FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Daniel Pollack
[email protected] (646) 979-0621
New York, NY — U.S. Senate Republican and Conservative party nominee Wendy Long today made the following statement in front of Mount Sinai Kravis Children’s Hospital in New York City:
“I am today calling upon my opponent, Senator Chuck Schumer, to disgorge the $10,000 in EpiPen dirty money that he received from Mylan CEO Heather Bresch and Mylan’s PAC.
“I am calling upon him to take those donations out of his $27 million campaign coffer and donate them to a worthy institution that treats children with life-threatening allergies who can’t afford EpiPens or with pediatric cancers like leukemia and Hodgkin’s who are suffering because of generic drug shortages that he causes.
“May I suggest that a worthy recipient of that $10,000 would be St. Jude’s Hospital for children, or Kravis Children’s Hospital right here at Mount Sinai Medical Center. There’s even a convenient online button that he can click to make his donation.
“And I’m not sure if there are enough zeros on the online button to do it, but why not give sick children the whole $27 million sitting in your campaign warchest? Renounce your sorry past as the King of Pay for Play in Washington.
“Give it ALL up, and I’ll give them every campaign penny that I have too. We can both pledge to take ZERO in campaign money going forward. You’ll still be at a huge advantage, and the money is much better spent.
“St. Jude’s children’s hospital in Memphis treats, among others, kids with pediatric cancers like leukemia and Hodgkin’s. St. Jude’s and many other healthcare providers have to ration generic chemo drugs because the group purchasing organizations (GPOs) — that Schumer protects in exchange for campaign cash — have destroyed this market with their ‘pay-to-play’ system.
“While Chuck Grassley, Richard Blumenthal, and others in Congress try to shed light on drug shortages and pricing, Chuck Schumer is always the one who manages to stop it, because of all the dirty campaign money he gets from drug companies and GPOs. Chuck Schumer is dangerous to the health and safety of all Americans because of his role in causing the artificial shortages and skyrocketing prices of generic drugs. He has no business remaining in the U.S. Senate. Four decades of causing these problems is enough.”
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Additional background:
ABC News clip, which resulted from an article in the New England Journal of Medicine: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/cancer-drug-shortage-harm-kids-studyfinds/story?id=18069448
New Haven Register article of 3/28/16, in which Sen. Richard Blumenthal said he was putting the GPO/drug shortage issue on the Senate Antitrust Subcommittee agenda: http://www.nhregister.com/health/20160328/blumenthal-seeks-answerson-whether-health-purchasing-groups-are-costing-consumers
Background on drug shortages and pricing: www.physiciansagainstdrugshortages.com