PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley is teaming up with three congressional colleagues to introduce a bill aiming to slash prescription drug prices.

Merkley is joined by Sen. Peter Welch (D-VT), Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Congresswoman Debbie Dingell (D-MI) to introduce the End Price Gouging for Medications Act, the lawmakers announced Wednesday.

According to the lawmakers, the bill would lower prescription drug costs for all Americans and end price gouging by requiring drug companies to offer medications in the United States at the lowest price per drug offered in 12 other similarly developed countries – including Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

“Americans pay the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs, even though we invest the most in cutting-edge research and development. That is unconscionable,” Merkley said in a press release. “In my town halls across every corner of Oregon, I’ve heard time and again from Oregonians about how sky-high prescription drug prices are pushing their budgets to the limit. The End Price Gouging for Medications Act will crack down on Big Pharma’s greed.”

The bill comes after President Trump issued an executive order on Monday, directing Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to set targets for drug companies to lower prescription drug prices in 30 days, as reported by the Associated Press, noting Trump hopes this will lead to negotiations between HHS and drug companies.

If nothing comes from those talks, Kennedy will impose a "most favored nation" policy to cap U.S. prices at the lowest rates paid by similarly wealthy nations, AP reports.

“Basically, what we are doing is equalizing,” Trump said during a press conference on Monday. “We’re all going to pay the same.” 

However, Merkley, Welch, Sanders and Dingell point out that the executive order only applies to Medicare and Medicaid prescription drug prices, whereas their bill would apply to all Americans regardless of their insurance coverage or health care status.

“In this case, (President Trump is) putting out an idea and saying, 'I'm going to do an executive order. So come negotiate with me.' But it's really just kind of a Potemkin village, a false front. It has no teeth in it. And if he wants teeth, he should advocate for legislation to make this happen. He should advocate for my bill, and I hope he will," Sen. Merkley told KOIN 6 News in an interview Wednesday.

In a press release, Merkley said if the president "is serious" about lowering prescription drug prices, he should work with Congress, later telling KOIN 6, "I know President Trump really likes to operate by executive order, but that's what you do in authoritarian kingdoms. It's not what you do in a republic. In a republic, you write a law, you get the legislators to vote for it, and I'll be ready to help President Trump have this most favored nation drug prices vision getting into law -- do everything I can to help on that. That's the right thing to do."

Americans spend more than $1,400 every year on average for prescription drugs, the lawmakers said in a press release citing the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. That marks the highest per capita drug spending in the world, they added.

The efforts to lower drug prices come as prescriptions such as Ozempic costs Americans almost $13,000 annually to treat type 2 diabetes, compared to roughly $850 in Japan, according to the lawmakers, adding Humira, used to treat Crohn’s disease, costs Americans more than $100,000 per year, compared to an estimated $3,320 per year in Austria.