debate, hosted by the atlanta press club and georgia public broadcasting. watch live tuesday at 11:00 eastern on c-span. you can also watch on our free bile video app c now or online at c-span.org. ♪ >> listening to programs on c-span through c-span radio just got easier. tell your smart speaker, play c-span radio, and listen to washington journal daily. important congressional hearings and other public affairs offense throughout the day. catch washington today for a fast-paced report on the stories of the day. listen to c-span any time. tell your smart speaker, play c-span radio. c-span, powered by cable. >> there are a lot of places to get political information. but only at c-span do you get it

straight from the source. no matter where you're from or where you stand on the issues, c-span is america's network. unfiltered, unbiased, word for word. if it happens here or here or here or anywhere that matters. america is watching on c-span. powered by cable. >> next, president biden in southern california talking about his administration's goal of lowering costs for american families. >> please welcome president of the united states joe biden accompanied by representative katie porter and susan meyer. ♪

>> i am thrilled to welcome joe biden to orange county. here and across the country, patients have been paying more and more to get medicines they need to live. prices have been skyrocketing and families have been hurting. that is no accident prices are going up because big pharma has been pushing them higher. corporate executives handcuffed americans with higher costs

using their lobbyists to get a giveaway. that said medicare can't negotiate lower drug prices. the result is that all of us as patients and as taxpayers have been getting ripped off, no more. allowing medicare to negotiate. drug prices is good for patients, good for families and good for taxpayers. it is good for us as a country for americans who have long been suffering from skyrocketing drug prices. the inflation reduction act delivers solutions. we faced a fight in the 12 months before we pass this landmark bill. big pharma spent over $57 million on advertising campaigns. the industry has spent more than 100 -- $187 million on lobbying. big pharma fights to prevent medicare from negotiating fair crisis because it wants to line his pockets with our taxpayer dollars. congressional democrats and president biden said enough is enough. we stood up to special interests and we put people first. every single republican in

washington voted against patients, against families, and against taxpayers. republican politicians voted to limit how much americans can save on prescription drugs and to prevent all patients from getting insulin. house republican leader kevin mccarthy has vowed that next term, it's his priority to return big formas unchecked power to charge presidents whatever -- patients whatever it wants. that's a slap in the face to california families who are grappling with high cost. house republicans are more interested in pointing fingers about inflation than they are in delivering solutions. here is the stone cold truth. corporate greed worsens health outcomes, rips off taxpayers, and threatens our capitalist economy. capitalism relies on competition

, price transparency. big pharma has unfairly crowded out competitors. the industry has set ridiculous prices and blocked cheaper options. patients have no choice when they need to take these medications to survive. drug price negotiation restores accountability to this broken market. you can stand with big pharma or you can stand with families. you can stand with drug companies or you can stand with taxpayers. you can stand with corporate special interests or you can stand with capitalism. let me tell you where i stand. i will always put families first, fight for taxpayers, and work to strengthen our capitalist economy. you have my word. [applause]

now, i'm honored to introduce someone who is no stranger to the fight against big pharma, my friend susan meyer. >> good afternoon everyone. my name is susan meyer. i grew up here in orange county. [applause] i currently work part-time for my local school district. so six years ago, i needed to take an early retirement from my job that i loved abba's -- as a labor relations representative to take care of my mom. she was a widow and lost her husband after 53 years of marriage. she lived alone. one day, my mom asked me to review her bank account as she was having a hard time making ends meet. i saw she was spending an extra

ordinary amount of money on her prescription medications. she was like many seniors. she battled with diabetes, high blood pressure, cholesterol, you know what i'm talking about. we talked about ways to save money. it was hard. she was spending more than she was earning through her small pension and social security. then my mom's health began to deteriorate. i found myself driving out to her home more often. to take care of her. i just couldn't understand what was going on all of a sudden with her health. then one day she called me up, my brilliant mother, who comes up with great ideas. she said susan, you don't have to worry about me anymore. i found a way to cut my

prescription costs in half. i found a little gizmo at the cvs, a little plastic gizmo and i can cut my pills in half. now i have money for food and i can pay my bills. oh my gosh. now i suddenly understood why my mother's health was taking a turn for the worse. she was literally taking half of her prescribed medication to save money. that shouldn't happen here in america. seniors shouldn't have to choose between taking their medication and paying for food or housing. it's why i decided to help organize seniors with the california alliance for retired americans. [applause] some of our members are here today. [applause]

our goal is to maintain and improve social security and medicare for all. that's why i'm so honored to introduce someone who is fighting to protect social security and medicare every day. someone who signed the inflation reduction act into law. [applause] which will lower the cost of prescription drugs for seniors and make health care more affordable. [applause] so most importantly, someone who understands the challenges facing working families. [applause] it's my honor to introduce to

you the president of the united states joe biden. [applause] pres. biden: thank you. well, great to be here in orange county and irvine valley college. thank you for that introduction. please sit down. thank you. have a seat. i will thank you so much. look, unfortunately the story susan told isn't unique. you know many families that are going through this. before i begin the discussion today, i look over there and i see free iran.

i want you to know, we stand with the citizens and brave women of iran, for real. for real. [applause] right now, they are securing their fundamental rights. women and men should have the right to freedom of expression and of assembly. women all over the world are being persecuted in various ways. they should be able to wear what they want to wear. no one should be telling them what to wear. iran has to end the violence against its own citizens exercising their fundamental rights. the death, i've been doing foreign policy a long time. it stunned me, what is awakened. something that i don't think will be quieted for a long time. i want to thank you all for speaking out.

i want to thank the person community for being so vocal. it matters. that's one thing you don't have to tell me. you met my wife. i married up. my whole life, i've been surrounded by women who've taken care of me and are smarter than i am. my younger sister is 23 years younger than me. not a single solitary biden man that is younger than any biden women. my wife is teaching today. she's a full-time college professor at community college. look. i'm here today because i want to share the progress we are making to bring down the cost of health care for everybody. thanks to the democrats in congress -- katie has been a

star. you can tell she's not passionate about much. you can tell she's a retiring soul. all kidding aside, knows how to talk to spoke -- to folks. has taken on powerful special interests. we've seen it all. no drug companies want to testify in congress before katie. no one wants to do that. her questions are to the point and revealing. katie is a big reason why i've been able to make such progress dealing with health care. that's what i want to talk to you about today. i know it's been a tough four or five years for the country. we've made a lot of progress. a lot of folks are still struggling. folks that came from families that i came from where you sit around the kitchen table at the end of the month and wonder how we are going to pay for everything. do we have enough?

you are deprived of your dignity. you are deprived of your dignity, especially when it comes to health care and prescription drug costs. that's why katie's leadership and the work of the democrats in congress is so consequential. i'm not just being nice because i'm in your district. it's true. i mean it. you are a fighter. you are decent and honorable.

everyone respects you. everybody respects you. that's a big deal. you get a lot done. you get a lot done. i wrote and signed into law the inflation reduction act. we used to call it, build back better. we got almost all of it. inflation reduction act did a lot of things. a certain amount of money for the climate which did a whole range of things. what it did was it took on special interests in a way that we haven't in a long time. i know i don't look at but i've been around for the watt -- for a while. it's one of the most significant laws in our history when it comes to helping families pay their bills at the end of the month. take prescript and drug cost. we pay more for prescription drugs than any nation in the world, for the same exact drugs. the cost of that drug by the

same company sold in france and the united states is sometimes 25% cheaper. canada or any other place. it is no reason for it. big pharma has been a dominant force. katie laid out the numbers that they expended. for years, they have been trying to fix that problem. why is it that the v.a. can negotiate drug prices with pharma? the only exemption written into law was that medicare cannot negotiate the price of a drug with the drug companies, where they make billions of dollars through medicare. big pharma stood in the way for years. there's been no check on how high or fast pharma can raise drug prices. when i ran for office, iran ran on this platform. it's just not right.

this year, drug companies alone raise the price more than 1200 drugs above the rate of inflation. not a single additional bit of information was injected into that drug. not anymore experimentation. nothing new. same exact drug. same drug. and gets increased. 1200 of them. 1200. the average price increase for those drugs is over 30%. 30%. in 2022, the price for one blood pressure drug increased by over 500%. who in god name do they think they are? they think they are impervious. so much power. you think i'm joking? we've been trying a long time. trying to take them out forever.

they are powerful. people are afraid to take them on. another drug used to treat autoimmune conditions increased just this year by $1000. $1000. that's outrageous. we took on big pharma and we beat them finally. we beat them finally. now big pharma tries to raised drug prices faster than inflation, they will have to write a check to medicare to cover the difference. instead of that money going to the pockets of drug companies, it will go into the pockets in the form of lower drug prices. there's more money to pay for groceries, to buy your grandson a birthday present, whatever it is. inflation reduction act gives medicare the power to negotiate lower prescription drug prices. seniors will see out-of-pocket

costs for drugs capped at $2000. if you are on medicare, you can't be charged more than $2000 a year no matter what drugs you get. i'm serious. it's a gigantic change. my mother had the fortune of having successful brothers and a sister. i was the guy out. anyway. my mom used to sneak out to the drugstore to get her prescriptions because she didn't want us to know she didn't have enough money to pay for it. she wouldn't tell us. i'm not joking. i'm not joking. she didn't want anybody to know she didn't have the money to pay for it. finally i made sure that whatever she had in her wallet, that's with the drugstore charged her. i gave them whatever they

needed. think of all the mothers and fathers out there, like your mom was, all of them. their pride is at stake as well. these are the same people that taught us to stand up, don't complain, never explain. folks, whether it makes -- it's an expensive drug, another drug they need to supply -- survived, we are costing about drugs -- talking about cancer drugs. the inflation reduction act cap the cost of insulin. how many of you know someone that needs that insulin for diabetes? do you know how much it costs for them to make that insulin and package it? $10. $10. total. they are charging up to $1000 depending on where you live for

that drug. i was in virginia about four or five months ago. i was doing a town hall and woman stood up and started to cry. she said, my two kids have diabetes. we have to cut the pills in half. we have to share the insulin. i said, imagine being a parent, not having enough insurance, not being able to afford it. looking at your son and daughter and knowing, if they don't get that insulin, they could literally be scarred or die. what does that do to people? what does it do? folks, the inflation reduction act caps the cost of insulin at $35 a month. [applause] instead of $400 a month. what katie didn't tell you, she got something in the past -- house past. the senate kicked out coverage

for non-medicare patients. there's 200,000 kids out there that have to pay a whole lot for their diabetes and -- insulin. it costs $10 to make. the drug company charges more than 30 times that. i can't imagine being that parent and not having that money. what do you do? just imagine. you are going to keep fighting for lower drug costs and families as well. we keep the house and senate this time. we are going to make sure it applies to everybody in the country. seniors and party medicare will be able to get their recommended vaccines like shingles vaccine for free, no co-pay.

tomorrow, medicaid's open enrollment. when seniors pick plans for next year, they will be able to take advantage of the progress they made. that's not all. for years, costs have gone up. now for the first time in more than a decade, the fees are going to go down. yesterday, we announced that social security benefits are going to be going up an average of $140 a month starting next month. folks look, seniors are going to have their social security checks go up while medicare premiums go down. this is a big deal for seniors. this morning, i issued an executive order directing the department of health and human services to put a plan on my desk finding an additional way to lower prescription drug costs for seniors. there's other ways we can do this. we are not just focused on seniors. earlier this week, the treasury department took action to fix

the problem that was making it harder for families to afford health care coverage. it's a glitch all right. under the old rules, the working mom was told, as long as she could afford employer-based coverage for herself, she couldn't qualify for premium subsidies to afford coverage for her family. well now, one million people will gain coverage and pay lower premiums. last year, a family of four through the affordable care act saved $2400 from the american rescue plan that i signed into law. >> it will lock that in place for lower health care. genomes for families. folks,, and by the way the drug companies will continue to do very well. we are not costing them anything other than they should get cost. let me tell you something. every democrat, has spoke about.

everyone voted for inflation reduction act. not a single solitary republican, and the house and the senate voted for it. every single one motor against it. every single one, not only that non-congressional republicans are telling us of the number one priority is to repeal if they win back the house and senate. repeal the republic -- inflation reduction act. that includes things i'm not talking about. including the environment. let's clear -- be clear about that. republicans have to wait it will mean the power we gave to med to negotiate drug prices and other costs over time goes away. $2000 cap on prescription drugs goes away. the $35 cap on insulin gone. savings from health care premiums for millions of americans are gone.

it is not inflation reduction act they want to get rid of. they are determined to get rid of the affordable care act. people do not realize and is the only people with pre-existing condition get health care. unless you can afford expensive policies. republicans have their way, that is gone as well. here is bottom line, please hear this. when it comes time to do something about inflation, republicans and congress are saying no. if republicans to control prices will go up and inflation. it is this simple. sadly, they are going further. i vast majority of the house republicans signed onto a budget that will cut -- hear me now. cut medicare and social security. cut it. rick scott, the senator from florida, he is the head of the program to elect republican senators.

he proposed a plan to put social security and medicare on the chopping block every five years. we do not vote for it again, it goes away. that means every five years congress will vote to cut, reduce or limit social security and medicare. there is ron johnson. he thinks every four years is -- do have the pamphlets out here there pamphlets? take a look. their words not mine. he thinks every five years is too long to wait. he went social security and medicare on the chopping block every single year. congress does not bode to keep it, it goes away. it goes away. not just social security and medicare. he wants to put veterans benefits and everything in the budget at risk. let me close to this. over the last for years we placed some of the most difficult challenges. where making progress. we have a long way to go. we make progress in helping folks get more breathing room.

despite the opposition from some of the most powerful special interests, we are lowering health care costs and strengthening medicare. you're fighting for folks who need our help. it is one of the reasons why i am optimistic about america's future. we have to remember who we are. this is the united states of america. [applause] not a joke. there has never been ad damn thing we can't do we set her mind to it. namely thunk we try to accomplish, then we did it together we have not been able to do it? there is nothing beyond our capacity. that is the truth. think about it. the american public, over the last five years, has begun to lose hope that it is in our power to do anything. we can. we got to stick together. i do not care if your democrat

or republican or independent. the idea that people in charge, 30, 40, 50, 60 cost to make a drug. it makes no sense when there is no alternative. it is not like you raise the price on a chevy 10 times your son cannot buy afford. i'm not joking. there are no options. folks, i want to thank katie for her incredible work. she is incredible in what she does. [applause] i mean it to katie. i want to say to all of you, god bless you all, and may god protect our troops. thank you. ♪

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