Mass. lawmakers get bad grades on industry report card. But who's failing whom?

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So here's a not-entirely rhetorical question to ponder: When is an 'F' on a report card not really an 'F?'
Because we can all pretty much agree on one thing: If you get an F on a history test, that's an objective measure of a uniformly terrible performance.
But what if it's a report card issued by an industry group with whom you have an ideological disagreement? Well, in that case, the grade is largely in the eye of the beholder.
Take, for instance, the C-minus and F that Democratic U.S. Sens. Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren respectively received from the Council for Innovation Promotion, a Washington, D.C.-based industry group on its second Congressional Innovation Scorecard.
First up, a bit of context: These report cards are pretty common in Congressional and state legislative circles. You've probably seen them from such groups as the National Rifle Association and the Sierra Club.
For the organizations that issue them, they're a useful way to earn press and single out lawmakers who oppose their agendas and praise the ones who are onside.
For the lawmakers, win, lose or draw, they're something to tout during campaign season.
And now a bit of background: The Council for Innovation Promotion is peopled by former Obama and Trump White House officials and retired federal judges tapped by Republican and Democratic administrations alike.
It bills itself as 'dedicated to promoting strong and effective intellectual property rights that drive innovation, boost economic competitiveness and improve lives everywhere.'
The group went deep to come up with its findings, measuring every vote, every bill and every public statement, David Kappos, its board chairman, told MassLive in a recent interview. And no lawmaker, Republican or Democrat, was spared scrutiny.
A look at the group's Senate scorecard finds a pretty even bipartisan spread among its grades, though some Democrats did receive worse grades than they did on an earlier report card from the group.
Markey, for instance, dropped from his previous B to his current C-minus. Warren remained a basement-dweller, nabbing the F on both iterations of the group's report card.
During his conversation with MassLive, Kappos stressed the importance of strong intellectual property law as an economic driver, particularly for Massachusetts, where companies that foster innovation play an outsized role.
'Massachusetts is the poster child for why this group exists,' he said.
Kappos dwelt a bit on pharmaceuticals and drug prices. While he acknowledged that 'everyone agrees' lower drug prices are a good idea, some lawmakers have conflated '[intellectual property] with drug pricing issues,' which leads them 'to take positions that are very destructive.'
One example: Protecting the intellectual property rights for brand-name prescription medications, which are far more expensive than their generic equivalents.
'Our system works to move branded drugs into generics in a reasonable amount of time so that people can make these drugs in the first place,' Kappos said. 'Because the drug that never exists never goes generic.'
And that's where Warren and Markey come back into the picture.
Markey got dinged for backing a bill, sponsored by U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., that would have given the U.S. Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission more power to enforce antitrust law — among other actions.
Warren, meanwhile, was zinged for sponsoring a bill that would have created a new Office of Drug Manufacturing within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
That agency would have been 'tasked with manufacturing select generic drugs and offering them to consumers at a fair price that guarantees affordable patient access,' according to a statement.
So you can see how those measures might have run afoul of a trade group dedicated to vigorous protections for intellectual property rights.
Not that Warren is sweating it that much.
'Drug company lobbyists gave me an F – big surprise! I'm proud of my work to lower prescription drug prices, and I'll keep fighting to bring down costs for families,' she said through a spokesperson.
Markey, who sits on the Senate's Health Committee, also has been a vocal advocate for lower drug prices. In 2024, for instance, he joined with other lawmakers to press for answers on the high prices for asthma inhalers.
'Instead of Big Pharma taking seriously their responsibility to ensure that people get the medications they need, these companies put profits over people,' he said in a statement at the time.
But not every Bay State lawmaker has been asked to stay after class for remedial work.
Kappos pointed specifically to U.S. Rep. Jake Auchincloss, D-4th District, as someone in tune with his group's agenda.
The Newton lawmaker moved from a previous C to a B-plus on the latest report card. He was one of several lawmakers to get a bump because of their legislation and public statements.
'There are bright lights in the Boston area,' Kappos said. 'The members who are struggling should sit down with him.'
There was no word on whether that would involve a blackboard and writing 'I will support vigorous intellectual property law' over and over again like some duly elected Bart Simpson.
But one can only guess.
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Read the original article on MassLive.