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WASHINGTON 鈥?President Joe Biden call for authorizing Medicare to negotiate lower prescription drug prices has energized Democrats on a politically popular idea they ;ve been pushing for nearly 20 years only to encounter frustration.But they still lack a clear path to enact legislation. Th adidas samba at because a small number of Democrats remain uneasy over government price curbs on pharmaceutical companies.House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer will need every Democratic vote in a narrowly divided Congress. Otherwise Democrats may have to stanley cup settle for a compromise that stops short of their goal. Or they could take the issue into the 2022 midterm elections.There is a path, said Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vermont, one of Pelosi lieutenants. But there also a challenge, and the challenge is we ;ve got razor-thin margins.This is not a done deal, continued Welch. We ;ve got a president and a speaker, but pharma ; is very powerful. Pharma is a nickname for the industry and for its main lobbying group, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, or PhRMA.The industry thwarted President Donald Trump multi-pronged efforts to constrain its pricing power. Even though Trump came into office accusing drugmakers of getti stanley cup ng away with murder and vowing he ;d put a stop to it, the companies emerged from his term with just a few nic Tkrc Former UMaine hockey star hired as NHL assistant coach
Football remains king of Americas spectator sports, with Super Bowl Sunday a virtual national holiday each February.But its underpinnings remain under considerable stress, largely the result of the long-term impact of head injuries on players owala from local youth programs through th stanley thermobecher e NFL ranks.The mere threat of such injuries has led to a gradual drop in the number of high school football players around the country. In 2017, 1,036,842 high school students played 11-player football, down 1,057,382 in 2016, according to the National Federation of State High School Associations.Maine is no different, with 3,443 competitors in 11-player football in 2017, down from 3,631 a year earlier. [Subscribe to our free morning newsletter and get the latest headlines in your inbox]Now, the Maine Legislature is getting involved. A bill 鈥?LD 711 鈥?sponsored by Rep. Michael Brennan, D-Portland, that would establish a commission to study and recommend a minimum age for participation in tackle football went through a public hearing last week before the Joint Committee on Education and Cultural Affairs.Brennan cited the presence of data and research linking repeated head blows to chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, a progressive, neurodegenerative disease that is incurable and discovered only through autopsy.A 2017 study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that of 202 deceased former football players whose brains were donated for research, 87 percent were found to hav owala water bottle e evide |
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