Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) joined Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), and 11 of her Senate colleagues in filing an amicus brief in AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals v. Becerra; Bristol Myers Squibb Co. v. Becerra; and Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc. v. Becerra before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. In the brief, the senators urge the court to uphold the constitutionality of Congress allowing Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices, highlighting the law’s legislative history and Congress’s constitutional authority to enact these reforms and programs.
“Tens of thousands of Nevada seniors and people with disabilities can afford lifesaving medicine thanks to the law I helped pass to hold Big Pharma accountable and strengthen Medicare,” said Senator Cortez Masto. “Allowing Medicare to negotiate lower prescription drug prices is constitutional—and it’s good, commonsense policy that fosters innovation and competition. I have always worked to protect and strengthen Medicare, and I always will.”
In addition to Senators Cortez Masto, Klobuchar, Welch, and Rosen, the amicus brief was also filed by Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Ct.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Richard Durbin (D-Ill.), John Fetterman (D-Pa.), John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), Chris Van Hollen (D-M.D.), and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).
You can read the full amicus brief HERE and an excerpt below:
“Appellants now attempt to accomplish through judicial action what they could not through the legislative process. Appellants’ position in this litigation boils down to the argument that the United States Constitution prohibits the federal government from negotiating the prices of the products it purchases. Appellants seek to prevent reform of a purchasing process that Congress itself made. They argue that, Congress having created this process, Congress now cannot unmake the process or even amend for the benefit of the American public and the American taxpayer.
As the Appellees’ brief ably explains, this position is wrong as a matter of constitutional law. Congress improves laws all the time. Congress has the right and indeed the duty to do so. The Program takes nothing from the pharmaceutical industry—not its drugs and not its patents. And the Program does not coerce industry participants to do or say anything. Like every other market participant, manufacturers may sell their products at prices buyers think is fair (or not fair) and buyers may make market choices in turn.”
Senator Cortez Masto has worked to strengthen the Medicare program to provide affordable, quality health care for seniors. She passed legislation to allow Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices and cap the cost of insulin at $35-a-month for Medicare recipients through the Inflation Reduction Act. She recently introduced bipartisan legislation to improve transparency of Medicare Advantage plans and has pushed pharmacy benefit managers to help continue to lower prescription drug costs.
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