Majority Leader Schumer Floor Remarks On The Inflation Reduction Act Passed By Senate Democrats Lowering The Cost Of Prescription Drugs

Washington, D.C. – Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today spoke on the Senate floor regarding the Inflation Reduction Act lowering prescription drug costs for millions of Americans. Below are Senator Schumer’s remarks, which can also be viewed here:

I wanted to come to the floor to thank all of my colleagues for coming to the floor and talking about this issue. Our Democratic Caucus has been persistent champions in the fight to lower drug costs for Americans. I want to thank Senator Klobuchar, who’s been such a leader on this issue, and for calling us together tonight.

It was said year after year, decade after decade, that they’re never going to take on the big drug companies, they’re never going to get those high costs — in some cases outrageously high costs — down.

But last summer, we did and we won.

Now millions of Americans are seeing their drug costs go down because of the Inflation Reduction Act going into effect. The ten prescription drugs which my colleagues have talked about are not drugs used by a mere few, but used by millions that affect so many different illnesses and they will treat things like things like diabetes and heart failure and cancer and kidney disease and blood clots and more. The pain you feel when you talk to a parent who says my child has been diagnosed with cancer, but it costs $1,000 a month for the drug and I can't afford it. What am I going to do? What pain. Well, that pain is going to be greatly reduced in hundreds of thousands of cases now that we have done this. We're not stopping. We're going to keep going. It's a huge deal.

We’re capping the price of insulin at $35. We did it for seniors on Medicare, now we’re going to fight to get it for everybody else. The costs for all drugs, which once was unlimited, will start at $3,000 in January and go to $2,000 in 2025.

The number one thing our constituents are asking about is high costs. The number one thing that bugs them about the government is no one seems to get a handle on those high costs. Well, this is a shining example. We're reducing their costs by taking on the special interests. We're not stopping here.

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