{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://cunningham.house.gov/media/press-releases/icymi-cunningham-hit-ground-running-when-it-came-tamping-down-drug-prices-well", "ICYMI: Cunningham Hit Ground Running When It Came To Tamping Down on Drug Prices | The Well News", "2019-12-05", "2019", "2019-12", "Democrat", "House", "SC", "Joe Cunningham", "C001122", "cunningham.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "IN CASE YOU MISSED IT\nCunningham Hit Ground Running When It Came To Tamping Down on Drug Prices |The Well News \nDecember 4, 2019\nhttps://www.thewellnews.com/cunningham-hit-ground-running-when-it-came-to-tamping-down-on-drug-prices/\nIn the Lowcountry of South Carolina, Rep. Joe Cunningham's race for Congress quickly became the stuff of local legend.\nHere was a first-time candidate, a Democrat running in a staunchly Republican district, who defeated a well-financed GOP opponent, to become the first Democratic representative from South Carolina's 1st Congressional District since 1981.\nBut the ever-energetic congressman didn't stop there. Almost as soon as he arrived in Washington, at a time when many newcomers were still losing their way in the Capitol's winding hallways, he was looking to fulfill some important campaign promises.\nThe first was filing a bill to ban offshore oil and gas exploration off the South Carolina coast. Soon thereafter, he actively joined efforts in the House to lower the cost of prescription drugs.\nOne of my earliest constituent meetings was with Lowcountry parents who struggle to afford life-saving insulin for their children, Cunningham recently said of the urgency he felt.\nIn the last five years, the cost of one of the most common brands of insulin has increased from $2,907 a year to more than $4,700 a year. Meetings like these reaffirm to me how urgent this issue is, he said.\nIn May, he voted in favor of H.R. 986, a bipartisan bill designed to strengthen protections for people with pre-existing conditions, an effort to buttress the Affordable Care Act against administration efforts to weaken it.\nHe followed up that vote, by introducing the CLAY Act, which would lower the cost of prescription drugs for beneficiaries who receive the low-income subsidy (LIS) in Medicare Part D.\n[] Cunningham told The Well News that when it comes to the issue of drug pricing, he expects meaningful results to be achieved, even against the headwinds of the ongoing impeachment proceedings and the impending 2020 political campaigns.\nOf course I do, he said.\nMy top priority in Congress is to serve the people of the Lowcountry and I know that my colleagues on both sides of the aisle feel the same way about their districts and their constituents, Cunningham said.\nLowering the cost of prescription drugs isn't a Democratic or Republican issue  it's an American one, he added.\nFrankly, this issue is far beyond politics, this is about quality of life, he said. Nearly 3-in-10 South Carolinians have reported that they've had to stop taking medication as prescribed because of cost in the last year, he said. We need to get this legislation signed into law as soon as possible for them  and for folks across the nation.\nREAD THE FULL STORY HERE", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://cunningham.house.gov/media/press-releases/icymi-cunningham-hit-ground-running-when-it-came-tamping-down-drug-prices-well"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.6805891171097755, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}