Since COVID began, there have been multiple freezes on student loan payments which have cost taxpayers $17 billion. The White House is now considering cancelling even larger sums—if not all—of student debt for millions of people across the country. Canceling all student debt will cost taxpayers more than $1.5 trillion. In addition to being fiscally irresponsible, the problem goes much deeper than the cost. Studies have shown that higher income earners hold most of the student loan debt. Quite simply, this will be a bailout of higher income folks at the expense of lower income people and those who chose not to attend college.
Profile in Courage - IG Michael Horowitz
In the year that the economy stood still (2020), politicians rushed to the rescue with trillions of dollars’ worth of taxpayer dollars to bail out large and small companies. Unsurprisingly, a large sum of the money went to unscrupulous ends and propped up corporations that should not have been asking for help. The questionable spending kept growing, setting the stage for trillion-dollar deficits, a $30 trillion debt, and 8 percent inflation. But, throughout this fiscal catastrophe, there have been government watchdogs intent on holding lawmakers accountable for dubious disbursements. Department of Justice (DOJ) Inspector General (IG) Michael Horowitz has been instrumental in documenting the waste, fraud, and abuse incurred during the government’s response to COVID-19. Every step of the way, he’s had to do battle with politicians keen on sidelining accountability efforts. And, for doing the impossible amid the worst crisis of our lifetimes, Michael Horowitz is truly a Profile in Courage. In his ten years as IG for the DOJ, Horowitz has dealt with no shortage of governmental ineptitude. Botched federal operations, along with nonsensical limits on watchdog powers, were problems long before the pandemic hit. When Horowitz was tasked with looking into the FBI’s deeply flawed investigation of former women's national gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar, he hit a brick wall when he was unable to compel relevant follow-up testimony from USA Gymnastics officials. Similarly, Horowitz was stymied in his investigation of Jeffrey Epstein’s plea deal because of rules prohibiting the IG from examining the actions of his own department’s attorneys. But when the coronavirus sparked a nationwide shutdown in March of 2020, Congress recognized the role of IGs in ensuring an effective federal response. The $2.2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act of 2020 mandated the creation of the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee (PRAC) to oversee the avalanche of authorized funds. As chair of the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE), it was up to Horowitz to appoint an IG to serve as head of PRAC. The man chosen for the role was Glenn A. Fine, a dedicated public servant who had been inspector general at both the DOJ and Department of Defense (DOD).
Disaster struck when former President Donald Trump baselessly labeled Fine as partisan and removed him from his role as acting DOD IG. And, because PRAC members were required by law to be serving IGs, Trump had effectively preempted Fine from doing his job. In response to the political tumult, Horowitz stepped up and became the acting chairman of PRAC in April 2020. In January of 2021, CIGIE decided to make Horowitz’s role as chair permanent. That was a smart move. Horowitz hit the ground running, identifying billions of dollars’ worth of waste in the coronavirus response effort. One key area of focus for the watchdog has been the $800 billion Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), a subsidized loan program meant to help struggling small businesses get back on their feet. As Horowitz explains, “57,000 loans worth $3.6 billion went to individuals who are actually on the Treasury Department's do-not-pay list. SBA never checked it.” In all, about $80 billion was stolen from PPP alone, and Horowitz has been candid that, “[w]e have a lot of work to do, and it is going to take us months and years to sort through this.” Despite the long, painstaking nature of the work, Horowitz and his team have already nabbed 1,200 indictments in his work, amounting to 900 arrests and 500 convictions. And, when politicians try to interfere with watchdogs’ work, Horowitz isn’t afraid to call them out.
Thanks to his work, future generations of taxpayers won’t have to foot the bill for fraudsters buying Lamborghinis and lavish homes. For keeping waste to a minimum while defending the integrity of his office, Michael Horowitz is truly a Profile in Courage.
Happy World IP Day!
April 26th was World Intellectual Property (IP) Day, a time to celebrate game-changing innovations and the legal system supporting IP. Thanks to the U.S.’s stringent protections for patents, copyrights, trademarks, and trade secrets, entrepreneurs are free to tinker and toil without fear that copycats will rip off their latest, greatest ideas. Unfortunately, some policymakers and pundits take IP protections for granted and argue for legal changes that would make it easier to invalidate patents without the full due process of the court system. Others mistakenly believe that government research spending could serve as an adequate substitute for IP protections. The simple truth is that IP law is the easiest and best way to ensure that innovators continue to make lives better, safer, and more meaningful. We should all be grateful for laws acknowledging and protecting the ingenuity of the human mind. Behind the more than 3 million worldwide annual patent applications lie talented people trying to make the world healthier, safer, and more entertaining. One great example is Indian American chemist Sumita Mitra, who completely transformed the process of making dental fillers. As Inventors Digest contributor Reid Creager notes, “For centuries, dentists relied on flawed combinations when making dental fillers—either too weak, too unattractive, or both—until Mitra and her team got it just right…[by] figuring that developing nanoparticle technology for use as dental fillers could resolve most of the problems and provide a universal filling material.” She and her colleagues accumulated dozens of patents in the U.S. and E.U. and got to work ensuring that patients with debilitating cavities were given the best treatment possible. Mitra is pleased to see countless smiles restored and urges future generations of innovators to think outside the box and “try out their ideas.”
As long as countries such as the U.S. continue to champion strong IP protections, innovators like Mitra will be able to feel secure that their hard work will be protected. Unfortunately, a growing chorus in Congress has called for the weakening of patent law. Lawmakers such as Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) bemoan that pharmaceutical companies are pursuing scores of patents (“patent thickets”) on every aspect of a given drug in order to keep prices high and competition low. By their logic, breaking these thickets via patent invalidation would result in lower drug prices and increased healthcare access. A brief glance at the pharmaceutical market shows this is far from true. For example, there are multiple drugs on the market that can treat macular degeneration for diabetics at risk of vision loss. While medications such as Eylea and Lucentis can be quite expensive (~$1,800 per dose), Avastin is about $70 a dose and similarly effective in treating age-related macular degeneration. But all of these medications, including Avastin, are enveloped in “patent thickets” and are therefore precluded from competition if Sens. Warren and Leahy are to be believed. The reality is that price variations and market dynamics in the healthcare market have far more to do with who is prescribing and paying than anything else. If doctors prefer the pricey drugs and know that Medicare reimbursements will keep consumers from paying list prices, Eylea and Lucentis will continue to be high-priced.
Without patent protection, though, companies will have little incentive to bring life-saving medications and vaccines to the market in the first place. After all, it costs an astounding $2 billion to bring a medication to the market. Without patents, entrepreneurs would refuse to shoulder these costs and maladies such as blindness and tooth decay would go untreated in millions of patients. Let’s not take these innovations for granted and work toward a strong, responsive IP protection system. We have much to reflect on, and be thankful for, this World IP Day.
BLOGS:
Monday: Report shows light touch regulatory model has benefited U.S. over EU
Tuesday: This IP Day, Thank The Innovators
Wednesday: European Assault on American Tech Risks Cybersecurity Catastrophe
Friday: Profile in Courage: IG Michael Horowitz
MEDIA:
April 21, 2022: The Center Square ran TPA’s op-ed, “Health misinformation can be deadly.”
April 25, 2022: WBFF Fox45 (Baltimore, Md.) interviewed me about plans to cancel student loan debt.
April 25, 2022: WBFF Fox45 (Baltimore, Md.) quoted me in their story, “Vignarajah promises transparency after vowing to be upfront about campaign donations.”
April 25, 2022: I appeared on WBAL 1090 AM (Baltimore, Md.) to talk about the Back River Wastewater Treatment plant.
April 25, 2022: Inside Sources ran TPA’s op-ed, “Health Canada’s Latest Consultation on Vaping Is Confusing Itself and the Public.”
April 25, 2022: The Baltimore Sun ran TPA’s op-ed in print, “Could privatization solve the problems at Baltimore’s Back River Wastewater Treatment Plant?”
April 26, 2022: Townhall.com ran TPA’s op-ed, “Hill Antitrust Push Threatens Cybersecurity Improvements.”
April 26, 2022: I appeared on KRC 550 AM (Cincinnati, Ohio) to talk about the F-35 second engine and drug price controls.
April 27, 2022: I was quoted by The Daily Mail in a piece titled, “Republicans tear into the 'stupidity' of Biden considering cancelling all student loan debt because it will raise taxes by $13,000 per person and make inflation worse - and 65% of Americans don't have a college degree.”
April 27, 2022: Broadband Breakfast mentioned TPA in their story, “Coalition Voices Dissent on Antitrust Bills, NYC Communities to Receive Free Broadband, Tesla Stock Takes Hit in Twitter Wake.”
April 27, 2022: Patrick Hedger joined ‘The Real Story’ on OANN to discuss record inflation and the economy.
April 28, 2022: I appeared on WBOB 600 AM (Jacksonville, Fla.) to talk about forgiving student loans.
April 28, 2022: WBFF Fox45 (Baltimore, Md.) interviewed me about Baltimore City’s Taxpayers’ Night.
April 28, 2022: Patrick Hedger was quoted in Spectrum 1 News NY article, "Biden says he’s ‘considering’ some student loan debt relief."
April 29, 2022: Patrick Hedger joined ‘Wake up Springfield’ with Tim Jones (Springfield, Mo.) to discuss student loans.
April 29, 2022: The Livingston Parish News ran TPA's op-ed, "OPINION | No, the FDA does not need to regulate cannabis."
Have a great weekend!
