Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) introduced legislation to codify President Donald Trump’s executive order to reduce the cost of prescription and pharmaceutical drugs.
In a post on X, Khanna shared a video in which he spoke from the House floor, explaining that if he “can cross the aisle” and support Trump’s executive order in legislation, each Republican “should be willing to cross the aisle” and support Khanna’s legislation. Khanna pointed out that the only way lawmakers could “stand up to Big Pharma, is to codify in legislation what the President wants to do in an executive order.”
“Today, I am introducing legislation to codify President Trump’s executive order, ensuring Americans do not pay more than people in other countries for drugs,” Khanna said in his post. “Will Congress members stand with $16 billion in Big Pharma money, or with the American people by co-sponsoring this bipartisan legislation?”
In an executive order signed on Monday, Trump pointed out that the United States “has less than five percent of the world’s population and yet funds around three quarters of global pharmaceutical profits.”
“This egregious imbalance is orchestrated through a purposeful scheme in which drug manufacturers deeply discount their products to access foreign markets, and subsidize that decrease through enormously high prices in the United States,” the executive order continued.
Trump revealed that his administration would “take immediate steps to end global freeloading,” and added that his administration would “take additional aggressive action” if drug manufacturers failed to offer Americans “the most-favored-nation lowest price.”
“Are we going to stand in this body with the $16 billion that Big Pharma spent on lobbying, or are we going to stand with the American people?” Khanna asked. “We will know that answer based on how many co-sponsors we get for my legislation that simply codifies Donald Trump’s executive order.”
“For the first time in many years, we’ll slash the cost of prescription drugs, and we will bring fairness to America,” Trump said during a press conference at the signing of the executive order, adding that the prices of drugs would be reduced by “between 59 and 80” percent.
Khanna introducing legislation to codify Trump’s executive order comes as Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN), and 16 of his colleagues are working to encourage House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) to start codifying some of Trump’s executive order’s into law. Other Republicans involved in the efforts include Reps. Keith Self (R-TX), Tim Burchett (R-TN), Eli Crane (R-AZ), and Brandon Gill (R-TX), among others.
As Breitbart News’s Bradley Jaye previously reported, Ogles issued a statement explaining how “House Republicans made serious campaign promises to enshrine President Trump’s agenda,” while adding that the House has “passed few bills codifying Trump’s critical executive orders.”
“President Trump is working at a breakneck pace, delivering win after win,”” Ogles told Breitbart News. “He doesn’t take weekends off. He doesn’t take holidays. So why is Congress?”
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