House Democrats say that President Trump has ignored their requests to work on legislation to tackle high drug prices about seven months after an Oval Office meeting.
Reps. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., and Peter Welch, D-Vt., said in a letter to Trump released Wednesday that since a March 8 meeting at the White House, the Trump administration has not responded to two other letters seeking collaboration on a bill to give Medicare the power to negotiate lower drug prices.
The lawmakers now plan to release the legislation during a press conference on Wednesday alongside Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas.
Welch and Cummings said in the letter that they were profoundly disappointed that Trump chose “not to follow through on [his] campaign promise to lower drug prices for the American people.”
They point to earlier campaign statements that President Trump called drug companies out for charging high prices, noting during one rally they were “getting away with murder.”
But instead of embracing Democratic-led reforms like Medicare negotiating power and giving Americans the power to buy cheaper drugs from Canada, the administration is working on an executive order.
Cummings and Welch charge the executive order is a “wish list” for the pharmaceutical industry.
Congress has made several moves to address drug prices, but only focused on speeding up approval of generic drugs at the Food and Drug Administration and not Democratic-led reforms such as Medicare negotiation powers and drug re-importation from Canada.
