[Ip-health] Drug Firms Woo Democrats, Helping Defeat Their Bills

[Stephanie Burgos]

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This article speaks for itself - frustrating reality...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/11/AR200803
1102620.html

Drug Firms Woo Democrats, Helping Defeat Their Bills
By Jeffrey H. Birnbaum
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, March 12, 2008; D01
The pharmaceutical industry, long an ally of Republicans, has
increasingly worked itself into the good graces of the Democratic Party
and by doing so has helped block the Democrats' top prescription-drug
initiatives.
In the year since they took over on Capitol Hill, Democratic leaders
have been unable to pass either a bill allowing reimportation of drugs
from Canada or a measure requiring negotiation of drug prices under
Medicare. Neither is likely to reach the president's desk this year.
Lawmakers on both sides of these issues say the primary reason is the
influence, now redirected, of the drug lobby.
Drug companies have gone on a hiring binge, retaining Democratic
lobbyists in dozens of major firms. This strategy, which K Streeters
call "clogging the system," prevents adversaries from hiring anyone from
those consultancies.
The drug lobby has also wooed congressional Democrats by plowing
millions of dollars into helping with another Democratic goal: expansion
of the children's health program. In a detente with its traditional
foes, the drug industry joined a group that included AARP and Families
USA to buy about $7 million in ads backing the expansion of the program,
under which states receive federal money to provide health insurance to
families with children.
The industry's main lobby, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers
of America, known as PhRMA, paid for most of the group's budget. "They
have all the money," explained John Rother, policy director of AARP,
which is no slouch when it comes to spending money on lobbying. "They're
the ones who can write the big checks."
In years past, when pharmaceuticals leaned heavily Republican, Democrats
did not have much reason to cut them a break or side with them on
policy. Democrats won control of Congress in 2006 in part by accusing
Republicans of being too close to drug companies and other "special
interests." But now that pharmaceutical money is available to both
parties, the drug companies have reason to hope for better treatment.
The Democratic takeover of Congress means "we just have more friends
than we used to have," said PhRMA President W.J. "Billy" Tauzin, a
former Republican congressman from Louisiana. "We're trying to find
more."
The industry worked closely with the previous Republican-controlled
Congress to shape a Medicare prescription-drug program that included a
provision barring the government from negotiating with drug companies
for lower prices. Democratic leaders have wanted to require such
negotiation but were stopped initially by GOP resistance and an analysis
by federal auditors that found that the impact of negotiation on prices
would be small. Ultimately, the measure did not resurface because
rank-and-file Democrats in Congress were not eager to revisit it.
Democrats had similar reservations about a bill that would legalize
reimportation of lower-cost prescription drugs from Canada and other
countries. Republican opposition and public fear about imports of all
sorts, from food to toys, blocked the measure at first. Then, Democratic
reluctance about pursuing the matter ended the debate.
Most Democratic leaders are still eager to push this legislation, which
the U.S. pharmaceutical lobby opposes. "They've orchestrated these
coalitions and other efforts to improve their public image, but I still
get a lot complaints from people that the price of drugs is too high,"
said Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.), chairman of the House Oversight
and Government Reform Committee.
Still, representatives of both the political left and right said the
drug lobby's influence will make that hard. "They are an extremely
powerful, effective lobby," said Sen. David Vitter of Louisiana, a
conservative Republican who tried and failed to beat the drug lobby on
the reimportation issue. Ron Pollack, executive director of the liberal
Families USA agreed: "They are the most effective lobby on Capitol Hill
right now."
PhRMA boosted its spending on lobbying last year by 25 percent, to more
than $22 million. The increase made the group the second-largest
purchaser of lobbying services -- which includes both lobbyists and
issue advertising -- after only the capital's perennial top spender, the
U.S. Chamber of Commerce, according to CQ MoneyLine, which tracks money
in politics.
Drug firms also have engaged former top aides to Congress's most
important Democratic lawmakers, ensuring access to each of the leaders.
These lobbyists once worked for such lawmakers as House Speaker Nancy
Pelosi (Calif.); Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (Mont.);
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles B. Rangel (N.Y.); and
Edward M. Kennedy (Mass.), chairman of the Senate Committee on Health,
Education, Labor and Pensions.
PhRMA's member companies, which include Merck, Eli Lilly and Pfizer, and
their employees have also radically altered their giving patterns to
federal candidates. For the past decade, pharmaceuticals contributed
two-thirds or more of their campaign cash to Republicans. Last year,
their donations split 50-50 in what industry insiders said was a
concerted effort to purchase the sympathy of -- and access to --
Democrats while also keeping the allegiance of Republicans.
PhRMA is funneling money into targeted advertising as well. Except on
Fridays, when lawmakers tend to be out of town, it is hard to find a
Capitol Hill publication that does not contain at least one ad extolling
the virtues of the pharmaceutical industry and its favored policies.
Even with all this work in Washington, most of the industry's efforts
have been focused outside the capital -- on voters. Its three-year-old
program to provide drugs to people who cannot afford them, called the
Partnership for Prescription Assistance, has rolled its buses and
accompanying media blitz into 50 states and 2,000 cities. The program,
fronted by the talk-show host Montel Williams, has provided no-cost or
low-cost drugs to nearly 5 million people.
"We're doing it because it's the right thing to do," said Ken Johnson, a
PhRMA senior vice president. "It's also the smart thing to do. We want
to be loved, too." He reported that a PhRMA bus has visited every
congressional district and, as a result, the drug industry has seen "a
significant uptick of support among working-class Democrats."
PhRMA's promotional machine recently started to churn out a half-hour
television show called "Sharing Miracles," which the group pays to air
on Sunday mornings in 25 major markets, including the Washington area.
The program has featured first-person stories about life-saving
treatments by former White House Press Secretary Tony Snow and other
celebrities.
In another approach to Democrats, the industry has joined forces with
organized labor. PhRMA bankrolls the Pharmaceutical Industry
Labor-Management Association, a Virginia group that works to find issues
on which unions and drug companies can agree. For instance, the sides
collaborated on the campaign last year to pass the children's
health-program expansion. In the end, President Bush blocked the bill
with vetoes.
Tauzin said PhRMA is forming alliances with every patients' group it can
find, including the American Heart Association, the American Lung
Association, Mental Health America and even the Partnership for a
Drug-Free America (which counsels against illegal drug use). Those
lobbies have a more positive reputation among lawmakers than the drug
industry does.
"We're finding ways," Tauzin concluded, "to be good friends."