Chuck Grassley: “I want to recap. When Democrats controlled the Senate, their bills took the same approach and had basically the same…”

“I want to recap. When Democrats controlled the Senate, their bills took the same approach and had basically the same noninterference language--the same prohibition on government negotiations. Looks like my colleagues across the aisle yielded--and perhaps against their own better policy judgment--to take the opportunity to make political hay by demagoguing what seems like a reasonable proposition. That proposition was that Government, with all those Medicare beneficiaries in the Medicare program, should negotiate lower prices for drugs. In reality, it is nothing but an appealing sound bite. After the Medicare law was enacted, opponents distorted the meaning of the language and vowed to change it. They have now demagogued on this issue for 3 years. They had all that time to prepare their proposals.”