House to vote on drug prices this week

The House is set to vote this week on its drug-pricing bill, but the outlook for an ultimate deal continues to look not great.

Driving the news: House leaders may bring the bill to the floor without an amendment from Rep. Pramila Jayapal, a progressive stalwart.

• That has prompted progressive Democrats to consider trying to block a vote on the bill, The Hill's Peter Alexander reported Friday.

Where it stands: The White House has already criticized Pelosi's bill, and pushback from the left obviously wouldn't help its chances.

• The Senate's bill is really the one to watch, but it has much less support from leadership.
• In short, a lot of frayed alliances — between Pelosi and the left, Pelosi and Trump, pharma critics and McConnell — would need to un-fray in order for anything to happen here. And the clock is running out.

Go deeper:

• The state of prescription drug spending
• The drug-pricing deal that got away
• Health care spending grew at a faster rate in 2018