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Kearns was one of about a dozen people who spoke at a forum hosted by U.S. Representative Lloyd Doggett, a liberal Democrat from Austin. Doggett probably doesn’t need convincing but the delay in a Senate vote has given opponents an opportunity to mount more resistance to the legislation. Doggett billed the event as a Medicaid town hall.

Re: “Americans pay for research, can’t afford resulting drugs,” Lloyd Doggett, Other Views, June 7:

You laser focus in on the true vulnerable point: these Big Pharma corporations don’t plow their profits into research as their public statements claim. We pay the research bill, and I suspect they are working on ways to divert this research money into more “rewards for managerial effectiveness.” I applaud your stand and your commitment to your constituents. I only wish that I were in your district, rather than next door in District 21, whose representative unfortunately holds the opposite view.

Congressman Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin: “The CBO score confirms that the Republican health repeal bill remains a big loser. The super-rich get more wealth while many get less health. After weeks of secret maneuvering and arm twisting, their big accomplishment is lowering the number of Americans who lose health care coverage from 24 million to 23 million to 22 million. This Republican bill is a giant tax cut for those at the top masquerading as a health care bill. This losing score further evidences the importance of stopping both the Senate rush for repeal this week and the ongoing Trump sabotage of the ACA. “Under their plan, insurance becomes a scheme of fear and fine print — fear that you will not be able to afford your care and fine print to keep you from qualifying for the care you need. The more time the public has to understand this sorry bill, the louder they will protest against it. … Republicans seem intent on making America uninsured again.”

In May, the Ways and Means Committee held one hearing focused on the border tax proposal, and another on increasing U.S. competitiveness. However, Tax Policy Subcommittee ranking minority member Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, said Congress needs more time to discuss potential legislation inspired by the GOP’s “A Better Way” tax reform blueprint. Doggett suggested that Republicans’ true time frame is to pass a tax bill before December, without much public input, just like they did with the American Health Care Act (AHCA, H.R. 1628). He said potential hearings should address “what are the pros and cons of expensing capital investments versus deducting interest,” which are two of the major blueprint proposals.

Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas) criticized the measure as a reward for the nuclear sector, which he said has a “record of miserable failures” when it comes to getting more reactor projects up and running.

“Instead of today’s measure, our focus should be on safe, healthy forms of energy instead of an industry that costs too much and poses too much danger to humans,” he said.

Members of the San Antonio Food Bank and Feeding Texas joined Rep. Lloyd Doggett to urge members of the Texas Congressional Delegation to reject President Donald Trump’s budget proposal . . . “I believe SNAP has been honored as a really successful anti-poverty program, and unlike some government programs, it is an extremely efficient program and it administers the assistance to make sure people have a good, healthy meal to eat in a way that is very cost-effective,” Doggett said.

“Another broken Trump promise seems to be in the making, with Medicare negotiation abandoned in favor of Big Pharma’s wish list,” Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas), who co-chairs the Prescription Drug Task Force, told POLITICO. “In January, two weeks after declaring that drugmakers were ‘getting away with murder,’ Trump was cozying up to pharmaceutical executives at the White House. He should be using executive power now to bring down prices, not to promote more restrictive government-approved monopolies upon which Big Pharma relies.”

U.S. Representative Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas), who has been calling for an independent commission since November, said his Republican colleagues have more members willing to “cover up instead of to open up…and that’s where the role of these petitions becomes so very important.”

He continued: “The Trump administration will try to hide behind the bushes or behind the tweets, but the cover-up will be uncovered by people across this country who demand change. Together we can continue to resist.”