I've been going through Kevin Mullin's FEC Schedule A filings (that's the public record of who donates to a federal campaign) for the full 2025-2026 cycle, through Q1 2026. Mullin represents CA-15 — San Mateo County and South San Francisco — and sits on the House Energy & Commerce Committee , which has the broadest jurisdiction of any standing committee in Congress. We're talking healthcare, pharma, drug pricing, energy, telecom, tech, consumer protection, and interstate commerce. All under one committee. All with PACs writing checks to its members.

What I found is a systematic pattern, not a coincidence or two. Every major industry that has regulatory business before Mullin's committee donated to him. In every case, his legislation either benefits those donors, provides them cover with no teeth, or simply doesn't exist. I'll go through each sector with the actual numbers.

All figures are from FEC public records (committee ID C00795005). Links to primary sources at the bottom.

CONFLICT #1: PHARMA & HEALTH — $166,000 from 55+ companies This is the big one.

The donors (top hits):

Donor Amount Gilead Sciences PAC $10,000 Blue Shield of CA PAC $7,500 Thermo Fisher Scientific PAC $7,500 Novartis PAC $7,000 Ultragenyx PAC (orphan drug maker) $6,500 Genentech PAC $6,000 American Optometric Association $6,000 AbbVie PAC $5,000 Alnylam PAC (orphan drug maker) $5,000 BioMarin PAC (orphan drug maker) $5,000 Eli Lilly PAC $5,000 Bristol-Myers Squibb PAC $5,000 Abbott Labs PAC $5,000 PhRMA Better Government Committee $2,000 ...41 more pharma/health PACs various That's $166,000 from the pharmaceutical and health insurance industry to a member of the committee with direct jurisdiction over drug pricing legislation, Medicare negotiation, and FDA regulation.

What did they get for it?

Mullin's own campaign platform says he'll lower drug costs "while also acknowledging the important role the life sciences play in our innovation economy." Read that clause again. That's not a commitment. That's a hedge written specifically to protect $166,000 worth of donors. The qualifier does the work of the check.

In the 119th Congress (2025-present), Mullin has:

❌ Not introduced any drug price negotiation strengthening legislation

❌ Not cosponsored any pharma price cap, patent thicket reform, or biosimilar access bill

❌ Not cosponsored H.R. 950, H.R. 3375, or other drug pricing accountability bills from his Energy & Commerce colleagues

✅ Voted NO on the One Big Beautiful Bill overall (this is his cover — more on that below)

✅ Introduced the HEAR Act expanding Medicare hearing aid coverage (benefits the audiology industry — American Optometric Association PAC gave him $6,000; American Academy of Audiology gave $5,000)

The ORPHAN Cures Act — this is the specific quid pro quo

Buried inside the One Big Beautiful Bill that passed and was signed on July 4, 2025, was a provision called the ORPHAN Cures Act . Harvard Law's Petrie-Flom Center analyzed it and called it "a $5 billion gift t…

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