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Obama's Deal With Drug Firms Survives
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Issue
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| Contributor | Scott³ |
| Last Edited | Scott³ Sep 24, 2009 10:33pm |
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| Category | News |
| Author | Ceci Connolly |
| Media | Newspaper - Washington Post |
| News Date | Saturday, September 26, 2009 04:00:00 AM UTC0:0 |
| Description | "In the high-stakes battle over health care, the White House and the drug lobby make an unusual -- and unusually powerful -- team.
The extent of their combined clout showed Thursday as Democratic senators tried unsuccessfully to override a deal the industry struck months ago with the Obama White House and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.). If the deal fell apart, industry allies warned, the drug lobby could pivot from health-reform cheerleader to committed opponent armed with a $125 million war chest.
"They're not foolish," said Sen. Thomas R. Carper (D-Del.), whose state is home to pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca. "I know I would walk away."
The showdown in the Finance Committee, over an amendment to squeeze more money out of drug companies, was an early test of the ability of Baucus and President Obama to hold together a tenuous coalition of industry and special-interest players that crushed health reform 15 years ago. It also foreshadowed battles to come: Democrats in both the House and Senate vowed anew to seek larger concessions from an industry that spent $92 million in lobbying in the first half of this year.
"I hope it passes here or on the [Senate] floor," said Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), a supporter of the amendment. In the end, Carper and Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), whose state is home to drugmakers Johnson & Johnson and Merck, joined with Baucus and the panel's Republicans to defeat the measure, proposed as an amendment to a bill written by Baucus.
The pharmaceutical fireworks came in an otherwise sluggish third day of committee deliberations on Baucus's bill. Republicans tried but failed to restore proposed cuts in the Medicare program and to remove a requirement that every American carry health insurance. The panel has yet to resolve how to make insurance affordable, an issue of concern to several Democrats and Sen. Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine), who is believed to be a key swing vote." |
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