Senate Republicans on Tuesday blocked a Bernie Sanders-backed amendment aimed at lowering prescription drug prices and allowing for the import of low-cost medicines from other countries.
Sanders (I-Vt.) sought to attach the proposal to the controversial 21st Century Cures Act, which is ostensibly geared toward fueling medical innovation. Both Sanders and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) have decried the legislation, poised to pass the Senate on Wednesday, as a Big Pharma giveaway.
In a statement, Sanders described his amendment as a « Trump proposal, » noting that the president-elect advocated for its major components on the campaign trail.
The senator from Vermont said:
During his run for the White House, Trump called for requiring Medicare to negotiate with drug companies to lower prices. In a speech in New Hampshire last Feb. 7, Trump criticized current U.S. law that forbids Medicare from negotiating prices with pharmaceutical companies. Trump said: « We are not allowed to negotiate drug prices. Can you believe it? We pay about $300 billion more than we are supposed to, than if we negotiated the price. So there’s $300 billion on day one we solve. »
Trump’s campaign platform also advocated making it legal to reimport cheaper drugs from other countries.
As such, he declared on the Senate floor Tuesday, « I am quite confident that all of my Republican colleagues will support an amendment in my hands that will do exactly what Trump said he would accomplish as president. »
However, The Hill reported:
Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), a member of GOP leadership, blocked the former Democratic presidential candidate’s move, arguing it would threaten the passage of the medical cures legislation.
« The sure way for this bill not to pass in this Congress is to do something that changes the subject, » he said.
In turn, Sanders said he could not support the legislation.
« It is incomprehensible to me that we have a major bill dealing with prescription drugs and yet we are running from the most important issue and that is the greed of the pharmaceutical industry, » Sanders said. « The prescription drug industry, along with Wall Street, is the most powerful political force in America. I have been fighting the greed of the prescription drug industry for decades. And, as far as I can tell, the prescription drug industry always wins, but the American people lose. »
The House approved the bill last week; it is expected to pass the Senate easily on Wednesday and be signed by President Barack Obama shortly thereafter.
Watch Sanders’ full remarks (beginning around hour 1:30) below:
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