Budget Battles
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Pushing Build Back Better Plan, Biden Calls for Lower Drug Prices
By Michael RaineyLooking to drum up support for his sweeping social investment plan, President Joe Biden on Monday called on lawmakers to strike a blow against high drug prices by passing the Build Back Better Act,...
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Biden Announces Plan to Prevent a Winter Covid Surge
President Biden on Thursday announced new steps to combat the Covid-19 pandemic heading into the winter months, calling for expanded campaigns to increase vaccinations and booster shots, improved...
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Biden Officials Studying Whether More Money Will Be Needed to Fight Omicron Variant: Report
The White House Office of Management and Budget and other Biden administration officials are looking into how much funding they have available to redirect to respond to needs that may arise as a...
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Biden Prepares Plan to Battle Omicron Variant
President Joe Biden on Monday cautioned Americans not to panic over the new omicron variant of the coronavirus and urged them to get their vaccine shots and boosters as the best defense against...
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Will Democrats’ New Insulin Price Cap Survive in the Senate?
The Build Back Better Act passed by the House last week would cap out-of-pocket costs for insulin at $35 a month starting in 2023, lowering the cost of the vital diabetes treatment for millions of...
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What’s in the Build Back Better Bill Passed by the House
By Michael RaineyThe roughly $2 trillion bill the House passed Friday will almost certainly be reshaped in the coming days and weeks, and the final product could end up being significantly different than the document...
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Numbers of the Day: A Kid-Sized Win on Vaccines and a Tragic Milestone
10%: The White House estimated Wednesday that nearly 10% of children aged 5 to 11 have received their first dose of Covid-19 vaccine. More than 2.6 million children are expected to have gotten their...
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Moderna and the NIH Are Fighting Over Patent Rights to the Covid Vaccine
The Moderna vaccine against Covid-19 has become the subject of a bitter patent fight , with the National Institutes of Health insisting that three government scientists worked with the company on the...
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Premiums for Employer Health Plans Rose 4% on Average This Year: Report
Annual premiums for family coverage in employer-provided health insurance plans rose by 4% on average this year to more than $22,000, according to a survey released Wednesday by the Kaiser Family...
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Democrats Strike Deal to Let Medicare Negotiate Drug Prices
By Michael RaineySenate Democrats on Tuesday announced they have reached an agreement on a plan to lower the prices of some drugs covered by Medicare. The proposal, part of Democrat’s $1.85 trillion spending bill,...
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Democrats Scramble for a Compromise on Drug Pricing Reform
As they work to finalize the details of their Build Back Better plan, Democrats reportedly say they are close to a compromise deal that would restore to the package measures to lower prescription...
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Democrats’ Drug Pricing Reform Plans Not Dead Yet: Reports
The Build Back Better plan that the White House issued Thursday doesn’t include a proposal to allow Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices, an idea with broad public support that President...
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Make or Break Time for Biden’s Agenda
This is it. This is the week Democrats finally agree on a framework for their nearly $2 trillion package of social spending programs and tax changes, allowing them to also move ahead on a bipartisan...
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5 Questions That Will Determine the Fate of Biden’s Agenda
By Michael RaineyWhat will it take for Democrats to enact their plan to invest trillions of dollars over 10 years in a wide variety of social programs, ranging from universal preschool and free community college to...
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Democrats Battle Over Cuts to Biden’s Agenda
With just over two weeks to go before a self-imposed October 31 deadline, the White House and congressional Democrats are reportedly agonizing over the overall size and specific details of their...