DEMS’ MEDICARE EXPANSION PLAN IS TEETERING — Liberal Democrats are racing to save a major expansion of Medicare benefits from the chopping block, as the party tries to trim more than $1 trillion from its social spending bill. The effort is the biggest test to date of the influence wielded by the Congressional Progressive Caucus, which is fresh off its successful bid to delay the bipartisan infrastructure bill, POLITICO’s Alice Miranda Ollstein reports. The 96-member group closed ranks behind Medicare expansion primarily out of the hope it would get a sliver of their long-sought “Medicare for All” vision into law. But in the process, it’s invited various criticisms including the belief that prioritizing Medicare would mean giving benefits to older and wealthy Americans at the expense of a Medicaid plan that would benefit the poor. The program’s estimated $350 billion price tag over a decade has also made it a prime target for Democratic leaders seeking the cuts needed to win 50 Senate votes. Add on one more issue: In a letter Wednesday night to committee leaders, centrist Rep. Jared Golden (D-Maine) criticized the Medicare proposal as “underdeveloped” and reliant on “budget gimmicks” to mask its true cost. Still, leading progressives are already floating the possibility of withholding their support once again to get what they want, with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) earlier this week calling the expansion’s inclusion “not negotiable.” AND PAID LEAVE IS IN LIMBO — Senate leaders are also considering shrinking paid leave funding under the reconciliation plan to just $300 billion — or 40 percent less than what the House originally approved, POLITICO’s Eleanor Mueller reports. House and Senate lawmakers have battled over the provision for some time, with the $300 billion level likely to cover three to four weeks of leave. That’s far short of the 12 weeks hat Biden proposed and the House subsequently supported. Among the options on the table: Democrats could potentially close the gap by reducing the length of the leave benefit, capping how much workers would take home, phasing the program in over time or giving it an expiration date. That could be preferable to risking the entire concept being left out of the final bill. Yet any of those avenues are sure to limit the impact of a provision Democrats believe will be popular in the pandemic’s wake. Advocates argue that shortening its length would sacrifice the economic and health benefits, especially since most of the evidence they’ve leaned on to push the concept is based on state paid leave programs that are typically three months long. Capping the benefit could similarly limit the payoff. And phasing in or abruptly ending it at a later date may end up discouraging workers or employers from participating. FIRST IN PULSE: WARREN, GRASSLEY PRESS FDA ON HEARING AID RULE — Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) want the FDA to immediately issue long-awaited regulations for over-the-counter hearing aids, writing Thursday that they’re critical to making the devices cheaper and more accessible. The proposed rules governing the direct sale of certain hearing aids cleared OMB review earlier this month, and come after Biden issued an executive order requiring the new regulations by early November. “We urge your office to finalize the rule without delay to, at a minimum, meet the deadline set forth in the President’s executive order,” the senators wrote to acting FDA Commissioner Janet Woodcock . “Specifically, we hope that the rule does not contain any unnecessary restrictions that hinder access to these devices or their utility.” Warren and Grassley have advocated for the regulations since 2017, when then-President Donald Trump signed a law based on their proposal to order new regulations making hearing aids available over the counter. POLL: MOST PARENTS LIKELY TO VACCINATE THEIR YOUNG KIDS — Two-thirds of parents say they’re likely to vaccinate their five-to-11-year-old children against Covid-19 once a shot is authorized, according to a new survey from the National Association of School Nurses and the Covid-19 Vaccine Education and Equity Project. A majority — 60 percent — also support requiring schools to make the vaccine mandatory for attending in-person classes. Yet that enthusiasm for the shot depended heavily on the parents’ vaccination status, the survey found, with those hesitant about the idea chiefly concerned about potential side effects and long-term risks of the shot. | 
