| | | | |  | | By Bethany Irvine | | Presented by |  | | | |  | THE CATCH-UP | | | IT’S OFFICIAL — JD VANCE agreed this morning to a CBS-hosted debate with TIM WALZ on Oct. 1. “The American people deserve as many debates as possible, which is why President [DONALD] TRUMP has challenged KAMALA [HARRIS] to three of them already.” Vance wrote in a post on X this morning, also proposing a second VP debate on Sept. 18 with CNN. But in a statement, the Harris-Walz campaign committed to just the Oct. 1 VP debate, while also suggesting they are ready to commit to a second presidential debate: “The debate about debates is over,” campaign comms director MICHAEL TYLER wrote: “Assuming Donald Trump actually shows up on September 10 to debate Vice President Harris, then Governor Walz will see JD Vance on October 1 and the American people will have another opportunity to see the vice president and Donald Trump on the debate stage in October.” More from Jared Mitovich
|  President Joe Biden and VP Kamala Harris are set to headline their first campaign event since Harris replaced Biden on the presidential ticket. | AFP via Getty Images | | LAWYERS, DRUGS AND MONEY — In just a few minutes, President JOE BIDEN and Kamala Harris are set to headline their first campaign event together since the ticket swap that stunned the world, and they’re claiming a major policy achievement. In Upper Marlboro, Maryland, Biden and Harris are expected to tout the administration’s progress in slashing Medicare prescription drug costs following a year of intense negotiations (and ongoing litigation). Under the deals announced this morning, prices of 10 of Medicare's most popular drugs — including medications that treat diabetes, heart disease, and “other conditions prevalent among older Americans” — will drop by a combined $6 billion in initial savings, WaPo’s Dan Diamond and McKenzie Beard report. The details: Administration officials claim that in 2026, Medicare enrollees can expect to save up to $1.5 billion in the aggregate, with the prices of nine of the 10 drugs dropping by more than half. More from NYT on the drugs and their prices How we got here: Democrats have made lowering prescription drug costs a major pillar of their domestic agenda for nearly two decades, and Biden’s recent push — which culminated in the 2022 passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, which included multiple provisions allowing for price negotiation — has not yet translated into pocketbook savings for consumers. But today’s announcement suggests progress is right around the corner. But, but, but: As Chelsea Cirruzzo and Ben Leonard write in Pulse this morning, the door remains open for more legal wrangling with drug companies before the deal is implemented: “[M]ost of the drug companies subject to the inaugural price negotiations have sued the administration over the program in multiple federal courts in a strategy legal experts say could lead to a circuit split that boosts the chances of the conservative-leaning Supreme Court taking a case.” What’s next? Still, “executives of [pharma] companies have also hinted in recent weeks during earnings calls that they don’t expect the negotiations to impact their bottom line,” AP’s Amanda Seitz and Zeke Miller report. The administration, meanwhile, hopes to plow ahead with more price setting on “dozens of additional drugs in the next four years … with Medicare planning to target 15 additional drugs for negotiations in 2025 and 2026, and 20 drugs a year subsequently,” Diamond and Beard write. How it’s playing …
- “For years, millions of Americans were forced to choose between paying for medications or putting food on the table, while Big Pharma blocked Medicare from being able to negotiate prices on behalf of seniors and people with disabilities. But we fought back – and won,” Biden said in a statement.
- “We are not stopping here,” Harris said in a separate statement. “Additional prescription drugs will be selected each year as part of our Medicare drug price negotiation program.”
- Sen. BERNIE SANDERS (I-Vt.), who’s campaign on the issue for decades, applauded the deal on X: “Let me congratulate the Biden-Harris Administration for taking on the greed of the pharmaceutical industry & slashing the list prices of some of the most expensive prescription drugs under Medicare by up to 79%,” Sanders said. “This action will bring significant financial relief to seniors.”
Good Thursday afternoon. Thanks for reading Playbook PM. Drop me a line at birvine@politico.com.
| | | | A message from Comcast: Did you know that most of the data on your smartphone travels over WiFi, not cellular? Thanks to WiFi innovation by Comcast, our customers connect over a billion devices to our network each year. Unlicensed spectrum is key to a fast and secure WiFi experience at home and on the go. Comcast leads the way by developing cutting-edge WiFi gateways that maximize our multi-gig broadband network and spectrum made available by the FCC. Learn more. | | | FIRST IN PLAYBOOK: RFK’S BITCOIN BOAST — Presidential candidate ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR. recently described his Bitcoin holdings as representing “most of my wealth” in recent comments to cryptocurrency supporters. But according to a recent financial disclosure statement, Daniel Lippman reports, he appears to have overstated the scale of his crypto holdings. Speaking at the Nashville Bitcoin Conference on July 25, Kennedy said he had “put most of my wealth into Bitcoin” after attending the 2023 conference; the next day he said in a speech that he had taken “the largest portion” of his wealth and “invested it all in Bitcoin.” But his most recent financial disclosure, filed in early July, shows that Bitcoin constitutes no more than 23 percent of his net worth, and potentially as little as 3 percent. The disclosure pegs his total wealth at between $4.3 million and $15.2 million, with between $500,000 to $1 million in Bitcoin. That’s less than his cash holdings, which include between $1 million and $5 million in a money market account, and roughly equivalent to his stake in a commercial real estate venture. Kennedy spokeswoman STEFANIE SPEAR said in a statement: “His comments are accurate. The largest investment he owns is in bitcoin, outside of cash and real estate holdings.” In his campaign platform, Kennedy calls for the establishment of a “Bitcoin Fort Knox” by having the Treasury Department acquire hundreds of billions of dollars worth of the cryptocurrency. He also owns between $50,000 and $100,000 of stock in Marathon Digital Holdings, which engages in crypto mining and other digital asset businesses.
| | 6 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW | | | 
Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) has taken the conservative view against big business to the extreme. | Alex Brandon/AP | 1. VEEP VIEWS, PART I: As Vance is scrutinized for his policy views as Trump's VP nominee, Christian Science Monitor's Cameron Joseph reports how Vance has taken the conservative view against big business to the extreme, accusing Amazon in 2021 of "funding Black Lives Matter in order to burn down the competition" and arguing that companies supporting abortion rights do so because they are looking for a "cheap labor" pool: “Vance doesn’t just think companies are cynically pandering to the marketplace. He’s taken his criticisms a step further, painting corporations’ motivations in a sinister, conspiratorial light,” Joseph writes. “Mr. Vance appears to be more of a pure economic populist. But it’s his aggressive, acerbic rhetoric, rather than his policy views, that have drawn the most attention.” Related read: “How JD Vance's family shaped his sharp-edged rhetoric about families,” by NBC News’ Henry Gomez 2. VEEP VIEWS, PART II: NYT’s Mike McIntire dives deep on Walz’s evolving views on gun control since he first held office — with Harris’ VP pick going from a legislative record that had gotten high marks from the National Rifle Association to “a model for Democratic politicians seeking to balance Second Amendment rights and public safety.” The big question: “Which version of Mr. Walz, now running for vice president, was right? The answer lies in his bumpy transition from an unabashed small-town gun guy to a statewide candidate facing an electorate with starkly different views. It was a change propelled in part by high-profile mass shootings that also became a campaign issue.” Related read: “Tim Walz’s 2006 campaign falsely described details about his arrest for drunk driving in 1995,” by CNN’s Andrew Kaczynski 3. MIDDLE EAST LATEST: A new round of negotiations are underway in Doha today as the the U.S. and Western allies resume their desperate push for Hamas and Israel to reach an agreement on a cease-fire and hostage release, Reuters’ Andrew Mills and Nidal Al-Mughrabi report from Doha and Cairo. It remains unlikely a breakthrough will be made, since “Hamas officials, who have accused Israel of stalling, did not join Thursday's talks,” but “mediators planned to consult with Hamas' Doha-based negotiating team after the meeting.” The threat of a wider war remains, with Iran continuing to threaten a military response following the assassination of Hamas leader ISMAIL HANIYEH earlier this month: “Three senior Iranian officials have said that only a ceasefire deal in Gaza would hold Iran back from direct retaliation against Israel.”
| | | | WELCOME TO THE CNN-POLITICO GRILL AT THE DNC! If you are in Chi-Town next week, join us at the CNN-POLITICO Grill just steps from the United Center for daily events and live programs. Featuring an all-star lineup of the most influential Democrats including Gov. JB Pritzker, Sen. Chuck Schumer, Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Sen. Laphonza Butler and many more surprise guests. In fact, word on the street (West Madison Street, to be precise) is that Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi will be in the neighborhood and could drop by! Don’t miss out on the buzziest conversations and newsworthy events hosted by POLITICO’s top reporters and editors. RSVP HERE. | | | | | 4. SURVEY SAYS: New polls out this morning has Democratic incumbent JACKY ROSEN ahead of opponent, SAM BROWN by a wide margin in Nevada Senate race, with the Cook Political Report officially shifting the race from “tossup” to “lean Democrat,” NYT’s Maya Miller reports from Reno: “The surveys [from Cook, the bipartisan team of BSG and GS Strategy Group], conducted between July 25 and Aug. 2, show Ms. Rosen with an 18-point lead. … JESSICA TAYLOR, Cook’s editor for Senate and governor elections, said that Ms. Rosen’s 18-point lead was most likely an outlier but nonetheless showed a widening gap that Mr. Brown would have to overcome.” More numbers from Cook’s Dave Wasserman 5. TRUMP’S BIG ANNIVERSARY: “Trump Georgia indictment came one year ago, as his legal woes are stalled,” by Axios’ Sareen Habeshian: “The Republican presidential candidate is hoping to win favor in Georgia — one of seven swing states expected to decide November's election … But he has also reignited feuds with top Georgia Republicans.” 6. WAR IN UKRAINE: “Ukraine gambled on an incursion deep into Russian territory. The bold move changed the battlefield,” by AP’s Samya Kullab: “Politically, the incursion turned the tables on Russia and reset the terms of a conflict in which Ukraine increasingly seemed doomed to accept unfavorable cease-fire terms. The strike was also a powerful example of Ukrainian determination and a message to Western allies that have dithered on allowing donated weapons to be used for deeper strikes inside Russian territory.”
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