Joyce Blasts Pelosi For Playing Politics With Bipartisan Prescription Drug Reforms

Congressman John Joyce (PA-13) today blasted Speaker Nancy Pelosi for playing politics with three bipartisan prescription drug pricing reforms, as she refused to hold individual votes on the measures. Legislation to lower prescription drug prices such as H.R. 965, the CREATES Act; H.R. 1499, the Protecting Consumer Access to Generic Drugs Act; and H.R. 938, BLOCKING Act all passed unanimously out of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce earlier this Congress, but Speaker Pelosi brought them to the floor for a vote Thursday as part of a broader package of legislation to bolster the Affordable Care Act.

Joyce on Thursday evening will oppose the full bundle of bills due to his opposition to Affordable Care Act, and urged Speaker Pelosi to bring the bipartisan prescription drug legislation to the floor without the Obamacare bailout measures.

andldquo;Through her actions the last two weeks, it's clear Nancy Pelosi would rather try to score political points than make health care more affordable and accessible for patients,andrdquo; said Congressman Joyce. andldquo;Last week she put forward a sham bill that does nothing to protect preexisting conditions, and this week she sabotaged three perfectly good pieces of prescription drug pricing legislation by pairing them with measures that will continue to perpetuate the failed health care system that is Obamacare. Even the Washington Post recognizes that Ms. Pelosi's politicized prescription drug package is dead on arrival in the Senate, and if she really cares about enacting realistic health care reforms she would bring the Creates Act, the Protecting Access to Generics Drug Act and the Blocking Act up for a vote instead of pushing them into a partisan sinkhole.andrdquo;

The Washington Post highlighted how Pelosi's move to tie the prescription drug reforms with Obamacare makes the measures unpassable.

andldquo;The House will vote tomorrow on a package aimed at lowering prescription drug prices andmdash; one of the few health-care issues getting across-the-aisle momentum this year, due to overwhelming public support. But in a move that alienates Republicans, Democrats have tacked on measures reversing some of the Trump administration's controversial actions on the 2010 health-care law. The package includes three provisions, all recently passed unanimously by the House Energy and Commerce Committee, that would remove barriers to generic drugs entering the market. But there's little chance Senate Republicans andmdash; let alone President Trump, who has vowed to keep fighting for Obamacare repeal andmdash; would sign off on the other four. Those measures restore ACA outreach funding cut by the administration, block its expansion of leaner health plans and fund state-run marketplaces.andrdquo;

Even Democrats are upset with Pelosi for derailing months of work on the bipartisan prescription drug reforms.

andldquo;And in a rare criticism of leadership, even some Democrats openly lamented the strategy to couple the health issues together. andlsquo;I'm not a fan of what happened,' said Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.), a longtime Pelosi ally whose House subcommittee oversees most health legislation.andrdquo; (Stat News, 5/16/19)

andldquo;Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.), in a brief interview, said that packaging the bills together andmdash; even to assuage cost concerns andmdash; was a lost opportunity for bipartisan consensus. andlsquo;We did this without a food fight in the committee, but now by packaging it together with the ACA, it creates another issue. So my preference would be to do them separately and take advantage of the bipartisan support.andrdquo;' (Stat News, 5/16/19)

Joyce has continuously advocated for bipartisan reforms to lower prescription drug prices. On Thursday he published an op-ed in the Johnstown Tribune-Democrat discussing his new legislation, the Ensuring Timely Access to Generics Act of 2019.

andldquo;When I prescribed medication to my patients, I never cared if they were Democrats or Republicans, I just wanted them to get better. On this legislation, I don't care if the majority of co-sponsors are Republicans or Democrats either. Lower drug costs should not be a partisan cause,andrdquo; Joyce stated in the op-ed.

The 13^th District lawmaker has also repeatedly opposed Obamacare and this week cosponsored bipartisan legislation to roll back its key components by repealing the andldquo;Cadillac Taxandrdquo; and delaying the andldquo;health insurance tax.andrdquo;

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