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Join ‘People Over Pharma Profits’ rally Tuesday at noon in Seattle

The following is from Puget Sound Advocates for Retirement Action:

SEATTLE — Organizations, healthcare and consumer advocates, and patients are coming together Tuesday as part of a national day of action to demand that lawmakers take serious action to lower drug prices so that people everywhere can get the affordable medicines they need. All are encouraged to attend a rally/press conference Tuesday, Aug. 20 at noon at the Jackson Federal Building, 915 2nd Ave. in downtown Seattle.

April Sims, Secretary Treasurer of the Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO, will speak at the event as part of the “People Over Pharma Profits National Day of Action.” Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, and Reps. Pramila Jayapal, Adam Smith, and Kim Schrier have been invited to speak as well.

Drug corporations and powerful Big Pharma lobbyists are standing in the way of Americans’ health and economic security by dramatically jacking up drug prices to boost profits, forcing people to make stark choices between medicine and other basic necessities. President Trump promised to lower drug costs but he has pandered to Big Pharma with a trade deal that locks in high drug costs for the next decade in the NAFTA 2.0 (USMCA) proposal.

TAKE A STAND — Tuesday, Aug. 20 is also National “No Vote on NAFTA 2.0 Until It’s Fixed” Call-In Day. Please call 1-855-973-4213 to leave a message for your member of Congress to promise not to support Trump’s revised NAFTA unless and until the administration fixes it. No vote should be held on NAFTA 2.0 until its Big Pharma giveaways are removed, and its labor and environmental standards are improved. Click here for more detailed instructions.

Tuesday’s rally/press conference event is co-sponsored by 350 Seattle, Health Care for All – WA, Health Care is a Human Right, Occupy Bellingham, Physicians for a National Health Program – Western WA, Puget Sound Advocates for Retirement Action, Washington CAN!, Washington Fair Trade Coalition, Washington State Alliance for Retired Americans, and the WSLC.

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