[NVIC] FRIST & CO. RIGGED LIABILITY SHIELD FOR PHARMA

[Guest guest]

E-NEWS FROM THE NATIONAL VACCINE INFORMATION CENTER

Vienna, Virginia http://www.nvic.org

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UNITED WAY/COMBINED FEDERAL CAMPAIGN

#8122

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" Protecting the health and informed consent rights of children since 1982. "

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NVIC Statement:

NVIC has not made a statement regarding the disgraceful behavior by those in

the Senate who used under-handed tactics in late December to ram unjust

liability protection for drug companies through Congress. Many NVIC

supporters took positive action in December after NVIC issued a call to

action to try to defeat the massive lobbying effort by drug companies and

pro-forced vaccination lobbyists to remove access to the judicial system

when federal health initiatives result in vaccine injuries and deaths. It is

clear that the only way they could defeat us was to lie and deliberately

corrupt the legislative process. To more fully understand why they did what

they did, go to www.nvic.org and read the letter NVIC sent to Senate staffer

Kadlec, M.D. protesting the liability shield legislation for Big

Pharma which President Bush has signed into law.

http://www.gallatinnewsexaminer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060209/NEWS

02/602090405/1309/MTCN04

Gallatin News Examiner, TN

Thursday, 02/09/06

HASTERT, FRIST SAID TO RIG BILLS FOR DRUG FIRMS

Frist denies protection was added in secret

By BILL THEOBALD

Gannett News Service

WASHINGTON - 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.

In an interview, Frist, a doctor and Tennessee Republican, denied that the

wording was added that way.

Trial lawyers and other groups condemn the law, saying it could make it

nearly impossible for people harmed by a vaccine to force the drug maker to

pay for their injuries.

Many in health care counter that the protection is needed to help build up

the vaccine industry in the United States, especially in light of a possible

avian flu pandemic.

The legislation, called the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act,

allows the secretary of Health and Human Services to declare a public health

emergency, which then provides immunity for companies that develop vaccines

and other " countermeasures. "

Beyond the issue of vaccine liability protection, some say going around the

longstanding practice of bipartisan House-Senate conference committees'

working out compromises on legislation is a dangerous power grab by

Republican congressional leaders that subverts democracy.

" It is a travesty of the legislative process, " said Mann, senior

fellow at the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank.

" It vests enormous power in the hands of congressional leaders and private

interests, minimizes transparency and denies legitimate opportunities for

all interested parties, in Congress and outside, to weigh in on important

policy questions. "

At issue is what happened Dec. 18 as Congress scrambled to finish its

business and head home for the Christmas holiday.

That day, a conference committee made up of 38 senators and House members

met several times to work out differences on the 2006 Defense Department

appropriations bill.

Rep. Obey, D-Wis., the ranking minority House member on the conference

committee, said he asked Sen. Ted s, R-Alaska, the conference

chairman, whether the vaccine liability language was in the massive bill or

would be placed in it.

Obey and four others at the meeting said s told him no. Committee

members signed off on the bill and the conference broke up.

A spokeswoman for s, Boone, said last week that the vaccine

liability language was in the bill when conferees approved it. s was

not made available for comment.

During a January interview, Frist agreed. Asked about the claim that the

vaccine language was inserted after the conference members signed off on the

bill, he replied: " To my knowledge, that is incorrect. It was my

understanding, you'd have to sort of confirm, that the vaccine liability

which had been signed off by leaders of the conference, signed off by the

leadership in the United States Senate, signed off by the leadership of the

House, it was my understanding throughout that that was part of that

conference report. "

But Kennedy, who works for Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., as staff

director for the Senate Appropriations Committee, said at a seminar for

reporters last month that the language was inserted by Frist and Hastert,

R-Ill., after the conference committee ended its work.

" There should be no dispute. That was an absolute travesty, " Kennedy said at

a videotaped Washington, D.C., forum sponsored by the Center on Congress at

Indiana University.

" It was added after the conference had concluded. It was added at the

specific direction of the speaker of the House and the majority leader of

the Senate. The conferees did not vote on it. It's a true travesty of the

process. "

After the conference committee broke up, a meeting was called in Hastert's

office, Kennedy said. Also at the meeting, according to a congressional

staffer, were Frist, s and House Majority Whip Roy Blunt, R-Mo.

" They (committee staff members) were given the language and then it was put

in the document, " Kennedy said.

About 10 or 10:30 p.m., Democratic staff members were handed the language

and told it was now in the bill, Obey said.

He took to the House floor in a rage. He called Frist and Hastert " a couple

of musclemen in Congress who think they have a right to tell everybody else

that they have to do their bidding. "

Rep. Dan Burton, R-Ind., also was critical of inserting the vaccine language

after the conference committee had adjourned.

" It sucks, " he told Congress Daily that night.

Rep. Jim Moran, D-Va., another member of the conference committee, was

upset, too, a staff member said, because he didn't have enough time to read

the language. The final bill was filed in the House at 11:54 p.m. and passed

308-102 at 5:02 the next morning.

The Senate unanimously approved the legislation Dec. 21, but not before

Senate Democrats, including several members of the conference committee,

bashed the way the vaccine language was inserted.

" What an insult to the legislative process, " said Sen. Byrd, D-W.Va.,

a member of the conference committee. Byrd is considered the authority on

legislative rules and tradition.

President Bush signed the legislation into law Dec. 30.

When asked about Frist's earlier denial, spokeswoman Amy Call said: " Bill

Frist has fought hard to protect the people of Tennessee and the people of

the United States from a bioterror emergency and that's what he did

throughout this process. "

Hastert's office did not provide a response.

Not against the rules

The practice of adding to a compromise bill worked out by bipartisan

House-Senate conference committees, while highly unusual, is not thought to

violate congressional rules.

Some Senate and House Democrats have proposed banning the practice as part

of broader attempts at ethics reform in Congress.

They, consumer groups and others with concerns about possible harm caused by

vaccines charge that the move was a gift by Frist to the pharmaceutical

industry, which they point out has given a lot of campaign cash to the

Nashville doctor through the years.

" The senator should be working to ensure there are safe vaccines to protect

American families rather than protecting the drug industry's pocketbooks, "

Pamela Gilbert, president of Protect American Families, said in a statement.

The group is an alliance of consumer, labor and advocacy organizations.

Frist has received $271,523 in campaign donations from the pharmaceutical

and health products industry since 1989, according to the Center for

Responsive Politics, a watchdog group.

He is also a possible candidate for president in 2008.

In the interview, Frist reiterated how important he thinks the vaccine

protections are.

" The United States of America, if a pandemic occurs, is totally unprepared, "

he said. " And the only way we are going to be prepared is rebuilding our

manufacturing base to build a vaccine infrastructure that can be timely and

responsive. We don't have it today. "

Frist has long advocated liability protection for vaccine makers, and it was

widely reported that he would attempt to attach the legislation to the

Defense Appropriations bill because it is considered must-pass legislation.

Ken , senior vice president of the Pharmaceutical Research and

Manufacturers of America, said that, while the group favors liability

protection, it did not take a position nor did it lobby on behalf of the law

that passed. .

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