Ernst Pushes for Congress to Finalize Trade Deals, Lower Prescription Drug Prices

WASHINGTON—Following a week of traveling across Iowa on her 99 County Tour, Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA) spoke today about two of the major issues she heard from Iowans: trade and prescription drugs prices. In her visits to manufacturing plants and at town hall meetings, Senator Ernst heard from constituents on the importance of passing the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). Ernst noted that Mexico has already ratified the trade agreement, and Canada is in the process of doing the same. Now it’s time for Congress to get this deal done.

Senator Ernst also highlighted the importance of lowering the prices of prescription drugs for Iowans, and all Americans. Back in Iowa, she heard from families who were forced to choose between purchasing their prescription drugs and making a mortgage or car payment.

Click here or the photo above to watch Senator Ernst’s remarks. 

Three of Senator Ernst’s bills aimed at lowering the costs of prescription drugs recently advanced through Senate committees, moving them one step closer to becoming law:

• The Preserving Access to Cost Effective Drugs (PACED) Act would remove a loophole in the patenting process that allows manipulators to pay Native American tribes to take “ownership” of their patents, thereby enabling the tribes to claim sovereign immunity and avoid review in the case of a dispute. The PACED Act restores the power of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, federal courts, and the International Trade Commission to review patents regardless of sovereign immunity claims made as part of questionable transactions.

• The Prescription Pricing for the People Act would crack down on anti-competitive practices in the drug supply chain. The bill directs the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to examine merger activity of pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) and potential anti-competitive behavior. It provides more transparency on the impact of consolidation on pricing and directs the FTC to communicate possible ways in which Congress can work to foster more competition.

• The Creating and Restoring Equal Access To Equivalent Samples (CREATES) Act would prevent brand-name pharmaceutical and biologic companies from stifling competition by blocking access to the necessary resources for cheaper generic products to clear the regulatory process and successfully reach consumers.

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