Trump to Thune and Johnson: Tariffs and drug pricing policy would save ‘hundreds of millions’ of dollars
President Donald Trump said Monday he “just called” Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune to inform them about the cost savings they could recoup for their party-line megabill — thanks to the president's sprawling tariff regime and his “most favored nation” drug pricing executive order.
“You’re gonna have to, No. 1, score hundreds of millions of dollars of tariff money coming in,” Trump said, seemingly referring to a cost analysis by the Congressional Budget Office. “But even bigger than that, you’re gonna have to score that your costs for Medicaid and Medicare and just basically pharmaceuticals and drugs are coming down at a level nobody has ever seen before.”
Neither provision is included in draft legislation related to the package of tax cuts and extensions, border security investments, energy policy and more, and each would be unlikely to get the near-unanimous GOP support needed for passage.
Trump delivered this remarks from the White House during the rollout of his “most favored nation” executive order, which he says will help slash drug costs by tying the price the United States pays for drugs to the lower prices paid by other nations.
The president later made similar points in a Truth Social post: "[W]ith the tremendous Drug and Pharmaceutical Cuts, plus massive incoming Tariff Money, our “GREAT, BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL” just got much BIGGER and BETTER."
He added he would "work together on any and all outstanding issues, but there shouldn’t be many — The Bill is GREAT. We have no alternative, WE MUST WIN!"
Congressional Republicans are divided over their party’s proposals for significant changes to Medicaid — including likely cuts to the safety net program — to help pay for their megabill, which is paramount for enacting Trump’s domestic agenda.
In his comments Monday, Trump appeared to try to assuage those concerns, echoing a frequent talking point that his tariffs — and now drug pricing policies — would soon bring in enough money to allow the government to make massive spending cuts.
“It makes that whole situation different from a scoring standpoint,” Trump said of the drug pricing announcement.