Pelosi reaches deal with progressives to avert showdown over drug price bill

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) reached a deal with progressive leaders on Tuesday night to avert a showdown over her signature bill to lower drug prices. 

The deal with Reps. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) and Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), the co-chairs of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, will include two changes that progressives have been pushing for over the course of weeks.

{mosads}Those changes are to increase the minimum number of drugs subject to negotiation under the bill from 35 to 50 and to restore the implementation of Jayapal’s amendment, which would extend protections against drug price spikes to people on employer-sponsored health insurance plans, not just those on Medicare. 

The deal prevents a showdown on Thursday when the bill will come to the floor for a vote. Progressive leaders had been contemplating a rare full-scale rebellion against Pelosi, thinking of blocking a vote on the drug pricing bill by trying to vote down a procedural motion. 

“This is a huge win, and it shows what we can do when we stick together and all push hard for the American people,” Jayapal said in a statement. 

The deal comes after Jayapal and Pocan met with Pelosi on Tuesday afternoon, capping off months of meetings between progressives and Pelosi pushing for bolder moves.

Progressives have long been pushing for changes to the bill and frequently complained that the process was closed-off and not allowing them enough input. 

The underlying bill is one of House Democrats’ top priorities as they seek to show they are addressing kitchen table issues at the same time as impeachment. Lowering drug prices was a major Democratic campaign promise in 2018. 

The measure allows the government to negotiate lower drug prices, with the lower prices applied to people with private insurance as well as those on Medicare. 

The Congressional Budget Office found the negotiation provisions would save $456 billion over 10 years.  

The bill is expected to die in the Senate, though, where Republicans have denounced the measure as “socialist” and warned it would hinder the development of new drugs.

It is possible some much smaller drug pricing measures could still become law, but the outlook is uncertain.