Why Doesn't Congress Make Medicine Less Expensive?

It should be a given by now that when Trump wholesale "borrowed" all Bernie’s populist talking points-- albeit with nothing whatsoever behind them-- about cutting the prices of pharmaceuticals, he was just talking out of his ass. Trump will never force the drug manufacturers to bring prices of drugs down to the levels they are in other countries. Profits are being shared with the Republican Party and with Republican politicians and those are not toes Trump will ever step on. So what about the newly elected Democrats in Congress? Don’t make me laugh. There’s a reason the establishment Democrats don’t want Berniecrats in power. There’s a reason why the DCCC recruits and supports New Dems and Blue Dogs from the Republican wing of the Democratic Party-- and protecting the Big PhRMA golden goose is one of them.

Let me tell you something about that lovely portrait of Steny Hoyer, the New Democratic Majority Leader, up top. Rep. Hoyer doesn’t collect all that money from PhRMA because he has tough reelection races every year. His D+16 Maryland district went for Hillary over Trump 64-32%. And this cycle, Hoyer beat his Republican opponent, William Devine, 200,425 (70.2%) to 78,117 (27.4%), without breaking a sweat. All that money Hoyer collects from PhRMA, as well as across corporate America, goes into buying power inside the caucus. Say, for example, candidate X or Congressman Y doesn’t want to be seen back home taking bribes from PhRMA, for obvious reasons. Not to worry-- Hoyer’s there. His re-election committee and his Leadership PAC are always happy to launder the PhRMA money for anyone who will be loyal and support his sleazy brand of politics.

According to the Kaiser Health Network bribe tracker, "every year, pharmaceutical companies contribute millions of dollars to U.S. senators and representatives as part of a multipronged effort to influence health care lawmaking and spending priorities." Since 2007, Hoyer has gobbled up $1,025,250 from drug makers-- $128,750 this cycle alone. Abbott Laboratories, Eli Lilly and Pfizer have each shelled out over $100,000 to the new Majority Leader. He protects their interests and they protect his interests. Is that bribery? Yes. Should Hoyer be spending the rest of his life rotting in a prison cell? Absolutely. And so should most of his colleagues-- on both sides off the aisle. His predecessor, out-going Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) is also a million dollar man-- $1,085,500 since 2007 and $250,000 this past cycle alone. His biggest bribers? Abbott, Amgen and Eli Lilly.

Last week, ABC ran a story by Kaiser Health News that gets right to the nitty gritty about why we should not expect drug price relief until we deal the establishment a real blow (by electing Bernie, and congressional candidates who back him, in 2020), Democrats taking key leadership jobs have pocketed millions from the pharmaceutical industry.

Three of the lawmakers who will lead the House next year as Congress focuses on skyrocketing drug costs are among the biggest recipients of campaign contributions from the pharmaceutical industry, a new KHN analysis shows.

On Wednesday, House Democrats selected Rep. Steny Hoyer of Maryland to serve as the next majority leader and Rep. James Clyburn of South Carolina as majority whip, making them the No. 2 and No. 3 most powerful Democrats as their party regains control of the House in January.

Both lawmakers have received more than $1 million from pharmaceutical company political action committees in the past decade. Just four members of Congress hold that distinction, including Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California, whom Republicans chose as the next House minority leader earlier this month.

…High drug prices surfaced as a major campaign issue in 2018. With almost half of Americans saying they were worried about prescription drug costs last summer, many Democrats told voters they’d tackle the issue in the next Congress. But the large amount of money going to key Democrats, and Republicans, raises questions about whether Congress will take on the pharmaceutical industry.

In the past decade, members of Congress from both parties have received about $81 million from 68 pharma PACs run by employees of companies that make drugs and industry trade groups.

Brendan Fischer, who directs federal reform programs at the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center, said drugmakers, like other wealthy industries, “shower money” on congressional leaders who are mulling legislation that could affect the pharmaceutical industry.

“Both Democrats and Republicans have discussed taking action on prescription drug prices, and drug companies likely expect that big contributions will help them maintain access to, and influence over, powerful lawmakers,” he said.

McCarthy, who has close ties to President Donald Trump, has received more than $1.08 million from drugmaker PACs since 2007. According to the latest data, which runs through September, he received about $250,000 this election cycle.

The fourth lawmaker to top $1 million is Sen. Richard Burr, a North Carolina Republican who serves on both the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions and the Senate Committee on Finance. North Carolina is also home to a number of research universities and drugmakers’ headquarters.

While campaign contributions may seem tantalizing as a metric for influence, industries are not necessarily buying votes with their cash. More likely, they are buying access-- a sizable donation from a drugmaker’s PAC may increase the chances its lobbyists get a meeting with an influential lawmaker, for example.

Clyburn, who like Hoyer has served as a top Democratic leader since 2007, has received more from drugmaker PACs over the past decade than any other member of Congress-- more than $1.09 million. During the 2018 election cycle, he received at least $170,000, despite trouncing his Republican opponent in his safely Democratic district.

A party leader and the highest-ranking African-American in Congress, Clyburn has had ties to the pharmaceutical industry over the years. In 2013, he was a featured speaker at a conference hosted by PhRMA, the industry’s leading trade group. The conference was held at the James E. Clyburn Research Center at the Medical University of South Carolina, a hub for biopharmaceutical research.

This fall, Hoyer topped the million-dollar mark in drugmaker PAC contributions over the past decade, collecting more than $1.02 million since 2007 and more than $128,000 this election cycle.

“Mr. Hoyer’s positions on legislation are based on what is in the best interest of his constituents and the American people, and he has made it clear the new Congress will tackle rising health care and prescription drug costs,” said Mariel Saez, a Hoyer spokeswoman.

…Senior committee members also tend to draw huge sums from the industries they oversee. Rep. Frank Pallone of New Jersey, the Democrat who is expected to chair the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, received nearly $169,000 this election cycle from drugmaker PACs, according to KHN’s database. Since 2007, he has collected more than $840,000.

Similarly, Rep. Greg Walden, the Oregon Republican who is finishing his term as chair of the committee, received $302,300, the most of any member this election cycle in contributions from drugmaker PACs.

By contrast, Rep. Elijah Cummings-- the Maryland Democrat who is expected to head the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform-- has attracted minimal drugmaker cash, receiving just $18,500 since the 2007-08 election cycle. He has made it clear that he intends to target pharmaceutical companies next year as he investigates climbing drug costs.

It’s impossible to track all the bribes that flow into individual members of Congress from drug makers because so much of ibis laundered through SuperPACs, leadership PACs and shady operations like No Labels, but Alexandria Ocasio had it exactly right when she horrified her new colleagues by saying that no one of a committee dealing with matters concerning any industry should be allowed to take money from any companies or top executives from that sector. I guarantee you that won’t be included in Pelosi’s HR-1 anti-corruption legislation. Reform, sure, but not that much reform.

As you can see, Ro Khanna (D-CA) doesn't take money from drug makers. He's successfully avoided the Big PhRMA gravy train that so many of his colleagues have availed themselves of. He's taken zero from the pharmaceutical industry-- zero this cycle, zero since Kaiser began tracking in 2007. I asked him why and asked him what he thinks of Ocasio’s proposal about members of committees not taking contributions from companies their committees exercise some kind of oversight for. Last night Khanna told me that "It’s common sense that members on the committee of jurisdiction should not take corporate PAC contributions from the industries they regulate. The fact that this proposition is even controversial shows how broken Washington is."

Presumably, if Congress every did get serious about forcing drug makers to charge Americans what they charge people in Europe or Canada or anywhere else-- I usually buy my drugs in Thailand, where the prices is about 30% of what they are here-- the action will come from the House Energy and Commerce Committee and, more specifically, that committee’s Health subcommittee. Greg Walden is the current chair of the committee and Frank Pallone is the incoming chair. Walden has taken $883,542 from drug makers since 2007 ($302,300 this cycle, more than anyone else in the House) and Pallone has taken $840,700. Here are the top 10 members (in terms of seniority-- 5 from each party) of the health subcommittee-- along with how much they’ve taken from drug makers since 2007:

• Michael Burgess (R-TX)- $683,392
• Gene Green (D-TX)- $293,565
• Brett Guthrie (R-KY)- $480,550
• Eliot Engel (D-NY)- $184,500
• Joe Barton (R-TX)- $408,500
• Jan Schakowsky (D-IL)- $4,500
• Fred Upton (R-MI)- $930,040
• G.K. Butterfield (D-NC)- $346,985
• John Shimkus (R-IL)- $826,700
• Doris Matsui (D-CA)- $211,700

Three other Democrats on the committee likely to be moving top in the ranks are Ben Ray Lujan (NM- $269,178), Kurt Schrader (OR- $432,678) and Tony Cardenas (CA- $180,000).