SENATE FAILS TO PASS ABORTION RIGHTS BILL, AGAIN — It was a largely symbolic vote never expected to rally enough senators. But without the Women's Health Protection Act, which failed in a 49-51 vote, it's unclear what steps congressional Democrats will take next besides motivating voters for the midterms. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) joined every Republican in voting against the measure. While the outcome mirrored a similar vote on abortion protections the Senate took in February, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer suggested the court's draft opinion, published by POLITICO last week, had raised the stakes, our Alice Miranda Ollstein and Marianne LeVine write. It's the latest example of the 50-50 Senate constraints. While the possible reversal of Roe has some senators calling for a workaround or an end to the legislative filibuster to pass abortion rights legislation, there's zero chance of that happening this Congress, given opposition from Manchin and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), Alice and Marianne note. Even if they could kill or amend the filibuster, Democrats don't have a simple majority that would vote to enact federal protections for abortion. Many Democrats have also bucked a narrower bill presented by Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), who support abortion rights but opposed the Democratic bill, which, besides codifying Roe protections, would ban states from enacting restrictions such as mandatory wait periods and clinic regulations. But with the Women's Health Protection Act defeated, both Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) and Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) are speaking with Collins about a potential bipartisan path forward. "We're having some good discussions," said Kaine. "Nothing's going to happen in the next couple of days, but we're having good discussions." HOUSE HEALTH PANEL ADVANCES FDA PACKAGE — On Wednesday, the House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee advanced legislation that would establish an Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health and reauthorize the Food and Drug Administration's medical product user fee programs, as well as certain mental health and substance use disorder programs. One of the more contentious debates of the subcommittee markup centered on regulation of third-party servicers of medical devices, demonstrating the lack of appetite by committee leadership to open the user fee package to any amendments that lack broad consensus, David and Lauren write. The policy battle, which does not split down party lines, is whether Congress should define what constitutes remanufacturing of medical devices — potentially narrowing which firms can repair medical devices. "I just don't think that the policy on remanufacturing has reached a level of consensus, and it's not going to reach a level of consensus by next week," E&C Chair Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) said. "So if we tried to define remanufacturing, we would probably delay this bill weeks, if not months." The full E&C Committee is set to hold a markup as soon as next week, four sources told POLITICO. WHITE HOUSE CONVENES GLOBAL COVID SUMMIT — The Biden administration today hosts its second global Covid summit, aimed at getting world leaders' attention back to the global pandemic response, Carmen writes. Why it's faded: Hospitals in much of the world aren't overwhelmed by Covid patients anymore, and the horrors of war in Ukraine have replaced the horrors of the pandemic on TV screens. But complacency is dangerous, experts warn, as a rapidly changing virus and low vaccination levels in some parts of the world mean we're not yet out of the pandemic woods. India, Japan, the European Commission, Palau, Tanzania, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Wellcome Trust are among the participants. But the summit comes amid congressional deadlock over appropriating an additional $5 billion — at least — for the global Covid response. "If no further funds are appropriated, we will have to end our leadership in increasing vaccinations," Atul Gawande, the assistant administrator for global health at the U.S. Agency for International Development, said during a Senate appropriations hearing Wednesday. "We will have to give up on fighting dangerous variants, even though each surge of variants has disrupted our supply chains, disrupted the trade we rely on and driven inflationary pressures that are hurting every American."
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