Democrats Spar Among Themselves Over PhRMA Deal (NYTimes) [View All]

[polichick]

The first big fight over the Senate Finance Committee’s health care legislation erupted Tuesday night: a rollicking brawl over a deal that the Obama administration cut with the pharmaceutical industry to achieve $80 billion in savings on drug costs over 10 years, money that would help pay for the legislation.

Top House Democrats have hated the deal from the get-go. Senate Democrats are now bitterly divided. And Senate Republicans are eagerly jumping into the fray to needle the Democrats over their divisions.

Senator Bill Nelson, Democrat of Florida, has proposed an amendment that would essentially toss out the White House deal with PhRMA, the lobbying association for the drug industry. Mr. Nelson said his alternate plan would extract an additional $86 billion more from the drug industry.

One by one, the more liberal Democrats on the Finance panel, including John Kerry of Massachusetts, Charles E. Schumer of New York and Debbie Stabenow of Michigan, raced to Mr. Nelson’s side, asking to be added as co-sponsors of his amendment.


http://prescriptions.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/22/democrats-spar-among-themselves-over-phrma-deal/

Hope this isn't a dupe - did a search and didn't find it.

It's really getting interesting now!