American Drug Companies' Political Influence
Pharmaceutical Companies and USA Healthcare Reform
Oct 23, 2009
Along with their cousins, Wall Street’s financial institutions, America’s drug companies are maximizing the benefits of Capital Hill’s revolving door policy of politicians becoming pharmaceutical lobbyists. These companies are the latest in a series of special interest groups bombarding the United States Congress with an army of professional lobbyists. Hat in hand for legislative requests, these lobbyists have taken the art to new heights. Successfully stifling Medicare drug reform they turn their former legislators, staffers and aids loose in the halls of Congress.
The Revolving Door
CBS News reporter Sharyl Attkisson said on October 20, 2009, “The pharmaceutical industry is putting its army of lobbyists into overdrive… There are 3,000 registered health care lobbyists on Capitol Hill…And in many cases, those lobbyists are former members of Congress who shaped laws that benefited the industry they joined.”
It is perfectly legal. Members of Congress (and their staffers) join committees, write laws that affect an industry and citizens, retire and then join the industry they wrote laws to protect. Other legislation, that was written to halt or at least stem the flow, has simply been bypassed by some of these very lawmakers. Attkisson continued, “The non-profit journalism group ProPublica has found 27 former members of Congress and staffers who were major players in Part D and are now working for the pharmaceutical industry on health care reform. The revolving door is dizzying.”
The Major Congressional Players
- Republican Congressman W. J. “Billy” Tauzin of Louisiana – is by far the most flamboyant of the pharmaceutical lobbyists. Patrick Martin wrote in December 2004’s International Committee of the Fourth International, “…the retiring chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee certainly earned the [$2 million a year] position…of CEO of (PhRMA), the Washington lobby representing US drug manufacturers.” Judy Sarasohn, quoted in her article Special Interest, in December 2004’s Washington Post, "It's a sad commentary on politics in Washington that a member of Congress who pushed through a major piece of legislation benefiting the drug industry, gets the job leading that industry."
- Senator John Breaux Democrat from Louisiana – who, as Senator, successfully fought against allowing drug prices to be negotiated in Medicare Part D, now works for Breaux Lott Leadership Group (with former Republican Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott). Their firm received $300,000 this year to lobby for the pharmaceutical industry according to ProPublica.
- Republican Senator Don Nickles of Oklahoma – who, also as Senator, fought against the import of cheaper drugs from Canada in the Medicare legislation; now works for his own firm. According to October 20, 2009 ProPublica data, “Bristol Myers-Squibb paid the Nickles Group $120,000 this year to lobby for…health care reform issues related to Medicaid and Medicare.
- Congressional Staffer and Former Chief Health and Welfare Counsel, Michelle Easton - has gone through the revolving door several times. She worked for Senator Breaux on Medicare Part D drug reform legislation, and then she became a Vice President for the drug lobby firm PhRMA. This was followed by a return to government as a staffer for Senate Finance Chairman, Montana Democrat Max Baucus - a key player in the current healthcare debate. Easton left government again and currently woks as a lobbyist for Well Point Healthcare Company.
It's been a boom for the pharmaceutical industry, spending $18 million hiring and lobbying Congress on health care reform and fighting off two proposals that would cost it billions. CBS’s Sharyl Attkisson reported it best, “It leads critics to ask whether some who are supposed to be watching out for taxpayers have other interests.”
 |
