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The House Monday passed the first significant expansion of the Affordable Care Act since its birth a decade ago, providing Democrats a high-wattage platform to castigate President Trump for his efforts to overturn the landmark law during a pandemic and an election year. The 234-179 vote, almost entirely along party lines, was a hollow exercise in terms of any chance the bill would become law and reshape federal health policy. Moments after the debate began, the White House announced the president would veto the legislation if it reached his desk, though a wall of Senate Republican opposition to the measure makes that a moot point. (Goldstein, 6/29)

Democrats timed the vote to contrast with the Trump administration’s legal brief filed with the Supreme Court last week calling for the ACA to be struck down, a move Democrats said would be even more harmful during the coronavirus pandemic. (Sullivan, 6/29)

White House officials said the bill was spending billions to prop up the ACA and denounced a drug-price negotiation provision designed to bring prices for expensive, single-source drugs closer to prices paid in other countries. Republicans argue the drug-pricing measure will stifle innovation by reducing drugmakers' research and development budgets during a pandemic. (Cohrs, 6/29)