These Republicans campaigned on a bold drug-pricing pledge. Since they won, they’ve gone silent

WASHINGTON — Just a handful of Republicans have ever endorsed the progressive idea to let Medicare negotiate drug prices.

But now, less than five months since they were sworn in, two GOP lawmakers who defied party orthodoxy by campaigning on that plank already appear to have abandoned it.

Both Reps. Dan Crenshaw of Texas and Pete Stauber of Minnesota have retreated from their campaign pledges on the issue — a sign, experts said, of both the political appeal of pledging to lower drug prices and the trepidation that comes with crossing the party line on a divisive issue. The political liability that comes with quickly abandoning a campaign-trail promise, too,