WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats are scraping together a last-minute plan to let Medicare negotiate prices directly with manufacturers for some prescription drugs ahead of the midterm elections, according to a summary of the plan obtained by CQ Roll Call.
The effort attempts to revive a key piece of Democrats’ sweeping social spending and climate bill after intra-party divisions killed the original legislation. Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., has been working with the broader bill’s most vocal Democratic holdout, Sen. Joe Manchin III of West Virginia, who has consistently supported the idea of Medicare negotiation.
The Washington Post first reported the deal.
