AARP Calls on Manchin to 'Keep Fighting for Lower Drug Prices'

The AARP will launch a new series of print, radio, and television advertisements in West Virginia calling on Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin to support a bill addressing climate change and prescription drug prices.

The ads, which will begin airing on Wednesday until July 5, come amid news that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., is attempting to privately negotiate a way for Manchin to support the reconciliation bill.

“Everybody knows Joe Manchin cares about West Virginians. And he knows too many of us are struggling to pay for our medicine. That’s why he supports letting Medicare negotiate lower drug prices,” a narrator says in the ad. “Joe Manchin, keep fighting to lower drug prices.”

The Build Back Better bill at one point included a provision on drug price negotiation, but this was later dropped from the blueprint for the Senate version of the legislation, which Manchin opposed.

Nancy LeaMond, the chief advocacy officer for AARP, told NBC News: “We know we have the votes to pass Medicare negotiation through reconciliation, and we are committed to pushing back whenever PhRMA and their allies try to mislead the public and block Congress from lowering prescription drug prices.”

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