President Biden is prioritizing the pocketbooks of hardworking American families over Big Pharma’s profits — and Big Pharma is already melting down over it, calling on their MAGA allies in Congress to follow through on their repeated calls to roll back the Inflation Reduction Act because the legislation is too effective at lowering the cost of prescription drugs. The Biden-Harris administration kicked off a series of listening sessions yesterday on the Inflation Reduction Act’s drug price negotiation program, and Big Pharma is already openly railing against the President’s plan to end corporate price-gouging for live-saving medications.

Conservative groups sent a letter to Congress today asking lawmakers to repeal part of the Inflation Reduction Act because it is lowering health care costs for hardworking American families.

Fox Business: “A coalition of more than 40 groups is calling on Congress to repeal the Drug Price Negotiation Program included in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) that passed last year… In a letter obtained by FOX Business that will be sent to federal lawmakers Tuesday morning, the organizations urge legislators to repeal the Medicare price negotiation program run by the Department of Health and Human Services.”

At least eight groups that signed today’s letter calling for the repeal of the Inflation Reduction Act’s drug price negotiation program took contributions from Pharmaceutical Research & Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) in recent years.

2019: PhRMA gave $505,000 to American Commitment and $78,500 to Americans For A Balanced Budget.

2018: PhRMA gave $170,000 To Consumer Action For A Strong Economy, $100,000 to Freedom Works, $65,000 to Taxpayers Protection Alliance, $35,000 to Institute For Policy Innovation, and $25,000 to the Competitive Enterprise Institute.

2017: PhRMA Gave $225,000 To Americans For Prosperity.

Big Pharma’s tantrum comes on only the second day of the Biden-Harris administration’s listening sessions highlighting the first slate of 10 drugs that Medicare can negotiate lower prices for thanks to President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act.

Politico: “The next public step in CMS’ implementation of the watershed negotiations will focus on gathering patient input on the first drugs chosen — a key factor in how the agency will calculate the drugs’ prices. The listening sessions will launch Oct. 30 and run through Nov. 15, just as the Biden administration is ramping up talks with the affected companies.”

NBC News: “Major drug companies including Johnson & Johnson, Merck and Bristol Myers Squibb have committed to participate in Medicare drug price negotiations with the federal government, the Biden administration said Tuesday. … The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services named the first 10 prescription drugs subject to price negotiations under the Inflation Reduction Act a little over a month ago.”

2024 Republicans are siding with Big Pharma in pushing to eliminate the Inflation Reduction Act, which is lowering health care costs for hardworking Americans. 

Insider: “Former President Donald Trump on Friday slammed the Democratic-led climate, health, and tax bill, arguing that Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky was ‘taken for a ride’ by Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia.”

DeSantis: “You know, the good thing is I think there’s a pretty clear path to being able to reverse a lot of this stuff. The things he’s doing through executive order, you could reverse right away. But even what they did with the Inflation Reduction Act, they passed that via budget reconciliation in the Senate. So with 50 votes, I think, you know, we win the presidency, I’m pretty sure we would win the Senate and keep the House. And so at that case, what they put in by reconciliation, you could repeal by reconciliation.”

Haley: “[The Inflation Reduction Act] is a communist manifesto.”

Scott: “I would simply eliminate the IRA, the Inflation Reduction Act, which of course, is a lie from the pit of hell. … I would start the process of gutting that legislation.” 

Christie: “The Inflation Reduction Act was a mistake.”

Burgum on whether he would repeal the IRA if given a chance: “Yeah.”

KARK: “In a statement Thursday, Gov. Asa Hutchinson came out in opposition to the Inflation Reduction Act, currently under debate in the senate. The act, a significant part of the Biden presidential agenda, puts billions of dollars into energy extraction and IRS enforcement, as well as health care reforms in Medicare drug pricing and Affordable Care Act extension.”

2024 Republicans have also spent years trying to repeal the Affordable Care Act, which would rip away health care coverage from millions of hardworking Americans. 

NBC News: “Trump approved a surprise decision to push for the complete elimination of the Affordable Care Act in the courts. If it succeeded, millions of Americans would lose private insurance or Medicaid coverage and the health care system would be thrown into chaos.”

NPR: “The very day President Trump was sworn in — Jan. 20, 2017 — he signed an executive order instructing administration officials ‘to waive, defer, grant exemptions from, or delay’ implementing parts of the Affordable Care Act, while Congress got ready to repeal and replace President Obama’s signature health law.”

HuffPost: “As a Republican serving in the U.S. House, [DeSantis] was part of a far-right caucus that voted against the first ACA repeal bill that leadership brought to the floor because, DeSantis and his allies said, it didn’t undo enough of the law’s protections for people with pre-existing conditions. GOP leaders eventually put forward a more aggressive repeal. DeSantis and his colleagues voted yes on that one, but it failed in the Senate.” 

Live News 5: “Gov. Haley speaks against Affordable Care Act, SC prepares for key deadline”

New York Times: Tim Scott voted for all three major Republican-led proposals to repeal the Affordable Care Act in 2017.

Politico: “Despite the fact that millions of people had enrolled in Obamacare, the health law remains a ‘failure on a whole number of levels’ and should be repealed, Christie said. But, he added, Republicans must also offer a concrete replacement. The conversation, he said ‘must start from a position of repeal.’”

Reuters: “Governor Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas has signed legislation that will end by 2017 the state’s innovative but controversial adaptation of the Affordable Care Act, which has provided nearly 190,000 residents with health coverage.”

HealthInsurance.org: “In late 2017, Burgum and 19 other Republican governors wrote a letter to Congress, urging lawmakers to repeal the ACA.” 

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