A key part of the federal budget bill being debated in Washington is an anti-jobs overreach that risks setting a precedent where government decides what companies can earn and what they do with those earnings – including creating jobs. We are hopeful that U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, who understands job creation and had a successful business career, will consider the long-lasting problems with this proposal.

This year, drug companies – including innovative companies in Colorado – are the target. Despite creating vaccines and other COVID treatments in literally record time, they are now the whipping boy for health-care ills.

This problem, which should trouble all of us in northeastern Colorado concerned about the future of regional economic growth and quality jobs, is a symptom of today’s often shallow, sound-bite politics that puts ideology ahead of substance and common sense.

The core issue is one that virtually everyone agrees on: health-care costs, including drug costs, are too high. Regrettably, many politicians have decided that the easy solution is to declare that drug companies “make too much money” and want to forcibly siphon those dollars into federal programs, such as Medicare.

Specifically, the Biden “Build Back Better” budget bill would allow the federal government to set prices for drugs, and also set an arbitrary “inflation penalty” that, in essence, requires companies to cut their prices when they exceed the current inflation rate.

Like many soundbites and slogans, this sounds great and seems simple and straightforward. But what is the effect when government targets companies it doesn’t like and begins to set prices and requires that revenue be reduced?

In the case of drug companies, the result is that fewer dollars will be invested in research and development of new medicines and other therapies. Every American has seen the complexity, expense and ingenuity involved with developing COVID-19 vaccines and treatments. This process, although normally one that takes many years, commonly requires billions in investments just to bring one new drug to market.

What many politicians overlook is that most of the new drug development is being done by smaller, more agile, entrepreneurial companies, including a number here in Colorado. They may think they are targeting big-business behemoths but, in fact, they will hurt small, local research companies focused on innovation.

With the government injecting itself in setting drug prices, it is universally agreed that companies will have significantly reduced research-and-development budgets. The Congressional Budget Office estimates a 10% cut in the number of new drugs that will come to market if the government price-setting plan becomes law.

This, in turn, means fewer family-sustaining jobs. Much more significantly, it means fewer new treatments for the patients who desperately need them. This is how the sound bites meet reality in northeastern Colorado, and across the country.

There are two reasons why Bennet should find these concepts a non-starter. He is one of the few Senators who understands first-hand the difficult and expensive challenges of job creation and product development, having built a successful business career turning around struggling companies. And, as a cancer survivor himself, he clearly appreciates the vital importance of getting life-saving treatments to as many patients as possible.

He is a leader interested in the ins and outs of policy, and we are hopeful that he will consider the real-world implications of this problematic expansion of government authority.

Beyond this one industry, if this government intervention is allowed in this arena, what other companies in our area will be in the federal crosshairs when politicians say they “make too much money?” And is that really what we want the federal government doing?

We need our elected leaders to stand up for Colorado workers and employers alike. We need substantive solutions that truly work for all, not quick fixes rooted in soundbites that divide us rather than unite us.

Cathy Shull is the executive director of PRO 15, an organization that advocates for policies that enhance Northern Colorado’s economic vitality and quality of life.