Sinema tells White House she's opposed to current prescription drug plan

[Polybius]

Source: Politico

The White House has a new headache as it struggles to get its multitrillion-dollar party-line spending bill passed: Sen. Kyrsten Sinema's objections to drug pricing reforms that are already struggling to make it through the House.

The Arizona Democrat is opposed to the current prescription drug pricing proposals in both the House and Senate bills, two sources familiar with her thinking said. They added that, at this point, she also doesn’t support a pared-back alternative being pitched by House Democratic centrists that would limit the drugs subject to Medicare negotiation.

Sinema met with President Joe Biden on Sept. 15 to discuss the social spending package, in which party leaders hope to include the Medicare prescription drug pricing proposal. Sinema has made her resistance to the current House prescription drug negotiation proposal clear to the White House, according to one of the sources, but it’s unclear if she’s completely immovable.

Both she and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), who met with the president the same day, delivered what one source described as a sobering message for the White House about the fate of the reconciliation bill and its $3.5 trillion price tag, which they both say is too high. The social spending plan is designed to pass without GOP votes through budget reconciliation, meaning that Biden will need to win all 50 Senate Democratic votes to secure its passage.

Read more: https://www.politico.com/news/2021/09/19/kyrsten-sinema-biden-drug-pricing-prescription-plan-512907

[PdamnedQ]

1. I'm sure she has "all sorts" of good reasons for acting like she does

However, who is pulling on her chain?

[PoliticAverse]

2. From May 2020 - "A Senator From Arizona Emerges As A Pharma Favorite"

A Senator From Arizona Emerges As A Pharma Favorite
https://khn.org/news/a-senator-from-arizona-emerges-as-a-pharma-favorite/

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema formed a congressional caucus to raise “awareness of the benefits of personalized medicine” in February. Soon after that, employees of pharmaceutical companies donated $35,000 to her campaign committee.

Amgen gave $5,000. So did Genentech and Merck. Sanofi, Pfizer and Eli Lilly all gave $2,500. Each of those companies has invested heavily in personalized medicine, which promises individually tailored drugs that can cost a patient hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Sinema is a first-term Democrat from Arizona but has nonetheless emerged as a pharma favorite in Congress as the industry steers through a new political and economic landscape formed by the coronavirus.

She is a leading recipient of pharma campaign cash even though she’s not up for reelection until 2024 and lacks major committee or subcommittee leadership posts. For the 2019-20 election cycle through March, political action committees run by employees of drug companies and their trade groups gave her $98,500 in campaign funds, Kaiser Health News’ Pharma Cash to Congress database shows

[PdamnedQ]

3. Oh my God, no!

You mean she might be Maxwell Sieben Baucus's reincarnation in the U.S. Senate and that she loves, loves, loves, big pharma folk?

Crashing medicare for all is this politician's "Big Pay Day!"

Say it ain't so.

[PatSeg]

6. Yes, Max Baucus and Blanche Lincoln come to mind

She isn't terribly subtle, it is all so in-your-face.

[wackadoo wabbit]

4. She's collecting all the cash she can now, because she knows that she won't win her primary in 2024

No one, and I mean NO ONE, that I know is planning to vote for her again.

[Botany]

5. And after she leaves the Senate she will go to some kind of think tank and/or institution that is..

... funded by drug makers, fossil fuel companies, insurance companies, military crap* and so on and get paid a lot
of money for doing very little work. Hell, I could see her working on Fox or News max.

* I might be wrong but I think the right got a trillion or at least a billion dollar war chest from the Iraq war.
For the first 6 months to a year after we invaded Dick Cheney had "them" pump the oil almost non stop and
un-metered too.

[BradAllison]

12. She'll be a lobbyist for crypto-currency I bet

All the neckbeards can sexual harass her while she counts her real money.

[seta1950]

7. It seems to me

Sinema and manchin are against everything that is good for the country and the people 😟

[Evolve Dammit]

8. I like the idea that all members of Congress have corp logos like NASCAR drivers on their suits

It would cut through a lot of crap knowing who owns them all. Or at least has influence. Often it directly connects to voting record. Would possibly remove the pretense and BS.

[rickyhall]

9. Does she advertise her price for opposing anything POTUS suggests? Just wondering.

Maybe she's a repug in disguise.

[Martin68]

10. I don't understand Democrats who won't let the government negotiate for lower drug prices the way

all the health insurance companies do. I know Republicans are insane, but what is the Democrats' excuse?

[BradAllison]

11. Of course she is

She's rich now. She doesn't care.

[LudwigPastorius]

13. Pharmaceutical companies and doctors have contributed over $2 million to Sinema's...

various campaigns over the years.

https://www.opensecrets.org/members-of-congress/kyrsten-sinema/industries?cid=N00033983&cycle=CAREER&type=C

I'm not necessarily saying she's a corrupt hack. I'm just sayin'...