The House Democrats Bought and Paid For by Big Pharma
Reps. Scott Peters, Kurt Schrader, and Kathleen Rice — Democrats all — give weak, incoherent responses to why they torpedoed a plan to let Medicare negotiate drug prices.

Representative Kathleen Rice (NY), has completely flipped her reasoning for why she voted against a measure to reduce drug prices. (Tom Williams / CQ Roll Call via Getty Images)
Conservative Democratic representatives Scott Peters (CA) and Kurt Schrader (OR) have been defending their huge hauls of campaign cash from the pharmaceutical industry since announcing their opposition to House Democrats’ wildly popular plan to reduce drug prices. Meanwhile, another Democratic lawmaker, Representative Kathleen Rice (NY), has completely flipped her reasoning for why she voted against the measure.
Last week, Schrader, Peters, and Rice used their seats on the House Committee on Energy and Commerce to try to block House Democrats from allowing Medicare to use its bulk purchasing power to negotiate lower prescription drug prices as part of the party’s $3.5 trillion infrastructure reconciliation effort. The proposal has support from 90 percent of registered voters in their districts, according to a recent poll by Data for Progress.
Since their votes, Peters and Schrader have faced tough questions at home about the donations they’ve received from the pharmaceutical industry. Over the course of their careers, the congressmen have raised a combined $1.5 million from donors in the pharmaceutical and health products industries, according to data from OpenSecrets. Peters has been the top recipient of pharma cash in the House this election cycle.