry, thanks very much. Sorry for your loss but thank you for the efforts you continue to keep people safe. A santa rosa resident but oakland firefighter. The crisis in puerto rico is growing nor desperate flt aftermath of hurricane maria. Huge portions of the island are waiting for basics. 15 have electricity. 60 have drinking water. The situation is so dire in areas the epa says people are cutting through fences to get to water coming from contaminated wells. One of the sites the epa Issest Itting to see if the water is safe to drink is located in dur wrought oh when it is on the map, identified as a polluted site last year and targeted for cleanup. Nbcs Gabe Gutierrez is there with more. Reporter ale, good afternoon. Were hour in dorado, west of san juan. A water crisis is unfolding and people are loading up on water here. Folks weve talked to say its been very difficult to find water including a mother with three children who says she comes here every day or so to find water. You see this family loading up, and this is one of the sites that has been cleared by the epa to distribute water here in dorado, the epa is testing other water wells to see if the water is safe to drink. You see this line has been filling up here for the last several hours and actually for the last several days, the mayor here says that distribution is a major problem here. Now we have seen that some of the water wells in this area, people are actually breaking through the fences, ripping off the fences to gain access to that water. The epa Issest Itting several of those water wells to make sure the water is safe to drink. Thats because an area of dorado is actually listed, last year,
as part of the u. S. Super fund list. Thats a list of sites that are polluted and are a priority for cleanup. The epa has said that none of the sites tested thus far have come back as contaminated but a few theyre waiting for the test to come back and those are some of the sites people have been breaking into. Its an ongoing water crisis here in puerto rico. Nearly 70 of the island has access to running water, but only 15 of the island actually has power, and the general in charge of the Military Relief Effort says that that is a major problem. Its become difficult to pump and treat the water here. The governor here in puerto rico has set an ambitious goal restoring power to 95 p of the lined by middecember. Ali, back to you. Gabe, thanks and for staying on that story. Reiterating the numbers, 15 to 16 of the island has power. You cant pump without that
power, cant charge a cell phone or have internet access. The governor talking about getting power to 90 of the island by middecember. Lets just keep those numbers in mind when talking about puerto rico. Coming up, democrats are divided. Our Chris Jansing sits down with a group of wisconsin democrats concerned their own party could blow the chance to win back control of congress in 2018. There was an old woman who lived in a shoe. She had so many children she had to buy lots of groceries. While she was shopping for organic fruits and veggies, burglars broke into her shoe. They stole her kids Mountain Bikes and tablets along with her new juice press. Luckily the Geico Insurance agency had helped her with Homeowners Insurance. She got full replacement on the stolen goods and started a Mountain Bike juice delivery service. Call geico and see how affordable Homeowners Insurance can be. Targeting just one critical factor interacting with less of your bodys natural bloodclotting function. For Afib Patients wellmanaged on warfarin, there is limited information on how xarelto® compares in reducing the risk of stroke. Dont stop taking xarelto® without talking to your doctor, as this may increase risk of stroke. While taking, you may bruise more easily, or take longer for bleeding to stop. It may increase your risk of bleeding if you take certain medicines. Xarelto® can cause serious, and in rare cases, fatal bleeding. Get help right away for unexpected bleeding, unusual bruising, or tingling. If youve had spinal anesthesia, watch for back pain or any nerve or musclerelated signs or symptoms. Do not take xarelto® if you have an Artificial Heart Valve or abnormal bleeding. Tell your doctor before all planned medical or dental procedures. And before starting xarelto®about any conditions, such as kidney, liver, or bleeding problems. Its important to learn all you can. To help protect yourself from a stroke. Talk to your doctor about xarelto®. Theres more to know™. Pretty much every political
headline now is setting the stage for election day 2018. The most competitive midterm battles will take place in districts that the democrats hope to flip from red to blue. But to give you an idea how tricky that might be, check out this Washington Post abc news poll from july. When asked, do you think the Democratic Party stands for anything or just stands against donald trump, only 37 said the party stands for something. My colleague went to wisconsin to ask democratic voters about their partys struggle for identity in the first installment of a great series called dems divided. What did they tell you . Start with americas heartland, where a lot of the people who normally would have voted democratic voted for barack obama instead voted for donald trump. There is frustration with trump. Its growing. Polls show that. But no guarantee thats going to turn into democratic votes, because the same key factor that helped donald trump get elected, that feeling by millions of americans that they were ignored
by the establishment, a lot of the dems we talked to say thats not being addressed. We sat down in racine, wisconsin with five voters fired up to oppose Donald Trumps policies. Show of hands. How many of you think that democratic establishment is doing a good job right now . One tentative, and how many of you think the democrats could blow a real opportunity in 2018 . I do. Absolutely. All five of you. So whats going on that makes you feel that way . I think that there is a lack of understanding of what the message is, if there is one. I think holistically the democrats need to listen more than they speak. Just ignoring thereason to ct to vote. And marching with tiki torches and the president wont say anything about it, you have to come vote for us is not
enough. They dont feel they have to work for anyone the vote. Are you worried the party is becoming the antitrump party . Easy to get caught up in the voter, trump voters are this and that, but thats my family, too. Those are my people that i grew up with. I feel instead of having a plan, putting out fires. Instead of fighting for something were resisting. And this resistance has to turn into governance so we have something to vote for instead of something to vote against. Every day theres an attack on just were basic human right and dignity that should we not respond . Right . We have to. But we also need to respond with, this is what we need to do instead. This is where we should be going. Democrats are good on social issues, but what are they doing economically to help people . Economics come first. Roof over my head, food on the table. The democrats are the ones fighting for minimum wage. Thats the problem. Trump is saying, okay, im going to fix this and bring back jobs. No democrat was saying that. It is constant fear, and the party thats tapping into that and realizes that and speaks to that isnt winning because all of these people are evil or racist or ignorant. They are speaking to base fears. Give me a way out of that. Well take the Health Care Burden of me . A little less fear. Give me a living wage. A little let fear. Not a policy to make us popular because Everyone Wants to make 15 an hour. Because youre starving if youre not. Two things i heard there in wisconsin ive heard from democrats across the country. One, the money is too much tied up in who gets to run for office and the second thing is, they do feel in the heartland that its about new york and los angeles and they dont really understand anymore than they did when donald trump got elected on Inauguration Day how theyre really feeling. How thats changed. A fear shared between republicans and democrats. Something that needs fixed no
matter your political party. Thanks, chris. Appreciate it. Coming up a Bombshell Investigation reveals congress limited the Drug Enforcement administrations ability to crack down on Drug Distributors despite the Opioid Crisis spiraling out of control. Were democrats controlling this . And why a Pro Football Team chose us to deliver fiberenabled broadband to more than 65,000 fans. And why a leading Car Brand Counts on us to keep their Dealer Network streamlined and nimble. Businesses count on communication, and Communication Counts on centurylink. Do you have the coverage you need . Open enrollment ends december 7th. Dont put it off til later. Nows the time to get on a path that could be right for you. With Unitedhealthcare Medicare solutions. Call today to learn about the kinds of coverage we offer, including Aarp Medicarecomplete plans insured through unitedhealthcare. These Medicare Advantage plans can combine parts a and b, your hospital and doctor coverage. With part d Prescription Drug coverage, and extra benefits. All in one complete plan. For a low monthly premium, or in some areas no plan premium at all. Unitedhealthcare doesnt stop there. Youll have 0 copays for preventive services. Like an annual physical and most immunizations. You can also get routine vision and hearing coverage. And a fitness membership. For prescriptions, youll pay
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you know whats difficult . Adulting. Hi, guys. Im back. Time to slay no,i have a long time girlfriend. You know whats easy . Building your website with godaddy. Get your domain today and get a free trial of gocentral. Build a better website in under an hour. Tech so you think this chip is nothing to worry about . Well at safelite, we know sooner or later every chip will crack. These friends were on a trip when their windshield got chipped. So they scheduled at safelite. Com. They didnt have to change their plans or worry about a thing. Ill see you all in a little bit. And i fixed it right away with a strong repair they can trust. Plus, with most insurance a Safelite Repair is no cost to you. Customer really . tech being there whenever you need us thats another safelite advantage. Singers Safelite Repair, safelite replace. It was my opinion that this made the whole Crack Epidemic look like nothing. These Werent Kids Slinging Crack on the corner. These were professionals who were doing it. They were just drug dealers in lab coats. That was a former dea administrator. And a new investigative report on the Opioid Crisis by the Washington Post and 60 minutes. A report that takes you from shady pain clinics to multibilliondollar Drug Companies to the hallowed halls of congress. It details the Drug Enforcement agencys effort to crack down on Opioid Pain Killers and the hundreds of millions of pills flowing into pharmacies and pain clinics. It alleges the big money of the drug manufacturers had a Chilling Effect on the cases the dea pursued. Also some members of congress allied with Drug Companies and
their lobbyists, passed a law that made it nearly impossible for the dea to stop the flow of those pills. And this all went down at the height of the Opioid Epidemic in 2016. When asked for a statement, the Drug Enforcement administration did not directly address the claims made by the Washington Post, 60 minutes report but it did say the following. During the past seven years, we have removed approximately 900 registrations annually preventing reckless doctors and rogue businesses from making an already troubling problem worse. Increasingly, more and more individuals are facing criminal charges. During the same time frame, our investigators initiated more than 10,000 cases and averages more than 2,000 arrests per year. We will continue fighting the Opioid Crisis and continue to use the tools at our disposal to combat this epidemic. Joining me is scott higam, one of the investigative reporters who conducted the sixmonth investigation. Good to see you. Thanks for being with us. The comment from the dea, the response doesnt address one of the key parts of this thing and it is not random just random pain clinics or even doctors but something coming from the Pharmaceutical Industry and their lobbyists because of the money that is made in selling Pain Medication in this country that has contributed to the Opioid Crisis. Right. And with the dea, what they dont say in that statement is one of its most powerful weapons they used against Drug Distributors and manufacturers has basically been taken out of their hands by this piece of legislation. What theyre also not saying is another powerful tool has been seriously weakened. We have spoken to the dea and they told us this is a bill they didnt think was necessary, that they did not want. They fought it for years. We have internal memos and emails and back to 2014,
successful fighting it in 2014, successful fighting it in 2015 but under unrelenting pressure from the industry and from their allies on capitol hill, they finally relented and let the bill fly. And lets just be clear. By pressure, we often mean money. The Pharmaceutical Industry for various reasons, not just because of opioids but is one of the biggest donors to elected members of congress. Thats correct. And the dea under joe renazizi and his team of dedicated investigators was costing the industry a lot of money because they were shutting down their operations after they failed to report time and time again, suspicious orders of drugs that were going down stream from these wholesale companies to pharmacies and Rogue Pain Clinics and the industry fought back. They were losing a lot of money and fought back by recruiting
some of the best and brightest people out of the deas offices and also fought back by getting the law chachblg nged. Lets listen in to the former dea agent now turned whistleblower on this topic. Because i think that the drug industry, the manufacturers, wholesalers, distributors and Chain Drug Stores have an influence over congress that has never been seen before. And these people came in with their influence and money and got a whole statute changed because they didnt like it. Scott, let me just ask you this. One of the things people may have missed in this whole discussion is that there was an effort led in some part in large part by drugmakers to convince americans that they didnt have to suffer any pain, leading doctors to think that its a better thing to do to prescribe more painkillers than wed ever been prescribed before. N that has become a cultural shift in our thinking about pain
and suffering in this country. How do you change that . Well, thats exactly right. This whole epidemic began when a couple of manufacturers, some two decades ago, had developed this drug, particularly oxycontin. This has been well documented and Purdue Pharma paid hundreds of millions in fines because of their false advertising on this topic. But they had said that this drug was not addictive, that it could be properly managed and was not a problem. Well, that turned out to be false. A lot of people got hooked on oxycontin. When ox kontin crashed and purdue got into trouble, a lot of other manufacturers stepped in to fill the void and started manufacturing oxycodone, hydrocodonen an entire nation got hooked on this. Its been a huge problem. What were seeing now is so many people have been dying of overdoses. 200,000 deaths from prescription
opioid overdoses alone which is, you know, thats more than three times as many people who died in the vietnam war. The entire vietnam war. And so i think doctors now are prescribing more carefully. Hospitals, et cetera. Its much harder to get these prescriptions. Now what youre seeing is with the scarcity of these pills on the street, a lot of people are turning to heroin and fentanyl. They can get it cheaper, more readily, and theyre overdosing left and right. You have a growing Heroin Problem now. Scott, thanks for your great reporting and the work the Washington Post put into this. Thank you very much. Were going to take a break. Well be right back. Ine sales ss seems a little. Strange . Na. Ever since we switched to fedex ground business has been great. Theyre affordable and fast. Maybe too affordable and fast. What if. People arent buying these books online, but they are buying them to protect their secrets . .
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