Medicare

When it comes to health care, will the new Congress, unlike the previous conservative Congress, side with the public interest over the special interest?

The pharmaceutical giants are worried the answer is yes.

So they're hooking up with Democratic lobbyists in hopes of keeping Congress in their corner. Bloomberg has the story:

Pharmaceutical companies ... are among the companies scrambling to hire lobbyists with Democratic ties as they prepare for congressional investigative hearings next week.

Pfizer Inc., the world's biggest drugmaker, has hired the Glover Park Group, whose partners include Joe Lockhart, a former spokesman for President Bill Clinton, and Howard Wolfson, a spokesman for Senator Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign. Roche Holding AG picked as its lobbyist William Clyburn, cousin of the House's third-ranking Democrat, Jim Clyburn of South Carolina.

The increased hiring coincides with the Democratic congressional sweep that has sent shudders through corporate boardrooms.

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Today's NY Times reports that Bush issued a new executive order intended to undermine our civil service:

...each [government] agency must have a regulatory policy office run by a political appointee, to supervise the development of rules and documents providing guidance to regulated industries. The White House will thus have a gatekeeper in each agency to analyze the costs and the benefits of new rules and to make sure the agencies carry out the president's priorities.

This strengthens the hand of the White House in shaping rules that have, in the past, often been generated by civil servants and scientific experts. It suggests that the administration still has ways to exert its power after the takeover of Congress by the Democrats.

The Bushies sought to spin this power grab as just "a classic good-government measure that will make federal agencies more open and accountable."

Hilarious. Especially on the same day that Dem Rep. Henry Waxman and GOP Rep. Tom Davis hold a public hearing on how Bush's political appointees pressured our civil servant scientists to downplay climate change ... and the White House refuses both of their requests to release relevant documents.

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Last night's State of the Union address revealed that the state of this president is still delusional. He can't level with the American people because he can't or won't recognize the reality that we face.

The best part of the speech wasn't anything the president said. It was House Speaker Nancy Pelosi sitting over his shoulder, signaling the change that Americans voted for. The president also got a lift from the "ordinary heroes" that he recognized at the end of the speech. But when it got to substance, the president seemed bored with his own words as he trotted out his pledge for more of the same.

For this president, the economy is great and we need to stay the course. The Democratic response by Senator Jim Webb offered a glimpse of the reality that the president doesn't get - that this economy isn't working for most Americans. No wonder less than a third of Americans think the president has any clue about the problems they face.

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Last Thursday, when the Washington Post ran two pieces attacking the Democratic plan to empower Medicare to negotiate drug prices, I asked, "Is the Washington Post actively trying to thwart the First 100 Hours goal to empower Medicare to negotiate for lower drug prices?" 

On Saturday, the Post editorial board helped answer that question, formally coming out against the plan in an editorial. 

To recap: that's one slanted news piece against the Dem plan, one oped from a Bush cabinet head against the plan, and one Post editorial against the plan. 

Of note, GoozNews takes on the W. Post editorial here.

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Senate Finance Chair Max Baucus is firmly establishing himself as the buzzkill of The First 100 Hours.

After dirtying up a minimum wage bill with special interest tax breaks, now he's undermining Dem efforts to pass a bill requiring Medicare to negotiate for lower drug prices. Instead, he wants a bill that merely allows it, but does not require it.

This wouldn't be that big a deal, if we could trust the Bush Administration to act in the best interest of the public.

But Bush's Health and Human Services secretary has made it clear he doesn't believe in negotiation. If he isn't required to negotiate, he won't.

(Frankly, even if he is required, we can't trust that he would negotiate in good faith -- but at least with a Democratic Congress, we can expect some oversight of his behavior.)

Today's NY Times headline -- "Bush Threatens Veto of Medicare Drug Bill, but a Senator Is Seeking a Middle Ground" -- gives the false impression that Baucus' stand is in line with the center of the electorate.

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The Democrats are committed to a toe-to-toe battle over the Medicare prescription drug benefit with pharmaceutical companies and the Bush administration, but that is just the first more »

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