Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her leadership team had spent days working to convince the attacks, according to people who knew the push. And Energy and Commerce President Frank Pallone (DN.J.) made several public appeals to centrists to support the language of drug prices during the balance sheet, saying it was essential to negotiate a final agreement with the Senate. .
Pallone also noted that the three attacks joined the rest of the party to support the same provision on the price of drugs when it was put to a vote in 2019. Peters previously told POLITICO that he was doing so because he knew that the plan would die in the Senate and only wanted to advance the debate on the issue.
The positioning of the moderates could complicate the Democrats ’push to reform a large number of federal health programs as part of their $ 3.5 trillion bill, as the price of drugs would have generated up to $ 700 billion. dollars in projected savings over a decade to invest in other health policy priorities. .
The vote took place on the same day that Pelosi and his management team asked committee leaders to complete and present components of the national spending bill.
Pelosi spokesman Henry Connelly stressed that a provision that would reduce drug costs “will continue to be the cornerstone of the Build Back Better Act as long as work continues between the House, Senate and the White House on the draft final law “.
Progressive advocacy groups also pledged to increase pressure on the attacks and draw attention to the significant donations they have received from pharmaceutical companies.
“It’s disgusting when politicians who have supported the Medicare negotiation in the past change their votes in exchange for pharmaceutical cash,” the Social Security Works group said in a statement Wednesday. to lose your job “
Now, Democrats are looking for alternative ways to save politics, even through the Forms and Means Committee, which shares jurisdiction over health policy and backed the plan Wednesday. The language could also be inserted by the Rules Committee before the floor debate on the social spending package.
Moderates have argued that the drug pricing plan – which would allow Medicare to negotiate the prices of hundreds of drugs – would hurt innovation in the pharmaceutical industry and has little chance of being approved by the Senate. Instead, they pushed for a narrower plan that would have limited the number of drugs traded.
Schrader confirmed to reporters Wednesday morning that he was still a no, and said the committee’s management had not been “working” on him as much as the rest of the agents. During the review, he argued that the proposal “kills jobs and innovation” and has no chance of passing the uniformly divided Senate.
Peters criticized the leadership-backed plan to impose “government-imposed prices” on drugs, and warned that it would “ruin” investment in new drug development.
Republicans also jumped into Democrats’ internal divisions, repeatedly citing them during committee debate and declaring them “Speaker Pelosi’s radical price control scheme for prescription drugs has just failed” after the vote.
But the centrists ’alternative plan is not a principle with progressives, who see the leadership-backed plan as vital to fulfilling the party’s promise to reduce health care costs and pay priorities such as expanding Medicare and Medicaid and increasing permanent grant to Obamacare.
“There are a lot of people who have ideas about the best way to spend money, but this debate is premature until we know what’s going on with the price of drugs and how much we’re working on,” said Rep. Peter Welch (D- Vt.), One of the main proponents of the reform effort, told POLITICO. “There is no doubt that as we move forward in the elements of this package, the differences within the group will have to be resolved and I hope we all remember that our only path to success is unity. “.
The top Democrats in the House stressed that the fight is not over.
The forms and media committee approved the same Wednesday afternoon an identical language on the price of drugs in a vote in much of the 24-19 party. Only Rep. Stephanie Murphy (D-Fla.) Joined Republicans to vote against the measure.
Over the course of the week, the Democrats for Roads and Media group defeated several Republican amendments to the policy, including one that would require the HHS secretary to stop implementing it until he could certify that the policy would not lead to any drug manufacturing workplace. China.
Yet, even if it removes that hurdle from the committee, politics faces an uncertain future in the House and Senate.
A total of five House Democrats are behind Peters ’alternative proposal, with Murphy and Rep. Lou Correa (D-California) joining the three trade and energy entities.
“On the one hand, we have the united opposition of Republicans, and on the other, we have the overwhelming support of Democrats, but it’s not unanimous. That’s the reality we’re in,” Welch said. “We are facing a stark majority, it increases our challenges.”
Politics also faces hurdles in the upper house, where a handful of Senate Democrats have voiced criticism of the scope of Pelosi’s Drug Plan. And the pharmaceutical industry, which had been pushing and posting ads against the effort for weeks, is stepping up its efforts: launching a seven-figure blitz of print and television ads on Wednesday arguing that the bill would jeopardize its capacity. to combat future pandemics. The large pharmaceutical industry trade group, the Association of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Researchers, said the vote “should be a strong signal to the House leadership that there is broad support to reduce patient costs without sacrificing access to new care and treatment. “
Even supporters of the Medicare price negotiation effort in the upper house recognize the difficult odds.
“I know the power of pharmaceutical companies. I see it every day in Congress halls, “she told Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) On Tuesday to activists.” You can’t turn a corner without finding another drug pressure group here. “