President Trump and Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., spoke Wednesday by phone about the growing cost of prescription drug costs, a White House official told the Washington Examiner.
Cummings, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, has urged the government to intervene to reduce high drug prices. He and Trump had spoken for the first time at the congressional luncheon on Inauguration Day.
The Maryland lawmaker has been extremely critical of the new Republican president but remains open to working with him on issues like high drug prices, an issue on which they share common ground.
Much to the chagrin of many Republicans, Trump has suggested establishing “new bidding procedures for the drug industry” and allowing the government to negotiate drug prices for Medicare beneficiaries.
“Pharma has a lot of lobbyists and a lot of power, and there is very little bidding,” the president told reporters at a press conference on Jan. 11. “We’re the largest buyer of drugs in the world, and yet we don’t bid properly, and we’re going to save billions of dollars.”
A spokesperson for Cummings said the phone call was brief and focused only on drug prices, though Trump did offer his condolences for a staffer in the congressman’s Catonsville, Md. office who lost six children in a house fire earlier this month.
Cummings had appeared on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” early Wednesday morning, during which he reiterated his desire to speak with the president about drug prices. The official declined to say how long after Cummings’ appearance Trump had made a call to his office.
