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America Next, a Big Pharma dark money group, is spending over a million dollars on a new false attack ad against Senator Hassan for working to make prescription drug costs more affordable for seniors.
“This is just the latest desperate effort by a Big Pharma-backed dark money group to attack Maggie Hassan for pushing to allow Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices for seniors,” said NHDP Chair Ray Buckley. “Maggie Hassan has fearlessly worked to break Big Pharma’s grip on drug prices and to lower costs for Granite Staters — and that is exactly why the drug companies are so scared of her.”
The secretive dark money group running the ads, America Next, has received at least $50,000 from Big Pharma.
Senator Hassan has a long record of standing up to Big Pharma and pushing to allow Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices, which the Congressional Budget Office found would lower prescription drug prices by up to 75 percent. Nearly 81 percent of Americans - and 61 percent of Republicans - support breaking the drug companies’ grip on patients by letting Medicare negotiate lower drug prices.
AMERICA NEXT IS A SECRETIVE DARK MONEY GROUP FUNDED BY BIG PHARMA
The Pharmaceutical Lobby Group PhRMA Disclosed On A Tax Filing That It Gave $50,000 To America Next. “The pharmaceutical drug lobby is among the donors to a secretive nonprofit group that is backing the presidential bid of Louisiana Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal, according to a new tax filing obtained by the Center for Public Integrity. The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, also known as PhRMA, donated $50,000 last year to America Next, a think tank formed by Jindal and his allies in the fall of 2013 and used to support his 2016 presidential bid. Such nonprofit groups that support a single political candidate are becoming increasingly prominent in elections since the 2010 U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission decision — doing everything from helping develop policy to sponsoring advertising blitzes. Unlike candidates’ own campaign committees, political parties or super PACs, they are generally not required to publicly reveal their donors. Tax filings offer a rare glimpse of the money flowing into these groups because the donor groups must disclose the grants they make.” [Time, 11/17/15]
The Pharmaceutical Research And Manufacturers Of America (PhRMA) Disclosed A $50,000 Donation To America Next On Its IRS Form 990. [Internal Revenue Service, Form 990, 2014]
HEADLINE: “Drug Lobby Gave $50,000 to Pro-Jindal Nonprofit” [Time, 11/17/15]
Public Citizen’s Sid Wolfe Argued That PhRMA Gave To America Next Because “They Think They Are Going To Get Their Money’s Worth.” “Sid Wolfe, senior adviser at the consumer group Public Citizen’s health research project, said PhRMA likely made the contribution to the pro-Jindal America Next nonprofit because they ‘think they are going to get their money’s worth.’ ‘You don’t give away money because you don’t think it’s going to have any influence,’ he continued. Neither representatives of PhRMA nor America Next immediately responded to requests for comment.” [Time, 11/17/15]