Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Drug Pricing Vote Set To Challenge Moderate Democrats' Opposition
Prescription Drug Watch: For more news on rising drug costs, check out our weekly roundup of news coverage and perspectives of the issue.
Politico: House Leadership Looks To Jam Holdouts On Drug Pricing
Top House Democrats are setting up a showdown vote on drug pricing as early as next week, rolling a leadership-backed plan into the party's sweeping social spending package and daring holdout centrists who previously derailed the plan in committee to vote it down again. Top Democrats think enough of the four — Reps. Scott Peters (D-Calif.), Kurt Schrader (D-Ore.), Rep. Kathleen Rice (D-N.Y.), and Stephanie Murphy (D-Fla.) — will cave and back the proposal to allow Medicare to negotiate prices for a wide swath of high-cost drugs rather than risk upending the entire $3.5 trillion package. (Ollstein, 9/21)
Vox: Build Back Better Act’s Health Care Section Turns On Cutting Drug Costs
Democrats had big dreams for health care reform this year. In the forthcoming budget reconciliation bill, they planned to cover 4 million uninsured people and offer dental and vision benefits to people on Medicare, while also cutting prescription drug costs. But now those grand ambitions are crashing against the hard reality of legislating with incredibly narrow margins in Congress. If only a few members balk at what the Biden White House and Democratic leaders want to do, that could be enough to doom the bill — or at least the major health care proposals. (Scott, 9/22)
Politico: House GOP Unlikely To Rescue Biden's Infrastructure Bill On The Floor
If House Democrats keep pushing their two-track plan for a party-line social spending bill and a bipartisan infrastructure bill, they can't expect many GOP passengers on that second train. Fewer than a dozen House Republicans are expected to vote for the $550 billion infrastructure bill — which got 19 Senate GOP votes last month — according to multiple lawmakers in the party. But the infrastructure measure's House GOP support could triple if Democrats detach its fate from a party-line social spending bill with a multitrillion-dollar price tag, several House Republicans estimated in Monday interviews. (Beavers, 9/21)
Politico: Biden Set To Play Peacemaker For Warring Democratic Factions
The two fractious wings of Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s caucus are tumbling toward intraparty war. President Joe Biden is hoping to head off disaster. Biden will hold a series of meetings with key Democrats Wednesday, including Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer as party leaders try to salvage their two-part domestic agenda — a massive social safety net expansion and bipartisan infrastructure bill — amid a fresh round of hostage-taking from centrist and progressive members. (Caygle and Ferris, 9/22)
On the looming debt ceiling deadline —
Roll Call: House Passes Stopgap Funding, Debt Ceiling Suspension Bill
The House passed a catchall budget package Tuesday that’s intended to avoid a partial government shutdown and debt limit crisis, but it seems likely to come back for a do-over once the Senate works its will. The stopgap funding bill, which passed on a 220-211 party-line vote, would extend federal agency budget authority through Dec. 3 and provide nearly $35 billion in aid to disaster victims and relocation assistance Afghan refugees who helped the U.S. government during two decades of war. (Shutt, 9/21)
The Hill: GOP Warns McConnell Won't Blink On Debt Cliff
Republicans are warning that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) won’t blink as Congress barrels toward dual fiscal debt-shutdown cliffs, with massive economic consequences. Democrats are seeking to suspend the debt ceiling through 2022, tying it to a short-term government funding bill and disaster relief, in a move aimed at squeezing McConnell and GOP senators by bringing the fight to a head just days before the Oct. 1 deadline for preventing a government shutdown. (Carney, 9/22)
The Washington Post: U.S. Default This Fall Would Cost 6 Million Jobs, Wipe Out $15 Trillion In Wealth, Study Says
The United States could plunge into an immediate recession if Congress fails to raise the debt ceiling and the country defaults on its payment obligations this fall, according to one analysis released Tuesday. Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, found that a prolonged impasse over the debt ceiling would cost the U.S. economy up to 6 million jobs, wipe out as much as $15 trillion in household wealth, and send the unemployment rate surging to roughly 9 percent from around 5 percent. (Stein, 9/21)
