“Pharma poised for big win.” That was the headline in the Washington Post last week as the House passed a government funding bill that included unrelated policy regulating how employers contract with their pharmacy benefit manager (PBM).

The Senate should reject policies in the funding bill, backed by Big Pharma, that mandate private sector contracting terms.

The legislation includes provisions championed by Senators Bernie Sanders and Bill Cassidy that would, among other things, force all employers to adopt the same one-size-fits-all structure for their pharmacy benefits. This needlessly takes away tools that PBMs and employers use to lower costs for patients. As PBMs are the ones who fight for lower prices, this of course stands to benefit big drugmakers who want to keep charging higher prices for medicines.

This giveaway to the pharmaceutical industry didn’t happen by accident either. As the Post reports, drugmakers have been spending enormous sums of money over many years to convince lawmakers that PBMs – the ones on the side of affordability – are actually the problem.

“Congress is poised to finally enact reforms to pharmaceutical intermediaries called pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs, across the finish line after years of trying…The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, better known as PhRMA, represents brand-name drugmakers. In 2025, it spent almost $38 million to lobby the federal government — a record-high amount for the group, according to lobbying disclosures… PhRMA, which represents 34 member companies, is laser-focused on a small portfolio of issues at the federal level, directing much of its firepower at PBMs in recent years.”

There should be no confusion about why Big Pharma is putting its money into targeting PBMs. PBMs are the one real check against big pharmaceutical companies’ otherwise limitless pricing power. If PBMs are weakened by restricting the tools used to lower drug costs, Big Pharma has more power to keep drug costs high.

That’s why we urge the Senate to reject the policies backed by pharmaceutical companies in the funding bill and focus instead on the ways drugmaker are restricting completion to keep prices high. Because a “big win” for drug companies means higher drug costs.