Rep. David Schweikert (R-Ariz.) has what he describes as a “fixation” on how the disease of diabetes is affecting the United States.Late last month, Schweikert made federal health care spending on diabetes the focus of a speech on the House floor about tackling the national debt.AdvertisementThe following day, at a congressional hearing on the economic effects of diabetes, Schweikert expressed hope that reducing the rates of diabetes and finding better treatments could be priorities that unite Democrats and Republicans.“Maybe there’s a moment here, where this is not Republican or Democrat, right or left,” said Schweikert, who is vice chair of the Joint Economic Committee, the two-chamber panel that convened the hearing. “It’s actually focusing on what’s going on in our society and our moral obligation to find a way to end this misery.”But Schweikert’s lofty rhetoric is at odds with aspects of his record. In the last Congress, Schweikert voted against a bipartisan bill that would have provided relief for diabetes patients struggling to afford insulin, a hormone that allows people to regulate their blood sugar.Insulin, which scientists first isolated and used to treat diabetes in the early 1920s, is generally not patented. But because insulin production is controlled by just three companies, the price tripled in the past two decades, causing 1 in 4 Americans with diabetes to ration their supply.AdvertisementIn March 2022, the House, then under Democratic control, passed the Affordable Insulin Now Act, which would have capped Medicare and private insurance enrollees’ monthly out-of-pocket insulin costs at $35. Twelve Republicans joined all House Democrats to vote in favor of the bill, but Schweikert was not one of them. Rep. David Schweikert (R-Ariz.) represents a Phoenix-area seat that Democrats hope to flip in 2024.J. Scott Applewhite/Associated PressThe House bill, as written, did not become law. But in August 2022, President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) included a scaled-down version of the provision, which capped monthly out-of-pocket insulin costs at $35 for Medicare beneficiaries. Schweikert voted against that as well.Those votes have become fodder for Democratic attacks against Schweikert, who represents a Phoenix-area district where voters narrowly favored Biden over then-President Donald Trump in 2020.House Democrats’ campaign arm, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, has made ousting Schweikert a priority in the 2024 election cycle.Advertisement“David Schweikert spends his days in Congress insincerely lecturing about issues affecting millions of Americans, then votes against legislation that would cap the cost of insulin at $35 per month,” Justin Chermol, a DCCC spokesperson, said in a statement. “For David Schweikert: it’s all talk, no solutions.”Schweikert opposed the insulin cap bill because it does nothing to reduce the underlying cost of insulin, according to Schweikert spokesperson Hunter Lovell. Instead …
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