President Donald Trump is pushing to have the pharmaceutical industry help fund his tax cuts by requiring drugmakers to lower Medicaid drug prices, according to reporting by Bloomberg News.
Newsweek reached out to the White House by email on Friday afternoon for comment.
Why It Matters
Trump targeted drug prices as part of his effort to bring down costs for Americans: He first signed an order that rescinded former President Joe Biden’s executive order that lowered the cost of prescription drugs, but last month signed a fresh order telling the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to take new steps to lower drug costs through competition and market forces rather than through presidential mandate.
Trump also tackled the price of drugs during his first term, telling pharmaceutical companies during a closed-door meeting that “we have to get prices down … we have no choice.”
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What To Know
Confirmed in an email from the White House to Bloomberg News, Trump has asked House Republicans to mandate that Medicaid, the government program serving low-income and disabled citizens, provide for Americans the same low drug prices that pharmaceutical companies charge certain foreign countries.
Trump calls it the “most favored nation” drug policy, and is looking to include it in the reconciliation bill that Congress is looking to pass by Memorial Day, May 26.
The proposal comes amid negotiations over how to cut hundreds of billions of dollars in federal spending to fund the GOP tax package. On Friday, Trump’s new budget proposal was released.
“Today, the White House released a transformational budget that maintains strong funding for our national defense while reducing the woke, weaponized, and wasteful bureaucracy by 20% even farther back than pre-COVID levels,” Rep. Chip Roy of Texas, a Republican, said in a statement on Friday.
He added that the bill will also be “reforming Medicaid and other programs to reduce deficits.”
What People Are Saying
Representative Morgan McGarvey of Kentucky, a Democrat, on Thursday wrote on X: “Trump’s first 100 days have been an unmitigated disaster. Chaos is a constant in this administration, and Louisvillians are worse off for it — costs are still up, Medicaid and Social Security are on the chopping block, and no one can plan for the future.”
Representative Nick Langsworthy of New York, a Republican, wrote on X: “100 days of President Trump putting America First: 95% decrease in border encounters; 345,000 new jobs; Inflation down; Energy prices down; Largest drop ever on cost of Rx drugs; Unemployment rate decreased, 4th highest payroll growth in 2 years…and we are just getting started.”
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, wrote on X: “Donald Trump’s days of pretending to be a populist are over. His policies are nothing short of an all out assault on hardworking Americans. As he guts healthcare, slashes education, and hollows out programs families rely on—he’s bankrolling tax breaks for billionaires and big corporations.”
“It’s not just fiscally irresponsible, it’s a betrayal of working people from a morally bankrupt president,” Schumer wrote. “Democrats are going to fight this heartless budget with everything we’ve got and if Congressional Republicans actually cared about American families, they’d join us.”
What Happens Next
House Republicans will work to finalize the reconciliation bill ahead of Memorial Day, with a soft deadline of May 9 to send it over to the Senate for debate and further revision.
Updated 5/2/25 at 2:10 p.m. ET: This article has been updated with additional information, context and comment.
Updated 5/2/25 at 2:25 p.m. ET: This article has been updated with additional information, context and comment.
