Elizabeth Warren grills RFK Jr. aide on drug pricing deals: ‘Show me the receipts!’

Klomp, who appeared before the Senate Finance Committee for his Deputy Health and Human Services Secretary confirmation hearing on Tuesday, has helped negotiate Trump administration’s “most favored nation” drug pricing deals with more than two dozen companies. Warren engaged in a heated exchange with Klomp over the opacity of the MFN deals, demanding clarity on the details besides the new prescription prices. “Show me the receipts!” Warren said during her heated exchange with Klomp. “Why are you hiding these contracts?”The MFN deals, which promise to lower prescription drug prices in the United States to match those in other developed countries, have been central to the Trump administration’s goal of reducing healthcare costs ahead of the 2026 midterm elections in November. But the terms of the deals have not been made public despite the Trump administration asking Congress to codify the agreements into law.Klomp was serving as chief counselor to HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy in April when Democrats on the committee requested more details about the prescription drug pricing arrangements, including how they have benefited the pharmaceutical companies.Kennedy said during his appearance before the Senate Finance Committee he would provide more information to Congress about the deals, “except for proprietary information and trade secrets.”Democrats, including Warren, pressed Klomp as to why the committee has been waiting five months to see the full deals.Warren said she and others in Congress want to see “what was given away in these contracts” to incentivize drug companies to lower their prices, such as tariff exemptions or fast-tracked approvals from the Food and Drug Administration.“I want to see what the deal is, and until then, you can stop telling us it was all great for the American people,” Warren said. “You just refuse to show us the receipts. That’s not how oversight works.”Klomp said multiple times that the fruits of the deals, namely the lower prescription prices, are available on the TrumpRx drug discount website.But Warren, who taught contract and commercial law at Harvard Law School, said only the full contracts would reveal the full scope of the deals.“I taught contract law for 30 years,” Warren said. “I want to see the contracts, and that is what I asked the secretary for. And the secretary said he would deliver those contracts.”TRUMP HHS PICK WANTS TO REPLACE EMPLOYER-SPONSORED HEALTH INSURANCE WITH MARKET ALTERNATIVESSen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), ranking Democrat on the committee, also chided Klomp for the administration’s secrecy over the MFN agreements during his opening statement. “Trump’s plan on drug prices amounts to this: trust me and Big Pharma,” Wyden said. “There’s not a shred of evidence these deals have significantly lowered costs for patients. But there is ample evidence that Big Pharma got sweetheart tariff deals and boosted stock prices.”