14 February 2006

Frist, Hastert Have Backroom Pharma Party

It’s like a rave, except with suits instead of baggy pants, and money instead of drugs.

In the wake of the Abramoff scandal, the Republican leadership must really be jonesing to kiss corporate ass again. Here’s how they got their fix last week:

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and House Speaker Dennis Hastert engineered a backroom legislative maneuver to protect pharmaceutical companies from lawsuits, say witnesses to the pre-Christmas power play.

The language was tucked into a Defense Department appropriations bill at the last minute without the approval of members of a House-Senate conference committee, say several witnesses, including a top Republican staff member.


[The Tennessean…]

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