Dems Who Clapped Like Seals For Biden’s Big Pharma Actions Do 180 On Trump Drug Pricing Order

Congressional Democrats who praised former President Joe Biden’s executive actions against America’s pharmaceutical industry are holding their praise for President Trump’s latest executive order.

Trump signed a landmark executive order Monday aimed at lowering prescription drug prices, by his estimate, anywhere between 59 and 90 percent.

Trump: Drug prices will come down by much more really if you think..: Between 59 and 80. I guess even 90%. We’re getting them down 60, 70, 80, 90%. But actually more than that if you think about it in a way mathematically pic.twitter.com/SRDCpkRslM

— Acyn (@Acyn) May 12, 2025

Americans pay more for prescription drugs than any other developed nation, making lowering drug pricing one of the most popular and bipartisan public policy actions in the country.

However, Democrats who previously lauded Biden’s executive orders on pharmaceutical pricing suddenly appear to have a problem with Trump’s executive action. (RELATED: Big Pharma Tax Loophole Costs Americans Over $1 Billion Per Year, According To Recent Study)

“This is nothing more than a flashy press release from Donald Trump,” Democratic Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren wrote in a Tuesday post on X.

“Trump should put his weight behind a bill so we can actually lower drug prices,” she continued.

This is nothing more than a flashy press release from Donald Trump.

Trump should put his weight behind a bill so we can actually lower drug prices.

Instead, he and Republicans in Congress are plotting to rip away health coverage from millions of Americans. https://t.co/lbCCuH86kX

— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) May 13, 2025

Warren, however, sang a different tune in 2023. She lauded President Biden’s announcement to enact federal “March-In Rights” which would unilaterally allow the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to license prescription drugs to alternative drugmakers if the prices are too high.

“Today, POTUS took a critical step to cut costs and rein in abuses by Big Pharma, which has raked in billions by raising prices for drugs that taxpayers paid to develop. Big Pharma will no longer have a free pass to hike prices for drugs that benefitted from public dollars,” Warren wrote in her 2023 tweet.

She made no mention of Biden’s side-stepping of Congress.

Today, @POTUS took a critical step to cut costs and rein in abuses by Big Pharma, which has raked in billions by raising prices for drugs that taxpayers paid to develop. Big Pharma will no longer have a free pass to hike prices for drugs that benefitted from public dollars. https://t.co/4uMkPFCkrk

— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) December 7, 2023

Democratic Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden similarly criticized Trump.

“Donald Trump is all hat and no cattle when it comes to lowering the price of prescription drugs,” Wyden wrote in a statement Monday.

“If Trump was serious about lowering drug prices, he would work with Congress to strengthen Medicare drug price negotiations, not just sign a piece of paper,” he concluded.

Wyden did mention the portion of the landmark Inflation Reduction Act which Democrats signed into law in 2022 that allowed Medicare to negotiate drug prices on behalf of seniors.

What he did not mention was President Biden’s 2021 executive order calling for bold administrative actions to lower drug prices.

Perhaps most notably, Independent Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, who caucuses and is closely allied with Democrats, demanded that Trump support an upcoming bill he was planning on proposing.

“If Trump is serious about making real change rather than just issuing a press release, he will support legislation I will introduce to ensure we pay no more for prescription drugs than people in other major countries,” he wrote on social media Monday.

If Trump is serious about making real change rather than just issuing a press release, he will support legislation I will introduce to ensure we pay no more for prescription drugs than people in other major countries.

If we come together, we can get it passed in a few weeks.

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— Senator Bernie Sanders (@sanders.senate.gov) May 12, 2025 at 1:01 PM

At least one Democratic lawmaker, California Rep. Ro Khanna, lauded Trump’s action. Khanna is now seeking to codify it with legislation.

“Today, I am introducing legislation to codify President Trump’s executive order, ensuring Americans do not pay more than people in other countries for drugs,” Khanna wrote in an X post Wednesday.

Today, I am introducing legislation to codify President Trump’s executive order, ensuring Americans do not pay more than people in other countries for drugs. Will Congress members stand with $16 billion in Big Pharma money, or with the American people by co-sponsoring this… pic.twitter.com/W2eXfoB5bv

— Rep. Ro Khanna (@RepRoKhanna) May 14, 2025