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President Nancy Pelosi and her leadership team have spent days working to win over holdouts, according to people familiar with the push. And Energy and Commerce President Frank Pallone (DN.J.) has made multiple public appeals to centrists to support drug pricing language during markup, saying negotiating is essential. a final agreement with the Senate.
Pallone also noted that the three holdouts joined the rest of the party in supporting the same drug pricing provision in the first vote in 2019. Peters previously told POLITICO he did so because he knew that the plan would die in the Senate and just wanted to move the debate on the issue forward.
The moderates ‘stance could complicate Democrats’ efforts to reform a slew of federal health programs on their $ 3.5 trillion bill, as the drug pricing article reportedly generated as much as $ 700 billion savings over a decade to be spent on other health policy priorities. .
The vote came on the same day Pelosi and his leadership team asked committee heads to complete and submit elements of the national spending bill.
Pelosi spokesman Henry Connelly stressed that a drug cost-cutting provision “will remain a cornerstone of the Build Back Better Act as work continues between the House, Senate and White House on the project. of final law “.
Progressive advocacy groups have also vowed to step up pressure on holdouts and draw attention to the large donations they have received from drug companies.
“It’s disgusting when politicians who have supported Medicare negotiations in the past trade their votes for pharmaceutical money,” Social Security Works said in a statement Wednesday. “Any politician standing in the way of falling drug prices is on a short path to losing their job,”
Now Democrats are now looking for other ways to save politics, including through the Ways and Means Committee, which shares jurisdiction over health policy and backed the plan on Wednesday. The wording could also be inserted by the Rules Committee before the debate in the room on the social expenditure package.
The moderates argued that the drug pricing plan – which would allow Medicare to downgrade the prices of hundreds of drugs – would hamper innovation in the pharmaceutical industry and is unlikely to be adopted by the government. Senate. Instead, they pushed for a narrower plan that would have limited the number of drugs being negotiated.
Schrader confirmed to reporters on Wednesday morning that it was still a no, saying the committee leadership had not “worked” on him as much as the other holdouts. During the markup, he argued that the proposal “kills jobs and innovation” and has no chance of passing the equally divided Senate.
Peters spoke out against the executive-backed plan to impose “government-dictated prices” on drugs, warning that it would “ruin” investment in new drug development.
Republicans have also jumped at internal divisions within Democrats, repeatedly citing them during the committee debate and saying “President Pelosi’s radical prescription drug price control program has just failed” after the vote.
But the centrist’s alternative plan fails with the progressives, who see the leadership-backed plan as vital both to delivering on the party’s promise to cut health care costs and to pay for priorities such as expanding health care. Medicare and Medicaid and the permanent increase in Obamacare grants.
“There are a lot of people who have ideas on how best to spend the money, but this debate is premature until we know what is going on with the price of drugs and what we are working with,” the Representative Peter Welch (D-Vt.), one of the main supporters of the reform effort, told POLITICO. “There is no doubt that as we move forward on the elements of this package, the differences that exist within the caucus will need to be resolved, and I hope we all remember that our only path to the end. success is unity. ”
The top House Democrats have stressed that the fight is not over.
The Ways and Means Committee approved identical wording on drug prices later Wednesday afternoon in a vote largely on the 24-19 party line. Only Rep. Stephanie Murphy (D-Fla.) Joined Republicans to vote against the measure.
Throughout the week, the Democrats’ Ways and Means panel rejected several Republican amendments to the policy, including one that would require the HHS secretary to put its implementation on hold until he can certify that the policy would result in no employment in the manufacture of drugs. China.
Yet even if it clears this obstacle in committee, politics faces an uncertain future in the House and Senate.
In total, five House Democrats are behind Peters’ alternative proposal, with Murphy and Rep. Lou Correa (D-Calif.) Joining the three energy and commerce dodgers.
“On the one hand we have a united opposition from the Republicans, and on the other we have overwhelming support from the Democrats but it is not unanimous. This is the reality we find ourselves in,” Welch said. increases our challenges. ”
Politics are also running into hurdles in the upper house, where a handful of Senate Democrats have voiced criticism of the reach of Pelosi’s drug plan. And the pharmaceutical industry, which has been lobbying and advertising against the effort for weeks, is stepping up its efforts – launching a seven-figure blitz of print and TV ads on Wednesday claiming the bill would threaten their ability to fight against them. future pandemics. The large pharmaceutical industry trade group, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers Association, said the vote “should be a strong signal to House leaders that there is broad support to reduce costs for patients without sacrificing the ‘access to new remedies and treatments’.
Even supporters of the Medicare price negotiation effort in the upper house recognize the difficulties.
“I know the power of pharmaceutical companies. I see it every day in the halls of Congress, ”Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) Told activists on Tuesday during a call. “You can’t turn around without finding another pharmaceutical lobbyist here. “
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