In 2020, Senator Bernie Sanders was “the one largest receiver of pharmaceutical cash” in Congress.
The determine cited by Kennedy referred to the trade wherein particular person donors have been employed. It didn’t seek advice from funds originating from, or directed by, pharmaceutical firms.
On Jan. 30, 2025, throughout the second day of his Senate affirmation hearings, well being and human providers secretary nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr. implied that Democratic Sen. Bernie Sanders had accepted “thousands and thousands of {dollars} from the pharmaceutical trade,” whose donations have been supposed to guard the trade’s pursuits.
Beneath is a condensed transcript of that alternate, wherein Kennedy and Sanders spoke over each other and repeated themselves:
KENNEDY: Bernie, the issue of corruption isn’t just within the federal companies; it is in Congress too. Nearly all of the members of this panel … together with your self, are accepting thousands and thousands of {dollars} from the pharmaceutical trade and defending their pursuits.
SANDERS: I ran for president such as you. I acquired thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands of contributions. They didn’t come from the executives. Not one nickel of PAC cash from the pharmaceutical [industry]. They got here from employees.
KENNEDY: In 2020, you have been the one largest receiver of pharmaceutical cash.
SANDERS: As a result of I had small contributions from employees from throughout this nation. Staff. Not a nickel from company PACs. … They got here from employees.
This speaking level comes from an evaluation of Federal Election Fee knowledge executed by the nonprofit political donation tracker Open Secrets, however it was a misuse of that evaluation. Sanders pushed again on X (archived) the following day:
Firms themselves cannot donate directly to federal candidates, however they will make donations by company PACs. The homeowners of firms and their staff can also make particular person donations. For donations that exceed $200, campaigns are usually required to ask for details about the trade wherein the contributor works, and they’re required to reveal that data if supplied.
From that official knowledge, Open Secrets and techniques determines the industries wherein a candidate’s donors labored based mostly by itself methodology. Open Secrets and techniques explains that:
It’s unattainable to know both the financial curiosity that made every particular person contribution potential or the motivation for every particular person giver. Nonetheless, the patterns of contributions present important data for voters, researchers and others. That’s the reason Congress and plenty of states have mandated that candidates, political events and political committees request employer data from contributors and publicly report it when the contributor offers it.
In some circumstances, a cluster of contributions from folks related to the identical group might point out a concerted effort by that group to “bundle” contributions to the candidate. In different circumstances, the explanation for the contributions could also be utterly unrelated to the group.
Within the 2019-20 Congressional funding cycle, Sanders obtained more cash from folks employed within the discipline categorized by Open Secrets and techniques as “prescription drugs/well being merchandise” ($1.4 million) than another member of Congress. He additionally obtained roughly $400,000 from folks employed in “pharmaceutical manufacturing.”
This doesn’t imply he obtained almost $2 million from “the pharmaceutical trade,” — it means the cash was from folks employed, in any capability, in that discipline.
For his presidential marketing campaign in 2020, Sanders pledged “to not knowingly settle for any contributions over $200 from the PACs, lobbyists, or executives of medical health insurance or pharmaceutical firms,” whereas noting that “The pledge doesn’t apply to rank-and-file employees employed by pharmaceutical giants and medical health insurance firms.”
In accordance with Open Secrets and techniques, 70% of the cash raised by Sanders from 2015 to 2020 originated from small particular person donors contributing lower than $200. A number of analyses of his 2020 donations have suggested that the folks giving to that marketing campaign weren’t executives.
The one approach an organization may instantly give to Sanders could be by a political motion committee, or PAC. Open Secrets and techniques data exhibits he obtained no company PAC cash.
The donations tallied by Open Secrets and techniques and cited by Kennedy nearly completely come from rank-and-file employees. To characterize this grouping of information as an trade donation is deceptive, in line with Open Secrets and techniques itself, because it defined in a Jan. 31, 2025 post (archived) on X:
There’s quite a lot of chatter about donations to Bernie Sanders’ 2020 presidential marketing campaign from the pharmaceutical trade. To be clear, our knowledge on trade giving rolls up contributions from people who work in that trade and PACs. Company can not donate to campaigns.
Within the 2020 Congressional fundraising cycle, Bernie Sanders was additionally the highest recipient of donors employed in 66 other industry classifications starting from accounting to waste administration to marijuana.
As a result of the totals referenced by Kennedy don’t seek advice from direct contributions from company PACs related to the pharmaceutical trade or to giant donations made by these firms’ executives or homeowners, the declare that Sanders obtained “thousands and thousands from the pharmaceutical trade” in 2020 is fake.
