Cornyn’s Record of Failure: Siding with Big Pharma over Texans

For Immediate Release

July 23, 2020

Contact: Billy Begala, (703) 919-9350, press@txdemocrats.org

Cornyn’s Record of Failure: Siding with Big Pharma over Texans

Austin, TX — Over his 18 years in the Senate, Cornyn has, time and again, sided with his big pharmaceutical donors over the best interests of Texans. Cornyn has gutted and attacked bipartisan legislation to reduce drug prices — jeopardizing the health of Texans so his special interest allies can make a buck.

Cornyn Has Taken Over $1.4 Million from the Pharmaceutical Industry While in the Senate

• 2015-Present: Cornyn Accepted $648,591 From The Pharmaceuticals/Health Products Industry.

  • 2009-2014: Cornyn Accepted $518,800 From The Pharmaceuticals/Health Products Industry.

  • 2003-2008: Cornyn Accepted $241,096 From The Pharmaceuticals/Health Products Industry.

Cornyn Voted At Least Five Times Against Allowing Medicare To Negotiate Prescription Drug Prices.

• From 2005 to 2007, Cornyn voted at least five times against allowing Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices.

• In 2019, Cornyn attacked a bill that would have allowed Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices and would have achieved an estimated $345 billion in Medicare savings.

Cornyn Repeatedly Voted Against Cracking Down On “Pay-For-Delay” Deals That Let Big Pharma Companies Pay Generic Producers To Delay Cheaper Versions Of Drugs From Being Sold To Consumers.

Cornyn Changed His Vote Last-Minute To Oppose A Bill Increasing Generic Drug Competition And Lowering Prescription Drug Prices

• In 2018, Cornyn changed his vote at the last minute to oppose the CREATES Act, a bill that would have allowed generic drug manufacturers to compete against big pharmaceutical companies, lowering the cost of prescription drugs.

• Cornyn flipped his vote after offering a failed amendment that created loopholes in the bill so large, “The Martin Shkrelis of the world [w]ould drive a dump truck through this.”

Cornyn Watered Down His “Patient Thicket” Bill, Delivering a Win for Pharmaceutical Corporations.

• At the behest of pharma lobbyists, Cornyn rewrote a bill that would have “rein[ed] in patent abuses.”

• Cornyn took nearly $30,000 from the PACs and lobbyists of drug companies who lobbied on his bill in the two months after he introduced it.

• Cornyn’s capitulation was considered a “big win” for the drug industry, with a drug industry lobbyist saying Cornyn’s changes were “likely to water down the bill enough to be acceptable for drug companies and their allies in Congress.”

Cornyn Voted To “Gut The Core Proposal” Of A Bipartisan Effort To Rein In Prescription Drug Costs.

• In 2019, Cornyn voted in committee to “gut the core proposal” of the Grassley-Wyden drug pricing bill, bipartisan legislation that would have saved beneficiaries at least $32 billion.

• Cornyn objected to big pharmaceutical companies having to “eat the cost” of making prescriptions affordable to senior citizens on Medicare.

• Cornyn’s opposition to the bipartisan legislation “put him more in alignment with the pharmaceutical industry’s position and less so with patient advocacy groups.”