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President Joe Biden is scheduled to speak Monday on the parts of his massive social-spending bill that aim to lower drug prices, as top Democrats are pushing to pass the legislation by Christmas.
The Build Back Better plan is designed to lower prescription drug
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costs by letting Medicare negotiate drug prices, capping how much seniors pay for drugs and also lowering insulin prices. Costs for that widely used drug would be capped at $35 a month.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, has said he wants to pass the roughly $2 trillion bill before the Christmas holiday — though the measure remains the subject of fierce debate even among Democrats. Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona haven’t committed to passing it, and Democratic aides are reportedly saying passage is more likely in January.
See: Schumer presses for pre-Christmas Build Back Better vote as Biden highlights job-creation plans
Meanwhile, it is unclear if the drug-pricing proposals will clear Senate rules. Democrats are using a process known as reconciliation — which is reserved for legislation affecting the federal budget — to move the bill, and the insulin cap, among other measures, may fail to qualify, Bloomberg recently reported.
The Build Back Better plan passed the House on Nov. 19. Besides the drug-pricing changes, the package would create universal preschool, extend more-expansive Affordable Care Act subsidies, fund clean-energy programs and provide tax credits for electric vehicles. It would be paid for by a new corporate minimum tax and raising taxes on high-income Americans.
Biden is scheduled to speak at the White House at 2 p.m. Eastern.
