Free Republic

The latest version of Democrats’ $4 trillion Build Back Better reconciliation bill includes a provision to empower the government to set Medicare drug prices.Government price-setting of prescription drugs is zombie legislation that just won’t die. After briefly being excised due to opposition from moderate legislators, the latest version of congressional Democrats’ $4 trillion Build Back Better reconciliation bill includes a provision to allow the government to set Medicare drug prices. “Democrats announced they have sealed a deal [on] pharmaceutical drug costs for seniors,” announced the Associated Press last week. The consequences of prescription drug price-setting in terms of reduced access...

Senate Democrats intend to erode as many barriers around the reconciliation process as possible. Now, it looks like they've cleared the first hurdle.Senate Democrats continue to chip away at the Senate’s rules in an effort to jam through as much of President Joe Biden’s agenda as possible. In February, Democrats passed a $1.9 trillion spending bill using the process of budget reconciliation — a fast track procedure that cannot be filibustered. Now, based on a recent opinion issued by the Senate’s parliamentarian, Senate Democrats may have the opportunity to do it again, and again, and again.Rather than upending the legislative...