Drug Pricing Measure On The Trimming Block As Dems Try To Salvage Spending Bills
It was another big day on Capitol Hill as lawmakers averted a partial government shutdown — for now. The planned House infrastructure bill was also pushed, as its fate is tied up with fraught negotiations with moderate Democrats over the reconciliation package. The resulting compromises, if reached at all, are likely to hit the health care items hard.
The New York Times:
Biden Signs Short-Term Spending Bill, Averting Government Shutdown
Racing to avoid a government shutdown at midnight, President Biden signed a spending bill on Thursday evening that extends federal funding through early December and provides emergency aid to support both the resettlement of Afghan refugees and disaster recovery efforts across the country. The president’s signature came after lawmakers hastily cleared the measure in both chambers earlier in the day. The Senate’s vote was 65 to 35; the House’s was 254 to 175. (Cochrane, 9/30)
The Wall Street Journal:
Democrats Delay Infrastructure Vote As Talks Fail To Reach Deal
House Democrats dropped plans to vote on a roughly $1 trillion infrastructure bill Thursday night, as they came up short on reaching agreement around a separate social policy and climate package they hope will unite the party’s dueling factions. Key lawmakers said they were making progress toward a framework mapping out the overall level of spending and central planks of the healthcare, education and climate package, but that the discussions required more time. (Duehren, Peterson and Collins, 10/1)
Politico:
Democrats Grit Their Teeth After Manchin Lists Demands
Democrats are desperately trying to make lemonade out of the bag of lemons Joe Manchin handed them Thursday. Senate Democrats spun away Manchin’s utter rejection of their $3.5 trillion spending dreams and embrace of a $1.5 trillion plan as a positive development, saying that it offered them a path forward for negotiation on a potential deal. When that deal will come to fruition, however, is anyone’s guess. (Levine and Everett, 9/30)
Democrats take a second look at their drug-pricing plans —
Politico:
Democrats Dial Back Drug-Pricing Plans To Win Over Moderates
Top congressional Democrats are acknowledging for the first time that they’ll have to scale back their drug pricing plans to win centrist votes for their giant social spending package. Leadership may drop efforts to have the government directly negotiate the prices for medicines in private insurance plans and make fewer drugs subject to negotiations in Medicare, among the changes under consideration. (Ollstein and Wilson, 9/30)
Roll Call:
Democrats Weigh Health Care Provisions In $3.5 Trillion Bill
Democratic leaders struggling to satisfy both progressive and moderate factions’ demands are still trying to resolve divisions over scaling back the expansive health care policy wish list in their $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation package. A smattering of members in both chambers have concerns with key issues ranging from drug pricing to Medicare spending, while Democratic holdouts like Sen. Joe Manchin III of West Virginia and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona oppose the legislation’s overall price tag. (Clason and McIntire, 9/30)
Roll Call:
Nonprofit Linked To PhRMA Behind Ads Opposing Drug Pricing Changes
The nonprofit organization behind a wide-reaching ad campaign against allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices has deep ties to pharmaceutical lobbyists. A cable ad campaign has made a patient group called the Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease ubiquitous on television screens in Washington, D.C., and 13 states including Arizona, Colorado and Georgia. (Kopp, 9/30)
Stat:
Key Senate Panel Weighs Small Biotech Carveout In Drug Pricing Reforms
A key Senate panel is seriously considering a new policy that would soften the blow of drug pricing reform for small biotech companies, according to two sources familiar with the talks. But the concession isn’t likely to win over the biotech industry. The change would be part of a package of broader drug pricing reforms from Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), who promised, vaguely, to protect the smaller companies earlier this year. (Cohrs and Florko, 9/30)
