Cummings: Trump Engaged, Enthusiastic On Issue Of Drug Prices

By Staff Reporter
Posted on 03/08/17 | News Source: WBAL

Rep. Elijah Cummings met with President Donald Trump Wednesday to talk drug prices. He said after the hour-long meeting he wasn't surprised by Trump's enthusiasm on the issue--which was part of a campaign pledge for the president--but was pleasantly surprised by the president's own proposals.

"The president was clearly very much aware of what was going on. He understood the issue very well," he said in a conference call with reporters. "He was able to provide us with his take on it and he felt that it was important that we address this issue head on."

Cummings, a Baltimore Democrat, was joined in the Oval Office meeting by Rep. Peter Welch, a Vermont Democrat, and Johns Hopkins Hospital President Dr. Redonda G. Miller. Trump brought Health Secretary Tom Price and instructed Price to help move the proposal forward.

Cummings said the bill, to be filed in the next two weeks, allows Medicare to negotiate drug prices with pharmaceutical companies, just as Veterans Affairs and Medicaid already can. Cummings first discussed the issue with Trump at an inauguration day luncheon.

"The thing that got me talking to him from the very beginning is I heard him say the pharma industry was...getting away with murder with what they were doing," Cummings said. So I thought maybe he feels the same way that I feel."

Unprompted during the Wednesday meeting, Trump brought up drug re-importation, the subject of a bill Cummings filed with Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.

"He brought that up and said he had absolutely no problem with pushing that kind of legislation because he says it's ridiculous for people to go across [international] lines just to buy some medicine that might cost them one-tenth of what it would cost in the United States," Cummings said.

It's unclear how much support the proposal will get among congressional Republicans.

Cummings said he also brought with him two documents, one for Trump and one for Vice President Mike Pence, both dealing with Trump's unsubstantiated allegations of widespread voter fraud.

"First of all I don't believe there's voter fraud and if there is, it's minuscule," Cumming said, recalling what he told Trump. "But we do know that there's proof that people have been denied the vote and that the vote has been suppressed, that courts have said it and you can't have a fair evaluation of our voting in the united states without looking at voter suppression and he said he agreed."

He said he also respectfully offered Trump some advice on how he talks about African-Americans and how the president often appears to associate them with low-income neighborhoods.

"The vast number of African-American people are living in very nice neighborhoods and doing well and I told him when he says things like that it's very insulting to African-American people," Cummings said, adding that the president conceded he could to a better job. "We want to improve our cities and even our rural areeas, but when you point them as negative places to be, it sends the wrong message."

Cummings said he also expressed his gratitude for Trump's meeting with leaders of historically black colleges and universities, and his executive order offering support. But he said they need more than an executive order, and that Trump agreed. The president, Cummings said, was surprised they didn't ask for that.

"They need money and they're doing a phenomenal job educating a diverse population, but they don't always get the support that they need," Cummings said.