With a new administration has come more than 20 requested inquiries targeting the private sector. In particular, Senate Investigations are targeting regulations surrounding tech and social media companies, inaccuracies in congressional hearings regarding student loan service providers, and questionable practices by pharmaceutical companies resulting in decreased corporate taxes and increased prices for consumers.
Samuel Dewey is a lawyer with extensive experience in Congressional Investigations. In this article, Mr. Dewey provides an overview of some Senate Investigations planned and underway in the 117th Congress.
Tech and Social Media
Both parties have long been calling for corporate responsibility for major social media platforms to take down fake news, disinformation, and to take more responsibility for regulating bad actors who want to exploit their applications and websites.
At the heart of the issue is Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (47 U.S.C. § 230), a law signed into effect in 1996 by former President Bill Clinton protecting internet companies from liability for user-created content published on their platforms.
While Democrats and Republicans disagree on why Section 230 should be amended, they may both agree on some measure of reform. Facebook, Twitter, Google, and even Wikipedia stand a lot to lose if this should come to pass.
Former President Donald Trump repeatedly criticized Section 230 in conflicts with major social medial companies and is currently suing Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube for suspending his accounts after the January 6th riot at the U.S. Capitol.
Congressional Hearings Revisited
The Senate is conducting follow-up hearings for “false and misleading testimony” provided by loan service providers to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs on student debt issues.
The questions in the original hearing were to discuss the mismanagement of the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency in its Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program, but the case has since evolved with the discovery of allegedly inaccurate denials during the original testimony
Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Drug Pricing
The pharmaceutical manufacturing company AbbieVie is under investigation for its tax practices and the effects on consumer pricing. One year after the 2017 tax law was passed, AbbieVie’s tax rate fell to 8.6%, far below the statutory corporate income tax rate of 21%.
Meanwhile, the company was also drastically raising drug prices to American consumers for life-saving treatments. In a letter to AbbieVie’s CEO from Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden, he states that “It appears that AbbVie shifts profits offshore while reporting a domestic loss in the United States to avoid paying U.S. corporate income taxes and that the current U.S. international tax system seems to encourage that.”
Similarly, Gilead Sciences, Inc. is under investigation for high pricing for its drugs treating hepatitis C and HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis. The Committee on Finance is accusing the company of anti-competitive behaviors and the pharmaceutical industry’s efforts to block drug pricing proposals through questionable lobbying efforts.
In addition, the U.S. Government Accountability Office found that advertising by drug manufacturers may have contributed to increases in Medicare beneficiary use and spending. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin and Senator Chuck Grassley intend to introduce legislation that requires the pharmaceutical industry to disclose the product’s cost in advertising, with the intent of more cost transparency to make patients more aware of lower-cost generics and ultimately lower drug spending for consumers.
About Samuel Dewey
Samuel Dewey is a successful lawyer and former Senior Counsel to the US House of Representatives Financial Services Committee and Chief Investigator and Counsel to the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging. Mr. Dewey specializes in: (1) white-collar investigations, compliance, and litigation; (2) regulatory compliance and litigation; and (3) complex public policy matters. Within these fields, Mr. Dewey is considered an expert in Congressional investigations and attendant matters. Mr. Dewey has a BA in Political Science, a JD from Harvard, and is admitted to practice law in Washington, D.C., and Maryland.
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