The White House on Tuesday signaled President Donald Trump's blunt thumbs-down to House Online Cigarettes Store USA Speaker Nancy Pelosi's plan allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices. Her office's sharp retort: "Working people won't like it if he sells them out."
Despite the House impeachment inquiry, the White House and top aides to the California Democrat have been in regular contact on efforts to curb drug prices, a mutual objective and a top concern for Americans across party lines.
But a senior White House official told The Associated Press that the administration has concluded Pelosi's plan Newport Cigarettes Shop is "unworkable" and Trump will instead support bipartisan legislation pending in the Senate. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss ongoing deliberations.
The falling out imperils chances for legislation this year, already seen as a long shot.
A recent study found more than half of seriously ill Medicare enrollees face financial hardships with medical bills, and prescription drug costs are the leading problem.
In a statement responding to the White House, Pelosi spokesman Henry Connelly said, "House Democrats are taking the bold action to negotiate lower drug prices that President Trump always claimed was necessary, and working people won't like it if he sells them out on one Newport box 100s cigarettes of the most important kitchen table issues in America right now."