WHY WE VOTE WEDNESDAY – WE NEED RELIEF ON DRUG PRICES 

ACTION ONE: COMMIT TO ACTION IN 2020

Plan to call Congress with Indivisible Oregon on a weekly basis.  Set goals for your election work in 2020 and join Indivisible Oregon letter writing parties with Swing Left/Vote Forward and/or contribute to our Swing Left Fundraiser. We are all in this together. 

ACTION TWO: CALL YOUR SENATORS

SAMPLE SCRIPT FOR WYDEN AND MERKLEY:

My name is [–] and I’m a constituent from [city], Oregon [zip code]. I am calling because…
For Wyden: The high prescription drug prices which are fueling obscene profits for Big Pharma  are literally killing Americans.  I want to thank the Senator for introducing the Prescription Drug Pricing Reduction Act.  While he is working for a fair impeachment trial, I am asking him to work to push past  Mitch McConnell’s obstructionism and pass relief on drug prices. 
For Merkley: The high prescription drug prices which are fueling obscene profits for Big Pharma  are literally killing Americans.  While he is working for a fair impeachment trial, I am asking him to work to push past  Mitch McConnell’s obstructionism and pass relief on drug prices. 

ACTION THREE: CALL YOUR HOUSE REP

Not sure who your U.S. Representative is? Find out here. 

SAMPLE SCRIPTS FOR REPRESENTATIVES:

My name is [–] and I’m a constituent from [city], Oregon [zip code]. I am calling because…
For All Reps but Walden:  The high prescription drug prices which are fueling obscene profits for Big Pharma are literally killing Americans.  I want to thank the Representative for supporting the House’s Lower Drug Costs Now Act.  While he/she is working for a fair impeachment trial, I am asking him/her to work to push past  Mitch McConnell’s obstructionism and pass relief on drug prices. 
For Walden:  The high prescription drug prices which are fueling obscene profits for Big Pharma are literally killing Americans.  The Representative, who is among the top 10% Congressional recipients of Big Pharma dollars, has stated that he has “stood up to Big Pharma”.  Yet he voted against the Lower Drug Costs Now Act.  It’s time for him to put his constituents before his corporate donors.  I am asking him to work for a fair impeachment trial, and to work to push past Mitch McConnell’s obstructionism and pass relief on drug prices. 

BACKGROUND:

Prescriptions cost American families an average of $3000.00 a year, more than double than in other developed countries. Almost 25% of Americans struggle to fill needed prescriptions because of cost.  Many are forced to skip or take reduced dosages of essential medication and simply hope for the best.   
Many of these drugs have been around for decades and are inexpensive to produce.  Yet corporations, holding patent monopolies, are able to raise prices at will and they do.    
In 2016, Donald Trump campaigned on lowering prescription drug costs, and initially supported the House bill which would do just that.  He also installed former big pharma lobbyists as his top healthcare advisor and Health and Human Services Secretary.  Characteristically, he withdrew support and announced he would veto it if it passed the Senate.  
There’s virtually no chance of that happening of course.  Mitch McConnell has sworn that it will never leave his desk, along with over 300 other bills addressing vital issues such as election security. 
As long as Trump is in office and there is a Republican majority in the Senate, giving McConnell the power to obstruct Democracy, pharmaceutical corporations will thrive and American families will suffer. 

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