David Cicilline

I commend the Subcommittee for holding this hearing on the proposed merger. I am also delighted that the Subcommittee is beginning this term of Congress with two consecutive antitrust hearings.

Ending this moral crisis is a top priority for me as Chair of the Antitrust Subcommittee and a top priority for House Democrats to keep our promise to work for the people, to prevent big mergers that would harm consumers, workers, and…

Working families across the country are struggling to make ends meet.

Is the Antitrust Division genuinely dedicated to promoting competition or does it only oppose mergers when the White House tells it to do so?

In response to this explosive report, Chair Nadler and I are seeking the production of every communication and document related to this case.

Not only did the Antitrust Division lose this challenge, but this case has been mired in controversy from day one due to the President's shameful attempts to interfere in antitrust enforcement.

The President not only overruled the intelligence and law enforcement communities, he lied about. He said he had nothing to do with it. We now know that's not true.

This is our responsibility. We take it seriously. The good news is, the President keeps saying all we're going to do is investigate. While we're doing these investigations, we passed the most comprehensive Ethics Reform Bill since…

Making registration automatic will ensure that everyone who wishes to be added to the voter rolls will not have to think twice about it, and I am proud that H.R. 1 will implement automatic voter registration. For too long, Mr. Speaker…

I am very concerned about the rising tide of economic concentration throughout our economy and the really crippling effects on economic opportunity, innovation, and equality.

I want to take a moment to ask Mr. Garthwaite, in this broader discussion we are having about consolidation what role does the Federal Government have in spurring consolidation through excessive regulation of the health marketplace?

It is really noteworthy to me that one of the most anticompetitive things that occurs is the heavy hand of the Federal Government constraining access to medical cannabis.

My belief is that if we do not fix this that the ever-increasing costs are going to lead to a different kind of solution, which is just price regulation by the government.

Your time of terrorizing this marketplace is over.

I want to commend this Subcommittee for reviewing the consolidation and anticompetitive practice across the healthcare marketplace...

I hope that our discussion today will continue our bipartisan work to diagnose the problems associated with consolidation and anticompetitive conduct in healthcare markets.

I am proud to be an original co-sponsor of H.R. 965, the Creating and Restoring Equal Access to Equivalent Samples Act of 2019, or the CREATES Act.

This Committee has been and will continue to be active in stopping drug companies from reaping monopoly profits at the expense of the health of working American families.

It is unacceptable that it took a full decade to address this abuse of our patent system.

That is why I have introduced the CREATES Act with Chair Nadler and Ranking Member Sensenbrenner and Collins to end these delay tactics.

Our healthcare system is in a State of crisis. The costs of prescription medicine have increased by 200 percent over the past decade.

I also want to praise Florida's governor, Ron DeSantis.

I want to begin by praising your leadership and thanking you for this important subcommittee...

These problems show up in hospital markets as well.

I look forward to working with Chair Nadler and Senators Klobuchar and Grassley on legislation to confront and reverse this problem.