Dems reach drug price deal; Biden upbeat on Manchin
WASHINGTON >> Democrats reached agreement Tuesday on a plan to lower prescription drug costs for older people, capping out-ofpocket Medicare costs at $2,000 and reducing the price of insulin, salvaging a campaign promise as part of President Joe Biden’s $1.75 trillion domestic policy proposal.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced the deal, which is one of the few remaining provisions that needed to be resolved in Biden’s big package as the party moves closer to wrapping up negotiations. Schumer acknowledged it’s not as sweeping as Democrats had hoped for, but a compromise struck with one key holdout Democrat, Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona.
And Biden sounded upbeat about winning overall backing from another holdout, Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, who threw the president’s plan in flux this week by refusing to endorse it.
“He will vote for this,” Biden said of Manchin during remarks at a global climate summit in Scotland.
Biden said without divulging their private conversations, the senator was looking for the fine print details of the legislation. “But I think we’ll get there,” the president said.
Democrats are rushing to overcome party battles and finish a final draft of Biden’s plan. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said privately she expects to wrap up final draft by midday day and pave the way for voting as soon as Thursday on the overall package, according to her remarks at a closed-door caucus meeting. But no votes have been scheduled.
The stakes are stark as Democrats are warily watching governors’ races Tuesday in two states — Virginia and New Jersey — that are seen as bellwethers in the political mood of the electorate. Democrats are struggling to hold states that recently favored the party from Republicans.
Blame is pointing all around as negotiations over Biden’s ambitious package have dragged on, with Democrats unable to pass the bill. Progressive and centrist lawmakers, particularly Manchin and Sinema, have fought over details of the sprawling 1,600page package.
“I think what most people think: The situation is like, ‘OK, we elected Democrats to have the majority in the House, the Senate and the presidency. They should be getting things done,’ ” Democratic Rep. Elaine Luria, who represents a swing district in Virginia, told reporters at the Capitol.
Still, Democrats shored up at least one unsettled provision — the prescription drug deal that had been scrapped from Biden’s framework in a blow to Democrats’ yearslong effort to reduce pharmaceutical costs by allowing Medicare to negotiate for lower prices.
“It’s not everything we all want. Many of us would have wanted to go much further, but it’s a big step in helping the American people deal with the price of drugs,” Schumer said at the Capitol.
Schumer said for the first time, Medicare will be able to negotiate prescription drug prices in its Part B and Part D program. “There will be an annual cap on out-of-pocket costs, a new monthly cap on the price of insulin, and an ‘inflation’ rebate policy to protect consumers from egregious annual increases in prices,” he said.
Democrats later said insulin prices would fall from as high as $600 a dose to $35. The penalties on drug manufacturers for raising prices beyond the inflation rate will be retroactive to Oct. 1.
Sinema’s office issued a statement saying the senator “welcomes a new agreement on a historic, transformative Medicare drug negotiation plan that will reduce out-of-pocket costs for seniors.”
Despite efforts to drive momentum, Manchin interjected fresh uncertainty Monday by publicly wavering again over whether or not he would support the party’s ambitious effort.
The conservative West Virginia Democrat has been an unreliable partner for Biden’s big vision, raising questions and concerns about the president’s plans expand health care, child care and other social services and tackle climate change.
Manchin’s outlook angered some lawmakers who have tired of his protests but energized others, particularly progressives, to speed up the vote. Manchin also showed no signs of relenting Tuesday, despite widespread criticism over the power of a single senator to hold up the party’s signature domestic priority.