Political Quotes

“I appreciate the gentleman's courtesy, and I appreciate his leadership. I strongly urge that my colleagues reject the cynical approach that is being advanced by our Republican friends. Think about it for a moment. We are talking about challenging the monopoly that the Republicans gave, making it illegal to negotiate drug prices. As a result, we have heard already in the course of this debate that our constituents pay four times more, on average, than other countries. Sometimes it is 67 times as much. What would happen if we were able to slightly restrain that monopoly power and have a little competition? The Republicans are so cynical that they say the first thing the drug companies will do is not cut executive bonuses, not cut back on stock buybacks, not cut back on bizarre advertising. The first thing the pharmaceutical industry would do, in the vision of the Republicans, is cut back on vital research. {time} 1945 Give me a break. They already spend less on research than they do on the items that I have mentioned. I really believe that, even though we have big differences with them--and I think we settled some of those scores in the recent trade negotiations--I have a hard time believing that they would make patients suffer instead of cutting back a little bit on executive compensation or stock buybacks.…”