President Donald Trump has responded to an impeachment inquiry from House Democrats by insisting that they’re “do nothing” and just wasting their time, but reality tells a different story. Among the various pieces of legislation that House Democrats have come up with is H.R. 3, which packs a comprehensive reform for the prescription drug pricing system. The plan includes a new allowance for the Department of Health and Human Services to negotiate lower Medicare prices for hundreds of prescription drugs, a demand that drug companies negotiate to bring their U.S. drug prices in line with often much lower international prices, and more.
This Wednesday, Pelosi hosted a joint press conference with a number of other key figures in the push for lower drug prices where she hosted a couple of people who stand to benefit from lowering drug prices. As Pelosi explained, she and other Democratic members of Congress have encountered people across the country who are in desperate need of easier access to lifesaving medical care, but for now, that care sits behind sometimes massive paywalls.
She insisted:
‘American seniors & families shouldn’t be forced to pay more for their medications than people in other countries. @HouseDemocrats are committed to passing H.R. 3 to #LowerDrugCosts nationwide.’
American seniors & families shouldn’t be forced to pay more for their medications than people in other countries. @HouseDemocrats are committed to passing H.R. 3 to #LowerDrugCosts nationwide. https://t.co/r9NBGgnpbU
— Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) October 16, 2019
Notably enough, the Congressional Budget Office has estimated that if enacted, the Democrats’ plan could spark savings of hundreds of billions of dollars for the federal government via those lower prices.
The Trump administration has flatly rejected counsel from the Congressional Budget Office before, which sounded an alarm about the tax plan Trump signed into law in late 2017 and has sparked little more than an easier time for those in higher income brackets and an ever ballooning federal deficit. The tax break didn’t pay for itself through a fantasy of some kind of “trickle down” economics. It just didn’t happen.
The Trump team has mostly concerned itself with pushing that kind of thing anyway. Their key policy pushes include that tax plan, an ultimately failed attempt to completely overturn the Affordable Care Act, and more. The Trump administration has made a show of “trying” to get something to help those priced out of lifesaving prescription drugs, CNBC notes, but that plan has not materialized. An endless stream of angry tweets certainly has, though!
Check out Twitter’s response…
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