Senate minority kills bill to empower Medicare to negotiate drug prices

[Kat45]

This Is Your Senate On Drug$

The pharmaceutical lobby joined forces today with the Senate's conservative minority and killed legislation empowering Medicare to negotiate for lower drug prices, which would have saved us $30 billion a year.

Fixty-six senators tried to carry out the will of 85 percent of the public. But they needed 60. (The official vote was 55-42, but pro-negotiation Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid only voted with the conservatives for a procedural reason.)
How could our democracy fail to carry out the people's demands?

The drug industry's army of lobbyists and hundreds of millions in cash fed the obstructionist, anti-government attitude of the Senate minority.

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2007/04/18/this_is_your_senate_on_drug.php

Why is it that even as the minority party, they manage to get their way!
Edited to add: I haven't seen this in the mainstream media, but of course, things that happen on weekends never show up on the news. That's why they happen on weekends.

[Turbineguy]

1. I guess in two years

they want to be a smaller minority.

[BrklynLiberal]

2. Bought and paid for by Big Pharma..

[aquart]

4. There need to be pictures of those bastards with those words.

[Botany]

3. Well looks like more democrats will win some seats

The Senate leadership can hold their heads high. The disgrace of denying
democracy belongs to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Ky., and the
other conservative senators who have to face the voters in 2008:

Lamar Alexander, Tenn.
Saxby Chambliss, Ga.
Thad Cochran, Miss.
John Cornyn, Texas
Larry Craig, Idaho
Elizabeth Dole, N.C.
Pete Domenici, N.M.
Michael Enzi, Wyo.
Lindsey Graham, S.C.
Jim Inhofe, Okla.
Pat Roberts, Kan.
Jeff Sessions, Ala.
Ted Stevens, Alaska
John Sununu, N.H.
John Warner, Va.

[BrklynLiberal]

5. What a list of Losers!!!

[Nutmegger]

6. These filthy, greedy pigs filibuster every god damn thing

and the Democrats didn't filibuster enough when in the minority.

This is absolutely disgusting.

[Kat45]

9. Yeah. Why didn't the Democrats filibuster Alito?

Not to mention Roberts.

[EFerrari]

7. Do not allow these mofos to make you give up.

:kick:

[Kat45]

8. Passage of this bill should have been a no-brainer.

It makes sense; it saves the country a lot of money; and the people (ie, the voters) want it. We've got to get money out of political campaigns, but unfortunately that is so unlikely to ever happen.