{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.hawley.senate.gov/hawley-shaheen-introduce-legislation-to-end-taxpayer-funded-pharma-ads/", "Hawley, Shaheen Introduce Legislation to End Taxpayer-Funded Pharma Ads", "2025-05-15", "2025", "2025-05", "Republican", "Senate", "MO", "Josh Hawley", "H001089", "www.hawley.senate.gov", "hawley", "https://www.hawley.senate.gov/press-releases/page/", "scraper", "Today, U.S. Senators Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) introduced the No Handouts for Drug Advertisements Act, which would end federal subsidies for pharmaceutical company advertising.\n\nCurrent law allows pharmaceutical companies to claim business deductions on direct-to-consumer advertising, subsidizing their publicity at taxpayers\u2019 expense. Direct-to-consumer advertising contributes to increased healthcare costs and encourages patients to request specific brand-name drugs that may be substantially more expensive than more effective alternatives, including lifestyle changes. The Senators\u2019 legislation would close this loophole.\n\n\u201cFor too long, Big Pharma has used our tax dollars to fund ads that push their products directly on patients. That needs to end,\u201d Senator Hawley said. \u201cHHS Secretary RFK, Jr. has made it clear that he wants to ban prescription drug commercials, and I\u2019m proud to introduce legislation to do just that. Making America Healthy Again starts by ending handouts to these corporations and empowering consumers to make the health decision that is truly in their best interest.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s flat-out wrong that drug companies receive huge tax breaks for running ads directly to consumers, especially as taxpayers in my state pay more and more for life-saving drugs,\u201d said Senator Shaheen. \u201cIt\u2019s well past time for Congress to step in to end these tax breaks, lower costs for everyday Americans and hold pharmaceutical companies accountable. My bipartisan bill with Senator Hawley offers a practical solution to do just that.\u201d\n\nThe No Handouts for Drug Advertisements Act would:\n\nAmend the Internal Revenue Code to disallow tax deductions for expenses related to direct-to-consumer advertising of both prescription drugs and compounded medications.\n\nDefine \u201cdirect-to-consumer advertising\u201d as advertisements primarily targeted to the general public through television, radio, direct mail, billboards, internet, social media, and other digital platforms.\n\nRead the full bill text here.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T18:20:29Z"]], "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://www.hawley.senate.gov/hawley-shaheen-introduce-legislation-to-end-taxpayer-funded-pharma-ads/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.814368948340416, "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"}