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For Immediate Release
May, 25 2021, 12:00am EDT
Contact:
Linda Benesch, lbenesch@socialsecurityworks.org
Progressives Target Rep. Jake Auchincloss with Billboard Ad For Blocking Plans to Lower Drug Prices
WASHINGTON
Today, Social Security Works and Organize for Justice, a sister organization of Justice Democrats, launched a billboard campaign calling out Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-MA) for siding with pharmaceutical corporations instead of his constituents.
Auchincloss, who received over $66,000 in campaign contributions from the pharmaceutical industry, recently co-led a letter aimed at blocking Democratic efforts to lower drug prices.
A truck displaying the billboard is parked outside Auchincloss's Attleboro District Office. (Auchincloss has not yet replaced former Rep. Joe Kennedy's name on the sign outside.)
"There's nothing 'moderate' or 'bipartisan' about blocking plans to lower drug prices. In fact, lowering drug prices is incredibly popular with voters across the political spectrum. Auchincloss is a shill for pharmaceutical corporations, and we're making sure his constituents know it," said Alex Lawson, executive director of Social Security Works.
"After all we've been through in this pandemic, it's unconscionable that Rep. Auchincloss would rather do the bidding of Big Pharma corporate donors than lower prescription drug prices for working families," said Alexandra Rojas, executive director of Justice Democrats and board president of Organize for Justice.
Social Security Works' mission is to: Protect and improve the economic security of disadvantaged and at-risk populations; Safeguard the economic security of those dependent, now or in the future, on Social Security; and Maintain Social Security as a vehicle of social justice.
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ProPublica first exposed the committee's findings for Amber Nicole Thurman and Candi Miller in September, sparking a flood of criticism directed at abortion care restrictions and the primarily Republican politicians who impose them. Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris, who was running for the White House, even traveled to Atlanta to pay tribute to the two women.
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In a November 8 letter obtained by ProPublica, Georgia Department of Public Health Commissioner Dr. Kathleen Toomey wrote that an "investigation was unable to uncover which individual(s) disclosed confidential information" despite state law and confidential agreements signed by panel members barring such disclosures.
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As the outlet detailed:
Reproductive rights advocates say Georgia's decision to dismiss and restructure its committee also could have a chilling effect on the committee's work, potentially dissuading its members from delving as deeply as they have into the circumstances of pregnant women's deaths if it could be politically sensitive.
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