Prescription Drug Battle Hits Senate - Your Voice Needed

According to CQ Today, a Senate vote is expected Wednesday to try to break a planned filibuster against a bill empowering Medicare to negotiate for lower drug prices. And Senate leaders are hunting "for a final few votes" to get to the needed 60.

With the pharmaceutical companies flooding Washington with dishonest ads and an army of lobbyists, if we are to beat back the filibuster, your Senators need to hear your voice now.

Campaign for America's Future has an action page where you can easily write your Senators and tell them, "Side with the people, not the big drug companies."

Lifting the ban on Medicare negotiating is supported by 85% of Americans, so if we give voice to the people's will, we will drown out the drug lobby and wavering Senators will fear the consequences of siding with the special interests.

Please contact your Senators today and ensure our Senate responds to the demands of the public.

Bill Scher blogs for Campaign for America's Future

•  Will do, and ...

  I'm sending this to two mailing lists.  Thank you so much for alerting us.

  by SusanHu on Mon Apr 16, 2007 at 08:23:58 AM PDT

  •  Thank you...

    ...for spreading the word!

    by BillScher on Mon Apr 16, 2007 at 08:26:27 AM PDT

•  I hate to tell you this,

  but during the last debate in the Senate, the one on the Medicare/perscription drug bill, I did contact my Senator, Diane Fienstien, told her my concerns and I had done my research, so I strongly suggested they negoitiate prices with the pharamcuetical companies for Medicare the same way it is done for the Veterans Administration. My comments were ignored, and Diane Fienstien got up there and said she was voting for this bill because California would get X amount of dollars for their in troubled emergency rooms that serve the illegal immigration population. I was never so disappointed, not only did Senator Fienstien cave in to this administration and the pharmacuetical companies, she also caved in to the entire corporate structure, by allowing our tax dollars to be used for medical care for illegal immigrants rather than to ease costs on our seniors. I got the usual form email back from the Fienstein office, but it made no difference at all. I guess if I had lots of campaign cash like the pharamceutical companies, I might have been taken alot more seriously. With so many Senators running for either President or re-election in 2008, I think they will once again opt out in favor of the pharamacuetical companies and their deep pockets.

  by Vera Lofaro on Mon Apr 16, 2007 at 08:28:41 AM PDT

  •  it's a new day in Congress

    I make no excuses for Senators caving back in 2003, but it's a new day in Congress. Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) was strongly supportive of a ban on Medicare negotiating before. Now, after the public mandate from November 2006, Baucus is the lead sponsor of the bill lifting the ban.

    But we need to follow through and keep the pressure on, if we're going to get the legislation promised in the '06 campaign.

    by BillScher on Mon Apr 16, 2007 at 08:40:47 AM PDT

    •  I hope you are right,

      I will do all I can do,even if it doesn't work, at least I can say I tried. I pay for my Mom's drugs and the prices are outrageous, drugs she needs to survive, why we can not negoitiate with these assholes is beyond me.

      by Vera Lofaro on Mon Apr 16, 2007 at 08:54:58 AM PDT

  •  Dianne Feinstein

    Your Senator's name is Dianne Feinstein.

    by cherryXXX69 on Mon Apr 16, 2007 at 10:49:48 AM PDT

    •  No, actually my

      Senator's name is Barbara Boxer, she is the one who represents my opinions. Sorry about the misspelling, I am the world's worst speller.

      by Vera Lofaro on Mon Apr 16, 2007 at 03:57:05 PM PDT

•  I filled out the form

  and added comments to the letter.  Will this go to my senator?  There is no way to put in your own senator.  Anyone know?

  by tobendaro on Mon Apr 16, 2007 at 08:53:07 AM PDT

  •  works automatically

    Don't worry. When you fill out your address info on the right side, including your state, and then click "Send This Message" at the bottom, it will automatically go to your state's Senators. And a confirmation page follows detailing who it was sent to. Hope that helps.

    by BillScher on Mon Apr 16, 2007 at 08:57:53 AM PDT

    •  Thanks! n/t

      by tobendaro on Mon Apr 16, 2007 at 09:36:45 AM PDT

•  Top 9 Pharmecuticals made $49 Billion last year!

  Check out CNN Money and click through to Pfizer.  Then scroll down to the industry list.

  If you add up the big 9 Pharma companies (~90% of the industry), they had total sales of $210 Billion with profits of $49 Billion.  That's 23% PROFIT.  

  Twenty Three Dollars of every hundred dollar bottle of pills goes into their pocket.

  That's bad enough.  Now consider that most countries around the world negotiate lower prices for their drugs and you realize that the drug companies are gouging us and our Seniors at an even higher rate than that!    

  No wonder they can spend millions buying full-page adds in every paper in the country.  No wonder they spend more on advertising than reasearch.  No wonder they can scatter a few gold pieces in front of Congress and get to write Legislation for themselves.  Talk about a great return on investment!

  Call, Call, Call!  

  Ask your Senator who owns them - is it their fellow citizens and voters, or is it the pigs at Big Pharma?

  by liberalpercy on Mon Apr 16, 2007 at 09:01:56 AM PDT

•  Posted it on our action page

  http://bouldercountydems.org/...

  rss link

  Please send me any actions you think should be posted.

  by msobel on Mon Apr 16, 2007 at 09:09:01 AM PDT

  •  great!

    thanks so much

    by BillScher on Mon Apr 16, 2007 at 09:15:41 AM PDT

•  list of Senators' positions?

  Bill, where can I find a listing of where the 100 Senators currently stand on the issues -- both the Part D revision itself and the cloture resolution?

  I'm confident that Patty Murray's with us on both counts, but Cantwell sometimes goes goofy on procedural stuff.

  by N in Seattle on Mon Apr 16, 2007 at 10:32:44 AM PDT

  •  You can check these resources

    • issue position info, voting records and keyword search of public statements at votesmart.org
    • votes database at WaPo  (also provides option to sign up for RSS feeds of voting - select the Congressional representative then look for the "Latest Votes" section on their page and click on the XML button)

    by cherryXXX69 on Mon Apr 16, 2007 at 11:19:07 AM PDT