Even though Senate Democrats and Republicans made strides on a bipartisan infrastructure package last week, there’s no rest for the weary. Debate over the bipartisan infrastructure package and Democrats’ $3.5 trillion domestic policy bill isn’t going anywhere.
While the Senate voted 67-32 last week to take up the negotiated infrastructure package, some of the details in the legislation could face increased scrutiny, including methods to pay for it. The current agreement calls for the repurposing of more than $250 billion in previous pandemic aid, though unspent COVID-19 relief funding for providers was left untouched. Another $50 billion would come from the delay of a Trump-era Medicare rebate rule targeting pharmacy benefit managers.
Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said all 50 Democrats plan to vote in favor of advancing their $3.5 trillion social spending proposal, though Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) said she will vote to advance the bill but does not support its price tag. While it’s uncertain where cuts would come, the bill contains big changes for health care, including the proposed expansion of Medicare to cover hearing, dental and vision as well as expanded paid leave and child care.
The ball on a federal public health insurance option is also back in lawmakers’ court after the deadline for health care groups to submit their input on potential legislation came and went this weekend. Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) had asked for comments by the end of July. In a statement, Murray said she’ll “be working with Chairman Pallone and our staffs over the next few weeks to review the feedback we received from a broad spectrum of stakeholders so it can inform our work to craft a bold federal public option. I look forward to laying out my vision for that further soon. I’ve also continued to have productive conversations with my colleagues who have been working on this issue.”
The Center for Strategic and International Studies is hosting a conversation with Dr. Anthony Fauci at 3 p.m. Monday to discuss a part of the federal COVID-19 response that’s received much less attention than the vaccine race: the Antiviral Program for Pandemics, which aims to speed the development of antiviral treatments for COVID-19 and other high-risk viruses. The Biden administration said in June it was investing more than $3 billion in the initiative, which could become even more critical as the delta variant drives up hospitalizations.
Among the health care companies reporting quarterly earnings this week: Eli Lilly & Co., Amgen Inc., Moderna Inc., CVS Health Corp., Cigna Corp., Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. and McKesson Corp. We’re watching how much Moderna says its COVID-19 vaccine has generated in sales; drugmaker Pfizer Inc. said last week the shot it produced with BioNTech SE brought in $7.8 billion in global revenue in the second quarter.
