WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Clay Higgins (R-LA) voted today against H.R. 3, Speaker Pelosi’s far-left prescription drug plan, which has no chance at passing the Senate or becoming law.
The bill would:
- Establish government price-setting mandates, allowing the federal government to determine who gets which drugs and at what price.
- Create a 95% tax on manufacturers that will lead to higher drug prices and fewer options.
- Undermine access to lifesaving cures, blocking an estimated 100 new medicines from reaching patients.
- Jeopardize months of bipartisan work to cap senior citizens’ out-of-pocket costs for prescription drug spending by opting for a partisan plan to appease progressives.
Congressman Higgins issued the following statement:
“Speaker Pelosi’s drug plan is bad policy, designed to increase government control over the health care industry and move America closer to fully socialized government-controlled health care. The included provisions attack the free market and would lead to higher drug prices and fewer cures. Further, Speaker Pelosi’s bill undermines bipartisan efforts to lower prescription drug prices, efforts which have indeed resulted in many next-generation cures and beneficial drugs being introduced over just the last two years. This includes legislation like H.R. 19, which would encourage innovation, promote more low-cost generics, and cap seniors’ out-of-pocket costs. Unlike Speaker Pelosi’s H.R. 3 socialist plan, the bipartisan alternative which I support, H.R. 19, has the support of President Trump and would significantly help American families. That’s the bill the Democrats should have brought to the House floor. Instead, we have this monstrosity messaging bill, politically-driven and strictly intended to appease the far-left base of Speaker Pelosi’s party. America grows weary of this socialist political strategy to seize power and diminish American freedoms.”
