With her drug price proposal, Nancy Pelosi is aiming for a sweet spot between moderate pragmatists and her party’s fiery progressive wing
Nancy Pelosi is calling President Donald Trump’s bluff with her draft plan to bring down drug prices.
“There’s no reason in the world why everyday Americans pay more for lifesaving prescription drugs than any other country in the world,” New York Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, who chairs the House Democratic caucus, said Tuesday, echoing some of the president’s most reliable applause lines. “Big pharma and its anti-competitive practices are totally out of control. We need to put an end to it.”
“The only way she can get any of the bolder reforms through Congress is if the president pushes Senator McConnell to move it through the Senate," wrote former Clinton and Obama aide Sarah Bianchi, now a head of policy research at investment bank Evercore ISI, in a note to clients. "If he doesn’t, then she can question not only the sincerity of Republicans but the president as well on this issue.
The draft that began circulating this week represents a strong appeal to the party’s progressive wing. It's far tougher on drug interests than had been expected, discarding a proposal reviled by liberals to use a third-party arbiter, instead of the government, to decide the cost of drugs. It also would apply the negotiated drug prices to the private insurance market. Progressives and consumer groups privately cheered the draft, despite officials' warnings that details could still change.
From there, Democrats have emphasized the need to pass the bill before the year’s end — regardless whether Trump supports it.
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