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WASHINGTON — As they jostle to position themselves for 2020, many Democratic presidential hopefuls have suddenly zeroed in on a narrow policy target: prescription drug prices.

Sen. Bernie Sanders called his first press conference since the midterms not to discuss President Trump’s quest for a wall or tout universalized health coverage, but to unveil a proposal to lower drug prices that mirrors one of Trump’s own. Sen. Cory Booker dialed up his own rhetoric to campaign-trail levels, decrying high drug prices as “a stain on the very idea of America.” The House Oversight Committee, too, set drug prices atop its own agenda, scheduling a hearing on that issue that will occur more than a week before it calls former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen to testify.

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In the Senate, no fewer than six Democrats — including five of the men and women most likely to follow Sen. Elizabeth Warren into the 2020 race — have stepped out on the issue of drug pricing in just the past month, ramping up their anti-industry remarks and attaching their names to legislation that aims to bring down pharmaceutical prices.

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