Because this (see bolded paragraph) -
Politics
Big Pharma Wins Again as Democrats Drop Prescription Drug Pricing From Spending Bill
By Abigail Abrams
October 28, 2021 3:41 PM EDT
A broadly popular proposal to reduce the price of prescription drugs looks like it may get left out of the Democrats’ sweeping social spending bill. A framework released by the White House Thursday does not include the proposal at all. Democrats had hoped to give the federal government the power to negotiate with pharmaceutical companies over drug prices—a power used by all other wealthy countries that allows them to enjoy much cheaper medications than the U.S.
The proposal is overwhelmingly popular among Americans of all stripes—Democrats, Independents and Republicans alike —and President Joe Biden and dozens of Democratic lawmakers campaigned in 2020 on a promise to deliver lower drug prices this year. In this context, the Democrats’ failure to include the provision in their wide-ranging social policy framework is indicative of the astonishing power of the pharmaceutical industry.
Big Pharma employs roughly 1,500 lobbyists on Capitol Hill and spent more than $177 million on lobbying and campaign donations in 2021 alone. While the industry has historically given more to Republican candidates, 60% of campaign donations this year went to Democrats. The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA)—the industry’s main trade group—spent $7.44 million on lobbying during the third quarter alone, a nearly 25% increase from the same period last year.
No Republican lawmakers support the proposal to allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices and most Democrats do. But a small cadre of Democratic holdouts appear to be enough to have stopped the proposal in its tracks. Those lawmakers include Senators Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, Bob Menendez of New Jersey, and Tom Carper of Delaware, and Rep. Scott Peters of California, Rep. Kurt Schrader of Oregon and Rep. Kathleen Rice of New York. Most were among the top recipients of money from the pharmaceutical industry.
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https://time.com/6110801/prescription-drug-prices-spending-bill-big-pharma/Unless it's done using the "reconciliation" budget tool (which only requires a simple majority in the Senate - but can only be done once a fiscal year for one, a combo of two or a combo of all three types - and so far the "spending" one was used for the Infrastructure bill and that leaves the "debt" one - which might be applicable but tends to be used to raise the debt ceiling... or the "tax" one) or perhaps it could be slid on as a rider to a supplemental appropriation bill (where supplementals seem to have made a comeback and I expect may be needed soon for Ukraine), then "putting forth a bill once and for all" will result in not making it past cloture.
I.e., not getting the 60 votes needed to move to final consideration in the Senate (which is required to end the auto-filibuster).
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