moving forward

Pelosi blesses 'transformational' drug pricing deal endorsed by key holdout Kyrsten Sinema

In a win for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Democrats have reached a deal on lowering presciption drug pricing as part of their $1.75 trillion spending package, The Hill and The Wall Street Journal report.

"For a generation, House Democrats have been fighting to deliver real drug price negotiations that will lower costs," the speaker wrote in a statement on Tuesday. "With today's agreement ... Democrats have a path forward to make good on this transformational agenda for our seniors."

"I am pleased with the compromise reached by House members and [Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz)]," Pelosi added.

When announcing the agreement, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) also made sure to note that support from key holdout Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), who had opposed the House's much broader prescription drug proposal, writes The New York Times. Medicare pricing provisions had been excluded from the $1.75 trillion framework released by the White House last week, but only because President Biden worried they would impact the bill's congressional chances, per the Journal. This new "hard-fought" agreement may not include everything Democrats' wanted, but "it's a big step in helping the American people deal with the price of drugs," Schumer said.

Medicare drug price negotiation was one of the last unresolved issues in the $1.75 trillion bill, notes the Los Angeles Times. Other negotiation points include climate and immigration.

"Fixing prescription drug pricing has consistently been a top issue for Americans year after year, including the vast majority of both Democrats and Republicans who want to see a change because they simply cannot afford their medications," said Schumer on Tuesday. "Today, we've taken a massive step forward in helping alleviate that problem."