[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 142 (Thursday, September 12, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Page S6007]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                        Prescription Drug Costs

  Mr. President, on another matter, one of the few details Vice 
President Harris has shared about her governing agenda is a pledge to 
implement price controls at the grocery store to end so-called price-
gouging.
  The eerie echoes of Marxist propaganda in that talking point have 
already attracted attention. But we don't have to dig too far back in 
the history books to find an example that she may be drawing from.
  The Biden-Harris administration itself has used similar language to 
describe another socialist-inspired price control scheme: the one to 
combat supposed price-gouging in the market for lifesaving 
pharmaceutical treatments.
  And so far, prescription drug socialism is not working out too well. 
According to a recent study, nearly 3.5 million beneficiaries are 
expected to pay higher--higher--out-of-pocket costs as a result of the 
administration's proposed scheme.
  But that hasn't stopped them. Last month, the administration released 
the maximum fair price for the first 10 medicines selected for its 
coercive negotiation program. Of course, when you dig into the details, 
the scheme sounds less like a negotiation than a shakedown.
  If the dictated maximum fair price is not feasible, drugmakers have 
two choices: They can pay an exorbitant excise fee or they can withdraw 
entirely from participating in Medicaid and Medicare.
  Now, remember, the real losers from this misguided policy are the 
vulnerable patients who are left with fewer lifesaving cures.
  Roche and AstraZeneca have indicated that they will be discontinuing 
certain drug trials or considering delaying launching cancer 
medications due to the financial penalties from the Inflation Reduction 
Act, and yet Biden and Harris seem largely unbothered. 
  Last month, President Biden went on the road to celebrate the results 
of the Cancer Moonshot Initiative, an accomplishment I was proud to 
partner with him on. But he hasn't reckoned with estimates that the 
Inflation Reduction Act could eliminate nine times the amount of 
funding for cancer research that the Cancer Moonshot created.
  Let me say that again.
  He hasn't reckoned with estimates that the Inflation Reduction Act 
could eliminate nine times the amount of funding for cancer research 
that the Cancer Moonshot created.
  Vice President Harris, similarly blinded to the consequences of her 
work, has recently bragged about her role in passing the Inflation 
Reduction Act.
  I can't imagine that Americans facing rare disease diagnoses are as 
proud of that record as she is.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The majority whip.