More Debt Ceiling Drama Ahead?

By Yuval Rosenberg

Happy Monday! Congress last week tackled what
should be the easiest part of its daunting December to-do list,
keeping the lights on at key federal agencies by extending funding
through mid-February — and, despite some brinkmanship, lawmakers
managed to avert the potential shutdown with a whole day to
spare.

Now comes the harder stuff, namely addressing the debt
ceiling and a contentious, long-delayed annual defense bill.
Lawmakers will also look to prevent Medicare reimbursement cuts
from automatically kicking in on January 1. Oh, and Senate
Democrats are still pressing to pass their Build Back Better bill
before Santa Claus comes to town, though some on Capitol Hill
reportedly think they’ll have to wait until the new
year.

Here’s what to watch this week.

Pushing Build Back Better Plan, Biden Calls for
Lower Drug Prices

Looking 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,
the roughly $1.7 trillion spending package that includes provisions
to reduce the cost of some prescription medications.

"There aren't a lot of things that almost every American can
agree on, but I think it's safe to say that all of us ... can agree
that prescription drugs are outrageously expensive in this
country," Biden said at the White House. "Shame on us as a nation
if we can’t do better than this," he added.

Making his pitch for his spending plan, Biden said, "It doesn't
need to be that way. Under my Build Back Better bill, which has
passed the House of Representatives, it won't be the same way."

The Build Back Better plan would empower Medicare to negotiate
lower prices for some of its costliest drugs, and cap out-of-pocket
spending on drugs at $2,000 per year for those in the universal
health plan for those 65 and older. It would also cap out-of-pocket
expenses for insulin at $35 per month for those covered by Medicare
or private insurance plans, though the provision would not take
full effect until 2023.

The plan in the Senate: Almost a week into December,
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said Monday that he
wants to get the pass the Build Back Better bill on Biden’s desk
before Christmas.

In a letter to colleagues Monday, Schumer laid out the
procedural steps he plans to take over the next two weeks. "On
Friday and Saturday, 8 of the 12 Senate committees that were given
Reconciliation instructions submitted their final Senate text to
the Parliamentarian, the Congressional Budget Office and the Senate
Republicans," Schumer wrote. "Our goal is to finalize the remaining
committees over the course of this week and next."

Once the text of the bill is complete, it will undergo a "Byrd
bath" – a formal review (named for former Sen. Robert Byrd) by the
Senate parliamentarian, who checks to ensure that each provision
within the legislation meets the requirements of a budget
reconciliation package.

A crowded calendar: Schumer noted that lawmakers have
other important issues to deal with in the coming days, including
the debt limit, the annual National Defense Authorization bill and
voting rights legislation.

The timetable appears to be extremely tight, especially with
Republicans vowing to oppose parts of the bill. "A lot of their
agenda should be voted out because it won’t meet the requirements
of having a direct impact on spending and revenues," Senate
Minority Whip John Thune (R-SD) told Politico.

One Democratic aide said the parliamentarian’s office could be a
"chokepoint" that could delay the bill, according to The Hill.

Other potential delays include the likelihood that lawmakers
will make major changes to the bill, including the treatment of the
state and local tax deduction, and the possibility that
conservative Democrats like Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) may prefer to
hold the bill until economists get a better read on the state of
the economy, especially inflation.

Recognizing how little time is left in the year, Schumer advised
his colleagues to prepare for an intense workload. "I will continue
to remind you that there are more long days and nights, and
potentially weekends, that the Senate will be in session this
month," Schumer said.

Congress Set for Another Week of Debt
Ceiling Drama

Congressional leaders reportedly have been considering attaching
a measure to address the debt limit to the massive annual defense
policy bill that been held up by clashes over provisions related to
Russia and China.

After failing to advance the National Defense Authorization Act,
the Senate is now set to abandon efforts to pass its own version of
the bill, Politico
reports. Instead, the House will put together a
compromise version of the bill negotiated by congressional leaders
and the House and Senate Armed Services committees, reportedly as
early as today, with plans to pass it later in the week. "The final
bill will likely endorse a $25 billion increase to President Joe
Biden’s defense budget, a major boost that Democrats and
Republicans approved in both chambers," Politico notes.

Linking the debt limit and the defense bill may not work,
though. House leaders made clear last week that securing the
necessary votes would be difficult, given that Republicans won’t
support raising the debt limit and progressives object to boosting
the defense budget. "I don't think that would pass," House Minority
Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) said last week about addressing the
debt limit via the defense bill.

"Democrats who are fans of [linking the bills] hope a mix of
defense-minded GOP hawks loath to oppose any defense bill, and more
moderate Republicans eager to avoid default, could compensate for
any progressives they lose on the vote," Politico’s Playbook

reports. "They also acknowledge that this proposal
could fall totally flat, leaving them scrambling to find another
move this week."

The bottom line: House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD)
says the House will address the debt limit this week. On the Senate
side, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Minority Leader
Mitch McConnell (R-KY) have been quietly discussing a path forward
on the debt limit. "The two haven’t been out there bashing each
other or making demands on the issue the way they were a few months
ago. Notably, McConnell hasn’t been heard lately insisting
Democrats need to use reconciliation to address it," Politico
notes. "Perhaps that’s a good sign, but good feelings alone won’t
get the job done."

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