Much to the Democrats’ chagrin, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is now the United States’ new Health and Human Services secretary.
Naturally, this news comes much to the chagrin of Big Pharma as well.
Those on the left have long pretended to crusade against Big Pharma, promising to finally rein in drug companies like Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson, but at the confirmation hearings for RFK, this was exposed as the farce it is.
For example, after getting grilled by Sen. Bernie Sanders, Kennedy pointed out that Sanders had accepted campaign donations from the very drug companies Kennedy was promising to crack down on. (RELATED: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Takes on Unhinged Dems)
“Oh, no, no, no, no,” Sanders erupted, adding, “not one nickel of PAC money from the pharmaceutical industry. They came from the workers.”
Kennedy refused to back down, accusing Sanders of having taken in $1.5 million in pharmaceutical donations, only for Sanders to retort, “yeah, out of $200 million.”
Who’s right? While Kennedy rounded a bit — turns out Sanders took in closer to $1.4 million in contributions from the pharmaceutical industry in 2020 when he last ran for reelection — his point nevertheless held true. And while none of that money came from the Big Pharma lobbying arm, Sanders did take in more cash from those employed in pharmaceuticals than any other senator.
On its face, this seems curious. Sanders’s home state of Vermont is not a known medical hub, as are, say, Massachusetts and North Carolina. So what’s going on here?
Turns out, the Democrats have a bigger Big Pharma problem than they care to admit — which explains why they have their knives sharpened and out against RFK Jr. While he may be a longtime Democrat, he is also the lobbying group’s biggest skeptic, and that’s a no-go for them.
Start with the 2024 election cycle when pharmaceutical companies gave about $9.5 million to Democrats compared to just $6.4 million to Republicans. Honing in on the presidential race, Kamala Harris received about $3.2 million from drug corporations compared to $550,000 for Donald Trump.
Part of this has to do with what’s called regulatory capture. If you’re a big industry and you know there’s more regulation coming down the pike, it behooves you to leverage your lobbyists and work the legislation to your advantage. (RELATED: Federal Bureaucracy Is Biggest Healthcare Rent-Seeker)
By supporting Democrats, who favor more regulations, the drug companies can thus make sure those regulations accord with their bottom lines — and even protect themselves against competition from smaller companies that might not be able to afford the compliance costs.
Their strategy is working. To highlight just one example, Sanders introduced a bill to help Big Pharma shut down pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), groups that are employed by businesses to negotiate with drug companies and lower prescription prices for patients. Naturally, Big Pharma doesn’t like this, and they’ve recently embarked on a well-heeled lobbying campaign to portray cost-cutting PBMs as villains, which Sanders was happy to help lead in Congress.
The Democrats — let’s not forget — also sided with Big Pharma when it came to COVID, supporting vaccine mandates and trashing any Republican skepticism of the so-called “jab.” Total sales of just the Pfizer vaccine, as of March 2024, amounted to more than $80 billion.
While the American left is trying to sell a self-aggrandizing message — vote for them and they’ll use the power of government to take on Big Pharma and bring down drug costs — what usually happens is that they end up allying big government with Big Pharma, to the advantage of the latter.
Back at the Kennedy confirmation hearings, Senator Elizabeth Warren also got a chance to cross-examine RFK Jr. She warned that, among other things, he might open up drug manufacturers to lawsuits over vaccines and make them liable for injuries caused by their products. She then continued to run interference for Big Pharma on her website. (READ MORE: Pharmahontas on the Warpath at the RFK Jr. Hearings)
Fortunately, these leftist dissenters did not succeed at slowing down this anti-pharma crusader’s confirmation prospects, and RFK Jr. is the man with the keys to HHS. (RELATED: Justice Comes to HHS: Trump Taps Kennedy)
It couldn’t happen soon enough.
READ MORE:
Federal Bureaucracy Is Biggest Healthcare Rent-Seeker
Pharmahontas on the Warpath at the RFK Jr. Hearings
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Takes on Unhinged Dems
Mark Comfort is the executive director of TeamTrump2024 and TeamTrump Missouri Training Program. He is also a Republican committeeman for the City of St. Louis.