Politics & Government
Big Pharma Bankrolled Pro-Trump Group As Trump Pushed Pharma Tax Cut
In 2017 the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America gave $2.5 million to America First Policies Inc. — a major dark money group supporting President Donald Trump’s political and economic agenda.

The major dark money group supporting President Donald Trump’s political and economic agenda raked in millions of dollars directly from the pharmaceutical industry’s main lobbying group — at the same time Trump backed off his position on a major drug issue and promoted a tax plan that was a windfall for the industry.
The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America gave $2.5 million to America First Policies in 2017, according to IRS documents. America First Policies was formed by former Trump advisers in 2017 and proudly touts itself as a pro-Trump organization. The PhRMA money represented more than 10 percent of America First Policies’ revenues in 2017, according to the group’s own IRS filings.
The IRS documents were obtained by MapLight, a nonpartisan group that tracks the influence of money in politics.
While campaigning for president, Trump pledged to take action to generally reduce drug prices and to allow Medicare to negotiate lower prices for prescription medications. He then appointed a former pharmaceutical executive to run the Department of Health and Human Services, and slammed the Medicare negotiation concept after a meeting with pharmaceutical executives.
“I’ll oppose anything that makes it harder for smaller, younger companies to take the risk of bringing their product to a vibrantly competitive market,” Trump said. “That includes price-fixing by the biggest dog in the market, Medicare.”
While Trump has moved to allow limited negotiation in some parts of Medicare, he has rejected the larger policy he campaigned on, leaving it out of his prescription drug proposal released earlier this year.
Trump also passed a tax cut that benefited the pharmaceutical industry, but that has not corresponded with a drop in prescription drug prices. America First Policies launched an ad campaign to promote those tax cuts, and spent the end of the 2018 campaign promoting them. PhRMA also gave $1.5 million to the American Action Network, which aired an ad campaign in support of the tax-cut legislation.
Copyright Capital & Main

-
Column - California UncoveredMay 5, 2025
How Did Farmers Respond When the Trump Administration Suddenly Stopped Paying Them to Help Feed Needy Californians?
-
Latest NewsApril 28, 2025
A Majority of Californians Support Affordable Health Care for Undocumented Immigrants, Polls Show
-
The SlickApril 30, 2025
Fracking-Powered Crypto Mine in Pennsylvania Shuts Down Without Word to Regulators
-
Latest NewsMay 5, 2025
Kaiser and Mental Health Care Workers Reach Tentative Agreement
-
Latest NewsApril 28, 2025
Trump’s Nominee to Head Customs and Border Protection Could Be Implicated in Alleged Cover-Up
-
Featured VideoMay 2, 2025
Inside the Plan to Use Trans Student-Athletes to Push Voters to the Right
-
Column - State of InequalityMay 15, 2025
Innovative Medi-Cal Expansion Threatened by Budget and Trump Pressures
-
Column - State of InequalityApril 24, 2025
Collateral Damage: How Trump Is Hollowing Out the Black Middle Class