Amy Klobuchar: “we are all gathered here today, the group of us, to make a real case for passing the Build Back Better agenda and what…”

“we are all gathered here today, the group of us, to make a real case for passing the Build Back Better agenda and what it really means to people back in our home States, as Senator Whitehouse was just explaining about Rhode Island. We get a lot in the minutia here for good reason. We are fighting a lot of forces. But in the end, what I know about this agenda, from the infrastructure in the bipartisan infrastructure bill to the work we are doing as part of this people-first agenda, it is about putting the people of this country first over the pharmaceutical companies, over polluters. As I see those fires rage in my State, I know we have to do something about it. As I see people coming to me after years and years and years about the costs of common drugs--Lyrica. You see it advertised on TV all the time. What you might not know is that it has gone up 50 percent in just the last 5 years. What I do know is that the people of this country overwhelmingly-- Democrats, Republicans, and Independents--support bringing costs down for families, support a big middle-class tax cut, and support doing something about pharmaceutical prices. Chief among the reforms in this bill when it comes to healthcare will be allowing Medicare to negotiate directly for less expensive drugs for our seniors. I think 46 million seniors should be able to get a pretty good deal, and I know they could if someone let them do it.…”