House Democrats are under attack for supporting Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s “socialist prescription drug takeover” in a new television advertising campaign run by a Republican group.
American Action Network, a political nonprofit group affiliated with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California, is spending more than $4 million to run ads in a dozen districts held by incumbent Democrats. The spot dings the Democrats for H.R. 3, dubbed the Lower Drug Costs Now Act, claiming the bill would stifle the ability the research and development of new, life-saving prescription drugs by imposing federal limits on what pharmaceutical companies can charge for medication.
“Breakthrough American innovation is giving us the tools to end this pandemic and get our lives back to normal,” American Action Network President Dan Conston said in a statement. “Nevertheless, Pelosi is pushing a socialist takeover of the prescription drug industry that will reduce access to lifesaving medications, cancel new cures for the patients who need them and send American innovation overseas.”
Republicans argue a second bill, H.R. 19, the Lower Costs, More Cures Act, would improve prescription drug affordability without hampering research and development of new medications. Former President Donald Trump was a supporter of using government coercion to bring down the cost of prescription drugs, and Republicans in practice are less hostile to such policy than in past years.
But Democrats say GOP opposition to H.R. 3 suggests otherwise, contending Republicans are defending “Big Pharma” profits at the expense of the public’s access to affordable prescription drugs.
“Democrats in the House are fighting every day to lower the cost of health care and make medication more affordable,” Chris Taylor, spokesman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said in a statement. “If Republicans want to light four million dollars on fire to deliver that message to TVs across the country, we warmly invite them to do so.”
The new television ad from American Action Network asks: “What’s a life worth? Who gets to decide? Nancy Pelosi thinks the government does.” The spot urges voters to call Democratic congressional offices to urge opposition to H.R. 3.
Among the dozen Democrats targeted with the spot is Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney of New York, chairman of the DCCC. A similar version of the ad is running on digital platforms and via robocalls in 31 additional districts, among them several that represent suburban seats the Democrats picked up in the midterm elections in 2018.
With decennial reapportionment underway, it is not yet clear what the political makeup of many of these targeted districts will look like on Election Day 2022.
