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House Democrats are following the money in a series of new ads hitting Republican opponents of major drug price legislation — but the trail also leads back to their own members. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is accusing House Republicans of doing the bidding of drug industry donors by opposing the bill. Unremarked upon are the House Democrats who've also received money from the industry — and whose opposition is seen as potentially fatal to the legislation. (Markay, 5/27)

The Senate’s scientific research and development package got past a key hurdle on Thursday as the chamber voted 68-30 to invoke cloture on a substitute amendment by Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer, setting the legislation up for possible final passage later in the day. The sprawling substitute amendment, amended over the course of two weeks on the Senate floor to include proposals by both Republicans and Democrats, would authorize more than $100 billion in the next five fiscal years for a whole-of-government effort to compete with China’s quest for dominance in emerging fields of science and technology. (DeChiaro, 5/27)

Congressional Democrats dream of ditching long-held Republican bans that block abortion funding and stifle gun violence research. Even with total control in Washington, they still can’t make it happen. To soften that defeat, they're plotting to spend billions of dollars on reproductive health and gun violence prevention this year. (Emma, 5/27)

Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) issued a scathing memo criticizing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) response to the coronavirus pandemic, calling for “structural” reform of the agency following what he called “mistakes” responding to COVID-19. “Structural and cultural reforms at CDC are needed to ensure the organization is modern, nimble, mission-focused, and able to leverage cutting-edge science so that the United States is better prepared for the next threat that will come our way,” Burr, the top Republican on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, wrote in a five-page brief. (Axelrod, 5/27)

KHN: KHN’s ‘What The Health?’: The Return Of The Public Option

The “public option” is back — both in Washington, D.C., and the states. President Joe Biden as a candidate supported the idea of a government-run or heavily regulated insurance plan that would compete with private insurance. But until now it has been more of a concept than a plan. Two top health leaders in Congress say they will try to put a plan together, while public options in various forms work their way through legislatures in Colorado and Nevada. Meanwhile, bioethicists are debating whether the U.S. should be vaccinating low-risk adolescents against covid-19 while high-risk adults in other countries remain vulnerable. (5/27)