Providing for Congressional Disapproval Under Chapter 8 of Title United States Code, of the Rule Submitted By the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Relating to ``Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards; Fuel System Integrity of Hydrogen Vehicles; Compressed Hydrogen Storage System Integrity; Incorporation By Reference''

Floor Speech

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Mr. SANDERS. Mr. President, I know that my Republican colleagues like to do what the President asks them to do. They agree with him on virtually everything, so today I am going to make life easy for my Republican colleagues. I am going to ask them to support legislation-- extremely important legislation--that, in fact, does what President Trump claims that he wants to do.

On May 20, just a few days ago, President Trump said the following:

Not only that, remember, I am cutting drug prices by 85 percent.

This is what President Trump said a few days ago: I am cutting drug prices by 85 percent. Right now, I am saving--I am saving the whole thing because I did something nobody was willing to do. Other countries pay a tiny fraction of what we do, and I instituted favored nations. We are now going to pay the lowest in the world. We will be the equivalent of the lowest country in the world. People go to London, they go to Canada, they go to other countries, many other countries, because they want to pay their pharmaceutical products--their drugs--at a fraction of the cost. We are going to have the lowest cost of anywhere in the world. No one else could do that but me.

That is President Trump a few days ago.

Well, I don't usually agree with President Trump on anything, but, in fact, on this issue, he makes a very strong point.

In the United States today, we have a healthcare system that is broken; it is dysfunctional; and it is cruel. It is a system which spends twice as much per capita on healthcare as any other major country while 85 million Americans are uninsured or underinsured. And one out of four Americans today cannot afford the cost of the drugs their doctors prescribe, and it is a system where over 60,000 people a year die because they don't get to a doctor on time.

While the current system makes huge profits for the large drug companies, huge profits for the insurance companies, it is obviously failing the needs of ordinary Americans.

So what is the U.S. Congress doing to address this crisis? Well, right now, sadly and tragically, the Republicans are trying to ram through a so-called reconciliation bill, which would deny coverage-- take away coverage--for up to 13.7 million Americans, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

In other words, in the midst of a terrible healthcare crisis, this legislation makes a very bad situation much worse. We cannot allow that to happen.

So what should we do? Well, in my view, healthcare is a human right. We should do what every other major country on Earth does and guarantee healthcare for all people.

But, today, I want to get back to what President Trump said a few days ago, and what he said is that the American people are sick and tired of paying by far the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs. And he is right.

Whether you are a Democrat or a Republican or an Independent, or progressive or conservative, you understand that there is something wrong when Americans can't afford the high cost of prescription drugs, and the drug companies make over $100 billion a year in profits.

Let me give you just a few examples of the current situation regarding prescription drug costs in America. While it costs just $5 to manufacture Ozempic--that is a widely used drug right now--Novo Nordisk, the manufacturer of Ozempic, makes obscene profits by selling this drug for more than a $1,000 in the United States. That drug costs $76 in France, $85 in Germany, and $170 in Canada.

But it is not just Ozempic. Prescription drug after prescription drug costs far more in this country to purchase than in other countries--in some cases, 10 times more.

So what are we going to do about it? Well, I think it might be a good idea for my Republican friends to listen to what the President of the United States said. And, today, we are going to offer my Republican friends the opportunity to achieve the goals that President Trump has talked about.

The problem with President Trump's initiative is that he is mostly just talking. The Executive order that he has introduced and signed does not do what he says he wants to do.

Just don't take my word for it. An expert at Harvard University was recently quoted as saying:

The executive order reads more like an aspirational statement than a serious attempt to initiate a policy change.

The Wall Street Journal--no great friend of mine--their analysts said the order was ``more bark than bite.''

Since issuing the Executive order, President Trump has gone on FOX News, and while talking about differences in American prices and international prices, he said ``he ended it.''

Good news. It is all over. He ended it. We no longer pay the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs, according to President Trump.

During that same interview, he said that ``drug companies were great.'' The drug companies, apparently, even told him: ``Look, it's time.''

Just yesterday, at a press conference with Speaker Johnson, he claimed he ``is cutting [drug prices] by 80 to 85 percent'' because ``he stopped the scam.''

Well, there you go. Good news, America. The President said it. It must be true because he would not lie. Drug prices are down by 80 to 85 percent.

Does anyone really believe that? Nobody does.

If we want to, on the other hand, do more than just talk, we have got to do something, and the way we do it is with some serious legislation. And that is the legislation that I have introduced today.

If we want to actually lower the outrageously high cost of prescription drugs in America, we need to take on the pharmaceutical industry in a way that President Trump has never even thought about doing. In other words, we need less talk; we need more action.

And that is why I introduced legislation to make sure that Americans pay no more than people in other countries for the exact same prescription drug. Unlike President Trump's Executive order, my bill doesn't just ask drug companies nicely, please, to lower prices. My legislation makes it clear that drug companies must lower prices for Americans to those they charge people in other countries. In other words, what we are finally saying is, if you are charging the people in the UK $100 for this prescription drug, that is what you are going to charge the people in the United States--not 10 times more.

And the difference between my legislation and Trump's so-called Executive order is that, if the pharmaceutical industry refuses to do the right thing and substantially lower drugs, my bill will allow other companies to sell the same prescription drugs at a far lower cost. In other words, generics can come on to the market and sell the drug for a fraction of the price.

So President Trump says he supports making sure Americans pay no more than people in other countries for prescription drugs. President Trump says:

Campaign contributions can do wonders, but not with me, and not with the Republican Party. We are going to do the right thing, something that the Democrats have fought for many years.

Well, I am just ever so delighted that campaign contributions have no impact on the Republican Party. It could have shocked me, but there we go. President Trump said it. It must be right.

So the bottom line here is President Trump says he wants to lower the cost of prescription drugs in America by 80 to 85 percent. I agree.

President Trump has issued an Executive order which he says will do that. It will not do that.

The legislation that I have introduced has real teeth, and it will do that. So, today, I call upon all of my colleagues, especially my Republican colleagues, to support this legislation, because I know President Trump has said that the huge amount of money that the pharmaceutical industry gives in campaign contributions to Democrats and Republicans doesn't have any impact on the Republicans. They are prepared to stand up to the drug companies. So that is great news. I am delighted to hear that.

So, Mr. President, as if in legislative session, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions be discharged from further consideration of S. 1818, and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration; further, that the bill be considered read a third time and passed, and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

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Mr. SANDERS. I want to thank my colleague from Louisiana, the chairman of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, on which I serve, for his remarks. And I think nobody will disagree with him that we have seen in recent years incredible innovation, and there are drugs now on the market that are saving lives that 20, 30 years ago, 10 years ago, were not the case. And we want to continue that innovation--no debate about that.

But all that I am asking my colleague from Louisiana to focus on is what President Trump said, not last year, not 5 years ago. It is what he said yesterday. And what he said yesterday, and I quote, Senator Cassidy--this is President Trump:

I'm cutting drug prices by 85 percent. Right now, I'm saving--I'm saving the whole thing because I did something that nobody was willing to do. Other countries pay a tiny fraction of what we do. And I instituted favored nations. We're now going to pay the lowest in the world. We will be the equivalent of the lowest country in the world. People go to London. They go to Canada. They go to other countries-- many other countries.

But we are going to do it here in the United States. That is what he said.

So all that I am doing, Chairman Cassidy, is putting into legislative, effective language what the President of the United States said.

And by the way, he said, again, that the pharmaceutical industry and all of their campaign contributions have no impact on Republicans, only on Democrats. Well, maybe that is the case, but I doubt that very much.

So all that I am asking my colleague and friend the chairman of the committee to do is to put in place what President Trump said he was doing.

And what my legislation would do is exactly what Trump talked about. It would lower the cost of prescription drugs to what other countries are paying. That is what it does; it does what Trump says he wants to do. I would urge my friend from Louisiana to reconsider.

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