House moderates rebel against Pelosi drug pricing plan, leaving bill's fate uncertain

[riversedge]

15. "Progressive advocacy groups also vowed to ramp up the pressure on the holdouts and draw attention t

what a fricking MESS!



Centrist Democrats scramble House drug pricing effort


https://www.politico.com/news/2021/09/15/centrist-democrats-drug-pricing-511955

The moderates' stand could complicate Democrats’ push to reform a slew of federal health programs as part of their $3.5 trillion bill.
House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) listens during Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi's weekly news conference in the House Visitors Center at the U.S. Capitol on November 6, 2020.

House Energy and Commerce Chair Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) made multiple appeals to the centrists to support the drug pricing language, saying it was essential to negotiating a final package with the Senate. | Al Drago/Getty Images

By ALICE MIRANDA OLLSTEIN and SARAH FERRIS

09/15/2021 04:27 PM EDT

Updated: 09/15/2021 06:04 PM EDT
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Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her leadership team had spent days working to convince the holdouts, according to people familiar with the push. And Energy and Commerce Chair Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) made multiple public appeals to the centrists to support the drug pricing language during the markup, saying it was essential to negotiating a final agreement with the Senate.
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Progressive advocacy groups also vowed to ramp up the pressure on the holdouts and draw attention to the sizeable donations they've received from drug companies.

“It is disgusting when politicians who supported Medicare negotiation in the past switch their votes in exchange for pharma cash," the group Social Security Works said in a statement Wednesday. “Any politician standing in the way of lower drug prices is on a short path to losing their job,”

Now, Democrats are now looking for alternative ways to salvage the policy, including through the Ways and Means Committee, which shares jurisdiction over health policy and backed the plan on Wednesday. The language could also be inserted by the Rules Committee before floor debate on the social spending package.

The moderates have argued the drug pricing plan — which would allow Medicare to bargain down the prices of hundreds of medicines — would hurt innovation in the pharmaceutical industry and has little chance of passing the Senate. Instead, they pushed a narrower plan that would have limited the number of drugs subject to negotiations.
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