Nearly uniform Republican opposition in the Senate on Sunday removed a proposed cap on private insurance insulin prices from the Democrats’ climate, health and tax bill.
Democrats had sought to overturn a ruling by the Senate rules official, the lawmaker, that a $35-a-month cap on private insurance insulin costs did not comply with the budget reconciliation process, which allowed Democrats to pass his bill with an absolute majority. .
The cap, which was proposed by Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., needed 60 votes to pass and remain in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). It ultimately failed by a vote of 57 to 43.
Republicans Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Susan Collins of Maine, Josh Hawley of Missouri, Cindy Hyde-Smith of Mississippi, John Kennedy of Louisiana and Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan of Alaska voted for the measure with Democrats. The 43 “no” votes came from Republicans.
Democrats quickly seized on the cap’s scrapping and sparked controversy beyond them, with GOP critics citing the sometimes staggering cost of the insulin needed for diabetics.
Republicans, in turn, accused Democrats of cheating on a vote they said represented a technicality rather than a policy difference.
Senator Raphael Warnock speaks to reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, on August 6, 2022.
Patrick Semansky/AP
“The lying Democrats and their friends in the corporate media are at it again, distorting a Democratic ‘I have’ vote. In reality, the Democrats wanted to break Senate rules to pass the insulin price cap instead of passing it the normal order,” said Wisconsin Republican Ron Johnson. he tweeted then noted that he previously “voted for an amendment, which Democrats blocked, to provide affordable insulin to low-income Americans.”
While the proposed limit was not expected to get the 10 Republicans needed to keep the measure as part of the Democrats’ broad reconciliation deal, the 60-vote threshold would have overcome the lawmaker’s objections to the use of reconciliation of 51 votes, the The process allowed the party to put Republican senators on the record of a popular policy.
Republicans used a similar tactic in voting on Biden’s immigration policy as part of potential IRA amendments.
The lawmaker had said the insulin cap would violate the Byrd Rule, which requires a measure to have an effect on the federal budget that is not “merely incidental” to pass reconciliation.
Meanwhile, the MP allowed Warnock’s $35 insulin cap to apply to those covered by Medicare.
