Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr celebrated President Donald Trump’s signing of an executive order that aims to cut down on the price of prescription medication in the country, saying "we finally have a president who’s willing to stand up for the American people" and calling it "an extraordinary day" that he never thought he'd see.
"This is an issue that, you know, I grew up in the Democratic Party, and every major Democratic leader for 20 years been making this promise to the American people. This was the fulcrum of Bernie Sanders’ runs for presidency, that he was going to eliminate this discrepancy between Europe and the United States. As it turns out, none of them were doing and it's one of these promises that politicians make to their constituents, knowing that they'll never have to do it," Kennedy said.
"And the reason they'll never have to do it is because they know that Congress is controlled in so many ways by the pharmaceutical industry," he continued, adding that there’s "at least one pharmaceutical lobbyist for every congressman, every senator on Capitol Hill and every member of the Supreme Court. In some estimates, three."
"This was an issue that people talked about, but nobody wanted to do anything because it was radioactive. They knew you couldn't get it by Congress. We now have a president who is a man of his word, who has the courage. President Trump was taking money from the pharmaceutical industry too. I think they gave you $100 million, but he can’t be bought, unlike most of the politicians in this country."
He said that some people have referred to Trump as being "on the side of the oligarchs," but Kennedy said, "There has never been a president more willing to stand up to the oligarchs than President Donald Trump. And I'm very, very proud of you, Mr. President, for your courage."
"President Trump is saying to our European partners is you got to raise the amount that you're paying for those drugs and pay for your share of the innovation that the United States is no longer subsidizing."
Kennedy later continued, "I'm just so grateful to be here today. I never thought that this would happen in my lifetime. I have a couple of kids who are Democrats or big Bernie Sanders fans, and when I told them that this was going to happen, they had tears in their eyes because they thought this is never going to happen in our lifetime. And we finally have a president who's willing to stand up for the American people."
