Democrats want commitment to keep Biden's drug-pricing reforms
Under the Biden administration's Inflation Reduction Act, Medicare for the first time was allowed to directly broker with drug manufacturers. The first 10 drugs subject to negotiations were announced in 2023 and 15 additional drugs were unveiled just before President Joe Biden left office.
Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto looked for a commitment from Kennedy to protect those negotiations going forward, as Trump and many Republicans campaigned last year on rolling back the law.
"Are you there to be a rubber stamp to this administration?” she asked him.
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Kennedy claimed the White House issued a new executive order supporting the drug pricing negotiations under the law, though no such executive order has been released.
"[Trump] has instructed me, and I've met with him repeatedly, as that we need lower price seniors in this country," Kennedy said.