Democrats Try to Build Back (A Bit) Better
An agreement on drug pricing, climate spending, and tax increases would make the president’s legislative record look a lot more robust.
President Joe Biden’s economic agenda might be back from the dead. If the original proposal was Build Back Better, this is more like Build Back a Bit.
Democrats this week took the first formal step toward reviving a stripped-down version of the nearly $2 trillion plan that Senator Joe Manchin late last year. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer asked the Senate parliamentarian to review a proposed agreement that aims to reduce the cost of prescription drugs by allowing Medicare to negotiate prices directly—a long-sought Democratic priority that Manchin supports. That is one major component of a deal Schumer and Manchin have been discussing that would include hundreds of
