Sen. Chuck Grassley castigated Democrats Monday over stalled legislation to address prescription drug prices.
“Democrats have left the negotiating table,” the Iowa Republican charged in a Wall Street Journal op-ed. “I can only assume the Democratic Party would rather use the issue of drug prices as a political hammer in November’s election than work to address it now.”
That drew a sharp response from Sen. Ron Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon and co-sponsor with Grassley of the bill, the Prescription Drug Pricing Reduction Act of 2019. “Republicans never showed up in the first place,” Wyden said in a statement. “The House passed a bill with Republican votes last year while Mitch McConnell has yet to take one step towards moving drug pricing legislation forward.”
Congressional action on drug prices seemed promising in late 2019. But it appears to have been overtaken by recent events and lost momentum as the election nears. Both senators also blamed pharmaceutical companies for hindering progress.
The Grassley-Wyden bill caps seniors’ out-of-pocket costs and requires pharmaceutical companies to reimburse Medicare if drug prices increase faster than inflation. The Trump administration has signaled a willingness to support the Grassley-Wyden bill.
The House bill, which passed in December with the support of all Democrats and two Republicans, would require drugmakers to negotiate directly with Medicare.
