THE BURNED OVER DISTRICT

As the world prepares for dueling Trump Tales with The Big Cheez-Whiz in Hanoi and his former fixer and skeleton keeper Michael Cohen to be in Congress tomorrow, Some Senators are keeping busy doing a dance of campaign funding in a hearing of the Senate Finance Committee on drug pricing.

Seven pharmaceutical executives faced a day of reckoning on Tuesday as they were challenged to justify high drug prices at a hearing of the Senate Finance Committee.

The hearing will be political theater, but could also be a first step toward legislation to provide some relief to consumers, as lawmakers of both parties and President Trump have vowed to slow the relentless rise of drug prices.

Senator Charles E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa and the chairman of the Finance Committee, set the tone for the hearing with a prepared opening statement in which he said that practices of the pharmaceutical industry “thwart the laws and regulations designed to promote competition” and the use of lower-cost generic drugs.

“We’ve all seen the finger-pointing,” Mr. Grassley said. “Every link in the supply chain has gotten skilled at that. But, like most Americans, I’m sick and tired of the blame game. It’s time for solutions.”

Mr. Grassley said he was determined to restore a proper balance between encouraging the development of innovative drugs and keeping prices affordable for consumers and taxpayers.

Several themes ran through the prepared testimony of drug company executives, who were clearly playing defense.

The main problem, they said, is not the high list prices set by drug manufacturers, but the high out-of-pocket costs paid by patients. The drug makers all said they wanted to be part of the solution because they wanted to be sure patients had access to their drugs.

Several drug company executives suggested establishing a monthly or annual limit on a Medicare patient’s out-of-pocket costs for prescription drugs. Costs above any limits would be paid by insurers, such as private health plans or Medicare.

At least two chief executives — Kenneth C. Frazier of Merck and Olivier Brandicourt of Sanofi — said they could support legislation that speeds the development of generic medications by requiring brand-name manufacturers to provide samples to generic drug companies.

Generic drug developers need samples of brand-name drugs to show that a generic copy is equivalent to the original, but they have often had difficulty getting them.

Ronny Gal, a securities analyst who follows the drug industry for Sanford C. Bernstein & Company, said he doubted that drug companies would change their pricing practices because of the hearing.

“This is a $460 billion industry,” Mr. Gal said. “You think three hours of an orchestrated show before Congress will lead to different behavior? I don’t think so.”

Pharmaceutical executives are more than willing to cringe before Congress for 3 hours as long as the end result doesn't break their rice bowls. And the brave senators will stand up to the greedy executives knowing that Mitch won't let them do anything that might disrupt their campaign cash flow. And Granny will have to sell her jewelry to afford the medicine that keeps her alive.