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Presented by Pharmaceutical Reform Alliance
Big Pharma hikes up drug prices every year, most recently on over 800 prescription drugs. But did you know these price hikes are often unjustified? For too long, Big Pharma has profited on the backs of hardworking Americans. Enough is enough.
PRESENTED BY![]() BY JOHN BRESNAHAN, ANNA PALMER AND JAKE SHERMAN THE TOPHappy Monday. Congratulations to the Los Angeles Rams, this year’s Super Bowl champions. And Happy Valentine’s Day. The Senate is in session, the House doesn’t have a floor vote scheduled until Feb. 28. But there is a lot going on. We’re going to take a look at how Washington is reacting to the ongoing Ukraine crisis, and then we’ll deal with government funding and the legislation to reform the U.S. Postal Service. → First, some news on “Make It In America”: The House hasn’t yet formally sent the America COMPETES Act to the Senate, but we expect House and Senate committees to begin informal discussions this week on the major China competition bill, according to sources close to the issue. There’s not going to be any formal House-Senate conference until next month, but there is some urgency from Democratic leaders in both chambers to get moving on this legislation (which is now on its third name.) Remember: This is a big priority for Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. And just about every tech company under the sun has a stake in this bill. → BRL update: ICYMI on Sunday, Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) posted this video update on his condition following a recent stroke. First of all, it’s great to see and hear from Luján, who suffered a stroke last month. Most importantly, Luján said he will be back in the Senate “in a few short weeks,” meaning in time for a vote on a Supreme Court nominee. “Rest assured, New Mexicans can know they have a voice and a vote during this process. That has never changed,” the 49-year-old Lujan said. This is big for President Joe Biden and the Senate Democratic leadership. Biden is expected to start interviewing potential nominees to replace retiring Justice Stephen Breyer this week, with a promise to announce his choice by the end of the month. That means a confirmation hearing in March, and potentially a floor vote later in the month, or more likely, early April. Having Luján back will give Democrats that much more confidence they’ll get through this process relatively easily. The latest in Ukraine National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan will brief House and Senate leaders today on the situation in Ukraine. The chairs and ranking members of the national security committees will also get briefed. The House briefing is unclassified because they’re out of town. The Senate will get classified info. With more than 100,000 Russian troops massed on the border with Ukraine, President Joe Biden spoke to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenksy on Sunday. Biden promised Zelensky the United States and its Western allies would respond “swiftly and decisively” in the event of a Russian attack. Biden spoke separately to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday. CBS’ David Martin reported on Sunday “The U.S. has intelligence that Putin has told his commanders to be ready to go on the 16th, which is Wednesday.” Zelensky asked Biden to visit Ukraine, but that’s never going to happen. According to CNN, “Zelensky renewed calls for Washington to provide greater military and financial support to Ukraine and asked for Biden to visit Ukraine as soon as possible. US officials said a trip by Biden to Ukraine is extremely unlikely.” However, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will be in Kyiv today. Scholz is then scheduled to head to Moscow on Tuesday. In the Senate, the odds of a Russia sanctions bill being adopted prior to any military conflict with Ukraine appear pretty low right now. The White House doesn’t seem to want it, and Democratic and GOP leaders appear content to follow that lead. PRESENTED BY GLOBAL X ETFs Finding Opportunity in the Green Economy While tech companies were celebrated as drivers of the pandemic stock market rally, the next economic cycle could be led by green infrastructure. Particularly, the potential around renewable energy, where supportive government policies and private sector innovation are helping bend installation costs lower. Explore our outlook on the case for renewables, the areas poised to benefit, and how investors might participate in the growth of this theme. LEGISLATING Confusion on CR with funding deadline looming, and Postal Service bill delayed ![]() We’ll say up front that there’s not going to be a government shutdown this week. But government funding runs out at the end of this week, and there’s still some confusion over the endgame surrounding the continuing resolution to keep federal agencies open until mid-March. And a technical glitch by the House has left a major U.S. Postal Service reform bill on hold, possibly until after the Senate returns from the Presidents’ Day recess. We’ll explain. First on the CR – Before the Senate went home last Thursday, Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) announced she’d placed a hold on the legislation. Blackburn is upset over allegations that federal funds allocated as part of a $30 million grant program under the Health and Human Services Department could be used to purchase crack pipes and other drug paraphernalia. HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra, Office of National Drug Policy Control Director Rahul Gupta and the White House denied this claim, which was first reported by the Washington Free Beacon. Yet for Blackburn, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) – who is up for reelection in November – and other conservatives, the issue has become an important one, and they’re not about to drop it. Rubio and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) even introduced a bill on Friday dubbed the PIPES Act (Preventing Illicit Paraphernalia for Exchange Systems). That legislation would ban the use of federal funds from “being used to purchase illegal drug paraphernalia, such as needles or crack pipes.” There’s already a long-running federal ban on buying needles. We’re not entirely sure what Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is going to do on this matter heading into today. Again, no one wants a shutdown. But it’s going to take some effort to work out a time agreement to swiftly move the legislation. Blackburn and other GOP conservatives may want to get a vote or some language added to the bill. Any tweak in the bill would force the House to take it up again before Friday’s deadline. The House is out of town but could do it by unanimous consent in a pro forma session. We’ll stay on top of this. On the Postal Service reform bill, the Senate doesn’t look like it will be able to take up the legislation until March. As we told you in the Friday Midday edition, House clerks mistakenly enrolled the wrong version of the bill. Which means Schumer filed cloture on the wrong version of the legislation, despite the fact that the House corrected the error during a Friday pro forma session. Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) is apparently planning to object to an unanimous consent request by Schumer to file a cloture on the new version of the bill, according to a statement from a spokesperson for the New York Democrat:
So unless Scott reverses course, Postal Service reform advocates will have to wait a few more weeks. 👀 Who we’re watching ![]() Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. Schumer faces a little bit of a challenge resolving the government-funding issue this week. And Schumer is trying to muscle through the nomination of Robert Califf to be FDA commissioner. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan. Sullivan’s already prominent role in this White House has grown as the Ukraine crisis unfolds. Besides being a regular in the White House briefing room with reporters, he’s also making appearances on Sunday shows and interacting constantly with his counterparts throughout NATO. 📅 What we’re watching → Tuesday: Senate Banking has a hearing on “Examining the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets Report on Stablecoins.” House Homeland Security has a hearing on the surge of guns at airports. → One more big thing to watch this week: The Senate Banking Committee will vote on five Federal Reserve nominations on Tuesday. This includes another term for Jerome Powell as Fed chair. And two of the nominations for the Board of Governors – Sarah Bloom Raskin and Lisa Cook – face strong opposition from Republicans on the panel. Banking Committee Chair Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) told us he’d get all five nominations through the panel in the end. The Fed has already indicated that it’s prepared to begin raising interest rates in March to battle soaring inflation, so the stakes around these nominations are huge for Washington and Wall Street. The Banking Committee will also vote on Sandra Thompson to be the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency. → Wednesday: House Oversight has a hearing on “Defending U.S. Allies and Interests Against Russian Aggression in Eastern Europe.” House Budget will hold a hearing on abolishing the debt limit. → Thursday: Senate Homeland will examine “the gaps in America’s biosecurity preparedness.” The House Administration Committee will hold a hearing on Jan. 6 featuring the inspector general of the Capitol Police. ![]() → Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) is seeking re-election and is up with his first spot across the state. It’s a pretty standard Republican campaign ad. Lankford accuses President Joe Biden of overspending, too many new federal regulations and destroying the economy. Thanks to AdImpact. → We’ve been chronicling the member-versus-member primary between West Virginia GOP Reps. David McKinley and Alex Mooney. It’s nasty. Here’s a new spot from Mooney, where he accuses McKinley of trying to trick people into believing that he has Trump’s endorsement. The former president backed Mooney, however. → The Republican Main Street Partnership PAC is endorsing nine candidates in its first slate, and plans to max out to them. They’re endorsing: Amanda Makki (FL-13), Rich McCormick (GA-06), Bruce Poliquin (ME-02), Tom Kean Jr. (NJ-07), Nathaniel Moran (TX-01), Morgan Luttrell (TX-08), Monica De La Cruz (TX -15), Wesley Hunt (TX-38) and Jen Kiggans (VA-02). FRONTS ![]() ![]() MOMENTS 10:30 a.m.: President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden will arrive at the White House from Camp David. 11:30 a.m.: Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris will get the daily intelligence briefing. 2:30 p.m.: Karine Jean-Pierre will brief. 2:50 p.m.: Harris will speak about the bipartisan infrastructure law’s “investments in affordable, accessible high-speed internet.” Week ahead: Tuesday: Biden will speak at the National Association of Counties 2022 Legislative Conference. Thursday: Biden will travel to Cleveland and Lorain, Ohio, to speak about the bipartisan infrastructure law. CLIP FILE NYT → “Canada Opens Blockaded Bridge, but in Ottawa, Truckers Won’t Budge,” by Sarah Maslin Nir in Ottawa → “Ukraine’s President Tries to Avert Panic as Pressure Mounts,” by Andrew Kramer in Kyiv → “Unpaid and Potentially Stateless, Afghan Diplomats Seek Permission to Remain in U.S.,” by Lara Jakes in D.C. and Carlotta Gall in Istanbul WaPo → “European, U.S. leaders race to defuse Ukraine crisis amid warnings of imminent Russia attack,” by Rachel Pannett WSJ → “Why Russian Invasion Peril Is Driving Oil Prices Near $100,” by Christopher M. Matthews and Collin Eaton Bloomberg → “European Energy Prices Jump on Mounting Tension Over Ukraine,” by Isis Almeida and Rachel Morison → “Lockheed Scraps Aerojet Deal After FTC Takes Tough Stance,” by Julie Johnsson. Note: This news was dumped during the Super Bowl. Politico → “The low-key Democrat with the unenviable task of defending a 50-50 Senate,” by Burgess Everett AP → “Democrats eye key governors’ races as backstop against GOP,” by Thomas Beaumont PRESENTED BY GLOBAL X ETFs Finding Opportunity in the Green Economy Supportive government policies and private sector innovation are helping renewables become more affordable, paving the way for wider adoption. Investors looking to align with this emerging theme might consider the Global X Renewable Energy Producers ETF (RNRG), which invests in companies involved in wind, solar, biofuels and more – all in a single trade. ![]() Enjoying Punchbowl News AM? ![]() Subscribe 10 friends with your unique link (below) and get a Punchbowl News hat! Your referral link is: Or share via You currently have: 0 referrals
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Presented by Pharmaceutical Reform Alliance
Americans know who to blame for rising drug prices: Big Pharma. A majority of Republicans, Democrats, & Independents all believe Big Pharma’s focus on profits keeps drug prices high. Let’s hold Big Pharma accountable – it’s an issue we’re united on.