A new report released by Sen. Claire McCaskill reveals how Insys, a pharmaceutical company, aggressively pushed its fentanyl product, Subsys, to increase the number and strength of prescriptions written for it.

An NBC News investigation reveals the disturbing tactics the company used to promote a powerful opioid drug. Sen. Claire McCaskill uncovered documents promising big bonuses to its sales team and paying doctors for speeches.

Internal emails from an opioid manufacturer under federal indictment for an alleged kickback scheme show that company executives held Overland Park doctor Steven Simon as one of their models for their sales force.

The emails are included in a report released Tuesday by U.S. Senate committee staffers and provide new details about Simon’s relationship with Insys Therapeutics. The Arizona company’s former leaders face charges they used a physician speaker program to pay doctors for prescribing their fentanyl product Subsys, a highly concentrated opioid sprayed under the tongue.

Watching the news, you’d think Washington is in one big, perpetual standoff—Republicans on one side, Democrats on the other, and a whole bunch of nothing getting done. While the cameras don’t like pointing the lens towards the middle, that’s where I’ve been day in and day out, working hard throughout my time in D.C., solving tough problems and making sure Missourians are heard. 

A new federal law is requiring airports across the US to provide spaces for nursing mothers. All large and medium-size airports must have lactation rooms for breastfeeding mothers to nurse or pump by October of 2020.

The measure also sets up a federal grant program to help pay for such renovations. Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., was among the co-sponsors.

McCaskill wrote to Natural Resources Conservation Service Acting Chief Leonard Jordan saying failure to hire and retain full-time staff during hard times puts producers and natural resources at risk. She added that Missouri producers deserve reliable access to USDA employees and their technical expertise.

McCaskill also wrote to Farm Service Agency Administrator Richard Fordyce to tell him her office received information raising concerns about staffing levels at Missouri FSA offices. She noted that the staffing levels have the potential to undermine the delivery of FSA’s services to state farmers and ranchers.

Your pharmacist may help you save money on prescription medication.  President Donald Trump has signed into law a bill that lifts pharmacy gag orders.  The previous rules prohibited pharmacists from telling customers when paying out of pocket would be cheaper than using insurance to pay for medication.  The legislation lifting the gag orders was sponsored by Senator Claire McCaskill.  It’s estimated that customers overpaid for medication 23% of the time.

Prior to this, these "gag orders" mean pharmacists could be prohibited from telling their customers that a prescription could cost them less out of pocket than it would through insurance coverage. 

At the national level, this will now be prohibited after President Donald Trump signed into law two Wednesday bipartisan pieces of legislation from U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill that end the practice.

The "Patient Right to Know Drug Prices Act" and the "Lowest Price Act" are bills sponsored by republican Sen. Susan Collins, democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow along with democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill. 

The laws are designed to allow pharmacists to tell you when a drug is cheaper if paid out-of-pocket than through your insurance. Senator Claire McCaskill helped make this change when she met someone who didn't even know this was an option.

U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill returned Monday to the Jackson County Courthouse, where she served as prosecutor from 1993 to 1999, to celebrate the Jackson County Drug Court’s 150th graduation. McCaskill helped to create the drug court program, which emphasizes rehabilitation, counseling and education, 25 years ago. At the time, it stood out as the only drug court in Missouri and one of the first in the nation. Now, 160 similar courts operate in the state, and the nation’s count has climbed to more than 3,500. The Jackson County Drug Court, specifically, has graduated nearly 3,000 participants.

A bill proposed by Senator Claire McCaskill has passed both chambers of Congress.

It's called the "Preventing Emerging Threats Act of 2018". It gives government agencies authority to protect against drone threats.

U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill, D-Missouri, says a southeast Missouri nail factory could be forced to close while it waits for the federal government to decide about its tariff exclusion requests. In a press release this week from McCaskill about President Trump’s ongoing trade war, she cites Mid Continent Nail Corporation in Poplar Bluff slashing at least 160 jobs since Trump’s 25% tariff on steel imports began in June. Before June 1, the company employed some 500 workers.

An estimated 500 youth, 100 annually, are expected to be helped by this program, which will serve Christian, Dallas, Greene, Polk, Stone, Taney, and Webster counties in southwest Missouri, an area comprising nearly 10 percent of Missouri’s population. The grant was formally supported by U.S. Senators Roy Blunt and Claire McCaskill, as well as Congressman Billy Long and Congresswoman Vicky Hartzler.

“What’s always been the most important issue to me is making sure we have a safe, permanent solution that has the support of the local families in this community,” McCaskill said in a statement. “That’s why I took the EPA to task for not having previously taken the input from the community seriously.”

A bipartisan group of senators is unveiling a draft measure to crack down on surprise medical bills, which they say have plagued patients with massive unexpected charges for care.

Lowering the price of prescription drugs is a popular talking point for both sides of the aisle, and a mantra for President Trump. The Senate last night took a step in that direction by voting to eliminate "gag clauses" that pharmacists say prevent them from disclosing when there's a cheaper way to buy prescription drugs. The move allows lawmakers to claim a significant win when they go before voters in the November elections, but it's less clear how much it would move the needle in the complicated effort to lower drug prices.

Afterward, Democratic U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill had sharp criticism for President Trump’s decision to impose trade sanctions against American allies. She says Missouri?s biggest industry, agriculture, will be hurt because those countries? have announced they will retaliate.