Nov. 1, 2021: It’s zero hour for Virginia and Build Back Better

Could prescription drug pricing reform make it into the reconciliation bill after all? Senate and House Democrats and the White House came close to reaching a deal on the issue Sunday, report Burgess Everett, Alice Miranda Ollstein and Heather Caygle. The plan in the works would allow some Medicare negotiations with pharmaceutical companies — but if it comes together, it would still be much narrower than many Democrats initially intended.

And, the race for governor in Virginia heads into the final stretch. The final polls: FiveThirtyEight’s poll tracker has Youngkin surging into a slight lead, now up by an average of 0.6 points.

Raghu Manavalan is the host of POLITICO's Playbook.
Jenny Ament is the senior producer for POLITICO Audio. 
Irene Noguchi is the executive producer of POLITICO Audio.