FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, February 14, 2020
Washington, D.C. — Under pressure from Senate Republicans scared of their constituents back home, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is suddenly warming to action on drug prices.
“I think everybody agrees that prescription drug prices are too high,” McConnell said in his first public remarks in weeks on the topic — making clear he and his members are feeling the heat as they stall action on H.R. 3, the Lower Drug Costs Now Act, which would give Medicare the power to negotiate lower prices for prescription drugs.
But this week, McConnell also made clear he’ll take no action on drug prices unless the bill is so weak it will serve as little more than political cover. McConnell’s signal is that he’s looking for a bill even weaker than the Republican-sponsored bill that has been stalled in the Senate for over six months.
The toothless Senate drug pricing bill doesn’t include the ability for Medicare to negotiate with drug companies — even that was a bridge too far for McConnell in his quest to rake in campaign cash from Big Pharma. The bill is an empty nod to try to appease the millions of Americans who want to see action in the Senate on prescription drug costs, without actually fixing the problem of unaffordable medicine.
“Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has been stalling action on the Lower Drug Costs Now Act and other bills that would save real money for Americans — and now he’s signaling that the only bill he won’t stall has to be so weak, it won’t hurt his Big Pharma campaign contributors,” said Joshua Karp of Fix Our Senate. “This should come as no surprise, since Mitch McConnell is the top recipient of Big Pharma money in the entire U.S. Senate. We’re calling on Mitch McConnell to stop appeasing drug companies and call for a vote on allowing Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices immediately.”
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