{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.mcconnell.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/pressreleases?ID=FFAE5011-0B02-427F-9CCC-DABF36AC18A2", "McConnell: Prescription Drug Socialism Leaves Patients With Higher Costs, Fewer Cures", "2024-09-12", "2024", "2024-09", "Republican", "Senate", "KY", "Mitch McConnell", "M000355", "www.mcconnell.senate.gov", "mcconnell", "https://www.mcconnell.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/pressreleases", "scraper", "\u2018The Biden-Harris Administration itself has used similar language to describe another socialist-inspired price control scheme: this one to combat supposed price gouging in the market for life-saving pharmaceutical treatments. And so far, prescription drug socialism is not working out well. According to a recent study, nearly 3.5 million beneficiaries are expected to pay higher out-of-pocket costs as a result of the Administration\u2019s proposed scheme.\u2019\n\nWASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) delivered the following remarks today on the Senate floor regarding prescription drug socialism:\n\n\u201cOne of the few details Vice President Harris has shared about her governing agenda is a pledge to implement price controls at the grocery store to end so-called \u2018price gouging.\u2019\n\n\u201cThe eerie echoes of Marxist propaganda in that talking point have already attracted attention. But we don\u2019t have to dig too far back into the history books to find an example that she may be drawing from.\n\n\u201cThe Biden-Harris Administration itself has used similar language to describe another socialist-inspired price control scheme: this one to combat supposed price gouging in the market for life-saving pharmaceutical treatments.\n\n\u201cAnd so far, prescription drug socialism is not working out well. According to a recent study, nearly 3.5 million beneficiaries are expected to pay higher out-of-pocket costs as a result of the Administration\u2019s proposed scheme.\n\n\u201cBut that hasn\u2019t stopped them. Last month, the Administration released the Maximum Fair Price for the first 10 medicines selected for its coercive negotiation program.\n\n\u201cOf course, when you dig into the details, the scheme sounds less like a negotiation than a shakedown.\n\n\u201cIf the dictated Maximum Fair Price is not feasible, drug makers have two choices: they can pay an exorbitant excise fee, or they can withdraw entirely from participating in Medicaid and Medicare.\n\n\u201cRemember, the real losers from this misguided policy are the vulnerable patients who are left with fewer lifesaving cures.\n\n\u201cRoche and AstraZeneca have indicated that they will be discontinuing certain drug trials or considering delaying launching cancer medications due to financial penalties from the Inflation Reduction Act.\n\n\u201cAnd yet, Biden and Harris seem largely unbothered.\n\n\u201cLast month, President Biden went on the road to celebrate the results of the Cancer Moonshot Initiative, an accomplishment I was very proud to partner with him on.\n\n\u201cBut he hasn\u2019t reckoned with estimates that the Inflation Reduction Act could eliminate nine times the amount of funding for cancer research that the Cancer Moonshot created.\n\n\u201cVice President Harris, similarly blinded to the consequences of her work, has recently bragged about her role in passing the Inflation Reduction Act!\n\n\u201cI can\u2019t imagine that Americans facing rare disease diagnoses are as proud of that record as she is.\u201d\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T18:46:43Z"]], "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.mcconnell.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/pressreleases?ID=FFAE5011-0B02-427F-9CCC-DABF36AC18A2"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8149938657879829, "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"}