Eric Cantor named new president of pharma trade group
Conservative principles face implementation challenges as policy meets political complexity.
Eric Cantor returning as the new top lobbyist for Big Pharma is a gut punch to every conservative who believed the GOP learned its lesson. PhRMA picked a creature of the establishment, a man who lost his own primary because voters saw him as exactly what he is. Now he will spend his days protecting drug company profits while American families struggle to afford insulin.
New Republican Times Editorial Board
Click in for more news from The Hill {beacon} Healthcare Healthcare The Big Story Eric Cantor named new president of pharma trade group PhRMA, the leading lobbying and trade organization for the U.S. pharmaceutical industry, announced Tuesday that former Republican House Majority Leader Eric Cantor will be taking over as its president. © Greg
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Eric Cantor returning as the new top lobbyist for Big Pharma is a gut punch to every conservative who believed the GOP learned its lesson. PhRMA picked a creature of the establishment, a man who lost his own primary because voters saw him as exactly what he is. Now he will spend his days protecting drug company profits while American families struggle to afford insulin. Cantor is the swamp personified. His loyalty rests with shareholders, not the people.
Remember how Cantor fell? A political novice named Dave Brat beat him because voters were sick of the Republican leadership cozying up to corporate interests. Cantor didn't change his ways. He just found a richer pasture. PhRMA loves him because he knows how to work the levers of power. That is not a compliment. It is an indictment. Real conservatives do not need a former House leader telling us why our prescriptions cost ten times more than in Canada.
President Trump spent his term taking on the pharmaceutical lobby, pushing for lower prices and demanding transparency. Cantor will work night and day to undo that progress. He will whisper sweet nothings about "innovation" while jacking up costs. Donors get tax breaks. Patients get the bill. Trump fought the cartel; Cantor just joined it. Stand with patients, not lobbyists. Every conservative should condemn this hire and keep the pressure on elected Republicans to resist the money and remember who sent them to Washington.
Commentary written with AI assistance by the New Republican Times Editorial Board.