SCHAKOWSKY ISSUES STATEMENT ON H.R. 3, "THE LOWER DRUG COSTS NOW ACT"

WASHINGTON, DC - Yesterday, Congresswoman Schakowsky, Senior Chief Deputy Whip and Chair of the Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Consumer Protection and Commerce, delivered opening remarks at the Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee hearing on "Making Prescription Drugs More Affordable: Legislation to Negotiate a Better Deal for Americans." Her statement as prepared for delivery is below:

"I am so proud that this Committee is boldly leading the charge to finally allow for the negotiation of prescription drug prices, which we have been trying to do since 2003 when Big Pharma tucked a prohibition on federal drug price negotiation into the bill that created Medicare Part D. Negotiation is the most effective to lower drug prices and hold big Pharma accountable for their price gouging.

"I want to thank Speaker Pelosi and Chairman Pallone for their dedication to that effort, and for listening to the concerns I raised about including arbitration in H.R. 3. As we move this bill through regular order, there are three key areas I believe we can improve on to make H.R. 3 even better:

• First, we must ensure this legislation addresses the issue of typically sky-high prices for new drugs that are introduced.
• Second, we must ensure that the limited pool of drugs eligible for negotiation does not raise prices for consumers outside of Medicare or for the thousands of drugs that would not be subject to negotiation.
• Third, I believe we should include other important solutions to our drug pricing puzzle in the final package, like my proposal, H.R. 2296, that requires Big Pharma to justify their price increases with a public and transparent report.

"I can't wait to get to work on strengthening this bill so that we can take a historic, progressive vote to pass this bill through the House and send it to the Senate."

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