Democrats have inserted a provision in the so-called “Inflation Reduction Act” that would cap the price of insulin for consumers at $35 per month, though doing so would violate the rules of the reconciliation process to pass the overall bill.
The goal is to punish Republicans for voting against the overall bill — though a separate bill on insulin prices was already making its way through the Senate.
Notably, in his first week in office, President Joe Biden canceled President Donald Trump’s executive order capping the prices for insulin and epinephrine. He then spent months attacking Congress for not lowering prescription drug prices. (Ironically, drug prices have fallen anyway, even in the midst of overall high inflation.)
The “Inflation Reduction Act” would not actually reduce inflation, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) called the bill a “fraud”; even Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) admitted inflation was not affected.
BREAKING: Bernie Sanders just admitted Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act won’t reduce inflation pic.twitter.com/AFBzXfzg3R
— Jack Posobiec ?? (@JackPosobiec) August 7, 2022
However, Democrats claim — and the CBO agrees — that the bill will reduce deficits slightly, including by raising some taxes.
CNN’s Manu Raju, quoting Sen. John Thune (R-SD), said that Republicans plan to raise a point of order to object to the insulin provision in the bill, noting that the Senate parliamentarian has already said that it violates the rules of the Senate:
John Thune told me he expects GOP to try to eliminate the insulin provisions in the bill.
He said he expects a Republican to offer a point-of-order to strike the $35 insulin cap. They likely will succeed because the parliamentarian has ruled it in violation of budget rules
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) August 7, 2022
Thune said they would.
“If you let them do this, you basically overrule the parliamentarian and it undermines the whole reconciliation process,” he said.
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) August 7, 2022
Normally, bills require a 60-vote threshold to end debate and proceed to a vote in the Seante, but “reconciliation” bills use a special process, only available twice a year, that allows a simple majority vote, as long as bills follow the specified rules.
Those rules include allowing amendments by the opposition. Republicans are offering a series of amendments that will embarrass Democrats who vote “no,” which they must do to preserve the political unity necessary to pass the overall bill.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
