[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 144 (Thursday, September 7, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Page S4245]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           PRESCRIPTION DRUGS

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, last week, the Biden administration 
rolled out the first targets of the scheme it has been working on for 
years--prescription drug socialism.
  Ironically enough, Washington Democrats' plan to fix prices in the 
market for world-leading medical innovations is baked into legislation 
they produced after their own runaway spending sent consumer prices 
through the roof.
  As we know, the Inflation Reduction Act did nothing to reduce 
inflation, and by one estimate, the government price controls it 
created may well cost the American economy 676,000 jobs.
  Before Democrats rammed the IRA through on party lines, the average 
net prices for drugs were actually stable or falling, but that didn't 
stop the Biden administration from storming ahead with a drug-by-drug 
Federal power grab.
  So let's be clear about what this means. Companies that don't comply 
with the administration's scheme will be forced to pay an unprecedented 
and excessive fine or withdraw their products from Medicare coverage, 
leaving American seniors with fewer options for lifesaving treatments. 
Meanwhile, researchers will have less certainty to dedicate years to 
creating the high-quality, consumer-friendly, affordable medications 
American industry is known for.
  Research from the University of Chicago estimates that prescription 
drug socialism will result in 135 fewer new drugs--135 fewer new drugs, 
188 fewer new treatments, and a $663 billion drop in innovative 
research and development. It will impact 60 percent of cancer 
medications on the market today and inevitably freeze innovations on 
future treatments.
  To make matters worse, limits on price increases will force 
manufacturers to launch new drugs at much higher prices to cover future 
rising costs and leave many low-income and elderly Americans simply out 
of luck.
  Price fixing is not some bright new idea cooked up on a liberal 
college campus. It is the sort of decrepit socialism that has been 
tried with disastrous results in places like China, Cuba, Venezuela, 
and the former Soviet Union.
  We cannot afford for America's world-leading medical innovators to be 
next on the leftwing chopping block, and the millions of Americans 
living with rare and aggressive diseases can afford it least of all.

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