Hoyer Remarks on Press Call on H.R. 3
WASHINGTON, DC - This afternoon, Congressman Steny H. Hoyer (MD-05) held a press call with Congressman David Trone (MD-06) and Congresswoman Jennifer Wexton (VA-10) on H.R. 3, the Elijah E. Cummings Lower Drug Costs Now Act. The legislation will lower the cost of prescription drugs for millions of Americans by giving Medicare the power to negotiate lower drug prices. Below is a transcript of his opening and closing remarks:
"I want to welcome [Congressman] David Trone and [Congresswoman] Jennifer Wexton. Jennifer Wexton from the 10th district of Virginia, a new member. David Trone is a relatively new Member from Western Maryland. The three of us are on this phone call together. We want to talk about H.R. 3. We are continuing to do the business for the people, which we pledged to do over the course of the last campaign. We had an agenda that was For the People, and we want to create higher wages, better jobs, bring health care costs down for people. We want to do infrastructure investment so that we could be competitive in the 21st century.
"This week, the House will consider, and I think pass, H.R. 3, which we have titled ‘the Elijah Cummings Lower Drug Costs Now Act.' Elijah Cummings, of course, was the Member from the State of Maryland we lost just a few weeks ago.
"The legislation, H.R. 3, is to lower drug prices for American consumers as we pledged to do. When Democrats ran in 2018, one of the three main components of our ‘For the People' platform was lowering prescription drug prices. Now, in our first year in the Majority, we're delivering on that promise.
"Too many people in Maryland's Fifth District and in Jennifer Wexton's and David Trone's districts are struggling to afford their prescription drugs. Insulin prices have skyrocketed to the point where families feel the need to ration their use and forgo paying rent or for food to afford it. That's not appropriate that people have to choose between food and housing and drugs, drugs to keep themselves healthy and alive. We've heard heart wrenching stories from constituents about the impact of rising insulin prices, and we've heard the same about drugs to treat asthma and diabetes and other pre-existing conditions.
"H.R. 3 addresses this challenge by giving Medicare the ability to negotiate lower drug prices, just as the Veterans Administration now does, and make those prices available to private insurance providers. I might point out that President Trump has suggested that as a way to bring drug prices down as well. Secondly, we want to invest in medical and pharmaceutical research for new cures and treatments. And lastly, [we are] expanding Medicare coverage to dental, vision, and hearing services for the first time.
"We believe that this is going to save substantial sums of money for American taxpayers and users of prescription drugs. In fact, CBO, the Congressional Budget Office, says it will save in the neighborhood of $500 billion for consumers both in Medicare and not in Medicare. The bill's expansion of services covered by Medicare would provide dental, vision, and hearing services, as I said, to the more-than 95% of beneficiaries in my district, and I think the same is probably in others who do not currently have access to them.
"For Marylanders in need of life-saving medications, H.R. 3 will make a world of difference. The average cost of Ibrance, a common medication used to treat breast cancer, would be reduced by 65%. The cost of Tasigna, a drug commonly used to treat leukemia, would be reduced by 71. For the 9.8% of Marylanders living with diabetes, this bill would reduce insulin spending by 3.5 times what it is now. The cost of commonly prescribed HIV/AIDS medication would go down from $15,000 to less than half of that at $6,000 per year.
"Once the House passes H.R. 3, which I expect to be this week, I urge the Senate to consider it immediately and pass it as well. The American people deserve to be able to afford the prescription drugs they need."
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"There is some assertion that we are not doing the business of the people that we promised to do because of distractions. That is not accurate. We passed H.R. 1, a major reform bill through the House of Representatives, unanimously passed by the Democrats. H.R. 4 we passed last week, which reinstates the Voting Rights Act to its full effectiveness so that we make sure that every American has the ability to vote. We passed H.R. 5, the Equality Act, which makes sure that civil rights protections are extended to all our citizens. We passed H.R. 6 [to protect Dreamers]… 86% of the American people think this is the right policy. We passed H.R. 7, the Paycheck Fairness Act, to make sure that women are paid equally as men for the same work. We passed comprehensive background check which is pending in the Senate, which 90% of the American people support.
"We continue, as you see this week, to support and pass legislation which we promised to do. So we think this is real progress, and we're hopeful that we can get bipartisan agreement with the Administration with this because so many of the points included in H.R. 3 the President has said are points that he shares."