President Donald Trump’s executive order aimed at slashing U.S. drug prices has divided Democrats on Capitol Hill, with some cautiously optimistic while others dismissed the move as a bluster.
Most Democratic lawmakers who spoke with Fox News Digital about the order noted they had not read into the details, but the reactions were mostly split.
‘It certainly seems more bark than it is bite,’ Rep. Richard Neal, D-Mass., the top Democrat on the House Ways & Means Committee, told Fox News Digital.
Neal said it ‘strikes me as though it’s another example of the executive order that garners a lot of attention’ with little impact, though he noted he was still looking into the details.
Rep. George Latimer of New York, a first-term Democrat who unseated a former member of the progressive ‘Squad,’ ex-Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., signaled he was hopeful about the initiative.
‘If we can keep drug costs low, that’s a positive thing,’ Latimer said. ‘I don’t, you know, oppose everything the president does, things that help people lower costs. If that’s what this turns into, then yes, it’s a worthwhile idea. But I have to be honest, I’ve got to read it more closely to understand it better.’
Trump announced Monday that he was directing the Department of Health and Human Services to set price targets for pharmaceutical companies.
The president said the order would have pharmaceutical companies set drug prices on par with the lowest prices in other developed countries.
He said, ‘some prescription drug and pharmaceutical prices will be reduced almost immediately by 50 to 80 to 90%.’
Democratic Rep. Lou Correa, D-Calif., told Fox News Digital when asked about the order, ‘It’s always a good thing to reduce drug costs.’
‘I think it’s a move in the right direction, let’s just see the details,’ Correa added.
Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, like Neal, told Fox News Digital he was more skeptical.
‘My feeling is that, like his…announcements during his first term, there’s much talk and no meaningful reduction of drug prices,’ Doggett said. ‘It remains to be seen whether any patient in America will see a price reduced on a single drug as a result of this order. So, until I see action, I will not believe that he has truly committed to reducing prices.’
House Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., also said he did not believe Trump was ‘serious’ when asked.
‘All of this is just a disingenuous effort…on the part of House Republicans and Donald Trump, to pretend like they were looking out for people,’ Aguilar said. ‘If they were serious about it, the policy would be placed within their reconciliation bill. It’s not. This is just a performance effort by the president.’
Meanwhile, Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., introduced a House bill to make Trump’s order permanent.
‘I rise today, to introduce as legislation, President Trump’s executive order for the most favored nation status on drug pricing,’ Khanna said on the House floor.
‘My legislation will codify President Trump’s executive order, which basically says that Americans should not pay more for drugs than people in other countries and other parts of the world.’
In an exclusive Fox News interview with Sean Hannity, Trump argued that his executive order should offset Democrats’ concerns with his ‘big, beautiful’ budget reconciliation bill being pushed by Republicans.
Democrats have accused Republicans of using the bill to gut critical programs like Medicaid for millions of people who need it, while the GOP has contended it was just trying to eliminate waste and abuse within the system.
‘It’s the Democrats’ fault that people are being ripped off for years and years. And now I hear Democrats saying, ‘Oh, well, we’re going to not go for the bill.’ It’s going to be very hard for them not to approve of the big, beautiful bill that we’re doing,’ Trump said. ‘We’re doing the biggest tax cuts in the history of our country because people are going to be getting a 50 to a 90% reduction on drug prices.’
When reached for comment on Democrats’ responses, White House spokesman Kush Desai told Fox News Digital, ‘Democrats talk; President Trump delivers. Instead of again putting politics over the American people, Democrats should work with the Trump administration to build on the President’s historic action to lower drug prices and end global freeriding off the backs of Americans.’