Schakowsky reacts to President Trump's Weak, PhRMA-friendly Prescription Drug Proposals

Today, Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky released the following statement after President Trump announced his long-awaited and long-delayed plans to address the prescription drug crisis that is ravaging American families:

“In today’s speech, the President broke yet another campaign promise. In classic Donald Trump style, he followed up tough talk with weak, ineffective action. The millions of American families being held hostage by the prohibitive costs of prescription drugs will get little relief from the President’s announced plans.

“Earlier this week, my Democratic colleagues and I outlined five surefire strategies to truly take on the pharmaceutical industry and lower prescription drug costs. The President refused to act on any of them. He did not allow the Secretary of HHS to negotiate drug prices under Medicare, he did not act to create more transparency in the pharmaceutical industry’s pricing system, he did not take significant action to halt patent system abuse, he did nothing to ensure access to affordable drugs by improving our trade agreements and he did not – as he had previously proposed – allow for the safe importation of prescription drugs from other countries.

“Instead, he announced a set of weak and ineffective proposals that I’m sure had the sign off of the pharmaceutical industry and their thousands of lobbyists. The proposals announced today merely shift around costs and will still leave millions of Americans without access to affordable medicines. He also handed PhRMA its #1 priority- raise prescription drug prices abroad. Blaming other countries for negotiating lower prices for their citizens is wrong and will not reduce prices here at home. Greedy pharmaceutical corporations are the reason that drug prices are so high in America, but the Trump proposals do nothing to address that very real problem.

“It’s no surprise, because despite his pledge to remove special interests, President Trump turned to former pharmaceutical executive, Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar, to develop these proposals. Americans are literally dying because they can’t afford the life-saving prescription drugs they need. They deserve better than lukewarm excuses for action.”