Prescription Drug Costs

Floor Speech

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Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I thank Senator Durbin. He and I are working on something that successfully passed the Senate last year and was not agreed to by the House of Representatives. So we are back to bring some transparency to pricing of drugs, and that is what I want to speak about now.

I am here to share a secret with the American people. It is about prescription drug pricing. As chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, it is no secret that one of my biggest priorities is to rein in the soaring costs of prescription medicine. It is no secret that Americans are having a hard time paying for medicine. It is no secret that Big Pharma doesn't want us to change the status quo.

In fact, Big Pharma is spending big money to stop Congress and the Trump administration from legislating a cure of these high prices. That is the secret. They want to keep drug pricing a secret from the American people. So what does that mean? It means that Big Pharma wants to keep secrecy baked in when it benefits Big Pharma.

Right now, the very murky drug pricing supply chain is a mystery to consumers. There seems to be no rhyme or reason to what consumers will owe at the pharmacy counter when they pick up their prescriptions. American taxpayers, American seniors, and this U.S. Senator are fed up with the lack of consumer information when it comes to pharmaceuticals. That is why I am working to inject some Midwestern common sense into prescription drug pricing.

As you can see, I am working with my friend Senator Durbin. We have teamed up before on issues that naysayers said couldn't get done.

You might recall that President Trump signed our FIRST STEP Act into law last year. The landmark reforms are protecting public safety, saving taxpayer dollars, and bringing fairness to the criminal justice system.

Today, we are teaming up once again to fix an injustice with prescription drug advertising.

Big Pharma spends billions of dollars a year advertising to the U.S. consumers. The FDA regulates what these direct-to-consumer ads must tell consumers. For example, advertisers must include in their ads potential side effects. You hear it all the time on TV--things about nausea, diarrhea, depression, weight gain, or even death if you might buy one of their drugs.

But let me tell you what seems to scare Big Pharma to death--price transparency. They do not want to tell consumers how much a drug costs when they saturate the airwaves with advertising that shows happy families enjoying the grandkids, celebrating birthdays, and going on vacations.

Senator Durbin and I believe that Americans have a right to know about the price of drugs, like they need to know the side effects of drugs or the value of drugs. Consumers should then know what the advertised drug costs.

It happens that the Trump administration agrees with Senator Durbin and this Senator on that point, but, of course, Big Pharma sued to stop the Department of Health and Human Services' regulations from taking effect.

It is up to Congress, then, to change the law. That is what Senator Durbin and I are here to talk about today.

Almost exactly 1 year ago, I said here on the floor of the Senate that it is time for Big Pharma to talk turkey on this subject. Yet here we are again, 1 year later, and Big Pharma has ridden the taxpayers' gravy train for another 12 months, and part of that gravy train is keeping the price of drugs off of the television screens when they advertise all of the value of the drugs and the dangers and the side effects of those drugs.

As Americans get ready to count their blessings around the Thanksgiving table a couple weeks from now, I hope they can count on all 100 Members of the Senate to approve the Durbin-Grassley bill.

There is no good reason to oppose it unless you would rather keep secrets for Big Pharma.

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