Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) former chairman and senior member of the Senate Finance Committee remains committed to advancing bipartisan reforms to lower prescription drug costs while saving taxpayer dollars. Despite months of Democrat’s intra-party debate on partisan proposals to reform drug pricing, the Biden administration’s multi-trillion-dollar social spending framework omitted any such reform. Grassley made the following statement today:
“Over the past several months, I have met with Democrats and Republicans to discuss the prescription drug reform proposal that I negotiated and advanced with Senator Wyden through the Finance Committee with broad bipartisan support last Congress. Democrats and Republicans have expressed eagerness to find a solution on drug pricing that can pass Congress on a bipartisan basis.”
“Despite their best efforts, Democrats were not able to reach a consensus amongst themselves on their partisan push to address drug pricing reforms that patients need and taxpayers deserve. I’m committed to passing my bipartisan and negotiated Prescription Drug Pricing Reduction Act (PDPRA) as a standalone bill. My bill will lower costs for seniors saving $72 billion, save taxpayers $95 billion, and is the only comprehensive prescription drug bill that can pass the U.S. Senate with more than 60 votes.”
Throughout 2021, Grassley has spoken about his bipartisan efforts to lower prescription drugs costs with President Biden, Speaker Pelosi, Health & Human Services Secretary Becerra, Problem Solvers Caucus Health Care Working Group, rank-and-file Members of Congress, and White House staff. In 2019, PDPRA passed the Senate Finance Committee under the leadership of then Chairman Grassley on a bipartisan vote, 19 to 9. As chairman, Senator Grassley held three hearings on lowering the cost of prescription drug prices, a bill mark-up, and conducted numerous bipartisan meetings to advance the bipartisan deal. You can find additional details about PDPRA here.
Original source can be found here.
