House Democrats to spend $1M on ads targeting GOP on drug pricing

The House Democrats’ campaign arm will spend more than $1 million on national television ads hitting Republicans on the issue of high prescription drug prices.

The digital and TV ads from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) argue that House Republicans and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) are standing in the way of Congress passing legislation aimed at lowering drug prices. 

“We are going to make sure every voter out there understands we as Democrats — House Democrats specifically — are doing everything we can to fight to bring down the cost of prescription drugs while Mitch McConnell and House Republicans are doing nothing but get in the way,” said DCCC Chairwoman Rep. Cheri Bustos (D-Ill.). 

The 30-second ad spots, which will air on MSNBC, CNN and Univision as well as on local cable markets, claim McConnell and Republicans in Congress have taken millions from drug companies.

“It’s time for Mitch McConnell and the Republicans to start working for us, not the special interests,” the ad’s narrator says. 

House Democrats passed a bill last year that would require the federal government to negotiate with drug companies for lower prices on drugs covered by Medicare. 

However, the bill is opposed by House and Senate Republicans. McConnell has said the measure is “dead on arrival” in the upper chamber. 

Democrats hope tying House Republicans to McConnell will work in their favor. McConnell is “deeply unpopular anywhere you go,” Bustos said. 

Democrats’ focus on health care and pre-existing conditions protections is largely credited as the reason the party won back the House majority in 2018.

House Democrats plan to focus their messaging on high drug prices in 2020, noting it is an issue of vast importance to voters.