Congressman Urged to Defend Access to Medicines

During his own public forum on the high costs of prescription drugs, Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) heard from constituents angry that the Trump administration’s proposal for a revised North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) contains new language that would help big pharmaceutical companies lock in high medicine prices.

Constituents told Rep. Blumenauer that, as the newly-elected Chair of the House Trade Subcommittee, they are counting on him to ensure that the revised NAFTA not move forward with Big Pharma giveaways intact.

Civil society groups also delivered a letter signed by a dozen Oregon senior, faith and healthcare worker organizations encouraging him to ensure that access to medicines is protected in NAFTA and any other trade negotiations considered by his subcommittee.

The Congressman has been increasingly speaking out on this issue.  In February 2019, Rep. Blumenauer tweeted out, “Talking to other members, my strong first impression is that there’s a lot of work needed on access and cost of Rx drugs in NAFTA 2.0 to get committee support and House passage.”