FLASHBACK: Kamala Harris Threatened to Seize Private Pharmaceutical Companies Over Drug Price Disputes

Kamala Harris has once again demonstrated her willingness to expand government control over the healthcare industry at any cost. During a 2019 campaign stop, then-Senator Harris made a startling declaration that shocked many: if pharmaceutical companies refused to lower drug prices, she would “snatch their patent” and have the government take over.

This statement is not only a challenge to the principles of free enterprise but also a stark reminder of how far Harris is prepared to go in her pursuit of power. When an audience member questioned whether such a move was even possible, Harris confidently asserted, “Yes, we can do that!” She then posed a challenge to the crowd, saying, “The question is: ‘Do you have the will to do it’? I have the will to do it.”

???? WOW! Kamala Harris is literally threatening to unilaterally CONFISCATE citizens’ and businesses’ private property

“I will snatch their patent, so that we [the government] will take over. Yes we can do that!”

THIS IS WHAT LITERAL DICTATORS DO.

Comrade Kamala wants to turn… pic.twitter.com/fWOmXn4Teg

— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) August 17, 2024

At the time, The Washington Times reported:

“Ms. Harris has cosponsored legislation to butcher our patent and healthcare systems.” Many of these bills impose government price controls, leveraging the government’s monopsony power to dictate drug prices. The bills S. 3166, S. 1801, S. 1261, S. 1129, S. 981, S. 470, S. 377, S. 102, and S. 62 — all cosponsored by Harris — share this characteristic of government-controlled health systems, where the government holds an unfair advantage in “negotiations” with vendors.

Some Harris-backed legislation demands compulsory patent licensing or reduces the period of patent exclusivity — undermining the very concept of an exclusive right. Bills like S. 4439, S. 1801, S. 377, S. 366, and S. 102 include these provisions.

Measures such as S. 1801 and S. 97 raise risks for patients through importation schemes, while others, including S. 3163, S. 1801, S. 637, and S. 102, threaten to expropriate the earnings of drug innovators—funds that are crucial for R&D and the development of new, better treatments.

Harris also supports the “public option” and Medicare “buy-in” legislation, such as S. 1261, S. 981, and S. 470. She is an original cosponsor of the ultimate one-size-fits-all, government-controlled healthcare proposal — Bernie Sanders’ Medicare for All Act, S. 1129.

Kamala Harris’s rhetoric is a dangerous flirtation with authoritarianism, where the state can seize whatever it wants in the name of the greater good. This vision of America should deeply concern anyone who values freedom and the rule of law. It’s reminiscent of the actions of the communist tyrant Hugo Chavez in Venezuela, who took control of the country’s oil companies.

If Harris were to become president, it’s clear that private property rights and other fundamental freedoms would be at risk.