Katie Porter: “I made a promise to my constituents when I was elected that I would lower drug prices, and that requires a strong…”

“I made a promise to my constituents when I was elected that I would lower drug prices, and that requires a strong, robust plan for negotiating fair prices for Americans. Our constituents are demanding lower drug prices, and this amendment fails to deliver. It does nothing to address the root causes of high drug prices and would let pharma companies continue to raise prices unreasonably for the same drug year after year. I have a bill to stop that, which is included in H.R. 3. The Freedom from Price Gouging Act recovers taxpayer dollars from pharmaceutical companies when they try to hike their prices not just once per year but multiple times every year in order to boost their profits. This legislation has bipartisan support. It is included in Republican Senator Grassley's drug pricing package in the Senate. Without a way to hold drug price increases to at most the rate of inflation, drug companies can just counter your amendment's required discounts by jacking up drug prices and setting sky-high launch prices. They can continue to raise those prices year after year, and the American people will have no choice but to pay those prices because without a way to truly hold drug companies accountable, nothing will change. I believe we need real, substantive reforms, and for a while, so did our President.…”