Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
What's In, What's Out? Democrats Slash Programs To Near Spending Deal
The Washington Post: Pelosi: Democrats Near Deal On Biden’s Build Back Better Plan, Will Vote On Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill This Week
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Democrats are on the verge of an agreement on a social spending bill and also plan to vote on a separate $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill this week. “I think we’re pretty much there now,” Pelosi said on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday, when asked whether President Biden would “have a deal in hand” on his “Build Back Better” agenda before he travels to Europe later this week. “We’re almost there. It’s just the language of it.” (Wang, 10/24)
The New York Times: Biden Meets With Manchin And Schumer To Iron Out Spending Bill
President Biden huddled with key Democrats on Sunday to iron out crucial spending and tax provisions as they raced to wrap up their expansive social safety net legislation before his appearance at a U.N. climate summit next week. Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California said Democrats were close to completing the bill, displaying confidence that the negotiations over issues like paid leave, tax increases and Medicare benefits that have bedeviled the party for months would soon end. (Edmondson and Cochrane, 10/24)
Democrats assess their legislative priorities —
Politico: What's Still In The Dem Megabill? Cheat Sheet On 12 Big Topics
Democrats are making big sacrifices to slash the price tag of their social spending bill from $3.5 trillion to roughly $2 trillion as they close in on a deal that can satisfy both the party's moderate and progressive factions. Promises like free community college are dead altogether. Dreams of paid leave and expanding Medicare to cover dental, vision and hearing are at risk. Originally permanent expansions of Medicaid and the Child Tax Credit will now run for as little as one year. (Scholtes, Levine and Miranda Ollstein, 10/25)
Politico: Dems Weigh Ditching Medicare Expansion And Paid Leave In 11th Hour Of Social Spending Talks
Democrats are haggling over whether to drop two of the most popular elements of their social spending bill as negotiations reach the zero hour, according to a half-dozen sources close to the discussions. While high-level talks on the $1 trillion-plus package are ongoing, lawmakers, staffers, advocates and lobbyists said that a plan to expand Medicare with dental, vision and hearing benefits for tens of millions of seniors — as well as a pitch to guarantee paid family and medical leave to all U.S. workers — is now in danger of getting cut from the bill entirely. (Caygle, Ollstein, Mueller and Levine, 10/23)
Stat: Drug Pricing Talks Heat Up As Democrats Work To Win Over Skeptics
As drug pricing talks in Congress heated up this week, Democrats negotiated in earnest to get skeptics of their drug pricing policies on board. With crunch time approaching for talks on a major legislative package containing the cornerstone of President Biden’s domestic agenda, drug pricing policy remained unresolved as lawmakers scramble to get consensus on a complicated, contentious issue. Rep. Scott Peters (D-Calif.) is involved with the negotiations, said sources following the talks. (Cohrs, 10/22)
Politico: Pelosi Tries To Salvage Housing Aid
Progressives are gaining traction in a bid to preserve housing funding in Democrats’ $2 trillion social spending package, after negotiators earlier floated plans to slash the aid by two-thirds. Democratic lawmakers and White House officials on Friday were considering devoting between $150 billion and $175 billion of the bill to housing, according to three sources familiar with the discussions. While it would be a major cut from the $327 billion that was initially proposed, it’s up from the $100 billion level that was on the table earlier this week. (O'Donnell and Cassella, 10/22)
In other news from Capitol Hill —
Bloomberg: Twitter Suspends Republican Lawmaker For Calling Rachel Levine A Man
Twitter Inc. suspended Representative Jim Banks’ official account for calling Dr. Rachel Levine, the Assistant Health and Human Services Secretary, a man. Banks, a Republican from Indiana and a top conservative in the House of Representatives, violated Twitter’s terms of service, which bars users from harassing people based on their gender identity. He made the comment in a tweet referencing that Levine, a transgender woman, would be sworn in as a four-star admiral in the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps. Levine will be the first woman to reach that rank. (Allison, 10/24)
