WASHINGTON — An influential Senate Democrat is pushing back against his party’s efforts to cut $600 billion out of the drug industry as part of a massive yet-to-be-unveiled spending package.
Since July, it’s been widely reported that Democrats are seeking around $600 billion in savings from the pharmaceutical industry to help pay for a number of policy priorities. But Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) told STAT in an interview Tuesday that he believed the goal of cutting $600 billion out of the drug industry was too ambitious.
“I’ve made clear that the idea of $600 billion out of the hide of the pharmaceutical industry, that dog doesn’t hunt. But they have to be willing to be part of the solution,” said Carper, regarding the pharmaceutical industry. “It is not gonna be $600 billion.”
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